June 2006: To the Russia-Mongolia border, Mongolia Railway

The Mongolia Railway is one section of the Trans-Siberia railway that takes one from Asia to Europe. I never did make it across the border from Mongolia to Russia. I was close though. So close that the morning I was at the dusty border town having breakfast, there were three Russian ladies in the same restaurant. The Mongolian at the boder suggested that it was just a few kilometer down the track into Russia. But the track looks narrow, and I don't have any plan B should a train comes hurtling down the track if I were on it too.

Anyway, when I was in Ulann Bataar, and Mongolian working with me was given me different versions of how easy or difficult it is to get a visa into Russia. What I did confirm though, is that I would need an EXIT visa to get out of Mongolia. That means a trip into Russia means an EXIT visa for Mongolia, and an ENTRANCE visa for Russia.

Below: The northernmost station on the Mongolia Railway, any further.....Siberia.




--KIV--