leaving Irkutsk & heading for Mongolia

Heading for Mongolia – 2 Aug 2012 – mile 13, 910

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August 2nd 2012
Back in Irkutsk we collect our visas from the Mongolian Embassy and set off on the 700km ride to the border. We wind our way through heavily wooded hillsides heading towards the south-western tip of Lake Baikal. There are very occasional glimpses of the lake but mostly its views of taiga covered hills disappearing off into the distance. There are more birch trees, with their gleaming white bark, t ... read more

Europe » Russia » Siberia » Kyakhta

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Founded in the 12th century, the Principality of Muscovy, was able to emerge from over 200 years of Mongol domination (13th-15th centuries) and to gradually conquer and absorb surrounding principalities. In the early 17th century, a new Romanov Dynas... ... read more