From Khovd, take an 8h shared car to Bulgan. It used to be longer, but there are more paved roads now so the journey time is reduced. It cost us 35000T per pax.

We reached Bulgan around 1030pm and stayed in a hotel for 20000T per night. The next day, the driver drove us to the border. It opens at 10am and it is a mad rush to get into the checkpoint compound as there are many Mongolians pushing and squeezing. The soldier at the gate would only allow a few people in at a time and those crazy Mongolians would push their way to get to the front. Luckily we were traveling with two other locals who helped us to push our way through.

The Mongolian side stamped our passports efficiently, then we walked across no man’s land to the Chinese side. We were subjected to strict inspection of our backpacks as they emptied the whole bag to check. They also checked our cameras and sd cards really thoroughly.

Finally we made it to the Chinese customs and they asked us our purpose of entering China, which we said is to visit Urumqi for tourism purpose. There were more checks for quarantine stuff and a final check after we got our passport stamp.

Outside the Chinese customs, there were cars waiting to take us to Takashiken which is the nearest Chinese town and also to Urumqi which is a 7h drive away. We shared the car with the two locals whom we crossed the border together with and bidded farewell to them at the town. The woman was so sweet and even planted a kiss on our cheeks, asking us to take care. Due to the language difference, they were speaking in Mongolian and us in English, but we kind of understood each other through gestures.

We had lunch in Takashiken and waited 3.5h until the car finally set off for Urumqi. It costs 250Y from the Chinese border to Urumqi which is the same price as the bus, just that a change is needed if taking the bus. The driver had left us in the lurch as he told us to take our time and didn’t confirm what time we were leaving. Finally his family appeared and we set off around 3.30pm. The road to Urumqi on the national highway was smooth and the scenery was pretty much similar to western Mongolia.