A queue of dozens of cars lined up behind us 200 meters from the border. We made sure that our cars were not thrown into a ditch or punctured tires and mentally thanked the border guard.
At 9:00 the border opened, and we drove in with the first batch of cars right after two buses that squeezed through the oncoming lane. As it turned out, we drove very well - right after us the border was closed for cars and gasoline tankers were allowed to bypass the traffic jams. It cost everyone else a couple of hours of wasted time on top of the usual lineup. By the way, all gasoline in Mongolia is either ours or Chinese. The attitude to Chinese in Mongolia is about the same as we have to everything Chinese - "fu, this is Chinese gasoline, go to that gas station, even if there is no 95th, but the gasoline is good (read, Russian)"
So, we stopped at the border. Looking ahead, the whole procedure took us 2 hours - about 1 hour with a little to our border (from the moment we entered the checkpoint zone), then we had to drive through a clean zone of about 20 km, where we must not stop, then we stood a little before entering Mongolian checkpoint, filled in papers in Mongolian (with duplication in English - this is important, because earlier travelers complained that these forms were not translated at all - now at least something can be understood there) and passed the Mongolian border twice as fast as our.

I'll tell you more about border crossing. 6 cars are started. They get up about three large metal tables, on which absolutely everything will have to be shaken out of the cars. Well, that's it! The glove compartment was only allowed not to be turned out. From the beginning - passport control, then you return to the car, which is searched in the most intent manner with dogs in front of you, asked to open the hood, and asked questions about drugs on duty. I had a gas canister and had to throw it away. There were no problems with the rest. In the trunk there were 3 cans of 20 liters, only one of which was full. I took out all 3 and put them side by side. If my memory serves me, then with all the severity of the procedure, no one even approached them. Nobody found or examined the secrets under the seats and under the floor in Kuga either. In fact, from our side, everything is more or less simple and clear, and if something is prompted, the border guards are friendly and talkative. A small nuance - this border is only an automobile one and it is impossible to cross it on foot, so before the border there are people who ask to get into a car to cross the border. I read that it is extremely unsafe - people are different, up to drug trafficking, so they did not take anyone, although there were seemingly decent-looking Europeans - the most dangerous type - you don't expect a catch from them)
With us in the queue for passport control was a local, who just earns taxing across the border. He told us that we almost got into the Naadam holiday, when the border simply closes for 4 days! The holiday is great. We did not feel it, tk. they were mostly on the way, but they believed that the main attributes of the holiday were horse races, archery tournaments and traditional wrestling. The fight, by the way, is very peculiar - there are no boundaries of the ring - everything happens on football fields(from what we saw on TV), there are no time limits, or rather, if they exist, then we switched the channel before)) The men are standing, pushing and trying to grab each other by the meager items of clothing. It differs from sumo at least in that the wrestlers are quite athletic and not so fat, although they are pot-bellied. In general, an amateur spectacle)
At the border, the following picture was observed - for the horizon as far as the eye can see there is a thorn and a sandy strip for footprints. We look and see that a herd of cows is trudging across the border through some kind of gate. And damn, they obviously do not show their passports and luggage to anyone)) We asked the border guards about this, and they said that yes, in the zone between the borders of 20 km it is allowed to graze cattle within the framework of intergovernmental agreements) In short, cows migrate calmly)

Travel to Mongolia

We have been going to the Mongolian Altai for a long time. Many members of our company teams of 8 people had their own interest there. The expedition was planned for the endSeptember - early October. It was decided to go by two minibusessah-off-road vehicles. We made a route using the map and calculated an estimate ..

As agreed, meet everyone fox early in the morning of September 24le monument to the leader on the centralnoy area of ​​the village. Kosh-Agach - regional centerra Mountain Altai... Loaded the luggage andmoved to the border checkpoint "Tashanta ". Each car has 4 peoplecentury, personal belongings, camp equipmentnie, products. 45 km from Kosh-Agach to"Tashanta" passed almost withoutturns and climbs. Around onlyautumn steppe yes clear silhouettes ridgethat Saylyugem on the horizon.

Everything at the new Russian customs"Like an adult": all luggage, like in aegrumble, passed through x-raysinstallation, check passports andthe cars themselves. But everything goes bybusiness, fast and clear. To touristsspecial attitude at customs, the boundariesmore often with surprise: what is there, in MongoLei, do something? Taking into account fillingall customs papers proceduretook no more than 2.5 hours. (You needI can have a foreign passport with monGolskoy visa and international carsmobile rights.)

At the "Tashanta" kilometer tablebov is gone. But the road is pretty decentnaya. Another 20 km of traction with constantclimb - and we are on the borderDurbet-Daba pass (2481 m),who greeted us with a cold prothe downward wind. Dilapidatedtied house of the border postthin thin Mukhtar. On the border, on nota large dirty concreted areaspade, two pillars are lonelyka - red-green and blue-brownny, symbolizing the statenye borders of Russia and Mongolia. Not youwalking out of the car, showed the documents,and the barrier was raised.

WITH once abroad asthe falt is over. Not a centimeteron the Mongolian side! Entrancewe press to the new customs termlu. The gate is locked. We are like zakoposthe best foreigners are waiting patiently.After a while, mon came upa goal in a gauze bandage on his face andkami explained to take a detourthis new complex is steep fromscythe of the mountain. If not for this person, sowould have waited until dark.The old customs house is called UlanBayshint "(" red yurt ").

Terminal more like a grain receiving pointa completely ruined collective farm. At customsnot without special problems to issue usAre there any papers in Mongolianke, and we moved on.On the first bridge at the lake. DanshigNuur we were charged a fare (up toheavy duty 1500 tugriks plustransport tax 6,000 tugriks seach minibus). Explainedthat this money will go to maintenanceroads. But it is clear that no one canand never contained.

The roads are here - this is exactly what is called directionlazy: several dozen parallelsnice rolled ruts going toone direction and invariablyon the passes and bridges. Edacue 20-lane Mongolian highway.You need to be extremely attentive on itnym: any subtle branchcan easily lead to thatrush to some lonely stayshu. The road is broken by heavy loadskami and "UAZ" (soil - solid clayon with a stone), our speed even fromrelatively flat areas are rarely went 35-40 km / h.

The front axle is notincluded, since the road went to the basicsnom downhill. Plots with rubble, doglump and even with large stones wavewe overcame without much effort.But 1.5 hours before the sun beginshide behind low ridges, wedrove only 30 km. Meeting machineswere rare. It was mostly hardlight trucks and fuel trucks from Russiasky numbers. From local cars tomostly old "UAZs".

Already at dusk we passed the townTsagan-Nuur - a small one-storyvillage with ruins of farms and koshars.Having decided to break the bivouac, they facedproblem: there were a lot of flat spots, butall the soil is strewn with rather largestones, and pitch the tent so thatit would be comfortable to sleep, not easy. Yes andwith water "strained". It's almost darkthey drove into the valley of a dry riverHara-Magnai-Gol and began to put on patches.

Tea was quickly boiled on gasand judging that “the morning of the evening is wiseher ", went to sleep under the low black,strewn with a scattering of the brightest ashesth stars in the sky of Mongolia.In the morning we felt on ourselves thatsuch an autumn Mongolian dawn. Gasfrozen in cylinders and did not want to goroar in full force. Finally from behind the mountainthe sun came out and everyone stirredfaster. Together we turned camp, andour little caravan moved farshe. Immediately began to meet the floordestroyed mounds. (We were stilldid not know how many of them would be on our paths.)

We are driving along the bottom of a dry valley, whichIt is surrounded by low mountains.Here is the Obotyn-Daba pass (2643 m).It's blowing cold, almost scorching veter. At the very pass, there is a pile ofyes stones - the famous about. Nearim a lot of broken homemadecrutches. Further the road is practicaltends to constantly go down, to the sidewell in the center of the westernmost aimag -Bayan-Ulegey. Birds are almost invisiblebut the local marmots have not yet gone to bedand fearlessly stand along the road. Pochmet near the cityshoy herd of horses.

NS At the entrance to the city at the firstask the fallen taxi driverwhether the road to the travel agency "CanatTour ". In a nice one-story officewith a cafe almost in the center of the city, we are metthey were very welcoming. While we are walking Whether around the city, the Canat Tour staff promptly issued a registration and a pass to the national park for us. Bayan-Ulegey - by our standards,rather a large settlement. But in the centerthere is a bazaar, mail with the Internet, notlarge hotels, cafes, a museum, etc.whose attributes of the city.

