Today we reached the border from Kazakhstan to Russia. We have heard lots of horror stories about the border, ranging from having to wait over a day to being totally denied access to Russia with the vehicle. Luckily we arrived with typical SDOP enthusiasm and after a bribe to a guard of some English biscuits, we got through both Kazakhstan and Russian borders in under an hour! We are either extremely lucky or border guards just love us.
Upon leaving we saw a building for insurance and thought it would probably be best to get some. After some confusing conversations with men that spoke no English and couldn’t understand why we were doing such a rally, we got insurance for 15 days for both the vehicles for $150 before setting off in Russia at roughly 4pm.
Adventure was up to its old tricks, with the battery not being charged due to the alternator being broken and the passenger side drive shaft vibrating the ambulance whenever there is any acceleration.
After pulling over for the night we switched the ambulances’ batteries around, giving Adventure a fully charged battery that should last a few days. In the mean time Endeavor will spend all of tomorrow charging Adventure’s flat battery. Due to this alternator problem, both ambulances now have to be bump-started whenever the engine is switched off, a source of much amusement to locals after we have just explained that we are traveling to Mongolia.
