With the intent of getting through the Russian side of the border today we get an early start, hitting the road before 8. The ambulance is left behind as they wanted to do some work on their head, exhaust hangers and get some head lights working. After weeks of desert this strech of road is amazing. Starting in heavily treed valley bottom beside a massive river, we climb over windy passes into the Altay Rebublic, apparently part of Siberia, which is a series of quaint villages amongst snow-field topped mountains. From there we climb further into flat glacier carved plains between mountain peaks, totally void of trees, at an elevation over 2000m. If anyone has in inclination of travelling in this area you should do it. I understand that, until recently, this area was restricted for travel for political reasons. We arrive at the Russian border just after it closes; however, there are a number of other teams who have set up camp there so we join them and have a great night. There is a small town at the crossing so we could grab some cold beer or vodka, and some of the locals even brought us fire wood. Chris had a bit of trouble dealing with the re-exportation paper work in the morning.
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