There is also a cell connection. First of all, we visited the bazaar. Onthere is a whole line near himmotorcycles - red "Izha" and oldUralov. Guys in yellow sit on themconstruction helmets. First thought:biker hangout. But it turned out to beordinary taxis. They go wherever you goher heart desires, even in Ulan Bator. Nottaxis are already more serious in the distance:mainly "UAZs" of different designstions and degrees of preservation.

Apparently they didn’t have to go through the inspectionnever die. Many have such rubberthat not only the cord sticks out. Neverthelessthere are signs on the windshields "Barnastreet "," Ust-Kamenogorsk "," Pavlodar ",Astana. Next to a taxi - movingnye "exchange offices": the same hundredsmall cars with glued on the lobosnew glasses with banknotes: grewRussian rubles, Kazakhstani tenge, Chinese yuan, American dollars.

Most marketable productslaid out directly on the ground or on a carton boxes; mostly Chineseth production. For a small computerin the yuther hall right on the street arebilliard tables (about 20), and ongenus, including 8-10 year olds,chases balls with passion. A bit further,on the next street, right on the dustyheaps of sheep skins are laid out on the ground,yaks and other livestock. Right there next to -cut carcasses of animals.We returned to the office of the travel agency. Prikiezeros that diesel fuel for the entire route to uswill not be enough, and by purchasing in the local marketseveral Chinese canisters, filled them under the neck.

Towards evening, whenyes the documents were ready, we went toside of Sagsai-Gol.Even during the preparation for the expeditionWe have read a lot of reports. Everythingtheir authors recommended taking fromthe fight of the local guide. We didn’tneglect advice and do not regret it.Togo Tsedenbal went with us. Edinstthe military difficulty was that hedid not speak Russian or English at allliski. But he spoke wellzahski. Due to overloading of machines,we could not take the driver, but from the Turkof the "interpreters" among us turned out to beonly Andrey Yurchenkov.

O five famous Mongolian"Comb" (road with deepruts and bumps). For somein some areas it shakes so much that even a guidepower amplifier does not help and steering wheel beechknocks out of the hands, at the same timeturn on the right turn and "dvorneyki ". If we were driving "UAZs", then onsurely something would fall off onthe very first kilometers. We only havea steep ascent to the Modon-Ho passshoyotiin-Davaa (2384 m) by the car, onflying on the boulder, the protection came offcrankcase (crankcase is a container for avcar oil).

How could, under drove with a sledgehammer, tied with a rope(no wire can be found there) and it’s alreadywe moved further into the river valleySagsai-Gol. Behind the village of Sagsay, pereriding across the bridge of the river, we camped onshore near a lonely larch. Undergeneral "Hurray!" raised the flags of Russia,Kazakhstan, Mongolia and drank tostart of the expedition. Today we passed whether only 114 km.

The whole next day you can call mountain: continuous ascents onpasses and plateaus.

Modon-HoshoiyoiyinDaba (2384 m), Achagardag-Daba (2698 m),lake Har-Nuur (2493 m) ... Naked everywherelifeless rocks, solid stonesplacers. Classic maddenedsediments left by the ancient icenickname. There is practically no water. NezaMetropolitan area drove up to the postgo of the park "Altai Tavan Bogd" ("Altai Tavan Bogd "). Large Mongolian yurt,outbuildings. While aboutbelieved our permission, invitedinside the yurt. It seemed that we were waiting there whether.

Hot milk tea, kurt (saltdried sheep cheese), yerimshik(dried cottage cheese), kaymak (thick mixturetana) and many other localniy. The yurt is clean, tidy,a large chest of drawers stands chinese bodyvisor, carpets on the walls, animal skins,stuffed birds. Eat, drank, pay offfox, said goodbye to hospitable hostsevami - and "on horses."On mountain roads suspectbut often began to come across base caps pains.

They are usually lost by passengerstrucks loaded with yurts and prochim belongings. And the luggage is muchbigger than the car itself. And on verhu this mountain the nomads themselves sitki with the kids. Often meetsemi-disassembled trucks thatlocal drivers are trying to repairtart right on the side of the dustyroads. And next to them there are no less7-10 passengers. The cars are followednumerous herds of rams, goats,sarlykov (as the locals callyaks), horses, surprisingly shaggycows, camels.

These are the localsroam down to winter pastures. And wewe go up! It's getting a littlehe is uncomfortable with the thought of a possible dreamge and ice on the passes. But in the mountain uplinakh many yurts are still turning white, and so far wenot alone. In the Hodon Gol Valley, there arecrowded: every now and then there are nolarge camps of 2-5 yurts per racestanding a few hundred meters friendfrom friend. Near the bridge over the river there iseven a gas station: a cistern buried in the groundon and one mechanical column.

In its free sale of gasoline A-80 at a pricejust above the city. The owner will gladlyposes. Demonstrates workspeakers, without removing from the mouth of the litcigarettes. But there is no diesel fuel. Good thatwe stocked up in advance.By the evening we drive up to the pogrethe outpost with China, standing onshore beautiful lake Dayan-Nuur.Further along the southeast coasthectares of the lake do not let us in. It's time to putcamp. Not far away on the slope of the vieden a small forest.

There is no water, but but there is firewood, and you can at least a littlego to shelter from the cold wind. Byeguys set up a camp, we threewent to the lake. It was getting dark. Fast timesshook fishing tackle to tiewhat is the famous Mongoliansky fishing. The fish did not force itselfwait a long time: almost by the fifth inbros pecked pretty decent onthe size of the grayling. Until dark, minutesover 25, managed to catch a couple moreke fish. On the speedometer 125 km - ourday crossing.

Have It started with a strong wind. Neitherwhat kind of fishing is not necessary anddream: there is a storm on the lakeemits foam from steep wave crests. Cloudsdust is lifted into the air. Occasionallygusts of wind throw a handful at usno coarse coastal sand. HoneyLenno drove up to south bank ozera Khurgan-Nuur (2072 m). Solid kachangeable terraces, large anglesboulders, wetlands,

fords through small mountain rivers.

I came across a very painternaya group of local residents on the willowpeople loaded with yurts, beds,barrels and other household belongings.Finally, here are the first ancient zagorothe opinions that we read about in the reports.All, as if on command, got the camerary. Two small Turkic burial moundsrectangular shape. Ancient Tyrki for the memorial rite afterthe funeral was erected a kind of temple:a fence was laid out on the ground in the form square.

Possibly square handicapma symbolized the homeland, whichthe Turks represented in the form of a square,at the corners of which are locatedhi. Near every grave there is a statue -a stone woman, and then two rowsupright small kachange columns going somewhereinto the distance, into the steppe. UAZ drove up withlocal numbers. Passenger of the eyea middle-aged Frenchwoman got intoToraya has been living here for 25 years now.the Golsky name Tunga.

Writes books about Mongolia. We get up in the sky at nightshom larch forest, protectingblowing us from the strong wind. Our securrent mileage is 68 km.Thermometer in the car in the morning showingminus 11 ° С, but the wind almost died down,and the bright mountain sun is shining. Target ontoday’s passage is a lakeHoton-Nuur. Soon on the way again the priesta frontier post is given. Released ongreet the officers, friendly, goodThey come with us, check the documents.

After another 500 m we approach the bridgeacross the Syrgal channel between lakesKhoton-Nuur and Khurgan-Nuur in the zi areamovers Shargalga. This is where we really areI have learned what Mongolianfishing! Almost every castthe tackle was lucky: the big one was caught,weighing up to 1 kg, grayling. The fish was chasingany spinner and often caught onsideways, then gills, then belly. Placesnye guys, without any special undertakings, justthrew a piece of thick fishing line with barea tee at the end and also does not remainvaulted without prey.

In half an hour, reshiv that we have enough fish for dinner, andCatch it anyway for the future and, most importantly,will not be able to save, let's move on.Goodbye gave the boys 100 mfishing line and a couple of small spinners.The bridge across the channel is made ofnoah larch, and as nastyala used poles from the same sheetwedges with a diameter of up to 10 cm. But ourthe cars passed without any problems. Razgowe scamper as soon as we can, thunderinglymoo the poles of the bridge and with the acceleration of the highnod to the steep sandy oppositefalse northern bank of the channel.

Dahl our path lies in the northweston the shore of Lake Khoton-Nuur to the veryits northern end. There, according to theboor, there are numerous rockdrawings. And while one went tosearch for petroglyphs, others again racescovered spinning rods.Snow-capped Mongolian peaksof the Altai were reflected in the mirrorthe waters of the lake. Fishing this time

was not so successful: far into the water it is impossible to enter, and the tackle is oftenclung to the rocky bottom.

