Russian Border

May 29—17 km--Spent all day crossing Chinese and Russian borders; didn't seem to encounter any real problems but had to wait and wait and wait...

Finally got to the hotel in Zabaikalsk around 22:00, went to a beer tent outside the hotel for a few beers, then off to diner at a pretty good restaurant. While at dinner, a group of the Russian boder guards that let us across the border were celebrating a birthday and gave us a huge bottle of Jack Daniels. I had a few shots with them and then we had to rest up for the next day's ride to Chita.

It really felt good being in Russia after all that time in China, where I couldn't communicate with the locals and wouldn't have understood them if I did. I felt right at home in Zabaikalsk!