Mongolia/Russia border opening?
 

Sorry if this has been asked before, but does anyone know if you can cross the Altanbulag - Khygat (Ulan Ude - Ulaanbaatar) border on a Sunday? Never occurred to me that it might be a problem until I realised what day of the week we were aiming to cross.

Answering my own question, I did come across an announcement from a Mongolian authority, stating that their intention was to make this particular border crossing a 24/7 one. I've no idea whether that came to pass.

However, we have decided to spend an extra day in Ulaanbaatar, since we realised that, even if the border is open on a Sunday, the booths selling insurance and currency exchange won't be - and, as we discovered last time, it is extremely difficult to buy temporary vehicle insurance anywhere else ... In fact, since arriving back in Moscow I had none at all until I crossed into Mongolia - though, as I put my bike on the train as far as Irkutsk, I did very little riding. I was stopped by the police once outside Ulan Ude, but they only wanted my passport. Phew!

Couldn't you find a place selling insurance in Moscow? I'd be surprised...

2 years ago there was no insurance selling place at the border.

I had to go to Ulan Ude to find one.

This Time I got an Insuranca for the whole time and saved nerves and dont care about mabe save 20 bucks

Didn't bother to look, TBH. I was only there for a couple of days and the bike was in the warehouse most of the time. Could have looked in Irkutsk, but forgot ...

Will try at the border. There was a booth selling 'something' when we came across last week, but I didn't investigate. Russians seem very cavalier about insurance compared with most other countries. Our friends seemed quite amused that we minded so much about not having any!

Certainly, no one has ever asked us to produce proof of insurance in two trips there. Nevertheless, if we can't get it at the border, we'll try Ulan Ude.

I got stopped by strret posts in Russia and askes for insurance.

They asked right away for that and have been friendly but they know what they did.

So I would not hope to get through.
And in case of accident, have fun.

For me, it is pretty hit or miss, but it is certainly not unusual for police to ask to see insurance. The further east you go, however, the rarer it is.

Were a bit delayed getting to Ulan Ude, as Roynie's bike nearly fell apart! Had to stop for welding in Gusinoozyorsk!

Now in Ulan Ude, I don't suppose you remember where you got insurance? We're about to venture out to look.

I went into a Sperbank and asked for assistance

And they really helped with google translate and showed me a place nearby.

here's a link to a map that popped up when i did a google search for insurance in Ulan Ude (страхование осаго улан-удэ):

https://www.google.ru/maps/search/%D....586301,15.67z

Ha ha. Had to laugh. That's more or less exactly what we did yesterday evening. Got the name of somewhere near the bus station via Google Translate and another bank customer with an English-speaking friend on the end of a mobile phone! People are so incredibly helpful here. :thumbup1:

Thanks, that's brilliant. Looks like there are several within walking distance. I'll update with our progress later.