Catching a dozen grayling and tearing off a couple of bleusep, decided for today fishing lawchit, especially since the daily catch providedbaked us a good supper. Returnedour friends. Their excursion was wheremore successful: on steep slopesmountains they found hundreds of petroglyphs: inmostly images of animals. Ochea rare camp was set up near the pusthat wintering in the lower reaches of the Ut-Hai Rivertone-Goal. Hastily built a hearth, forcovering fire from the wind, and on coals baked the fish.

We spent the night in woodenwintering buildings. On this day odo We were only 28 km away. Morning again "pleased" its"Freshness". Until the sun rosetse, everyone wore warm jackets orwrapped themselves in blankets. Auditeddiesel fuel. It seems that it will not be enough forpath to the valley of the Tsagan-Gol river, to the mountainsNominal node Tavan-Bogd-Uul (4374 m).It's a pity ... Well, the roads are not at stakeare expected. We will also meet with the sacred mi peaks!

It was decided to returnXia through the passes east of the lakes inthe valley of the Kobdo-Gol river and through the villagelok Tsengal to return to Ulegey. Byon the map, this road seemed more prowalkable. During preparation for expedition, sitting at home and on the maptea route, we did not planat least 150 km per day. In the realityit turned out to be much less ...On the way back a little bit againgo fishing in the channel between do lakes.

D oroga through the passes becamealmost familiar. All the samestones, stones, stones ... Placesmi, where the roads converge, is knocked out deepside track. For the hundredth time gladThey thought they had taken a local guide.Even having a lot of experience riding in the mountains,sometimes they wondered how infallible he wasbut indicated exactly the track along which the swarm must go. The day was unusually "harvestnym "on historical landmarksness. On this day we saw noone dozen stone women.

But the pain most of all were struck by the huge moundsin the Mogoit tract. The diameter of someof them was more than 50 m, and the height was up towas 4 m long. We started to go downalong the valley of the Mogoityn-Gol river and,driving the bridge over the river. Kobdo Gol, got upcamp at a small wintering place. And vecheRum celebrated birthdayDenia Alexandra Lebedev. Todayalmost a "record" - 61 km.This night was perhaps the mostcold for the whole trip. In the morningthe thermometer was -15 ° С.

Do not warm shaft even hot coffee with Altaibalm. We assembled the camp anddrove along the Kobdo-Gol river. Doroha bearable, but still acceleratedoes not work. After driving kilometers5, on the banks of the river they saw an airborne"ZIL-131" with a dozen funny peoplein the back and dented "UAZ" - "orderlyNS". It turned out that the "UAZ" with AmericaKan tourists tried to wadecross a deep river and, as we canbut it was expected stalled in the middlechannel. Fortunately, in this place of the eye was called "ZIL-131".

Tourists in largelucky: they themselves would not have got out, butwe could hardly help, sincefrom the coast was about 20 m at a depthnot up to a meter. Yes, and we are not ford itselfknew. From the cracks of the "UAZ" you are stillwater poured down. There were scatters all aroundsleds wet clothes and otherChristov. Cheerful passengers of "ZIL"loaded into the back with a noise and briskly,driving the waves of Kobdo, rolled back to the left bank. After 43 km and two hours drivewe press in the village. Tsengel. On the centralthe squares are the same dust and the same sarbast. But the store has the realMongolian beer!

The road from Tsengel towards Ulegay walks through the Mushgiragiyin passDaba (2251 m). We see no owls aheadthis is a clear car footprint.Obviously not from "UAZ". After somesome time we meet the old "Mitsubishi Galant "withfeet. Stopped, asked notdo I need help. From under the car fromThey said that everything was in order. I will envyeat the fearlessness of local drivers.Ule is already visible from the Haar-Daba passgay. Finally we drove in a dayas much as 164 km! How we returned home! Tsivilization. Though broken, but asphalt,shops, gas stations, hotel. True, th no hot water.

I AM on a sleepy morning the next day fromwe go to the village. Sagsay-Gol,in the vicinity of which tomorrowbeautiful holiday begins berkutchi. Dozens of Kazakh hunters withbirds of prey (golden eagles, saplami) gather in the foothills and mouthraces competitions. We are met andare accommodated in the Blue Wolf camp... In the evening to us guys from Israel, Jordan fitnii, England, with whom we metsettled in Ulegay, as well as friends fromGorno-Altaysk. Festive again dinner.

This time it's birthdayAndrey Yurchenkov. And how many yearsin a row, again on the road, again from the new my friends ... Among the spectators at the festival, Ith tourists and children. Schoolchildren in aksmart jackets, adults in thekih national clothes. Along vecar renitsa local craftsmenMoe laid out their souvenirs on the matry. A couple stands out among the sellersyoung people are clearly not Asian atrationality with a small child.

It turned out to be a family from the United States, whichParadise has been living in Mongolia for three years andmakes a living makingeating and selling souvenirs.Towards evening we decided to returnin Ulegay. In order not to waste time, bydrove south to Lake Tolbo-Nuur, towhich is described by everyone who is hereshaft. It is famous for its large number ofpom fish and rare birds. Already incomplete darkness, afraid to get stuck in bahtpake (muddy mud), we set up camp. NSrum turned out to be more or lessI can't reach a convenient place for a campwhether some 600-700 m....

The first rays of the sun shyly illuminatecalm waters of Tolbo-Nuur lie.Despite the cold, photographers are alreadywork. The rest of the small comandoy went to fish. 2 km fromcampsite attractive rolling pins are visible.Grayling, although he took, but not so actively,as on the Syrgal channel.We turn off the camp and, almost no waspswhile driving in Ulegey, we go to the sidewell, the Russian border. Ours already"Old friend" - Obo pass tyn-daba.

We leave a fewcoins in the hope of returning. Perspent the night on the shores of small lakes tsa Danshig-Nuur. Woke up from the roar of heavy loadsviks and fuel trucks, stretching a hundreddrop the border. Local posohe said to hurry up, because todayya monday and after the weekend onthere is a long queue at customs.Losing half a day in line, crosskame the long-awaited border. We are dreaming wha in Russia ...

H a few tips. If you are drivingon your car, then to BayanUlgia is much more reliable onnyat "UAZ". Your car can beput in the parking lot.Mongolian currency is tugriks.1 p. is equal to 45.6 tugriks. In Bayan-Ulegii diesel worth an examplebut 920 tugriks per 1 liter, A-80 - 780 tugrikov for 1 liter. There is no gasoline in the mountainseverywhere, and only A-80. Not preventtake your engine cleaner with youand spare air and fuel filters.

In the cold season, we canbut add antigel, because in localdiesel fuel has paraffin. Not preventand a second spare wheel. Tire service isonly in Bayan-Ulagii. From constantdust is rescued by wet wipes and eye drops. It is necessary to take into account the features of mongolsky roads. In this country onand more used transport -"UAZs" of Russian and Chineseproduction and our "ZIL-130",so the track is rolled under these ma tires.

If you want to travelwalk around Mongolia in your tranceport, you need to know that for parquetnew "jeeps is pretty serious new test. Don't leave yours unattendedthings. Be attentive at customsus, neat, polite, calm,patient, don't fall for the provocation, blackmail, extortion,do not take other people's luggage and passing passengers. Some Mongols know Russian

Adygea, Crimea. Mountains, waterfalls, herbs are waiting for you alpine meadows, healing mountain air, absolute silence, snowfields in the middle of summer, the murmur of mountain streams and rivers, stunning landscapes, songs by fires, the spirit of romance and adventure, the wind of freedom! And at the end of the route there are gentle waves of the Black Sea.

Mongolia is the birthplace of Genghis Khan. Country of winds, mutton and steppes.
This is a review of a short independent trip to Mongolia. Rent a car with a driver in Ulan Bator.

Mobile communications and internet in Mongolia. Weather in Mongolia. Mongolian cuisine - what do Mongols eat. National parks of Mongolia and photos from them

Today is September 1st. As in Russia, in Mongolia this day is declared the day of knowledge. This day is celebrated with amateur performances, horse and camel races, as well as a ban on the sale of alcohol in Ulaanbaatar restaurants.

Therefore, dear readers of this topic, I am sitting in despondency, in the very center of Ulanbator, with a glass of water and waiting for the ordered grub.

Tomorrow I'm going to eat stewed meat with stones. ... And then .
By the way, they don't sell them, but there are a lot of drunken people on the street.

Independently to Mongolia

I wanted to make this trip from Ulan Bator.
In previous times, it was proposed to go together from Tomsk or Barnaul. But I am such that I can not stand to depend on anyone - it was proposed to go in the company of someone whom I personally do not know and with whom I had not traveled anywhere before.

And I am very anxious about fellow travelers and anyhow with whom I have long sworn to travel. Therefore, I considered only Ulan Bator and the rental of a jeep here in Mongolia.

