We made it into Russia and across to Kyzyl at last, its been a while with some rough travelling along the way. Kyzyl is the biggest city we have seen in almost a month. The food has improved no end in Russia, things were getting to be a problem suviving on a cup of rice and day and 2 min noodles for lunch esp without any vegies or fruit.

So what has happened since the last update

27 June, Another day shopping for supplies in Ulaan Gom

28 June, 47km, off west to a pass, had 36 km of paved road, the off into a pass, excellent views of Uvs Nuur in the distance camped by a river.

29 June, 42 km, two passes today, snow capped mountains in the distance which are in Russia, made lake Ureg to camp. The water was slightly salty for cooking though. A local herder came up and saw our stove so brought his food (goat meat) over to cook on our stove.

30 June, 23 km, made it to a fresh water well, which was good after the salt water in the lake to drink. Stopped for quite a while due to heat and wind, then made it to about 16km from the top of the next pass up a valley.  Pete's Birthday!!!

1 July, 51 km, Over the pass then found Ger's in valley and got some water from them. Camped beside river in large river flat.

2 July, 48km, Rough accross river flat with the road made from the river rocks. Went into a town for supplies (Boh Moron) which was strange, every thing was closed, we think something to do with the problems from the election and the State of Emergency in Ulaan Baatar. We managed after some time to get petrol for the stove, but no supplies.

3 July, 54km, uphill most of the day in a very nice valley with many Kazak ger camps and were invited for tea many times. Such hospitable, friendly people. Made Tasangannuur which was a very strange town that looked like it had been destroyed and rebuilt about 1 km away.

4 July, 7 km, made the border town (Ulaan Barshint) only to findout that the border was closed for the day and the next day. So we had to wait until Sunday. The border guards were very nice and invited us to stay in their house until the border was open (there was no other accomodation in town that we could see anyway).

5 July, 0 km, Waiting, the Mongolian Family took us to a local Kazakh Ger to milk the horses which was nice. But more waiting all day…

6 July, start for the border, clearing Mongolian customs first (its good to have contacts) and be keen. We get to the physical border with Russia and find that they won't let us cycle the 20 km to the customs post and that we must take a vehicle. After about 1 hr waiting another car came and offered us a lift to the customs post. So we entered Russia.

7 July, 60km, to Kosh Agach, paved road, we stopped for a head wind and rain at one stage but made town no problems. We find much better food and supplies in Russia. Although it was difficult to find a Hotel, eventually a hotel finds a family with a spare room to offer us, which is very nice and comfortable.

8 July, Shopping for supplies and we register our Visas with the police (after some confusion about needing a hotel and having to pay for another hotel for the correct paper work).

9 July, 54km, well stocked with good russian food we head off again to go through to Tuva, although we're a bit unsure of the route.

10 July, 32 km, back onto rough roads and without towns for the next 5 days, over a pass and ford a river before camping.

11 July, 34km, day of many wrong turns eventually we ford the river we were expecting and camp on the other side. Seeing what looks like a better road we start thinking of how to get out of the area and too a town for supplies should we need it.

12 July, 24 km. one of the toughest days with a wrong turn some locals direct us up a very steep ridge to get to where we need to go. After 5 hours of halling the bikes and gear separately we find the road we should be on and get to the lake we're expecting. With a few visits from local teenages on horses its a scenic place to camp.

13 July. 43km, looks like the road heads in the wroung direction (North, not East) but we follow the only thing that looks like a track (and thats stretching a definition of track) we make the Kargu valley and roll down the valley most of the day on good tracks. We're not sure where Mugur Asky is but make to see the town in the afternoon so stop short by the river.

14 July, 6 km, Cycle into Mugur Asky and start stocking up with supplies.

15 July, deciding to take a vehicle to Chadan we organise a shared taxis to take us over the next 150 km of dirt road. Eventually this happens (only a 7 hour wait!) and we're on our way, arriving 5 km short of Chadan at about 7 pm, we get off the vehicle to camp by a river in the long grass.

16 July, 80 km, after a short visit to Chadan and the music festival we make good progress on the paved road and double helping of food.

17 July, 80km, another 80 km day easy cycling along paved road and cafe's by the road selling pancakes. With smims in the river (with all the locals) to avoid the mid day sun, which is very hot now.

18 July, 54km, about 50km to Kyzyl we take it a bit easier now, we camp by some herders near the mosquito river (heads nets come into their own now! but under water in the river is the best place to be). The hearders bring us some yogurt which is very nice.

19 July 51 km, we make Kyzyl by about 11 am after starting at about 6:45 am to avoid the heat of the day. We find on arrival that all the hotels are full, after some waiting and checking all the hotels out we find one (the first one we looked at) has a room avaliable at 3 pm. We meet Alex who is riding a bicycle and interested in our trip.

20 July, 0km, in Kyzyl its sunday so not every thing is open we do some shopping for snack food and fresh fruit.

21 July 0km, Kyzyl still, Alex brings an Russian TV crew, and Tuva news paper to interview us about our trip and what we think of Russia and Tuva, which is excellent and we're enjoying the food and friendliness of the people we meet.

The list of broken things is getting longer  (like wholes in the bum of Michaela's favourite pants!!) athough the bikes are still holding up well.

We off north now to Abakan and Krasnoyask for a tast of bigger cities is Russia now.

Regards,

Pete and Michaela.