Day 14 – 16 July – Ulan Ude

 
 Another scorcher.  Easy border crossing this morning. At the China/Mongolia border we met a group of about 10 Toyota hilux's etc from Thailand that are doing a similar journey but from Thailand to London. They had been there all day from opening and got through at 10 to 6 at night same as us. This time they hit the Russia/Mongolia border last night. They were turned away as it was too late to process them. We were at the border at 7am and luckily beat them or else we would have had a long wait.

As soon as we stop in the queue money traders come round asking if you need to change any bucks. Whilst we were dealing with one guy another woman comes and pushes in. They wave wads of roubles in your face and offer their rate on the calculator. They are very quick with their calculations and we get a good deal , better than a bank. They like USD but only new notes not the old print ones.

We had been told to take the Russian immigration very seriously, that we might be split up and it could take hours. The reality was smiling guards, some very thorough face checking and a speedy exit. Oh, and one very hot Russian border guard. Think Daniel Craig. Mmm.
Apparently it was the quickest time a group had been through with Greg before! That makes up for China.

The scenery changed instantly. There were lots of trees. So either Mongolia cuts them all down or Russia plants them. Even the architecture has changed already. The roads remain bad but we don’t care. It is a beautiful day. We stop for a roadside lunch at a rest area. As a treat we have shake and pour pancakes with canned NZ butter with watermelon – Yum. We notice lots of coins on the road by the spot and I see a truck drive past and coins tossed out on the road. We deduce that it is a spot to ask for blessings so we toss a few out as we leave also.

We are in Hotel Geser in Ulan Ude for the night.  There is a Russian wedding on downstairs and all the guests are dressed beautifully. The boys are in the carpark trying to fix the solenoid on one of the Landcruisers that has sucked a kumara. – We had to push start the truck out of Russian immigration!