It turned out that cars for rent are given in Mongolia only with drivers.
It turned out, just before leaving, that the SIXT company that leased a car at the Ulan Bator airport had closed its representative office.

Imagine the situation: I have in my hands tickets taken for miles in the Aeroflot company, tickets have already been postponed from June to September because the plans have changed somewhat ... and here is such a bummer.

What to do? Go, of course!
I am Vinsky, and I have to show by personal example how to behave for real independent travelers.

On the day of departure to Ulan Bator (August 30), I sent the same type of letters to several Mongolian companies found by the search query "rent car Ulaanbaator" via Google and from several instant responses I chose the one that suits me best:

• by price
• in the absence of a request to prepay something (I hate giving loot ahead)

I would like to note that the Russian firms included in the mailing list gave the most monstrous prices.
I understand that they simply multiplied the prices in Mongolia by two.

So, I have a meeting party 4 hours before departure.
A windbreaker, socks, a pair of T-shirts, as well as a laptop, a tablet, a phone are flying into the backpack.
I'm ready.
In duty-free, vodka is bought in small packages for gifts and packaging of cookies for the same.

Visa to Mongolia

Mongolian visa was made in advance. Worth $ 100. Of all the necessary list of documents (tickets, questionnaire, photo, certificate from work, copy of the first page of the s / passport), only an invitation causes difficulty, but it is done easily through a Russian company sitting in Ulan Bator. The invitation costs 800 rubles. On other issues, it is better to go directly to the Mongols.

Now visa to Mongolia is not needed

Ulaanbaatar airport

Mongolia greeted me with a sign "Sergey Vinskiy - Welcome to Mongolia" and a sunny morning.
The short-lived driver accompanied me to the ordered jeep - Land Cruiser 80 and handed over the SIM card of the Mongolian operator Mobicom that I bought at my request

Mobile Internet in Mongolia

By tradition, I'll tell you about Mobile Internet in the country where the trip is planned
Simka took for a freshly purchased Samsung tablet - normal size, not micro.
It didn't work in the pill. Then I took away his Samsung phone from the driver and created an access point on it.

Everything. The Internet, though weak - GPRS - I had.
I'll make a reservation that in those fucks from where I returned to Ulaanbaator tonight, cellular communication not at all. But on the way there, in small villages, you could check your mail.

Route in Mongolia

Since I had 4 days for everything (for the test I decided not to risk it and fly to Mongolia for a short time), the route I made using the English-language websites of Mongolian companies was logical:
- Gobi I do not fit in time
- lakes and fishing did not interest me for the first acquaintance
- Ulaanbaator did not interest me all the more

What is there within 300-400 km from the capital of Mongolia?
There is Khustain nuruu — sand dunes(Elsen Tasarkhai), which in fact turned out to be a tourist attraction with Potemkin camel rides
There is Kharkhorin- the ancient capital of Mongolia (you can spend 30 minutes exploring, and then dine at Dream World)
There is Orkhon valley- but this is already interesting.

First time in Mongolia

Immediately what you pay attention to in Mongolia is its identity to Russia: the same broken roads, an abundance of SUVs and crumpled roads along the roads. The same nondescript houses in the city - in Ulan Bator and on the periphery: I had a strong feeling that I was not in Mongolia, but came to Buryatia or the Irkutsk region. The same.

We left the airport and went to the city to pick up food for the trip.
Since I went for full inclusiveness, they were going to feed me 3 times a day, provide an overnight stay on the route, pay for any entrance tickets and taxes, as well as refuel the car.

The price was announced by email and I agreed with it: 5 days 4 nights = 1050 dollars, excluding the hotel on the last night in Ulaanbaatar.

I tried to change money at the airport, but the driver said softly (I had a Russian-speaking and Russian-speaking driver):

- No time to waste. If tugriks are needed, I will. Then, upon arrival, you will give it back.

Cyrillic in Asian country looks ridiculous and funny.
Mongolian writing was banned here in the 30s of the last century, when Chaybalsan began to build socialism in Mongolia, aligning himself with the CCCP.

Such dedication was generously rewarded with the massive construction of Khrushchevs, blue-tiled panel houses (a la Biryulyovo), factories, mines and power plants.

There are three of them in Mongolia. One is located at the exit to the city on the way from the airport - a monument of socialism. One to one smoking monster on the Moscow Ring Road in the Kapotnya area.

The shops are full of products from the Russian Federation, as well as local vodka (of course Genghis Khan) and beer.

I had vodka with me, and I tried beer - ordinary powdered rubbish like the Siberian crown or Klinsky.
Take the proven Tiger.

While they were taking away the grocery basket (there was actually a basket full of canned food), it started to rain. The sky turned gray and sank almost to the ground. Awful - everything around is gray, and then from above they threw sadness and melancholy.

We drove out of the city along a broken road. Every minute someone tried to cut us off, there was a steady hum of horns, brand new Land Cruisers competed with broken Korean rubbish who would do whom.

The only thing missing were loaves and UAZs - they would have shown you Kuzka's mother. But they were ahead.

The real Mongolia was ahead.
Such - as I imagined it: deserted, endless, cold, windy and insanely beautiful

A little about driving culture in Mongolia

There is no culture. No respect. Pedestrians are a schmuck. And they are aware of this.

Roads in Mongolia

The road to the west. Asphalt. In some places, there are pits, potholes, potholes. The driver swears, mutters that in general asphalt is evil and there would never be any better (asphalt).

All obstacles are bypassed on the opposite lane or on the side of the road (more often). Despite the fact that on the side of the pit there is more often than on the asphalt, apparently there is some reason for this - I often noticed cars on the side of the road with legs sticking out from under them and pieces of a broken tire just after such holes on the road.

Expensive, but not enough. What is put into pits is put into water, into a puddle, and after a couple of months it pops out like a filling from a rotten tooth.
I said that the Mongol and the Russian are brothers forever.

Roadside cafes in Mongolia

Two hours on the road. I need to have breakfast. We drop into a roadside cafeteria.
Curiously enough, while the ordered dumplings soup is being brought to me, I examine the audience: the chauffeur.

They use this canteen as a hotel - there are rooms on the second floor and, having received bed linen right there, in the canteen, they go upstairs, holding a mattress rolled into a tube under their arm.

Catering workers are not stopping to watch the Russian TV series in the Mongolian voice acting. Channel Russia 2.

I ask my driver:
- Yes, our people love Russian TV shows, and although there are Korean and Chinese TV shows, they watch Russian TV shows, and that's why they run in prime time.
I say that the Mongol and the Russian are brothers forever.

Obo and hadak in Mongolia

In Mongolia, now and then there are heaps, and sometimes heaps of stones, mixed with banknotes and sweets.
As a rule (or rather, always), in the center of such a pyramid there is a pole, to which multi-colored ribbons are tied.
I saw a similar thing in Buryatia. I asked the driver - what are these shamanic lures?

- No, he says, - this is already a Buddhist theme, it's called about. Anyone who wants to receive the blessing of heaven should go around the pile clockwise and throw offerings. Usually it is candy or vodka - vodka splashes into the sky, and then on all 4 sides.
- And the tapes?
- This is a hadak. Blue means sky, white soul, red courage, yellow wealth.

However, the blue hadak would not hurt us now, - I thought, standing in the drizzling rain. Then he took a bottle of whiskey from his backpack and handed it to each side of the world ... and moistened the heavens.

Lamb in Mongolia

The asphalt gradually ended.
Rather, it ended in a village, the name of which I naturally forgot. One attraction is the airfield. Almost overgrown with weeds. But once (in the days of the USSR) AN-2 flew here from Ulan Bator.

We bought meat in this village.
Lamb, a kilogram costs about $ 2.

- Something your mutton is too odorous. In the sense of goat meat it smells….
Let me tell you a secret: I'm a big fan of lamb. Was. But after the soup with mouflon (goat) dumplings, which I ate in the cafeteria, although I washed it down with plenty of vodka…. it seems to me that this smell haunts me. And the sight of meat makes me gag.
- What are you doing! ...

And then began an excursion into the process of cutting a ram or lamb carcass.
First, it was said that Koreans, Chinese and other peoples do not know how to slaughter cattle:

- They cut their throats and leave them tied upside down so that the blood flows out ...

- Do you like to drink blood? - I could not resist to sneer, but the driver did not pay attention to it.

- First, they cut the skin of a ram on the belly….

- Doesn't it hurt him? - I interrupted again

- I don’t know, I’m not a ram ... Now, after they made an incision, they put their hand in there and climb towards her spine. And there are two arteries. So, you have to feel which pulsates. Take it tight and tear it off.

- Oops ... - that's all I could say. Introduced, shuddered, but not retreat.

- Well, why is it good?

