Day 1 - Mongolia

Location: Just inside Mongolia
Speed: 0MPH
Status: Camping for the night

We stopped at a petrol station just by the Russia/Mongolia border to fill all our tanks. We understand from talking to a various people we knew that diesel would be hard to come by in the Mongolia so we stocked up on 195 litres (39 gallons) of good diesel; or so we thought but more on that later.

We approached the border very slowly, stopping just short to remove CB radios and make sure all our valuables were securely stashed. From previous experience we’d learnt that border guards can be a little light fingered so at our final border we were not going to take any chances.

The Gobi Ambulance was first to go followed by the two other cars in convoy. I (Mat) got out and as the driver made my way to the cabin to find out what crazy hoops we’d have to jump though. To my surprise the whole process seemed fairly simple, all be it bureaucratic. Russ and Stu were to wait until I’d processed the “machine” paperwork then we’d go though together for passport checks.

The machine paperwork was simple enough; I even remembered to bring a pen to the office this time. The customs forms were even in English, I can’t say I was looking forward to wading my way though a bunch of Cyrillic forms again. After several stamps, signatures and nods of agreement I was asked to go outside and present the forms to an offer outside who I hasten to add had a huge gun – it was search time!

Three gleeful officers took great pleasure kicking the tyres of the Gobi Ambulance, walking around pointing and laughing. As usual they wanted to write their names on the bonnet of the ambulance; I obliged to help ‘grease the wheels’. After the relatively jovial outside search it was time to enter the back of the ambulance which at this stage was very messy, as the back door opened the all laughed.

First of all they noticed the bar optics to the left which still had an old bottle of Vodka perched in the holder. They all nodded happily and said in unison “Vodka, da?” which I replied “Da” (Just in case your wonder Da is Yes in Russian).

At this stage the most official looking chap stepped into the back of the ambulance, I briskly followed. You can spot the chief a mile off because he wears the biggest hat! I followed him around whilst he pointed at things, the conversation went something like this:

“What?” as he points
“Mobile telephone” I reply
“What?” as he points again
“Amplifier for music” I reply
“What?” as he points
“Medical kit” I’d reply
“Open” he’d demand. I’d open the kit for 10 seconds before he’d quickly bark “Close”

This went on for about fifteen minutes until we stepped outside the ambulance, closed the doors and the chief then said “Bye” and shook my hand. As I walked off they stated taking in Russian then he shouted “Wait”. I turned around and he pointed to the roof rack. My heart sank a bit because hauling everything down would be a really pain in the neck. I walked back and they all started laughing and said “Bye” again –that’ll be the good old Russian sense of humour again!

I joined Russ and Stu in the queue for passport control and after a few minutes we got chatting to a few people who were aboard a large off road coach which had eighteen people on board. When they pointed to their vehicle out of the window Russ and I couldn’t believe it. Not six months ago we had see the very same vehicle on the M25 and we’d both noticed it as it was advertising trips to Mongolia – small world!

Passport control was simple enough, after more stamps we finally got though what we thought was the border, drove another 10km and then arrived at another gate. There was a single guard who asked for our passports, we handed them over and he disappeared into a small hut. Reappearing five minutes later he handed our passports and opened the gate. That was it, exit from Russia and the roads stopped.

We drove for another 15KM before we drove up to the Mongolia border. It was fairly understated, first stage was a 100 Rouble fee for a wheel wash. At the same time the lady offered us a “good price” of 1100 Mongolian Togrog (the local currency) for one dollar, we declined moving though the gate.

The whole border control process lasted around half an hour and that included bartering 500$ of Togrogs with a customs official. As we exited the border a chap in jeans and a t-shirt waved us down, being harden to beggars we drove on stopping 1KM down the road to wait for the other cars in our convoy.

We were instantly approached by lots of children who all wanted to shake our hands, it made me laugh then a boy of around three years walked up to me bold as brass with his hand out and said “Hello Mister”.

The other cars turned up and we asked what the guy in jeans wanted, they all said “Insurance” so we turned around to get our insurance. I walked up to the chap and apologised sheepishly, he laughed. Aver 2800 Tugrugs we had our Mongolia insurance document and we hit the road.

We followed the compass South East towards Olgy which would be our first town. Feeling brave we opted for a short cut over a hill. There were tyre tracks so we thought there was nothing to loose. It paid off; we arrived into a valley that the road we were following previously seemed to join. By this stage it was getting dark so we opted to camp in a valley.

We picked our spot and got the spade out to clear stones from our various camping areas. Whilst this was underway we heard a motorbike coming towards us. After a few minutes a Mongolia chap turned up at the campsite and just watched us. I went over and shook his hand, I sat in his side cart and posed for a photo (photo in the gallery). We gave him a shot of Vodka and he went on his way.

The temperature dropped that night but we all slept well, please to have made it to Mongolia and looking forward to the next 950 miles to Ulan Bator.

Mornings in Mongolia are quite laid back for us. We’d wake up some time around 08:00 maybe 09:00 if it was really cold and get the kettle on. After some tea we’d slowly pack up the tents and sort the roof rack, tidy up the inside of the ambulance and finally engine checks. The whole process would take around two hours but since we’d planned to drive six to eight hours each day we could afford to be a little relaxed.