After traveling from Khabarovsk to Chita along the M58 we could forgive the Russians for the M60. The M58 was 2,200Km of some of the best road in the world, it was a beautiful piece of engineering taking us through some wonderful countryside and connecting us with some great people and memories. Notable events along the road were a roadside cafe that had a brown bear in a cage for travelers to look at, a roadside hotel that we stayed in where the owners were putting a lot of work with new heating going in, new bitumen in the car park, new turf out the front, rock work being done on an outdoor area and other work in progress. We also had a day where the temperature dropped to 2 degrease and rain gave way to some snow, though not much fortunately. On our last night camped out before Chita we camped on the edge of a forest with plenty of fire wood for us to keep warm with which was just as well because when we woke in the morning it started to snow lightly, but it became heavier and by the time it stopped we had around 40mm of snow around us. We weren't keen to ride in the snow so we didn't get packed until lunch time meaning we didn't arrive in Chita until late. When we found a hotel to stay at we were again met with great friendliness and found a young Chinese man that spoke some English to help us book in and even helped us carry our gear to our room, he also offered any help we needed. The next day we were going to do some shopping and maintenance on the bikes so we sort the help of our new Chinese friend Yi Jun. Julie and I needed a new camera as we had not been able to charge the battery in our video or still cameras, we also needed some bolts to hold our topbox on and some food to take with us and Yi Jun was great, taking us around and helping us buy our needs. We offered him something in return but he refused. After another night in Chita we headed for Mongolia.
On the way we stopped at a little place for lunch and as we pulled in there were some children playing around outside that couldn't help notice us pull in, so by the time we were off the bikes not only were there the usual adults that come to see what we are doing, there were about seventeen children of all ages wanting to get photographs taken with us and then wanting us to write down our names. Ben and Julie went in to have lunch while I watched over the bikes and fielded questions and then we swapped places so I could eat. We were getting used to being the centre of attraction, it was not uncommon for people to start arriving whenever we stopped somewhere, but this was amazing. We then spent one more night out before getting to the Mongolian border. Fortunately we didn't stay far from the boarder because it meant we got there at a reasonable hour on the Sunday to get through the crossing, but who would have guessed that the Russians would take over four hours to let us through! But once through the Mongolians were unbelievable, when we got to the control point they all came out and shook our hands and then processed us most efficiently and after that they all wanted photos with us and to look at our web site, in all it took just over two hours to get into Mongolia. Then we were whisked away by a family that were wanting to get through the crossing but were unable to because the Russians decided it was time to go home, they led us to a place they called a hotel, but that was more like a family home, where they insisted on feeding us and having us stay for the night. We watched as they prepared all the food, carted in water because they have no running water and tried to talk to them until we were led to our room so that they could bring us tea and our dinner. After dinner they wanted to see all our pictures and to hear where we were going and where we had been, they were truly amazing. In the morning we were shown around the house that they had built themselves and you could feel the pride they had from having done it themselves. We watched as there daughter got herself ready for school and as dad loaded her and her friend onto to bike to take them to school. We paid a modest fee of 1400 Rubel and said goodbye.