Border Crossing: Mongolia

Date of Border Crossing	01.08.2006
Point of Entry	Tashanta (Western Mongolia) coming from Russia.
Passport and Visa	Passport has to be valid for at least another 6 months and you need a visa to enter Mongolia. See Additional Information on how to get a visa for Mongolia in Ankara.
Insurance	We did not have a valid insurance for Mongolia. Nobody checked or seemed to care.
Drivers License	Did not get checked, but I am sure that officially you are required to have one.
Motorcycle papers	All you need is your 'vehicle passport' (vehicle registration papers).
License plates	Own license plates are sufficient.
How it went	After all the hassle on the Russian side, the Mongolian border is a breeze. Immigration: We had to fill out a Immigration form and hand this and the passports to the two female officers at the immigration booth. The information got checked thoroughly and then the passports were stamped. Customs office: At the customs office they asked to see the 'vehicle passport' and the passport. They also wanted to know from where we would be leaving Mongolia.Then the information got registered in their book and we were sent on our way. All in all it took less than 30 minutes to get into Mongolia!
Point of Exit	Tashanta into Russia
How it went	The border on the Mongolia side opens at 09:00 am. It is very important that you show up as early as possible! The problem is not so much the Mongolians but the Russians on the other side. They don't like to work and if you are not among the first vehicles across in the morning you risked being turned back by the Russians and asked to come back the next day! This then of course means you have to go back into Mongolia as if you were arriving from Russia! The Mongolians are well aware of this problem, so a line of vehicles starts forming in front of the border long before 09:00 am!
Additional Information	Getting a visa for Mongolia: We got our visa for Mongolia at the Embassy in Ankara, Turkey. The Embassy is a little hard to find, so here are the GPS coordinates: N39 53.613 E32 52.776 We were welcomed by the Consul himself who asked us into his office. After explaining that we wanted to travel to Mongolia we were handed visa application forms and a bank account number. We were asked to come back in the afternoon with the completed form, an attached passport photo and a receipt proving that we had deposited the money in said bank. The visa charge was 25 Euro. For an additional fee he would have issued us a "same day visa" but we opted to return the following day to pick them up. Changing money: Coming into Mongolia from Russia: There was nowhere to change money at the border. You have to drive to Oelgy to find a bank that will change USD into local currency. Leaving Mongolia to Russia: We had spent all our Mongolian currency unsure as to whether we would be able to change it into rubles in Russia. However when leaving Mongolia you have to pay a small fee for a health inspection. We ended up paying the fee in rubles, which was ok. There is nowhere on the border to change money. However you need rubles to pay for the insurance and the entry permit for your vehicle. So I suggest you buy some rubles in Ulaan Bataar!