- And therefore, see for yourself: our meat is red, since it has blood in it, and among the highlanders it is white, since all the blood has flowed out.

- Cool. I will probably give up lunch today….

Wild Mongolia

And so began that Mongolia, which I imagined on the basis of the works of the film Mongol, Urga, the territory of love, the books of Chapaev and Emptiness ... Although the latter is more likely to concern Baron Ungern - he constantly tortured the driver, however, as well as about Genghis Khan's treasure - this is generally from other sources.

I read a lot about Mongolia as a child.
Hills overgrown with spruce began, rivers jumping on boulders began, fields from hill to hill with lawn grass from the golf series began.

The jeep climbed steadily along a country road, skirting the black pumice of solidified lava, which is thousands of years old.

This road is not asphalt. At every step, something new opens up to the eye: a landscape, an animal, a bird, a hill. And it's good that there are not many people here.

Mongolian village

- Sergey, shall we have lunch? - the driver's voice interrupted my admiration for the windows of the jeep.
- Why not, and where?
- Now there will be a village. My friends live there - I warned them that we would stop by.
You will feel Mongolian hospitality at the same time.

Of course. I just wanted to be with the family. Not ostentatious, for tourists. But the real one. So, it's time to eat and drink bitter.

The village is no different from the one seen on the last trip to Lake Baikal: the same unpaved streets, multi-colored roofs, and all the trash in the yard as if the Plyushkin village lives here.

The hut, or rather the house, is made of solid larch. Predictably cheap inside with Chinese ceiling lights and linoleum. But still better. than in our Russian wilderness.

And the people are not old women with drunken grandfathers: relatively young (by the way, I found out the driver's age - he is the same as I am 46, but he looks like my grandfather (the kingdom of heaven to him).

The hostess rustled at the sight of us. She put low stools to the painted chest covered with oilcloth.

An aluminum bowl was thrown onto the table by Buuz - this is a variant of Buryat poses and a plagiarism of Chinese jiaozi - steamed dumplings. Steam outlet on top.

Simple minced lamb filling, but fresh aaaak. Yes, fresh, but from the cold and the rain near the cheerfully chirping stove-stove. This is what you need.

I take out a check of Finland. Will you? As you wish.
I take a tea bowl and pour it cold. After that I put a few buuz into my plate with my hands and a lecho on top that I brought with me (my inclusiveness, however).

I eat the first one, I burn myself with juice. Inserts immediately and without vodka.
I drink a bowl in a swing and another buus in my mouth.
The whole muzzle is in tomato paste. The driver gives a rag - there are no napkins. Will pull.

So, while talking about politics, economics and women, we finish off a basin and half a bottle of vodka ...
Woo !!!
Now I would like to sleep ... But there is still 50 km of difficult road ahead

How marmot is cooked in Mongolia

Legend has it that there was a brave warrior who could hit any target with a bow. And then one day he told everyone - I will shoot the sun. And he took aim at the Sun, and pulled a tight bowstring, and fired and the arrow would definitely have hit the Sun, if not for the swallow.

The swallow turned out to be extreme as it shot down the aimed flight of the arrow. Nothing happened to her - she flew about her business. And the brave and well-aimed shooter swore:
“If I don’t kill this damn bird, I’ll cut off my thumbs and live underground.”

A year has passed.
The shooter was never able to hit and kill the swallow.
So the marmot was born….

It is forbidden to kill marmots, since almost all of them have already been eaten. Therefore, you have to contact poachers to repeat the cooking process from the video.

The very process of buying a marijuana resembles the process of buying marijuana: looking around we go into the gateway. There they give us a plastic bag with a carcass, take 45,000 and disappear.

We need to check if the marmot is sick. This is done by visual inspection of the paw pads. If they are black, everything is fine and the marmot was as healthy as a bull. Well, if they are red, then there is a chance of contracting some kind of plague or anthrax.

But we still screwed up - we were led as students: we must make sure that the groundhog was shot in the head. It is done like this: you inflate the groundhog like balloon through the place where the head was once (do not confuse it with the opposite!) and it becomes clear: is your animal sealed or not. Ours turned out to be full of holes like a sieve.

Shmalnuli shot at him, not otherwise ... But this is also treated: we patch with improvised means - such as a harness for car tires.

Karakorum

Ancient capital of Mongolia - Karakorum
Is it worth visiting?
Not worth it. Nothing very interesting to move 350 km from Ulan Bator here.

If only on the way to stop for 30 minutes. Take pictures of the wall, weeds on the territory and several buildings of non-original architecture "pagoda".

Well, if you are a Buddhist believer, you can spin the drums with mantras, as well as look at a large pot of bronze, in which they cooked food for 200 monks.

There are several restaurants nearby: Dream World (at the time of my visit it was closed and the guard waved a broom in front of my nose, distressed with something) and a couple more at the campsites.

Old men and women from Europe and the USA are brought to the campsites, so that they can be a little in the skin of the Mongols. Yurts with air conditioners and heaters. Tourists walk with their mouths open at the mock-up of the Mongolian war in armor, standing in the restaurant.

The food is disgusting - a complex. The service is such that the staff are apparently so tired of these grandfathers that a smile is forever erased from their faces and hatred of visitors drips on the floor like botax

Instead of visiting ancient capital Mongolia, cities Karakorum, I would advise you to try milking the yak.
I will tell you a fascinating lesson.

Gorkhi-Terelzh National Park

From Ulan Bator drive 30-40 minutes. The main thing is to leave Ulan Bator. Traffic jams are worse here than in Moscow.

Having paid for the entrance and drove into the park, you instantly relax after the capital. There are few cars here. Beautiful nature... Lots of places to stay: I recommend golf hotel UB-2. Not expensive - about $ 80 per single. In the woods. Aunts are standing on the road selling berries (now there are blueberries in Mongolia).

Using the UB-2 as a base, you can wander or ride a horse around the area throughout the day. The park has a lake and a river. I don't know about fishing. I have not seen - the Mongols do not fish.

The valley along which the road passes is surrounded by beautiful rounded rocks. Here is the famous turtle rock, near which annoying merchants will offer you to take a joint photo with an eagle for 1000 tenge.

In general, you can spend day and night. Suitable for those who are passing through Mongolia in transit and want to check in there.

Horhog

At this point I decided to try horhog... This is the national Mongolian dish of lamb stew with potatoes, molkovka and cabbage. It is made in a can.

It is made for 6-10 people.
Since I ordered for myself, they made me a light version.
I know I did it wrong.
But more than the taste of the dish - I know this dish well as lamb pod-sachem in Montenegro and Croatia, or as cuerdak in Kazakhstan - I was interested in:

Why put hot stones in a pressure cooker if the meat is stewed over the fire anyway?

This question was not really answered. I suspect that earlier, when pressure cookers were in short supply, the Mongols actually made meat with hot stones, as they do or goat (they don’t make a ram with stones, as his bed bursts from the heat).

It was cooked in a family that has a plot of land in national park Gorkhi-Terelzh. WITH
I summarize that every Mongol has the right to a free piece of land measuring 70 by 70 meters.

This does not apply to land in Ulan Bator and in national parks.
It's just that this family was lucky that their ancestors lived here. The family rent out yurts to the townspeople who come to the park for a picnic.

One of the women sits on his haunches by the road with a GER poster and, if there is interest, escorts the guests to the place.

I don't know why, but the Mongols are attached to these very yurts.
It is customary for us to sit outside for a picnic, and they sit and lie in these very yurts.

Many yurts are equipped with a satellite dish and solar battery... But in more than one yurt I have not seen a shower and toilet.
Flaw. The Mongols need to work on this issue.

How to cut and eat a lamb head

Written in a separate article:.

47.921378 106.90554

We arrived from our almost three week trip by car.

Preparing for the trip

The preparation of our trip began almost six months ago, during this time we prepared a little for our trip, namely:

• Installed snorkel.
• We bought an autonomous charger - a power bank (tested on the Mongols, it works).
• Bought a bunch of spare parts:
• brake hose - 1 pc. - not needed,
• ball - 1 pc. - not needed,
• repair kit for brake caliper with piston - not needed,
• valve cover gasket - not needed,
• engine sealant - not needed
• metal clamps 3 pcs. - one was needed to attach the stabilizer bushing bracket, due to the loss of the mounting bolt,
• drive belt - not needed,
• a belt on a viscous coupling - not needed,
• filters (cabin, air, oil) - changed the air filter after changing the engine oil;
• oil in the engine - changed the oil in Ulan-Ude (excellent service station on the road, I don't remember the name),
• antifreeze - not needed
• brake fluid (helped the Mongols in a minibus who had a broken brake pipe). Later I needed it myself ... I had to buy it in the village. Aktash.
• Candles 4 pcs. - not needed,
• a repair kit for repairing tires - not needed, we arrived without punctures, although we drove more than 30 km on sharp stones in places where we got lost!
• Fuel activator Motor resource 200 ml. - 3 pcs. for 600 liters of fuel (only 1.5 packages were used).
• Got international law- they were not needed, no one needs them there. The Mongol turned them around, turned them around and decided to let us go, all the same he didn’t achieve anything.
• We changed the oil and filter in the automatic transmission.

