We got a taxi to the bus station and booked tickets on a mashrutka to Khyagte, the last Russian city before the Mongolian border. The scenery changed from a forest of short shrubs to wide open spaces with the occasional shrub to small coniferous forests with medium-sized mountains in the background. A short distance before we reached khyagta, we were ordered off the bus and had to explain to the border guards tat we wanted to go to Mongolia. We were then put on a Mongolian bus which took us through the Russian border to Mongolian passport control. When we had convinced some bewildered Mongolian border officials that we were aged hippies we noticed that the bus had gone. We wandered about for a bit until an attractive young Mongolian woman came up to us and asked if we were going to Sukhe Bator. She charged us 500 Rub (£5) and dropped us in the centre of the town. We tried two shitty “hotels”, and a very helpful Frenchman who is cycling round the world directed us to the Selenge hotel. A booked the best room in the best hotel in Mongolia’s largest city and it is a total shit-hole.
The dining room at the Baikal Plaza hotel
This guy watched over us as we ate breakfast
A small museum in the hotel
The marble staircase
President Putin stayed at the hotel
A rock on the share of Lake Baikal. This picture appears everywhere
The lovely receptionist who was such a great help to us