I
handed over my passport to an
agent in the hopes of gaining an
elusive, and expensive double en-
try into Russia; and then the Brits
accused Putin of poisoning one of
their own agents and his daughter
on English soil. In the following days,
both countries expelled opposing dip-
lomats and much to my concern, Aus-
tralia joined in.
This was my first exposure to Rus-
sia before I had even left the Austra-
lia. With my plans in place and the
visa in my passport, I stuck to my guns
and decided against the warnings of
others, to go ahead. Crossing Russia
was vital in my plan of gaining access
to Mongolia. Unless you plan to band
together with other travellers to share
the astronomical cost of entering Chi-
na with your own vehicle, there is no
other way to cross into Mongolia over-
land.
I spent the first couple of months of
my solo round the world journey tour-
ing through Europe. Camping in the
Alps and alongside the Italian lakes. It
was beautiful, the riding was spectac-
ular, and I felt safe. All big ticks when
it comes to your first big lone adven-
ture.
It was a sleepless night before I was
to cross from Latvia into Russia. I
called a good friend who had gone that
way two years before, he assured me I
had nothing to worry about. Even still,
here I was, alone and about to cross
into a country which was not painted
in a favourable light and where I had
no hope of speaking the language.
Arriving at the border crossing ear-
ly the next morning, the long line ups
I had anticipated were nowhere to be
seen. Apart from a couple of trucks
and a group of Canadian motorcyclists
there was no one else. Striking up a
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