On a winding road to Mongolia

On September 9, with one day delay according to the royal plan, the Czars arrived to the picturesque Altai Republic, the last Russian colony before Mongolia. The spies advised them to register at the Russian office in Gorno Altaisk, however the local officer refused their request and told them to keep telling everyone that they just arrived. The unbreakable bureaucratic circle had begun here which was yet to be discovered later on.

As they still had a few days buffer, they decided to relax for two days in Chemal, small but friendly village in the forests along Katun river that burst with middle-age atmosphere. After refreshing banya and with overfilled royal bellies, the Czars set foot again on the one and only street of Gorno Altaisk as there was surprisingly no bus from Chemal to anywhere else than back.

The Chemal "beach"

Lake near local monastery

Chilling after busy day and hot banya

After a short sleep in a dusty warehouse arranged by its watchman Rashid, the Czars set off towards Mongolia with the morning light.

Fairy-tale countryside of Altai

Amazing Altai village covered in the fall melancholy

Royal walk into the hills

Through spectacular mountains, fairy-tale river sides and small wooden villages, they were finally transported by Ildar and his magical vehicle by Friday evening to Tashanta, the last settlement at the borders. However, the gates to Mongolia were already closed for the day. With 60 inhabitants, 50 dogs, one tiny shop and freezing wind from the mountains, there was no other option than to ask for a bed in a shack of one of the peasants.

Shack where the Czars slept

The Czars had spent comfortably warm night and then in the morning (Saturday, Sep 12) they approached the heavily guarded entrance to a promised land of Mongolia. To their surprise, pear-looking soldier denied their access explaining that a walk-through by foot is prohibited. Only those on a vehicle are allowed in. The road closes every Sunday which meant they needed to pass till the dusk otherwise the Mongolian adventure would blur into hasty race among planned checkpoints.

The atmosphere of the village of Tashanta

So the Czars started to ask passing cars for a helping hand. Some of them had own difficulties to get through, some asked too much in return and the others were simply full. As there was still the whole day ahead they just kept trying and played soccer with local kids in the meantime. However there were less and less cars coming ...

After a soccer match (kids beated the Czars and won a juice)

Seeing the poor results, czar Fredovich used his charisma and royal treasure to persuade a jeep driver to squeeze 8 people into the car. The first tollgate was overcome. The Czars were in the no men's land between the borders. Unfortunately, the second security check discovered discrepancies between number of seats and persons, especially czar Madonovich did not looked like a luggage although he tried with all his actor skills.

Trying to add 3 more people and 3 big bags into an already full jeep

Game restarted. Still half a day ahead.

Nevertheless, the frequency of incoming vehicles decreased from very few cars per hour to almost no cars per hour. Even such circumstances could not bring down spirit of the Czars. They were waiting patiently with eyes hypnotizing horizon hoping to see a smoke from a rescue car ...

Long live the Czars! :)