The border crossing into Mongolia was an experience of rank! Crossing the border into Russia is nothing compared to this!
It took four hours. Such chaos, so much running and the amounts of various paper, all written in mongolian. We ALL ran like wild chickens to various loopholes to collect various stamps from different people in different slots … but … the stamps looked the same. They typed same things several times, at one time they forgot to return my registration for the bike so I had to run and look for the right person to return it back to me. When I finally found the right person, he told me to go out and put the bike in the designated place for inspection. Sure! I ran out in the rain and parked the bike at the designated point … it was inspected by a guy in military clothing. Everything was ok. Time to go back and look for the person who still has not given back my registration. When I finally found him again, he wondered why I ran after him and I said that he have to give back my regsitration for the bike. He did not understood what I was talking about but after a lot of ifs and buts, one of the germans who travelled with us, ripped it from the hand of the mongolian official. Thanx Daniel… or was it Dennis???
Now it was time to collect more stamps and fill out more remarkable papers, all in mongolian. When it was finished it was time to collect stamps AGAIN … but this time in another color…. and another inspection of the bike… but only my bike. I wonder why!?
Then it was time to drive to the next checkpoint. More paperwork, more stamps and an extra look into my passport… in the rain. After that it was time to drive the bike through a bath where I dropped my biker jacket. After been driving the bike through the bath we all had to pay 25 rubels. In the beginning we thought it was traffic insurace but it wasn´t.
I sat there on my bike, in the rain, waiting for the others, Jan and the germans. Then… next checkpoint, more paperwork, an extra look into the passport and a new inspection of my bike.
Next checkpoint where they checked all the papers and counted all the stamps, a quick look into the passport and finally Mongolia! But… before that… we had to buy traffic insurance, 400 rub els.
On our way to Ulaanbaatar… we found this horse standing in a gas station.
When we finally reached Ulaanbaatar we saw that they were rebuilding the main road in to Ulaanbaatar. Accessibility was nonexistent. We had to turn back in the middle of traffic chaos and continue our way in to Ulanbatar on incredibly bad roads by following other drivers.
Not asphalt but dirt roads leading through the suburbs that looked more like shantytowns in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Huge craters for potholes and total traffic chaos because everyone wanted to come first!
Now we had to concentrate on the tough run with regular street tires on the bikes. It took about 20 minutes to get to the main street of Ulanbator and into something that looked like asphalt with huge amounts of potholes. In the middle of Ulanbator city, traffic was even more chaotic and hectic. EVERYBODY honked … and as before ALL wanted to come through at the same time no matter what! To get through and to stay alive we had to honk like idiots and yell nasty words in English, which rarely happens in Stockholm. NOBODY followed traffic rules … not even us .. at least not in the end. Finding housing was difficult but we managed after a lot of ifs and buts to find somewhere to sleep, before it started to rain heavy and thunder.
Ulaanbaatar from the 11th floor at the hotell after a rainy day.
Pavements in Ulaanbaatar.
Shall I go and do my hair at this salon??? 😉
A sign we found in the elevator at the hotell. Funny english!
Back to bed. Not well yet after the stomach “problems” we´ve had……
//Eva
Birka Adventure Riders 