Chita to Khabarovsk

Distance: 2165km

This was the part of the trip that I had been dreading. From what we'd read, there was an 810km stretch that was unfinished, with large rocks and mud. Turns out the Russians have been busy as this stretch was the best we've had in Russia. Brand new, tarred road. They were still painting the white lines. There was only about 20km of gravel. A few hundred kms out of Chita there was a big party marquee tent and a map showing how much of the road was completed. We got out, took a photo of the sign, had a brief chat with one of the guys there, but then the boss came over and shooed us away. We have since learned that Putin was not far behind us, which explains why there was a marquee, and they were still working at 9pm... and why we had trouble finding accommodation in Khabarovsk and Chita. In Khabarovs, the Check-in process for the third-rate hotel we ended up finding was quite lengthy, she had to make a phone call because she was concerned we hadn't registered our visas for almost a week, and needed to see all our hotel registrations. Wehadn't had that anywhere else. Once you're checked in we got a hotel card, then had to go up 2 flights of stairs to get the key to the room... odd...

So, the fact that we've had a better run than we thought we would, is good for the car and good for our backs, but, may now have had the few extra days in Mongolia, ah well.

Not much to report otherwise on this stretch... lots and lots of forest, lots of random people popping out of the forest or just standing next to the road in what seems to be the middle of nowhere.

The approach to Khabarovsk is really pretty, lots of wetland, stalls on the side of the road selling fruit and veg... and we had a nice sunset... long bridge across the Amur River into town