Ulan Baatar, Mongolia

Leave Russia – TICK

Arrive in Mongolia – TICK

Yes, our 4^th country in just over one month.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. One of the things that we purchased before we left Australia, was Russian road maps for our GPS, through Naviextras – we have a HEMA Hn6. We bought maps for Europe and Russia, but guess what – no maps for Mongolia. In fact, there were no maps available for Mongolia. The general consensus is that there are no roads in Mongolia!

Anyway, we left Ulan Ude and programmed the GPS with the name of the border town on the Russian side of the border, but the GPS said “No, that doesn’t exist”! We had taken the name off an English-language map, so I then had to go to our Russian Road Atlas, translate the town name from Cyrillic and lo & behold, the town does exist! So we reached Kyakhta before lunch, filled up with Russian fuel (not great but better than Mongolian, apparently) and then went looking for a magasin (store) to buy some water. And we found our first proper supermarket! Nick was beside himself because he could buy a replacement pillow – he had left his pillow behind in Khabarovsk!

Now for the border crossing. We had been warned to expect the crossing to take a few hours. Michael (our Polish-Australian acquaintance who left Vladivostok before us) had told us that it took him 2-and-a-half hours and he considered that to be relatively speedy. So we drove into the Russian side to begin processing and promptly the wrong queue. Customs first – they looked in the back, including the drawers and the side of the car, confirmed that I was the only passenger and wanted to see the car’s passport. Now, as far as I know, cars don’t have passports. Oh, we worked out that she meant the registration papers and the paperwork that we got when the car was signed into Russia. After Customs had cleared the car to depart, it was then off to Russian immigration to get the important stamps in our passport – but they too wanted to see the car’s passport. So finally, we left Russia! And now it was time to enter Mongolia. First hiccup is that all signage is in Russian or Mongolian, but a locked gate is a pretty good indication of where not to go. We also worked on the principle that if we went the wrong way, someone would come running after us!

Next, we had to pay 50 Roubles for the pleasure of driving through a quarantine pool, to wash the tyres, I suppose. Then it was down to a big empty area, except for about 6 trucks. But there were a couple of guys standing around chatting and finally they headed over. One, the Customs guy, wanted to look in the back and the drawers, wanted to see the car’s passport and wanted to talk to the driver (apparently the passenger isn’t important – merely a number. Only 1 passenger?). Then it was inside a building. One of the Mongolian officials who had been outside seemed to take us under his wing because he kept pointing to the different windows that we had to go to. Fill out the Arrival Card, go to this window, go back to that window, get a stamp on the car’s piece of paper (NOT a passport), go back to first window, show car’s papers (how many passengers? Only one?) and then go to another window, fill out this form, go to that window and get a stamp, now go to this window, and fill out another form which was only in Russian & Mongolian – but thankfully, the lady at this umpteenth window was happy to help us fill out the form and then FINALLY, we went to the last window, got the last stamp, went to the bank and changed Roubles to Turgrits ($A1 = 32 Roubles = 1470 Turgrits), thanked our guardian angel, learnt our first word of Mongolian (thank you) and headed to the gate. But wait, we had to pay 1500 Turgrits for insurance for the car (3^rd-Party Property), then beat off the money-changers before we could drive out the gate and FINALLY we were in Mongolia! I’m exhausted just trying to remember it all!

We drove about 24 kms down the road to a biggish town called Suhbaatar, found a hotel for the night and then we could relax. This hotel was the complete opposite to Russian hotels (not in quality of finish) but they showed us the room before we had to pay for it, and didn’t record any of our details – no name, no passport number… maybe we weren’t really there!

We found another hotel (we didn’t stay at the 2^nd hotel unfortunately) but they did have a really nice restaurant that did decent coffee and offered free WiFi, so we had coffee and then went back that night for dinner.

On Friday morning, we left Suhbaatar and continued south towards to Ulan Baatar. And I finally did some driving. After walking around Vladivostok and seeing Russian drivers, I wasn’t keen to drive in Russia, so when Nick asked me if I wanted to drive in Mongolia, I said “Yes”. BIG MISTAKE! As crazy, as impatient and as chaotic as Russian drivers are, Mongolian drivers make them look like Grandma on her way to a Bowls Match! And, as bad as Russian roads had been, Mongolian “roads” were … words fail me!