To begin with, our route along the route changed mainly in a larger direction, with arrivals to interesting places.

Part 1. Road in Russia

The first day

Our adventure journey has begun June 17 at 15.00, start from Novosibirsk (Akademgorodok).

We filled a full tank of AI92, one 10 liter canister, and drove off ...

On the first day, there was almost nothing interesting, except for annoying cracks on the windshield from the mad "thief", which, before reaching Zhuravlevo, drove to the side of the road while laying asphalt. Two stones the size of a hen's egg flew from it ... I thought it would break more, but got off with a cobweb 2.5 x 2.5 cm. It will be necessary to drill until there are no cracks all over the glass.
Our first overnight stay was on a lake near the town of Mariinsk.

Second day

In the morning, my husband tried to catch fish, the result was zero, the neighbor had a couple of crucians with his palm. We had breakfast and moved on.

Majority major cities passed around. So it was with Krasnoyarsk.
Our next overnight stay was on the Biryusa River (I finally found out where the river flows, after which the refrigerator is called at my house).

By the way, it is not for nothing that the refrigerator was named after this river. We stopped immediately after crossing the bridge. The water is clean, the shore, however, is covered in garbage, I had to clean up a little ... Some were taken to the nearest trash can, some were burned on the spot.

One of the places we wanted to see is Lake Baikal.

Our plans were to drive along the shore of the lake. Baikal and stay in the town of Baikalsk, but we decided to change our route and visit about. Olkhon.

As a result, we left Irkutsk for the village of Sakhyurta, from where the ferry goes to about. Olkhon. We got to the village at about 22.45, in the village, not far from the ferry, the traffic police crew stopped us, checked that the driver was sober, and let us go. There is no queue, we got on the ferry at about 22.50 and immediately headed to the other side.

The ferry was free. Having reached the coast, we followed the Maps Me navigation to the village of Khuzhir. The road, to put it mildly, is bad ... Sometimes it was possible to drive no more than 20 km / h, they did not think of immediately reducing the tire pressure.

We arrived in Khuzhir, circled the streets, tried to go ashore ... But, since it’s night outside, we didn’t find the road. We went to the outskirts of the village ... A pine forest appeared, we decided to spend the night right in the forest.

Day three. Baikal

The next morning we went, bought food and souvenirs in the largest supermarket on the island. We stopped at the street. Baikalskaya, 58, tasted the most delicious poses that were prepared especially for us.

And, of course, they bought hot-smoked omul, cold-smoked and dried (from 100 rubles per piece).

In order to ride and take a photo of Lake Baikal, we rented 3 bicycles, the cost is 100 rubles per hour per unit.

Visited local beach… We tried to swim, but it didn't work - the water temperature is + 9 ° С. Husband and son went knee-deep, did not dare further. I plunged completely. For 10 seconds, my unprepared body did not allow more. Although I love a contrast shower, he protested here.

We spent another night on the island, but closer to the ferry, on the sandy shore in a deserted place.
The next day, we successfully reached the village of Sakhyurta by ferry, met an expedition from China in 5 cars, they travel from Manchuria to Lake Baikal and back.

While we are waiting for the ferry, we decided to blow up the wheels for the asphalt. The locals are insolently rushing out of line. By the way, buses, minibuses and special vehicles skip the line on the ferry.

We left in the direction of Ulan-Ude. We took a photo of Baikal from the observation deck.

We reached Ulan-Ude in the late afternoon. It turns out that the time had to be shifted one hour ahead.

Through some site for booking hotels, we booked a room in a small hotel called "Camping" (located almost immediately at the entrance to the city, in the Sovetsky district). We arrived at the place - the administrator was surprised that they can book something on the Internet. In general, we settled in a junior suite for 1100 rubles +200 rubles. child (up to 7 years old for free), for this we got: a toilet, a shower in the room and a clean bed, that's all we need for the night. True, with hot water we were out of luck. Well, I was trained by Baikal, and so I was able to wash myself.

Day four. The border

On the way out of Ulan-Ude we stopped at the service station to change the oil. We changed it in 20 minutes, the oil and the filter were ours. We have been pouring ZIC X7 LS 5w30 for 50 thousand km already, we buy a 6-liter canister - it is very convenient, the remainder after the replacement is just enough to refill 9-10 thousand km before the next replacement. Consumption up to 1 liter. by 10 thousand km. I think it's normal, especially since the operation is sometimes difficult.
On the way to the border, this beauty stands in Buryatia, almost near the road.

Now our path lies in the border town of Kyakhta.

Hooray! We are in Kyakhta.

We refueled, bought groceries at a local Metro-type store, and went through customs. We stood for about 20 minutes in front of the first gate. Mongols insolently drive ahead in trucks.

They let us in, we went to a search ... A woman with an action camera came up to us and checked the contents of our things, she also asked us if we were carrying anything forbidden. Things from the trunk had to be laid out. There was a suspicious suitcase with our belongings and sports. bag with tools. And, by the way, there really were my son's fireworks in the suitcase, which I took away from the RCR the other day. At this, the search was over. All employees, I want to note, are very friendly to Russians. We had 3 cans with us: 1-20 liters. with water, 2 - 20 liters for empty gasoline, 3 - 10 liters. with gasoline, we read earlier that you can only bring 10 liters of gasoline. However, we did not check anything in the cans, nor whether they were full or not. We went through the inspection of the car, went to draw up the documents and go through passport control.

The car is equipped with a stationary radio 27 MHz (SI-BI) and 2 portable radios - I asked several times if they needed to be declared somehow, they answered no.

When drawing up the documents, if you are going to leave through another crossing point, be sure to indicate this. You will be given a small sticker with a bar code, you will need it when you pass the border back to Russia, otherwise it seems like your car will be at customs control.

Further, right behind our customs office, there is the Mongolian customs office, after the barrier and crossing the muddy ford (sort of like disinfection), take a piece of paper, there will be a booth right at the entrance. Then again go through the inspection, but this time by the Mongolian side, turn the car out again, go through passport control, fill out a mini-questionnaire, then pay 60 rubles. for the dirty puddle through which we drove.

Put all the necessary stamps and travel outside the border.

Immediately after the barrier, a woman runs to you who needs to pay a transport tax of 10,000 tugriks or 300 rubles. (it is better to first change rubles into tugriks, it will be cheaper, you can change literally 20 meters away at the exchange office). Insurance is 10 meters away. I paid 1150 rubles. (indicated the real volume). Changed rubles into tugriks ... Became millionaires - the rate of 1 ruble. = 39 tugriks. (on the border with Tashanta the rate was 1 ruble = 41 tugriks, in the city of Mandal Gobi the rate was 1 ruble = 37.75 tugriks).

Hooray! Finally we passed the border ... Due to the fact that we stumbled with a ford and did not take a piece of paper at once, we spent 2 hours.

What is needed from the documents to pass the border to Mongolia:

• Foreign passport for all passengers and driver.
• Documents for the car - registration certificate (technical passport) - plastic card.
• ! It is imperative that you are the owner of the car, or, in extreme cases, a notarized power of attorney has been issued.

Expenses: 10,000 petrol, Mileage: 2,500 km.

We entered Mongolia ....

Part 2. Mongolia

Our main task was to visit the monument of Genghis Khan on the outskirts of Ulan Bator, visit the Gobi desert and fish on the cleanest lakes and rivers. We drove towards the Genghis Khan monument on horseback. Drove ...

The first city was Sukhbaatar, we passed it without stopping.

What catches the eye when visiting Mongolia is the insane number of Toyota Prius cars and the number of tire changers at every corner - in Mongolian “Dugi zavar”.

Day 5

We woke up a bit early, at 4 am, but it was already quite light, and the horned ones were grazing with might and main. There were yurts nearby.

100 km before Ulan Bator, we once again stopped for the night.

Sixth day. Ulaanbaatar

The city of Ulan Bator greeted us with a little rain. Traffic in the city is disgusting, and even spent two hours in traffic jams. About traffic in Ulaanbaatar: everyone stops at a traffic light ... this is where all the rules end. A pedestrian crossing is like in Thailand, if you managed to slip through, you were lucky ... But although you may be lucky, one car out of a hundred will let you through. When rebuilding, the signal is not turned on. The rules for driving the ring, on the contrary, are not the same as ours. A training car was driving in front of us through the city, packed to the brim with novice drivers ... How hard it was for them. For public transport there is a separate lane, and even passenger cars manage to occupy it, but buses travel without traffic jams.

