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Old 12-06-2008, 03:15 AM
BlueGerbil BlueGerbil is offline
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Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: Germany
Posts: 89
November 29-December 01, 2008: Altay - Mongolian Border - Olgy

Mountains, snow and another border!

In the afternoon we hit the road from Novosibirsk towards the Mongolian border with the completely re-packed and frost-resistant vehicles and two new expedition participants ? in Novosibirsk, the TV-journalist Hendrik Pfefferkorn and cameraman Marco Schwarzer joined the expedition. We had 900 kilometres and the drive through the scenic Russian region Altay ahead of us. This mountain stage presented us three challenges: the first snow, heavy inclines and declines - and all that during night time driving. As long as there was enough light we have been able to take some nice photo and film shoots: flock of sheep, wild horses, cows walking by, green rivers, snow covered hilltops and scenic wooden bridges.

About 50 kilometres before we were supposed to reach the Russian-Mongolian border, we reached our accommodation, the hotel transit in Kosh Agash. The surprise was, that this hotel was the best hotel in the area ? the only one with restrooms inside. We thought that the entire second floor was reserved for us but in the evening we saw that a Mongolian was occupying one of the other rooms and at night time another four Mongolian women moved into a room on the second floor. As we woke up in the morning and started to get ready, we noticed how efficiently the premises got used: Besides us, another 10 to 15 Mongolians have been sleeping in these two rooms which were not occupied by us. Luckily, we thought to be alone for the entire evening. Due to the fact that the only restaurant in Kosh Anash was closed that day, we went to the supermarket, bought plenty of food, and improvised the cooking which was not really tasty, but at least we had a cheerful dinner together.

On Monday morning we left towards the Russian ? Mongolian border in bright sunshine. First topic in Kosh Anash: we had to be present at the border office, because of our female translator who is supposed to accompany us till the customs clearance at the Russian ? Mongolian border. This unexpected extra appointment made Matthias feelings change into apprehensiveness in connection with the upcoming border crossing. From this point our way was snowy, straight and uphill for many miles. We could see the beginning mountains and a vague idea of a right turn at the horizon. Right there we decided to make another stop to take some photo and film shoots. Scenery, Lands-end-atmosphere and the fantastic light had to be captured in photo and film.

Immediately after we left the curve behind us, we reached the border town Tashanta. Right in front of us were the border superstructures of the Russian side, two cows on the street and primarily no traffic at all. Surprisingly the custom clearance at the Russian border was really fast. They knew that we were coming, waited for us and after three hours we were able to cross the border. With its impressive demonstrative bigness, Russia said goodbye for a while: The no man?s land between Russia and Mongolia is an over 20 kilometres long fenced mountain range.

Mongolia welcomed us with a big sensation: Not only that the entire border office was informed that we were coming and all worked overtime, furthermore they did their job in an absolute record time as well. Within 45 minutes the Carnet ATA?s got stamped, the passports have been controlled and the entry approved. Additionally, those friendly officers allowed us to take pictures and film them, which were forbidden on all the other border offices. Icing on the cake of our entry was that our guide Nasaa waited as arranged directly at the frontier. A happy reunion with Matthias made this uncomplicated entry perfect.

After a short stop for tea and noodles, we had to handle the first real off-road passage: With snow flurry and a visibility of down to two meters, Nasaa directed us and we followed an around 55 kilometres long snow covered mountain track. Luckily we had our guide with us, because we would have never believed Matthias that this track was the right way. We were really tired but in this way we reached the hotel in Olgy one day earlier than planned. Now we are ahead of the designated time in our schedule, primarily owed to the successful cooperation at the border crossings. We would like to thank all the Russian, Mongolian and German authorities for this great support. Thank you!

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