Anyway, I drove about half of the way to Ulan Baatar before I gave up and headed back to the passenger’s side of the car. I also left Nick the joy of driving into Ulan Baatar! Heh Heh!

I know we keep harping on the roads in this part of the world, but they truly have to be seen to be believed. As I mentioned earlier, we had heard horror stories about the roads in Mongolia but on the drive south from the border, we were going “this road isn’t too bad, a few potholes but it’s ok”, but then we reached the toll into Ulan Baatar (UB), which was a whole 500 Turgrits, and then once through the toll-gate, the road turned to *****! I think it took us about an hour & a half to travel 10 kilometres! That was through a combination of almost non-existent road (more craters than road) and traffic. Have I ever mentioned how bad traffic is in UB?

Anyway, we finally arrived at our destination and it truly was an Oasis! Yes, we have been staying at the Oasis Guesthouse, run by an Austrian (Rene) and a German (Sibylle) – from Stuttgart! And the funny thing is that the staff don’t speak English, and if you don’t speak Mongolian, then we converse in German!! It’s a hoot! We are staying in a Ger and it has been a real experience. We thought that the temperatures were starting to warm up but then on our first night, the fire went out in the early hours of the morning… thankfully, Nick got up and got the fire going again and so it was nice and warm when it was time for me to get up!

We’ve had civilized breakfasts, lovely dinners and we’ve gone exploring. We went into town by bus, and explored downtown UB. We had fun revisiting the State Department Store which has changed from an indoor Bazaar to almost early 70s Myer/Grace Bros standard. A lot has changed! Then on Sunday, we went out the Chinggis Khan Statue, which is a HUGE stainless-steel statue of Chinggis on a horse, in the middle of bloody nowhere! It’s about 45 kms from UB, over some truly dreadful roads. We saw eagles (got my photo taken holding a Golden Eagle and a Black Vulture) and camels, we had an introduction to early Mongolian history and, as always, the opportunity to experience the delights of Mongolian drivers!

On Monday, I had a me-day – Nick went exploring at the Black Market and I stayed at the hostel and vegged. The Black Market is a name that has hung-on even though it is now just an ordinary market but really, there is nothing ordinary about it. According to Nick, you could build a new car from all the parts available there. He could have bought a couple of replacement doors for my Hyundai Sonata! In the Auto Market, you could stroll down Kia Avenue, turn into Toyota Terrace, which crosses Hyundai Street. Do you need a new remote key for your car, no problem – they had all the blanks in the world laid out on a table. You need a shockie rebuilt? Certainly sir, I can do that while you wait – and believe me, they do a roaring trade.

After the Auto Market, comes the Ger market! Yes, you can buy a 4-man, 6-man, 10-man, or larger, Ger. You need new felt for the roof, or would you prefer leather or vinyl? New lattice for the internal structure – no problems. In the Food Market and the Clothes Market, there was enough stuff there to feed and clothe an army – or maybe an entire Mongolian horde!

We had been warned about pickpockets and all sorts of dangers in the Black Market. Nick said that whilst it was very crowded, he didn’t feel nervous at all and wasn’t jostled once. His only regret was that he didn’t take his camera with him, because of the warnings he had received. But, I can guarantee that if he had taken camera & cash, then he would have been targeted!

After the Black Market, we explored some of the local shops and I have to say how truly impressed we are with the Mongolian Supermarkets. First of all, they’re real supermarkets. Ok, so you can’t get a great range of some things, eg cheese, smallgoods but there is an amazing array of sheep’s heads! And an entire aisle of vodka, which you will need to wash down that damned sheep’s head or the stewed Horse meat that is also readily available. They even have a Cash’n’Carry type supermarket where you can buy a fridge, a toilet, tyres for your car, all sorts of hardware, as well as your quarterly groceries!

So the car is stocked up (no sheep’s heads, sorry), refuelled, washed, undercarriage all checked and correct, and ready to hit the “road” again tomorrow, heading south for the Gobi Desert. Our next update will probably be when we get back into Russia.

Re Mongolian drivers – if you can imagine driving a stock-standard street car, with low-profile tyres, in any rough, off-road rally, where any over-taking or under-taking manoeuvre is permitted. And if you dare to swerve to avoid a crater whilst they are performing a highly questionable overtaking manoeuvre, then they honk you! So I’m sure that you get the idea!