The border with Latvia was still some 410 km away. The road was good so we made significant progress and were there at 14:30. Enough time we though to cross. The Russian side went in 25 min. Then it was queuing up (in the car) for the Latvian side. After 2 hrs we were at the inspection point. All seemed to go well till the officer noticed that our number plate was not correct (we had lost our plate in Mongolia and made a new one by cutting up a white board). We were made to wait a while before they told us that we had committed the crime of forgery. This was a case for the supervisor and the police. A compromise was reached after waiting for a further 2 hrs. Rudy had to remove the “forged” number plate and make a statement how he managed to lose the original one. He was fined Eur 35, which had to be paid at a bank the next day. After a total of 5 hrs we got emigration and custom clearance to enter the EU. We drove a little bit further and camped again at a Camperreis bush camp next to another lake, which we could not appreciate enough (again it was very windy and cold).

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