0130 Kazakhstan. Days 15-18

0130  Kazakhstan  Days 15-18
June 16-19 2019
Rain, mud, clutch repairs, horsemen, and more big crowds !

Clouds and rain ahead

Day 15.  Novosibirsk to Pavlodar Kazakhstan.  630 kms.    Distance wise, today was the longest of the rally, with a border crossing thrown in for good measure.  But at least, being a Sunday morning, the city roads were pretty empty and we found our way out of town no problem.  But before long, the temperature started dropping and the black clouds rolled in - Time to put the roof on !  And it was a good job we did because it was going to get wetter, colder, and even muddier, as the day progressed.

0129 - Russia 1, Days 11-15

0129 - Russia 1, Days 10-15
June 11th - 16th June
Surely this is too scenic to be Russia ?

The Russian border

Day 10.   Achit Lake to Kochevnik Camp  6.  371 kms.      Having battled our way through the Mongolian side of the Russian border crossing, we drove 10 kms through no mans land to the Russian border.   A large sign as we drove up said RUSSIA, so we knew we were in the right place, and then the tall guard, wearing his typically oversized military hat, came over and said, in perfect English, "Good afternoon.  Welcome to Russia.  Where are you from?"   you could have knocked us over with a feather - After the almost rude abruptmess on the Mongolian side, here was this young officially being pleasant, smiling, and speaking English !   After a quick show of our passports, we were off and away - The clock on my photos

Confirming we have crossed the border

shows me it took a total of 3 minutes to get through the border !  Brilliant.   A big sign confirmed that we had now crossed the border into Russia, and we were off and away.  It was about 160 kms more to Kochevnik Camp #6.  The first part of the road was good, and, weaving on through the Altai mountains, very scenic.  Compared with the Russia I knew up in Siberia when I worked there, this was so different - Good quality roads (ie very few potholes !), picturesque, clean ?   Could this really be Russia ? I was stunned.

0128 - Mongolia, Days 3-10

0128 Mongolia Days 3 -10
4th - 10th June 2019
Camping, incredible scenery, and some of the ROUGHEST roads you have ever seen !

Its a wide open land !

Until one drives across Mongolia,  one doesn't appreciate the sheer vastness and nothingness of the open plains - it just goes on and on.  And the two day drive from the border up to the capital city of Ulaan Baatar was right across the Gobi Desert - The home of the Bactrian (two humped) camel, the largest dinosaur fossil reservoir in the world, the largest Asian desert and 5th largest in the world, the home of the world's largest temperature extremes, and of course the home of the Great Mongolian Empire of Genghis and Kublai Khan.  The Mongols once had the largest contiguous empire in history.  This really is one hell of a place to visit - And we get to drive through it all, camping out in the middle of it - How good is that ?

0127 - China, Days 0 - 2

0127 China, Days 0-2
Scrutineering, Great Wall, on to Erenhot.
Route - Beijing, Hohhot, Erenhot.

Mung, our Beijing friend

I had already been in China for 3 weeks by the time the P2P started, and had spent time looking for WD 40 and other items that people needed.  Once Ashton arrived, we found all sorts of places, and met people like Mung at RPM Tuning who had helped us considerably. The other competitors arrived on June 30th, and on the 31st it was straight into paperwork and scrutineering.