It seems this trip has taken us to The Switzerland of almost everywhere except Switzerland (Mestia and Ushguli, Georgia in the Caucasus, Kyrgyzstan in Central Asia and now Altai in Russia)! The drive through Russia is so pleasant; the roads, the autumnal scenery, the very cheap diesel! Not only is it good to be on the road again - these roads are so civilised! Road markings, well maintained and smooth!

The landscape is stunning and one night we stayed in a hotel by the river. It's a bit cold for us to be camping. The hotel was just outside Ust-Sema, and seems like this area is a bit of a tourist hot spot with lots of hotels along the road - I think in the summer it must be really busy.

The Lonely Planet had all these sections on registering in Altai Province and getting special border permits… once again, worrying me for no good reason! With our Mongolian visas and only intending to be transiting through there were no problems. We were stopped for a document check, then drove another 5 minutes to the border. Had another document check before we were allowed to customs, then passport control, then car customs…

Just as we were about to head off into No Man's Land a woman ran up and asked us to take something to her sister on the Mongolian border… Ok… It was a bag of sheep fat! Seeing as the back of the car was full I had to hold onto it on the drive to the Mongolian border… eurgh!!

At the Mongolian border we were told, in good English, everything we had to fill out and which offices to go to. Most of the immigration officers were playing RPG's on their computers - we were the only people there, and I don't think they are very busy in general, but they were very organised and efficient. Also, they knew the sister so I could unload the sheep fat! The Mongol Rally blogs state this border takes about 8 hours! We were through in 2! Hoorah!

We drove out and got hailed by an old man, who sold us insurance and another man who's sister runs the currency exchange from their small house, whilst cooking meat dumplings. And then on to Olgii and the tracks heading in the general direction of UlaanBaatar.