the border cfrossing into russia was interesting to say the least.  we left camp at 7am and drove about 10km to the mongolian border.  there we sat until about 1pm.  some cars diddnt make it across the border until after 5pm.  then we had a 700km run to belarouskia.  this drive was maginificent for the 1st 250kms.  we drove down a magnificant gorge with a huge river dropping all the time from about 7500ft to about 500ft above seal level.  even the americans confimred that they had never seen scenery like it.  the russians were all extremely friendly and of course the tramac roads were much appreciated.  the reason the day was so long was that we had to avoid bush fires which added a furhter 125kms to the distance.  noen of our lights worjked except the old fashioned headlights.  these were just adequate and we strapped our heasd torches to the rear bumper with their red light setting which worked rather well.  we were stopped by the police but this was because they wanted to pose in front of the car for photographs - this has become quite familar.  belorouskia is a spa town and our hotel was a supposed health centre - luckily with beer.