We arrived at the bus station at 7:00 am , ready for our 12 hour bus ride and our attempt to cross the border. The vehicle reminded me of a school Bus, in that the seats were designed for children - RyanAir we miss your spacious luxury. We boarded the bus and it was packed, it looked like a Genghis Khan Lookalike contest….. Worse still we had been given separate seat assignments.
We had two huge seat partners placed on opposite sides of bus for stability, my seat was hidden, by a Military looking John Candy - 30 stone Mongolian muscle - A personal air bag
LH bends provided relief as powerful centrifugal forces pulled his mass away from me ... RH Bends, a different proposition as pressed me against window with glass testing force - Still it was only for 12 hours.
Mongolians drive on the right hand side ... Except for bus drivers who drive on the left with 1 hand on the wheel and 1 hand on the horn, performing emergency stops for roaming cows on road - Scary?
The bus sped along happily over bumpy, cambered terrain tossing it's live cargo up and down then side to side, although hills caused some issues with the bus's tired engine fighting against its excessive human payload,... This was however compensated by the lack of braking power on the downhill stretches.
The journey continued like an interminable fairground ride where the operator had gone home and forgotten to turn the ride off

The border still to come.

The Russian Mongolian Border
Soldier boards coach checks Passports
Coach unloads - take bags to X-Ray - Passport Checked
Passport control slow - palpable tension in the air
Previous guy questioned for ages because his hair was greyer than his photo (glad I lost the beard)
Intense visual scrutiny lots of keyboard tapping whisper to soldier then let me through no challenge about lack of registration (Phew)
Reload rucksacks to bus, Russian soldier boards and checks passports
Drive 30 yards, Mongolian soldier boards, checks passports
Drive 20 yards, get off bus, unload Rucksacks and take to Mongolian x-ray, then processed by Mongolian Passport control.
We loaded our bags back onto bus and board - Mongolian oldier boards and checks passports.

Our Passports were checked 7 times!
Bus leaves compound, time elapsed - 2hrs
Drive 20 yards, bus stops and 5 freelance money changers board
Drive 50 yards and the bus stops at a Restaurant (cafe) for lunch.
The bus is back on the road 3 hours after stopping for the border.

After 8 hours, Heather's seating partner left the bus (the only person not going to Ulan Baator) - There is a god. I moved and although it didn't help much with the driving but it allowed circulation to resume throughout my body.

Arrived feeling old and battered….. Perhaps that's what Ulan Baatar means in English.