Lock and Load

We deliberately chose to arrive in Ulaanbaatar on a Sunday so we could begin to organise Maggie as soon as possible. Our plan to return to Russia and drive to Vladivostok had been somewhat foiled by our whole gearbox situation. Our extended Mongolian stay meant that our Russian visas will have expired (and the Russians DO NOT extend their visas under any circumstances), so we have to ship Maggie directly out of land locked Mongolia.
Monday morning came and we made the trip to Shipping Line Mongolia to start the paperwork. Whilst we knew that it would be quite a mission, we were not expecting all the hurdles and hoops that we encountered. We also were not expecting to have such amazing help in the form of Buya, our ‘shipping guy/fixer’. Literally 15 minutes after entering the office all three of us were on the street hailing a taxi, which is very easy in Mongolia as every car is a taxi, you seriously wait no longer than about 30 seconds for a car to pullover and it is an informal agreement of 800MNT (about 25p) per kilometre. Anyway, we get in a taxi and return to our guesthouse where Hayden and Buya leave in the Land Rover (only two seats so I am left behind) and head out to get the car washed and acquire the necessary paperwork. I have little to say about this experience as I was not there, but what I can say is that they left at about 10am and I met Hayden for dinner at 7:30pm!! During this time they had the car cleaned, visited the Mongolian equivalent of the DVLA/RTA, had paperwork translated from English into Mongolian and back to English, had the same paperwork stamped and then re-stamped, then translated again, and stamped again! Whilst a lot was achieved, there was still plenty more to do. Despite this, dinner was a relaxing affair, catching up again with Manuel and also meeting Ids, a crazy Dutchman who had ridden his bicycle all the way from Holland! We were also joined by Gunsen, a born and bred resident of Ulaanbaatar.
On Tuesday, Buya offered to come with us to immigration as we needed to extend our visas again, thanks to the wrong gearbox part being sent (thanks City Gearboxes). Initially we were told that we cannot do this as you are only allowed to do it once, but somehow a few minutes later Buya was telling us to go to the bank to pay for a one week extension. One job down, a lot more still to do. We left Buya and he went to de-register the car, but this became a problem when it appeared that the car was never officially registered at the border. There was one point where we thought we were going to have to somehow contact the border and get them to send us the official documents, but once again Buya managed to sort this out for us. Legend. In the evening we took a break from paperwork and logistics to walk up the hill on the edge of the city to a monument that commemorated Mongolia’s relationship with Russia. The sight of the city at dusk was strangely pretty, even with the horizon full of smog and the factories pumping out all sorts of toxins (UB is the second most polluted city in the world we have been told).
Wednesday came and Hayden was summoned to drive the car into the shipping container! But alas, more paperwork to sort and he was sent home, leaving Maggie at the shipping yard. We returned later that afternoon only to find out that the port official that had been sent was an import officer not an export officer. Of course Thursday was a public holiday, Chinggis Khan’s birthday no less! So no official document chasing could be done, instead we enjoyed walking around UB and the lighting of the ‘New Year Tree’ that looked rather suspiciously like a Christmas Tree, the Christmas Carols being a bit of a give away.
Friday was set to be a big day, we headed off first thing to the Chinese Embassy to apply for Chinese visas and then drove Maggie down to the shipping yard. This time the correct officer was there and all the paperwork was finally in order and rubber stamped. Hayden drove Maggie into the container and the workers began strapping her down. Their technique was a little concerning, but more concerning was the fact that some the straps were broken. We explained to Buya that we weren’t happy and he kindly left to buy better quality straps and nails (to hammer the wooden chocs around the wheels). Hayden changed into his work clothes and gave one of the workers his own, better hammer (his was really just a toy) and together, with a simple Internet search on ‘how to strap a car for shipping’ and under Hayden’s instruction, work continued and we were happy that Maggie would be safe and sound for the next 60 or so days. Yes, that’s right, 60, six zero. Transit time can be so ambiguous and is really dependent on how busy the ports are, so it could potentially be less, but we won’t hold our breaths. Unfortunately, that was not the end of our ‘jobs’. We returned to the Chinese Embassy to collect our visas and attempted to buy train tickets. It turns out you cannot purchase international train tickets so close to departure. It’s a month in advance or the evening before the train departs. We were advised to go to the train station at 5pm on Saturday and try our luck.
We still had to sign the final paperwork for the car, so on Saturday morning Buya drove to our guesthouse to personally give it to us. He also offered to be a tour guide if we wanted and we happily accepted his thoughtful offer and drove 50km out of the city to the giant statute of Chinggis Khan. In fact, it is the largest horse statue in the world. You can see it gleaming as you come over the hill, it really is spectacular. We went inside and went all the way up into the horse’s head and took in the view, more of Mongolia’s remarkable landscape. When we were done Buya drove us back into town to the train station where he stayed to help us purchase tickets. There was already a crowd of people waiting, it turns out that 90 people had put their names on a waiting list and they would be served first. We were assuming that the locals would not be interested in the ‘deluxe cabin’ that we were holding out hope for, last minute ticket prices means that first class is very reasonable, about the same price as flying (but it takes 27 hours as opposed to two). At 5pm (the time at which the Mongolian train station is notified of availability) we were told that by the lady Buya had been speaking to that there were no deluxe cabins on offer, but she was willing to do her best to help. We waited and waited. The ticket lady phoned Buya (yes, he had given her his number) and she told us to go and wait downstairs to avoid drawing attention to ourselves. We did as we were told. A few minutes later Buya received a text saying that she could get us two spots in a four berth cabin. We were being a bit snobby and were a little concerned with the ‘pot luck’ surrounding our possible roommates. As we were ‘ummming and ahhhing’, Buya received a call saying that there is now an available deluxe cabin. We are still unsure as to how this actually happened, but he then received a text asking him to come upstairs to deliver our passports and ticket money, as well as a little extra hidden in one of the passports. Yep, we bribed our way into First Class! We took Buya out to dinner to thank him for all his extra help, he really went way beyond his job description! Heading back to our guesthouse in -25 degrees we really felt like we were leaving Mongolia at a good time and with such fond memories. We had no real itinerary for the next 60 days we were beginning to feel like real free travellers!