In general, you can get used to this movement in half an hour. If you have experience driving in the city center. I tried not to drive around the cities, I gave the steering wheel to my husband.

In Ulaanbaatar, we saw the signs of KFC and Burger King - they left their cars in the alley of houses and went shopping. We went to KFC because the son loves hamburgers, and you can't buy them anywhere else here. Made an order: a hamburger and a drink 7500 tugriks (192 rubles). The child then sent a check to his classmates on WhatsApp so that the classmates would wave. My wife and I decided to try buuz, went to the first cafe we ​​came across, where we tasted local cuisine - buuz and tsai (green tea with butter and salt), surprisingly liked the tea, paid for everything about 5000 tugriks - 130 rubles.
I liked the montun buuz (600 tugriks for 1 pc.) Tsai 300 tugriks.
Two pieces were enough for me to overeat.

We refreshed ourselves and decided to look for the sights.

At first we tried to find on the map in which direction the famous monument to Genghis Khan on horseback is located, but the Mongolian map did not help us very much. No internet mobile connection costs in the region of 100-150 rubles. in a minute, so it was turned off immediately after entering this wonderful country. We decided to look for passers-by who speak Russian, because driving around the city is suicide (with such traffic and traffic jams). An hour later, such a person was found. He told how to get to the monument, and even showed a photo on his phone, we immediately understood that this is what we are looking for.
After leaving Ulan Bator, in the direction of Bayandelger, after 40 km, we reached the first stop.

The monument is really striking in its scale.

The entrance for the three of us came out a little more than 20,000 tugriks (530 rubles), it is cheaper for children.
At the entrance you will be met by guides who speak English and Russian - they will tell you everything for free.
On the ground floor there are souvenir shops, the prices, by the way, are quite adequate - low. Nearby there is a rental of national clothes for only 3000 tugriks (75 rubles). The largest Mongolian boot and whip is also located here.

The second floor has a restaurant and a toilet. Above, there is an elevator and a ladder for climbing to the observation deck, which is located in the head of the horse.

On the basement floor there is a museum with two rooms, in one of which you can sit at a table like a real khan and take wonderful photos, and in the other there are rare artifacts, and you cannot take pictures ...

Gobi Desert

In Mandalgovi, we realized that the money that we changed at the border was 10,000 rubles. = 390,000 tugriks will not be enough for us to the end. We decided to go to the bank and change.
We found a bank in the navigator and went to him. There was a small crowd near the entrance to the bank.

Inside, of course, there is no display with the exchange rate ... Come up, show your papers and change, taking an electronic queue.
We found ourselves, it seems, on a day when the entire population of the city came to receive pensions, benefits, salaries and other payments. Elderly people are dressed in national clothes - they wear it all the time, and not only on holidays. One of the Mongolians gave us the spine of the electronic queue, which reduced our waiting time by about 1-2 hours. We showed our papers of 5000 rubles. operator and expected a positive response from her. As a result, they changed 15,000 rubles for 550,000 tugriks.

Banks have the most unfavorable conditions. But we had nothing to do, money was running out, and we were going to the heart of the desert.
On the way we stopped at a roadside cafe. As usual, my husband and I ordered buuza with tsai. And the son was asked for meat with rice and lipton.
Here's what they brought us.

The child, of course, did not eat all of this, but this dish costs 5500 tugriks.
Buuz here are 500 tugriks.

At the entrance to Dalanzadgad we were stopped by the police. At that moment I was at the helm. After stopping, the husband opened the window on the passenger side, handed the insurance and his international rights to the policeman, although I was driving ... The policeman looked at the insurance, gave it back, looked at the driver's license without opening it (there is a photo inside and the available categories are indicated), judging by the appearance, did not understand what was given to him - he returned the license and left. And we moved on.

Here is the first and last acquaintance with the Mongolian police. Not a single policeman with a hairdryer (radar) was found on our way ...
After we passed the city of Dalanzadgad, the asphalt told us "goodbye".

In the area of ​​Dalanzadgad or Gurvantes (I already vaguely remember), our navigator led us to a dead end. Well, as a dead end ... Simply in front of us there was a dune with a height of 4-5 storey building. We left the car and went to take beautiful photos.

Gasoline is running out ... There are 29 liters in cans, and you still have to get out.

Let's go back, the navigator was at a loss. We went with a Mongolian map to ask for directions from the nearest yurt. A Mongol and his daughter came up to us, looked at the map ... But they could not show anything on it. He asked for a piece of paper and a pen (he neither speaks nor understands Russian), drew us an approximate path ... We did not understand anything. He waved his hand at us, got on a motorbike and showed us to follow us. We drove 30 kilometers, he stopped and showed to follow the power line. He asked where we were from, we said - from Russia. True, the word "Russia" did not understand, but after the word "Moscow" he smiled and showed "class".
Hooray! We went out onto the road that is in our navigator.

Driving through the Gobi Desert and, in general, riding on the dirt roads of Mongolia, you can see many empty bottles of vodka (in Mongolian - Archi), frankly drunk at the wheel were seen only in the city of Khovda, more precisely, on the outskirts of the city. There was a police car, it looks like there was a "round-up", there were 200 Kruzaks standing nearby, the driver of which could barely stay on his feet ... It smelled like at least 1-2 drunk bottles of "archi".

When visiting Mongolian cities, and even more so, villages, we were always in the spotlight, sometimes even people came out of their houses to look at us, as if the circus with clowns had arrived.
In the town of Baruun Bayan Ulan, we once again asked for help from the locals. But it feels like they are seeing the map of their country for the first time.

Somehow we understood the direction, moved again along the high-voltage poles. But my husband wanted to get to the lake, which he longed for after Dalanzadgad, not far from Bogd Sum, Lake Orog. But we never got to it, there is a very bad road, pits and hills, along which you need to drive up to 5 km / h. And while we were trying to get closer to this lake, we again stumbled upon the sands.

Here the sand is fine and white. It was getting dark, and we decided to pitch our tent on the sands.
In the evening, the sand is cold, and in the daytime you can't get up with bare feet, it's very hot.

Seventh day

In the morning we went to the town of Bogd, towards the town of Bayankhogor. In the steppe we met a lonely sign.

In Bogta, we stocked drinks at the store.

Nearby we had a bite to eat at a local cafe.
The child ate sausages in batter (1000 tugriks), I, as usual, about buuza (500 tugriks) with tsai, and my husband ordered himself a dish for 5500 tugriks.

We moved towards Altai. We did not visit Bayankhogor. Road works are underway there. Asphalt is being laid.

Malebn is not far from the town of Zhinst.

The map showed a good asphalt road there. By 12 o'clock in the morning, we still got to her. 40 km to the city of Delger. We set up a tent for the night. The weather began to deteriorate. Russia is not far away. The wind and the clouds gathering in the sky reminded us of this.

The next stop was planned at a lake near the town of Khovd.

Not far from the town of Khovd there is a wonderful Lake Khar-Us Nuur... We found a place near the shore and set up a tent. The next morning I managed to catch only 3 fish with a fishing rod ... Because the fish pecked only on a fly (live), and they ran out of What kind of fish, we did not understand ... But it looks like Osman.

Due to the fatigue of the crew, it was decided to go towards the border with Russia.

Border again

Arriving at the border in Tsagaannuur at 17.45, we learned that the opening hours were coming to an end, and they would not have time to miss us.
We turned around and went to look for the nearest place to spend the night.
We arrived around 12 o'clock, of course, we got on a lunch break. We had lunch nearby in a cafe. On the menu there are only buuzas and green tea with milk. They took 5, then 5 more and 7 more, in the end they ate 17 buuz for three and drank 1.5 liters of tea.
Small buuza, 300 tugriks per piece.

A column of 6 cars with Russian numbers - 42, 174 regions - lined up behind us. It turned out that they also traveled to Mongolia. They said that not far from the lake where we stayed, there is Lake Khyargas Nuur, where you can fish with your hands. And quite large. As a fisherman, I wanted to return, but my wife and son wanted to go to Russia. There is a reason to go to Mongolia again, now I already know where to go.
Customs passed the Mongolian side pretty quickly, at this point many people speak Russian, always prompted what to do. The inspection is quick and superficial.
The Mongolian side has been passed.
We drove over the fence, again a broken dirt road.
Having reached the Russian side, they checked the passports and transferred the number of people in the car to the Russian customs office so that no one ran away on the way. As soon as we entered the Russian border zone, excellent asphalt began.
At the Russian customs, a representative of Rospotrebnadzor was the first to meet us. In uniform, she looked like Mary Poppins from the movie. Having passed the control of Rospotrebnadzor, we went to passport control and inspection.
All passed. The car was removed from control.
Hooray! We returned to Russia ... That feeling when I am ready to kiss my native asphalt.

