Wednesday 24 October 2007
We awoke to a beautiful sunny day. We thought that the bad weather might have changed because we could see the moon last night.
We actually had some problems last night. Beside us in the car park at the hotel where Alexey was staying, a huge diesel truck started at about 10.30 pm. The noise was amazing, but worse was the fact that the exhaust was right beside us and within minutes the Earthroamer was filled with pungent fumes of half-burnt diesel with Carbon Monoxide. Dick leapt out of the Earthroamer and went around to the driver, who was trying to get some sleep in the sub-zero temperatures, so he had turned on his engine to get some warmth. This is understandable. However the noise was so colossal and the fumes were so bad that we knew we would have to move. Dick moved the Earthroamer to the other end of the car park, checking to ensure that the top of the cab didn’t hit the roof of the building.
The next problem was that our wonderful little diesel heater stopped working. It had been so reliable! We could only think that the fumes from the truck had triggered some type of safety device and turned off the heater. It might have been freezing cold in the Earthroamer, but in our bed it was nice and warm.
We knew we would have to fix the heater in the Earthroamer this morning – which we tried to do. We rang Mike at Earthroamer in Denver, who suggested pulling out fuses and re-setting various things. Unfortunately this was to no avail.

We left the yard at about 8.45 am and refuelled with diesel at a local garage. This will give us a range of about 1,600 km. We headed up the road towards Tashanta and the border. What was going to happen?



The sun was up and it was a beautiful clear day. The snow covered mountains of the Altai were shining in the distance.

We climbed through 6,000 feet and arrived at the town of Tashanta. The border post was just on the other side. The record to get through this border we understand is two days. How long was it going to take us?
The first problem occurred almost immediately. Before the border post, a Russian guard dressed in uniform decreed that Alexey was not allowed to come through to the border to translate for us. This appeared to be ridiculous – but once a decision had been made, that was it. So we bade farewell to Alexey and unloaded his bags. We wished him a good trip back in the taxi to Barnaul, by plane to Moscow to visit his relatives, and home to Almaty so he could resume his work.

With apprehension we drove the few hundred metres to the border post, but it was absolutely fantastic.

In 35 minutes we were through all of the formalities. The Russians were friendly – most only spokea few words of English but that was enough to get us through.
Remember the drama of the day before, when we spent 1½ hours at the local post office, filling in form after form to “register” ourselves? We had been told by numerous people that we had to do this, and everything was done in great detail before being sent to Moscow under seal. To see if this was necessary, we decided that we would keep the paperwork that we received in a separate folder and not say anything about it at the border. Sure enough, no one asked for it and there wasn’t the slightest query that there was no “registration” form or anything in our passport. We just sailed through. So it was obvious that it was a complete and utter waste of time. At least that might be a hint for fellow travellers.
We then headed further up towards the pass and the Mongolian border. We were told there was about 15 km of “no man’s land.” The road was covered with snow but the Earthroamer traction was good.

Right at the top of the pass was another guard at a gate. This guard looked at our passports and the various bits of paper we had before forwarding us through.
The height at this point was 8,145 feet. We then dropped down into Mongolia. It is interesting that the number of vehicles going through appeared to be no more than a dozen or so per day. Whilst we were at the passport control on the Russian side, two other vehicles were there, plus a couple of trucks. It was very quiet.


There is no doubt that with heavy snow the road would be closed until it could be cleared. We were fortunate. The snow was completely surrounding us. It was 19º Fahrenheit – that is 13º below the freezing point.

