I made it to Ulan Bator over some of the best roads yet. One section was just a track with some sand, but it didn’t last more than 20 minutes. The rest was good tarmac. When they build roads, the Mongolians certainly know how to.

But the best part was definitely the scenery. Green rolling hills and mountains in the distance. Huge expanses of dry plains and very few signs of humans. (Apart from the other cars). The odd Ger and herd of goats and cows, with a herdsman on horseback.

It was epic. A bit like parts of the UK, but vastly bigger. The sensation of space is almost overwhelming. Rolling into the city of Ulan Bator was an experience, suddenly thrust into an urban sprawl in juxtaposition to the rest of the day.

What a day!

Looks like we’ve met some friendly locals already!

We’ve just crossed the border into Mongolia. It took just under 3 hours and was quite an experience. The Russian side was efficient and the people friendly but in a standoff way, as you’d expect. The Mongolian side was chaos, stern faces all round and not a smile to be seen.

The process was fairly simple, take your paper slip to get stamped over there. Then bring it back and I’ll stamp it here. Then take it back over there to get it stamped again. Then bring it back here and I’ll stamp it again. When you have 5 stamps on the right order you can go.

But we won’t tell you, you have to figure it out for yourself. When you’re free to go we won’t tell you that either, we’ll just leave you hanging around until you’ve had enough and piss off.

When you’re almost out, we’ll close the gate and sell you some insurance. (Not actually a problem, I need it and it’s nice to have. It’s also dirt cheap and probably not worth the paper it’s printed on).

Anyway, I’m here in Mongolia! Not somewhere I’d ever envisaged going and I’m quite proud to have made it this far. The Russian mobile network will vanish in the next 100km or so, which means this may be my last blog post for a while. It depends on how much WiFi there is in Mongolia.

I’m almost out of Russia, having traveled nearly a third on the way across and I haven’t seen a hammer and sickle yet! Not to mention a nuclear sub, Kalashnikov rifle or tank for sale. I expected a lot more evidence of the former soviet state, and I’m a little disappointed.

Today that all changed when I saw my first hammer and sickle. I’m happy now! To celebrate I had myself a genuine soviet ice cream, it was lovely!

Just when I think the scenery can’t get any better, it changes and there’s more. The road to the border of Mongolia from Ulan Ude was spectacular. Huge plains with mountains rising in the distance. The area is sacred and there are several monuments and prayer trees.

The trees have lots of pieces of material tired to them, each one presumably a prayer or wish from one of the shaman. Or maybe a remembrance for a loved one. If I’m honest the trees look a bit of a mess, especially the ones near the roadside where the material gets very dirty.

The monuments are great though. This one was on the top of a hill, with only a rough track up to it. I fired up to have a look and it was very peaceful. Amazing views, no noise but the gentle breeze – it was a very special place. I can see why they built the monument there.

I don’t know which religion it represents, but I paid my respects and left quietly. Onwards towards Mongolia.

Most of the parking spots in Russia have ramps you can drive a car or lorry onto. They’re everywhere! Very handy for doing repairs to vehicles, especially the underside.

The state of the roads mean it’s quite likely that you’ll rip something off the bottom of your car, or break a suspension unit, or bash something in some way. I’ve seen them being used often, with miserable looking divers emerging from underneath!

I wanted a picture of my bike up on one, but the ramps are quite narrow and fairly high. One wrong move and the bike would go down in a big way, most likely resulting in injury too. Too risky!

On the way back from the lake I found one wide enough to chance it. There was actually plenty of room, but it still gave me butterflies in my stomach. Climbing up a ladder to get on my bike was a new experience too.

Ken had a blast up and over, only Chip has the sense to stay on the ground.

As we get closer to the centre of Russia and Mongolia, the people we meet tend to have a more Asian look about them. They’re Russian, definitely – because we speak and I ask where they’re from etc.. I’d expected this from the outset, but the people in the very far East look more European – but not quite. It’s hard to explain.

Oleg and Bair here were having a picnic and came over to join us. They were quite friendly but it lasted about 20 minutes longer than was fun. For some reason they wanted to wrestle, and kept tweaking Chip and Ken’s nipples. It was really funny! (Well I thought so anyway).

They left mine alone. I’ve no idea why, in fact I’m not sure whether to be relieved or jealous! No actual wrestling took place, but we were all friends at the end.

There seems to be some debate as to whether adventure motorcycling is a holiday or not. I suppose it depends on whether you make money from it. If so, then by definition it becomes employment. I’m hoping to write a book on my return, so right now gaining the experiences to write about constitutes work.

You can see from the picture the harsh conditions under which I’m slaving over a hot blog!

In reality there are good days and bad. Today is definitely one of the better days, maybe one of the best so far. But far from being complacent, I’m sure that there are some very tough days ahead. Especially Mongolia and Kazakhstan.

On those days where the road is tough, the weather bad and the punctures many – I need to remind myself that days like today make it all with while. It’s like being on holiday. (But it’s not, of course!).