Now ours is waiting for Gorny Altai.

As for clean drinking water, we have always bought it in supermarkets. 5-liter cans cost around 50 rubles. And, of course, soft drinks - Fanta with pineapple, peach, apple, grape flavors. Sprite with a mint flavor ... This is not a Sprite with a taste of cucumber, as in Russia.
What we liked from the food bought in supermarkets: Korean noodles (we know it well, because a couple of years ago I was engaged in the wholesale of similar products in the Russian Federation), pate from someone's liver (Mongolian production), camel milk, delicious bread. Very cheap and good green tea. In Ulgeya, chicken eggs produced by the science city of Koltsovo (a neighbor of Akademgorodok in Novosibirsk) were even on sale. There are a lot of Korean and Chinese products, everything is delicious. I liked the local ice cream (maybe because I was in position, 16 weeks) 600 tugriks each, the taste is specific, sour.
For gifts they brought a couple of bottles of Genghis Khan vodka, in the region of 14,000 tugriks (360 rubles) per piece, the cheapest vodka is almost like ours, from 190 rubles. for 0.5.

Numbers:
Spent in rubles:
Fuel - 8,000 rubles. or 312,000 tugriks

Mongolian insurance - 1,150 rubles. (if you enter from the city of Kyakhta through Altan Bulag, they may not be released without it ... Yes, and I was calm with it, by the way, the volume of the engine did not underestimate, although it could have done less, it would have been cheaper).
Transport tax - 300 rubles. (in fact, you can agree on 150).
Travel on roads between cities (there is a booth with a barrier - 150 rubles - one ride is 1000 tugriks (25 rubles) - you can go around, this is what some of the Mongols do.
Total mileage - 7480 km. (roughly about 1000-1500 km on dirt roads, of which 300 km. on terrible roads - stones, holes where the speed could not exceed 20 km.)
Fuel burned out - approximately 950 liters (approximately 12-13 liters).
Filling an almost full tank cost MNT 100,000.
Gasoline prices in Mongolia are from 1500 to 1800 tugriks (i.e. from 36.5 to 44 rubles per 1 liter of AI92). The quality of the fuel is not worse than ours ... there were no problems. Above 92 can only be found in large cities... Diesel fuel is cheaper than 92 gasoline. And gas with its Mongolian name "AHUY" costs like AI92 gasoline.

Here it is, the final part of our route.

The first settlement in Russia is Tashanta, there is nothing to do here. We arrived at Kosh-Agach, where we bought food and refueled.
The first thing they thought was to go to the Ukok plateau, but, as always, at the wrong time. We will not have time to order the pass, tk. the working day on Friday is shortened, and at the checkpoint it seems as if they do not immediately draw up. It's okay, we love Altai very much and are ready to come again.
Further, since We safely left the map with the main attractions at home, we are looking for them using the Maps ME program in the phone. The first thing they found ... Mars-2. The road was less than 50 km, but what an interesting road ... taking into account the increasing rain. On the way there were very steep ascents and large stones, not to mention the fact that we were pulled into a ditch several times. We still got to this point ... But, unfortunately, our dreams did not come true.

Besides the road, to of this place nothing interesting. Back we drove according to my husband's method ... He saw where you can cut and go in a straight line. In one of the places where there was muddy earth, we began to be pulled into the nearby Chaganuzun river flowing, we decided to go back and go through the passes. We didn't take a photo, it was pouring rain.
Then we went to our place of overnight stay, near the village of Kosh-Agach on the Chuya river. We put up a tent, an awning was additionally pulled on top. So the awning was not pulled quite correctly, in the morning they poured 20-30 liters of rainwater.
Gossip fishing is on the way again. We tried to dig up worms with a fishing rod ... They are not here either.
Then we drive towards Aktash, but remember that a year ago we wanted to see the Aktru glacier. We return to the village of Kyzyl-Tash and drive towards the alpine camp transshipment. The road is not entirely bad, sometimes puzoterki even get to the alpine camp, however, they cannot do without losses. On the way to the transshipment of the car, there are only loaves, 469 uazes, urals ... which means we are on the right track. On the way we met: 1 bridge, 3 fords (depth no more than 50 cm, without a snorkel), then the road began with large stones and steep climbs.

There are very large stones in the ford ... A collision with an uncovered distributor on such a stone is an opportunity to stay here for a long time. As according to the law of meanness, not a single car to see which of the fords is better to go.
We decide to go on foot, about 17 km there and back. We park the car at the transshipment and go. We took water in the car, the wanderers. The river is very cold and the stones are slippery, I checked. My husband and I were carried by my husband across the ford to the other side. The road to the alpine camp is difficult, ascents, descents, slippery stones. It starts raining halfway, part of the route goes through the forest, we got a little wet.

The son did not expect such a setup. If I knew, I would have stayed in the car.
Less than 1 km remains, the glacier is already clearly visible.

After 2.5 hours we got there. The wife and son went to look for a cafe to warm up and have a snack. I headed to the spring to replenish the water supply for the return trip. The rain intensified, I took a couple of photos of the monument to the crashed snowboarders in May 2002 and the monument to all the dead climbers.

We didn’t go all the way to the glacier in such weather, and the time was already closer to evening, and it’s risky to walk along the path in the forest in the dark.
After drinking delicious hot herbal tea with pancakes in a cafe, we went back to the transshipment.
The way back was much easier, as there were mostly descents, there were very few ascents. We left the zabrodniki at the beginning of the path so as not to carry excess weight. We find them in the saved labels of the navigation program, pick them up and go to the ford.
In general, the road, although difficult, but with good protection and snorkel, you can drive.
Then we go to the geyser lake. We reach the "Rest" base, the passage to it goes through the swamp, we pay 30 rubles each. for adults, children are free, and we go 300 meters to the lake.

We take a photo of a wonderful geyser lake and go further towards Aktash.
Having reached the village. Aktash, we turn towards Ulagan, we go towards the most beautiful of the passes of the Altai Mountains - Katu-Yaryk. The distance from Aktash to Katu-Yaryk is approximately 100 km one way. The path passes through another attraction - the Red Gate, but here we already took pictures a year ago, we are going further. Along the way there is a large number of recreation centers. All nearby lakes are on lease, so fishing is in the air again. Closer to the pass, the road deteriorates, puzoterki weave for 15-20 km, carefully overtake them and go further ... Our speed on such a road is 70-80 km, the suspension allows us to drive comfortably. Most of the route runs on asphalt, with only 30% dirt roads. Having reached the pass, we take a photo, fasten the stabilizer bolt that was lost on the way.

We do not go down the pass, it makes no sense. The road through the pass goes to the south of Lake Teletskoye, which we will not go to, have already been. Another reason why we are not going towards the lake is the leftover gasoline, which will not allow us to go back.
Further, our path passes through the waterfall Maiden's tears (Shirlak), we were here, but decided to visit again.

We stop at the monument to the chauffeur, which we usually passed.

"A monument outside the village of Bely Bom. Erected to the hero of the famous song about Kolka Snegirev. Dedicated to all the drivers who died on the Chuysky tract."

We stop at the confluence of the Katun and Chuya.
The Chike-Taman pass is easy to pass, it is easier for a car with a snorkel to breathe. We buy souvenirs at the pass, teas as a gift.
The Seminsky pass is also in one breath, we do not stop here, there are a lot of people. Mongolian goods are sold 5 times more expensive.
Closer to the village. Ongudai we go down to the Ursul river, the descent is very steep, if it rains, it will be difficult to drive back. Finding a great place to spend the night.

On the way home, we buy additional meads to celebrate the trip at home.

Then we go home, there are no more stops.
At the entrance to Cherepanovo heavy rain began. This is how Novosibirsk greeted us, washed us of the dirt. On July 4 at 22.00 we arrived home.
Many thanks to our car, which brought us home and did not cause any problems on the road!

After arriving, the first thought is where we are going next time.

Price tag: 10 000. Mileage: 1050 km

31.08.17,
Anechka,
Novosibirsk

Great story! But I have a question about gas mileage,
Fuel spent - 8,000 rubles. , Fuel burned out - approximately 950 liters (approximate consumption 12-13 liters). Gasoline prices 36.5 to 44 rubles. for 1 liter.
It turns out that gasoline consumption is about 35 tons. Rubles, and you have written 8,000 rubles.