At 11.00 am we stopped at big gates which were obviously at the Mongolian border post. A group of yaks wandering across the road actually stopped us first – a great welcome to Mongolia. A lady met us and sprayed the wheels of the vehicle. She then asked Dick to reverse the Earthroamer back to her cab – we had driven past it, not realising that she was there. We paid about 40 Rubles to have the Earthroamer sprayed and the lady also changed some money for us.
We then drove into the border post proper. We were met by very friendly Mongolians, who immediately said, “Welcome to Mongolia!”
Australian Geographic readers may remember that many years ago we had supported a young man, Graham Taylor, to walk and ride Mongolian horses across Mongolia. Graham remained in Mongolia and set up his own very successful travel business in Ulaan Baatar.
We had arranged with Graham to send one of his guides to the border to help us through. However because we had got through the Russian border so quickly, we actually arrived two hours early and there was no one to meet us. There was no problem though because everyone was so helpful. We completed the formalities in 45 minutes.
Both of us were incredibly delighted that we had got through both border crossings by ourselves. It can sometimes be a problem to get through the enormous amount of paperwork when you cannot speak the local language. In this case we succeeded beyond our wildest expectations – and we did this without assistance.
We started to head into Mongolia proper, but as we drove out of the border post a friendly man stopped us and showed that he was selling Mongolian insurance. It looked as if he hadn’t sold any insurance for years. Even though we knew that Graham Taylor had arranged insurance for us, we agreed to buy some. It cost all of $40 so we are now double insured. Whilst we paid for the insurance, we also thought that our guide might arrive. This was not the case so we headed off down the road towards the first town.
At 12.10 pm, a little Russian Jeep came up the road with our guide, Eldos, and his driver, Dagas (who happened to be Eldos’ uncle). We were delighted to meet them. Even though we were in Mongolia, both Eldos and Dagas are actually Kazakhs. This area has a 90% Kazakh population. As we have mentioned before, we love the friendliness of the Kazakhs, and it was the same with Eldos and Dagas.

Just past the town of Tsagaannuur, the road completely disappeared. We were driving on wheel ruts that seemed to head off in different directions. Every now and then Eldos would tell Dick to keep left or keep right, and we would look ahead to see the Jeep going on a different course. At different stages we would be in snow 4 or 5 inches deep, and then on dry land.

At 12.25 pm we stopped for lunch. We invited Eldos and Dagas into the Earthroamer. They brought in some delicious roast lamb and Mongolian tea – or perhaps it could have been Kazakh tea.

We were on the road again at 1.15 pm. We were at an altitude of 8,400 feet and it was freezing cold outside. We had to climb an enormous mountain range covered in ice and snow. No problems – we jumped out of the Earthroamer to lock the free-wheeling front wheel hubs and put the vehicle into 4WD low range.

This magnificent 350 horsepower, 7 tonne vehicle climbed up the 35º gradient covered with snow and patches of ice. We are glad that we purchased this vehicle. Dick gave Eldos the high definition video camera and we filmed the Earthroamer climbing the spectacular landscape.


In the distance we could see high mountains. Eldos had explained that the highest mountain in Mongolia was to the south – and he had climbed it recently. We passed herders with their horses and sheep. This was the true Mongolian countryside.



About 20 km before the town of Olgii, we came upon a magnificent bitumen road. We had never seen anything like it. The road was dead smooth and you could have driven at any speed.

This is part of the Millennium Highway that the Government is building for the people. This highway is to go from the western-most point of Mongolia right through to Ulaan Baatar. That is about 1,700 km, and currently most of the road is unmade.

It is amazing that the old Soviet ways have completely gone from Mongolia. They now have a democracy, with Governments making promises and not fulfilling them – just as they do in all democracies. The highway was supposed to be finished by 2010 but it is pretty obvious that it won’t be completed until probably 2020.
When we came through the Russian border, the Russians told us that there were no roads in Mongolia. That was about the only English they knew – they obviously warned everyone travelling in that direction.
Eldos invited us to park the Earthroamer at his family home in Olgii. We met Eldos’ mother, Sandergash, in the yard at their home.
The most amazing thing happened – suddenly the heater started to work! As we are transcribing this a few hours later, the heater is warming us beautifully. We have also been able to connect our 220 volt charger to a power point in the garage so we have a totally full battery. Everything seems to work really well.
Eldos took us into the town where we purchased some really good beanies. It is absolutely freezing outside. At the present time the temperature is about -6º Fahrenheit.

We also changed money with a fascinating little man who was sitting in his Jeep with huge amounts of cash on the dashboard. Originally we tried the bank but their cash deposits had been locked away, and they suggested that we would get a better rate from the man in the street.
Dick purchased a new 220 volt plug because the plug that we had been using is a bit dicky. We also purchased 10 metres of rope which could be handy.

We are now back in the yard and Sandergash has invited us to go to her place for dinner. We are looking forward to tasting some truly Mongolian food (or possibly it will be Kazakh food!)
We travelled 180 km today – it is not a great distance but it was a wonderful drive.
We should mention that where the roads don’t exist, they really don’t exist. We are lucky to do 20 kph. It is going to take us a long time to get to Ulaan Baatar, but we love Mongolia. We love the people – everyone is friendly, everyone laughs and smiles, and they are fascinated with our big Earthroamer. We are really enjoying ourselves.

Today 180kms 25,095kms since Anchorage, Alaska
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