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Published: October 18th 2007
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Sept 21
Back on the road towards the Mongolian border. Once we had paid our (dis)respect to the giant Lenin head in the town square, we were off. It was 7 degrees C at 10am in the morning, and there was a bitter wind blowing (fortunately in our favour). We stopped to visit the Ivolgolinsk datsan, built in 1955 as a concession by Stalin to ‘religious tolerance’. For this reason, it had a decidedly 1950’s look, made from bricks.but with colourful wooden rooftops. The many buddhist temples that used to be in the area were destroyed in the early years of communism. The temple seems to be a favourite site for wedding blessings, we saw two bridal parties there for photos and drinks, and maybe a blessing. The brides were wearing white dresses and their clothing looked far too clean and elaborate for the grimy areas surrounding us, we wondered how they would cope in the toilet (which no doubt would have been grim, although we didn’t venture over to investigate it ourselves)
One bride and groom pair invited us to drink with them, I was given wine but Nig had to down the customary vodka shot, which was very
large and served in a plastic cup. Cheers and clapping for him, but it went down too easily and there didn’t seem any effects??
We had a picnic lunch surrounded by stray dogs who were very hopeful and patient, some appearing very healthy and others very undernourished. We waited until we had eaten what we wanted before throwing them a few scraps, so they wouldn’t get too bold and become aggressive towards us.
We had a flying descent in the afternoon amidst beautiful scenery and with a tail wind propelling us along, it was a wonderful feeling. We found ourselves a nice free camp spot with some shelter next to a tributary of the Selenga river. A couple of stray dogs came to have a look but did not linger. We were careful about packing up our food scraps so they were not attracted to tent during the night.
Sept 22
Another fantastic day on the road. The scenery is getting wilder and wilder with bare craggy hills to either side, and autumnal coloured tundra grasses on the plains. We stopped in a town which appeared fairly large on the map and found a depressed looking place with
a power station next to a big lake. We were the only customers in the restaurant, which looked as if it could do with some serious input from Gordon Ramsay! In the restaurant it was difficult to communicate, but we ended up with bread, salad, and hot chips, made from freshly cut potatoes so it was very successful altogether. The staff were so patient with us, and tried hard to give us what we wanted. It made me wonder what kind of reception you would get in NZ or UK if you just went to a restaurant and said ‘bread’, ‘soup’, ‘potato’ ‘salad’ as those are about the only Russian words we know!
In the afternoon we had a hill to climb, and then another ripping descent with strong tail wind. We found a beautiful camping spot sheltered by an embankment amongst the colourful tundra grasses. Dark clouds are gathering and I hope we are not in for another dose of Siberian rain!
Sept 23
Another beautiful day on the road, today with almost no traffic and nowhere at all to spend our money. Stopped in Kalinsha where a man left his potato patch to fill us a bottle
of water from his well.
Sept 24
Border crossing day. A great relief to be over the border with no hassle.
Trip notes
Sept 20 Rest day Ulan Ude
Hotel Buryatia - 1400 Rb
Food and drink - 1400 Rb
History museum - 200Rb
Total = 3000 Rb
Euro = 84
Sept 21 Ulan Ude to … (80.5km) from Ulan Ude towards Mongolian border, following A165
Visited Ivolginsk datsan (10km detour off main route) where we met the 3 Polish backpackers we had met on the train. They had been camping in the mountains at 1500m and it snowed!
Last 30km of today was a fast rolling descent with tailwind. Temp 7 degrees C when we left Ulan Ude, maybe a bit colder with wind chill.
Free camp by tributary of Selenga river.
Sept 22 79km further along the A165 towards Mongolian border
Free camp
Strong tail wind in afternoon
Restaurant 200 RB
Grocery shop 250 RB
Total = 450 RB
Euro = 12.6
Sept 23
Awoke to a frost.
Free camp
74km further along road towards border.
No money spent(nowhere to spend it!)
Sept 24
Crossed border
to Mongolia -crossing went smoothly though we met a motorcycle tourists who had been delayed for a day at the Russian border due to insurance problems.
Sukhbataar 53.5 Km
Food and drink 300
Hotel Orgki - 12000 togrog + 2000 for bicycle security (asked for later in the evening!) no hot water, heating, or lock on the door and toilet wouldn’t flush but they did provide boiled hot water and cooked us nice vegetarian meals.
Dinner in restaurant - 11050 togrog
Changed money at bank within Mongolian border buildings.
Exchange rate = 1189 togrog = $1 US
Euro = 26
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