One of the organizers of the rally to "remote places"-plunge participants in light of culture shock. In fact the shock swept the very lightweight, and have experienced it all, without exception,
Nine SUV Mitsubishi's three models-Pajero, Pajero Sport and L200 pick-up as technicals-went on the path of the great conqueror of Genghis Khan. For those who are to repeat our journey, it is immediately clear: if you do not have a full-fledged SUV with the respective locks, to cross the border with Mongolia is tantamount to suicide. You can enjoy the beauty of the Altai Territory in a car. Starting from Barnaul, we moved towards Biyski on the Federal Highway M52. Soon, as a reminder of caution, the chapel appeared. The former governor of the Altai region, Mikhail Yevdokimov, his guard and the driver were killed on the scene. The population of Altai Krai is mainly engaged in animal husbandry, so there are regular hormone obstructs on the troughs. I recommend to make in the village of Shroshki, in the small motherland Vasily Shukshina. The house in which the famous Soviet writer, actor and filmmaker was born was not preserved, but there is a museum, and a bazaar has turned from the village. Here you can relax, have lunch, and buy souvenirs for souvenirs. By the way, a monument to Vasily Makirovych has been installed on Mount Piquet, where "Shukshina readings" are held in the last days of July. You can't drive a car. You're gonna have to take a walk. The road, which is known as the "Chui tract", is literally cutting up rare trees by two halves, loops along the Katunya River, the left tributary of Obi. There's a real paradise for the water extreme. Various clubs where you can rent equipment and ship for rafting are located in the river bank. THE LAST LOOSE ROOM, our column arrived at the border town of Kosh-Agach. A sleepover is scheduled at the Zarya Hotel. The level of service is drawn to a solid star ... one. However, later this night, the rally participants will remember with nostalgia, because in Mongolia lived in yurts. No Mitsubishi has failed. But we had to wait three times before the driver replaces the punctate wheel on his UAZAJ-arm with the hand, but we ran early to get through the customs inspection before the lunch break. The border post works at 9:00. 00 to 18. 00 with a lunch break. There's a round clock in the driveway. People are standing between 10 and 12 hours because of the bureaucratic procedures for paperwork and baggage searches. We were missed outside the queue, and on the Mongolian side all the crews were assembled in two and a half hours. The insurance is the Mongolian equivalent of OSAGO. Only the driver's name was recorded in the document. It turns out that Mongols have long been banned, using only the names of a father or mother as a patronymic. With the introduction of new identity cards in the ' 90s, instead of old Soviet-style passports, the names were again used, often invented. For example, the first Mongolian cosmonaut chose Sansar ("space" in translation). The population of Northwest Mongolia is 99% of the Kazakhstanis the first thing that is thrown in the eyes-the road is over. We didn' t see the asphalt near to Harchor, except for a small section in the suburb of Ulegay. It has been able to support it, use free Wi-Fi-access to the Internet and lock up cars. With fuel in the country, the 92nd is still to be found, but 95 is not everywhere and costs more because of low demand. With diesel, we're lucky. By the way, our Pajero has no problem with the local 92nd gasoline of so called rural quality. In the city of Hovd, the center of the same name (equivalent to our region), the profits were already dark and only at dawn they were able to see what the tourist camp is from the yurt. The conditions are half-time: there is electricity, a common toilet and a shower with cold water. By the way, the yurts have been equipped with stove-bourgeoikes only for our arrival. The air temperature will be -3-5 tonight, -1 + 1 in daytime and -3-5 in the night. Today, almost the entire population of Mongolia preaches Buddhism. Before visiting the temple you need to get around the territory clockwise, turning all the prayer drums on the city of Altai before Altai town gave us an unpleasant surprise-one of the crews turned over. Fortunately, there were no casualties. The tow truck got the call from the satellite, but a few hours of waiting took us out of the schedule. As a result, the planned 570 km from Alta to Harchorina, we have overcome 26 hours, making sure that the right thing to do is to spend the night in the midway, in the town of Babyongnor. The most direct to Ulan Bator in the background of his experience was Sunday's walk-the asphalt was paved with him and the Mongolian drivers. Hot, inexperienced, and at night with the driving beam, usually the right-hand drive cars. The loss of nerve cells was the opportunity to witness the annual Naiad Festival. This competition in three disciplines-Mongolian wrestling, leaps and archery-is held in the middle of summer at the national sports stadium of the capital. The entertainment is comparable to the opening of the Olympic Games. On the financial question, we regretted that we had spent too little time getting acquainted with the Altai Territory. In Mongolia, most of the time is a dangerous and long road. The level of the service leaves much to be desired. A visa is required for entry into Mongolia. The fee is 1,500 rubles ($1). I highly recommend that the guide be used, as we did: up to $150 per person per day, accommodation, meals and car drivers are included. It is possible to dine in the Mongolian restaurant in the amount of 400-500 rubles per person. By the way, all the roads are paid. On the way from the western border to the Ulan-Bator, we gave a 500-800 tugrik from the car three times. However, the exchange rate against the ruble is reasonable: 1,000 MNT = 22 rubles. A 10-minute ride on the Ulan Bator cost 4,300 MNT. True, the taxi driver, deciding that no one could see it, regularly pressed the button under the counter, circling the extra 1,000 to the cost of the driveway. Incidentally, we have seen no radar on the way-local police officers are mainly fined for excessive numbers of passengers in a car. In Mongolia, this is one of the most common violations. In my opinion. -Being familiar with Mitsubishi's SUVs, I was sure the cars wouldn't fail. That's what happened. Of course, colleagues complained about the ergonomics: some knee regularly included anti-mists, no place to accommodate a cell phone with a walkie-talkie and a bottle of water in the salon. But thoughtlessly forgot the pennies. Plastic parts of the bumpers were damaged after the fords were overcome. On a tight Mongol comb, the shock absorbers were sometimes boiled by the shock absorbers, but they quickly came back to normal. In short, no criminal surprises of Pajero have been presented. But I underestimated my own strength. Almost 3,000 km of harsh road conditions were not easy. Fuzzy after rain, blurred and poor visibility due to abundance of dust causes to be very collected at the wheel. It is simply necessary to have a stock of all the operational fluids of the car, two cans of fuel, minimum of two fuses, radio communication with another crew, if you travel not alone, but as far as possible and via satellite. There is no Russian axle in Mongolia. Konstantin Vasilyev, Editor