.. and into Russia

Repairs finished in Ulan Bataar

Mongolia/Russia border control

We left Ulan Bataar last Monday, taking two days to get to the border as our visas did not operate till Wednesday 8th.

It then took four hours to cross the border into Russia, having queued from 6.30am in the morning. One of the customs officers on the Mongolian side recognised us from 4 years ago, and did her best to ease our passage, not helped by one officious individual who said we should have been given a special bit of papers when we entered Mongolia.

Then off into Russia hoping that their roads would have improved over the last four years.
We quickly discovered that (a) the roads are still atrocious, with many kinds of dangers- the ridge and furrow road, the pothole road, the dip and undulation road, the no road at all road with just dirt dust gravel and stones, the pox road with lots of little tarmac mountains to avoid, etc etc and the cars got shaken to bits.

Prop shaft repair under way with feline onlooker

Kotka has suffered particularly, with part of the prop shaft having to be replaced yesterday, and repairs necessary to a sheared bolt on the engine block. Her block is still leaking a lot of oil and I feel we will just have to put up with it. Her gearbox has started to leak a lot of oil via the speedo drive, and Myrtle's speedo has packed up altogether, likewise her starter. The starter is not too great a problem as once Myrtle is warm, I can start her on the handle, but every morning it is a push start for her.

Job done!!

We were very lucky re the prop shaft repair- it was a public holiday but luckily one of the many Russians pausing in their car to photograph us halted when we signalled distress, knew a local mechanic who just happened to be working, who knew a spare parts shop that just happened to be open. The repair took five hours, and now the prop shaft at least is in good working order again.

and (b) Russia is a lot more expensive than when we were last here - for example, a stuffy room with no shower or basin or loo cost us thirty pounds last night, that giving us the right to use a separate shower, which at least did have hot water, and a single communal basin and loo on the ground floor, both of which were filthy.