This day was very funny... 4 hours detained and a fine!!!!
...but one of the soldiers saw the funny side and with a big grin on his face and a wink gave me his hat!
Woke up with the sunrise and decided to stay longer by the river in the beautiful valley and write my diary and just chill for a few hours. Alex borrowed my bike and headed back the 12km to town. I had still not caught up on sleep from the last few days of pushing to get across the border and then the party the night before last and so I got back into my tent and fell back to sleep again.
I was then woken up rather suddenly by some harsh Russian voices outside my tent and climbed out only to find 4 big muscly Russian Army men with big scary guns! One of them spoke a small about of English and told me to wait for my friend to return. I sat there rather worried until Alex returned on my bike about 10 minutes later. It turned out that he had not got very far when he was stopped by these 4 guys in their truck and questioned about what he was doing in the area. He was told to return to our camp.
Alex explained that the soldiers said we were not allowed to camp so close to the border and that they had to take us back to their headquarters to be questioned and detained! It took about 45 mins for us to pack up our tents and fix my bike to the back of the truck and we were then driven (all 6 of us squashed up with all of our bags as well) back to town and into the army compound.
We were not really taking the episode very seriously at this point. Alex and I were joking about being locked away in a Russian jail never to be seen again.... He would try to fight them off by being Rambo and I would just cry when we got there... I thought that my approach was more likely to be successful.
One of the soldiers realised that we were not seriously trying to get across the border and understood that we just did not know that it was illegal to camp so close to the border. When he dropped us off in the army compound, he turned to me with a big grin on his face and threw me his Russian Army hat and winked. Awesome! It made my day... What a souvenir for the experience! Apparently, the real ones (like the one I was given) are actually really expensive to buy. I was so happy that it made being bored whilst detained for 4 hours almost worth it.
I have to say that I was very glad that Alex was there to explain in Russian why we were in that valley and that we had no intention of going to Mongolia. He likely wrote my statement for me in Russian and acted as a translator.
It appeared that the army guys were really bored and had nothing better to do than to each come and question us! We must have been asked questions by about 20 men. Some of them took the whole thing very very seriously and would not smile or be civil where as others were more casual. I did not understand most of it as it was all conducted in Russian. We were told that we would have to pay a fine of 500Rubles each (about £10). Alex argued the case that there was no way that I would have known this rule as there were no signs (in Russian let alone English) at the border and that someone at the border should have told me when I passed into Russia. Some of the soliders agreed but the higher authorities said I must understand all Russian laws when in Russia so I would have to pay the fine.
All of this was over £10! I think I would have rather just paid the fine straight away rather than sitting there for 4 hours being questioned. We were left alone many times before the next person came in to question us. When alone we kept on giggling like naughty little school children! In fact the room where we were held was a classroom and it felt like we were on detention. I suppose I should have taken it more seriously but then where's the fun in that?
We both saw the positive side to the experience. Alex had gone to town purely to charge electronic things. While we were there we plugged in all of our stuff to their mains supply and I faffed a bit on my laptop. We had also both got a lift back to town rather than walking/biking the 12km. But most importantly: I got a Russian Army Hat and a funny story for my blog ;-)
When we were let out we found that the weather had turned and it was raining heavily. We sheltered for a hour and then said goodbye and I headed off on my bike leaving Alex to hitch.
I took several hours to ride the 65km to the town of Kosh-Agach as there was a really strong head wind, with a storm coming and I stopped many times to take photos as the light was great! I stopped off at a couple of the small towns along the way to see if I could find an internet cafe but apparently they do not have them out here. Mongolia was actually better for the internet than Siberia so far. I really wanted to let some people from home know that I was OK as I had been off the radar for so many days. I had no SIM card and no internet connection for about 5 days by this point. 
I took this photo of the grass to show how windy it was! 
As I was cycling along a couple of different Mongolian Rally cars stopped to say hello and I enjoyed having a good old natter. It was actually starting to get dark by the time I arrived at Kosh-Agach. I was looking for an internet place and a shop to buy some food when I bumped into Alex again! I had not expected to see him again until Moscow (where he invited me to stay with his family and young son). He had hitched into town. As it was getting dark he suggested that we camped together again. I was much happier to camp closer to town with company. It meant that I would not have to cycle so far back to town tomorrow morning to use the internet etc so it worked out really well.
This town was the first significant town that I had seen in Siberia. It was amazing to see the difference in the supermarkets in comparison to Mongolia. I could get everything that I needed (with the exception of peanut butter) like oats, fresh coffee and fruit and vegetables along with freshly baked bread! The style of the wooden houses of the town are also different to Mongolia. I could not find a restaurant in town though and apparently the hotel in town is an absolute dive (camping and swimming in the river would apparently be preferable). The people seemed OK but no where near as friendly as the Mongolians. There is also road rage here... something I never experienced in Mongolia.
As I was leaving town, I met a group of guys from the Mongolian Rally team that I had been speaking to several hours earlier. We swapped SIM cards so that they would have my Mongolian one and I would have their Russian one. It worked out really well as there was no where in town which was open at this late hour to sell me a SIM card and it meant that I did not have to spend time registering and buy a SIM card. It worked out well for the guys as well as I still had internet and loads of credit on my Mongolian SIM card. Alex helped me register the card with a 8GB per month internet connection and so I was really happy that I could contact some people at home online and that this faffing job (which always takes up time in each new country) was done!
It was totally dark by the time we left town and found a campsite by the river which runs through the town. I was much more relaxed camping next to Alex that I would have been if I was on my own. I would not have camped in town if I was alone. It was lovely to cook a healthy meal of eggs and vegetables and to have someone to natter with and share the meal. I have enjoyed finding out about Russian culture from a Russian that speaks such good English.
So much for my chilled day relaxing off the bike and writing my diary. Instead of relaxing I was questioned for 4 hours by the Russian Army, biked 65km against a strong headwind, organised a SIM card, did some shopping, cooked a meal, put my tent up in the dark and had another late night! Interesting second day in Russia.... I am learning about Russian bureaucracy now....
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