This is our on the road map...
Day 37 Sunday, 29 August 2010
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Initially, we waited out side to see if Max and Andy would be able to clear through customs. As time passed we increasingly thought that it would be unlikely that they would be getting through customs anytime soon. We therefore decided that we would get a taxi into Sukhbaatar and then get the train on from there to Ulaanbaatar.First though I thought that I would try and get rid of the remaining Tenge; this turned out to be a mistake. I got the Tenge that I had out of my wallet and no sooner than I had done... Read more ... |
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Day 34 Thursday, 26 August 2010
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As I said in my earlier brief post I didn’t think that this would be an easy border to cross. Unfortunately, I turned out to be right. It was with a certain amount of inevitability that we were held up at the border. This was because we did not have the original copy of the vehicle registration form (V5) only a copy of it (albeit a very fine colour copy; thanks to Monica). The customs broker (I won’t tell you the nickname she gained but I’ll call her BB) said that despite all the information being on there... Read more ... |
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I said in an earlier post that Bishkek was a random place. I can safely say that crossing the Mongolian border makes our trip to Bishkek look as normal as the sun rising in the morning or as a pot hole on a Kazakh road.It all started off sane enough, the car got to the Russian border in good shape (and in part thanks to directions from a Russian general). The fact that my passport said I was called Patrick in Cyrillic (a fact that I had first noted in Trabzon) finally got spotted and held us for... Read more ... |
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Day 31 Monday, 23 August 2010
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Only a brief post to say that we have arrived in Ulan Ude (I will write more later) and will be making a dash for the Mongol border today. It is supposed to a difficult border to cross so wish us luck. ... Read more ... |
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The reason for staying in Russia for longer was that we thought that the roads would be better than those in Mongolia and so we would get to the finish line sooner and importantly before we had to catch our flights.For the first day’s travel this was the case and we were able to cover about 1,000 km. The next morning was a different story.It was not too long before we ran into what I will say were extensive road works. (I’m sure that this is true for some parts of the road but for much of... Read more ... |
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Day 30 Sunday, 22 August 2010
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After the tough times that we had in Kazakhstan Novosibirsk was a refreshing change.We got into town and mulled about for a relatively short time; usually we take a good while to find the internet and even longer to find some where to stay. At this juncture I think that it is worth mentioning the hot chocolate I had. Now I don’t know if this is a thing that is wide spread across Russia but when I got my drink it came as a mug of mouse and a glass of water, which I had to mix my... Read more ... |
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Day 27 Thursday, 19 August 2010
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The next morning we managed to find our way, with the help of a couple of locals, to a car parts market. Here we were able to get an inner tube fitted into the slightly dodgy rim we had and find directions to a place that would be able to fix the other rim.By the time we head for the Russian border we were back up to two spare and were feeling in better spirits (although still being quite keen to get off the Kazakh roads).Our penultimate border crossing turned out to be a fairy simple affair... Read more ... |
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After Alamty we turned back northward toward the Russia border. This meant getting back on the road toward Astana. Fortunately this time we managed to avoid any further damage to the tyres. In fact we made good time and were able to camp just outside Karagandy.The next day we turned Eastward with the aim of crossing the border near Semey. The roads from Karagandy to Semey go through some very scenic countryside and would be a very pleasant drive if it weren’t for the fact the road is as bad as the view is good. (If it weren’t... Read more ... |
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It was only a brief stop in Almaty (as so many of our stops have been) but nonetheless it brought about a significant change.First though, let me mention Almaty. I like Almaty; it seems like a proper city. It feels like it has a bit of history about it. Importantly, it has a place that describes itself as a brewery (called Ultras), which I’m a little disappointed that we didn’t get chance to take a tour of. Also, apparently, you can go skiing near there.Anyway, the... Read more ... |
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Day 23 Sunday, 15 August 2010
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We were now in Kyrgyzstan so we went to get a taxi to Bishkek. We managed to haggle the price down from 600 Som (~$13) to 200 Som (~$4) largely by just walking passed the taxies in order to change money. (This price, I am quite happy to mention, was later described as ridiculous by the English speaking cabbie who sorted out our taxi back to the border).We were dropped off in what we were assured was the centre of town (we did have our doubts initially) and found the nearest hotel. From the outside the hotel almost... Read more ... |
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