Thursday, June 12, 2014
Huge driving day today, covering some 445kms (278 miles) through the Altai Mountains. We had wonderful scenery along the way. It was so nice to see the dust and sand of Mongolia replaced by green valleys and mountain sides covered in trees. Trees never looked so good! We made good time on the roads as the roads were missing potholes. Another nice thing about Russia, no potholes. However, the Russians have been a little over-enthuasitic with their speed signs, which are posted all over the place.
During lunch we noticed one of our tires was a little soft. Suspecting an issue with the tire, it was quickly swapped out with the spare. The original, which had picked up a small nail, was repaired later in the carpark of our hotel. That is the second nail in 9 months, so not too bad.
We found a simple but nice guesthouse. A slightly weird thing about taking off our shoes at the front door, otherwise normal. Dinner was in a grill and restaurant and it was extremely nice to have western style food again. Caroline had seafood pasta with a light creamy sauce and red wine, Stephen had salmon lasagne and tiramisu. Happy to be in Russia.
Friday, June 13, 2014
Started the day with a latte, the first latte since the Fairfield Guesthouse in Tsetserleg, Mongolia, three weeks ago. And it looks like warm (read ‘hot’ – at least in our book) temperatures have returned. Amazing the change crossing one mountain range can make: in Kosh-Agash, our previous stop, we were still wearing 3 layers, now it’s t-shirts, shorts and sandals.
