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For a bit of sight seeing today we took a taxi across the river about 13 km for 3$ to the Glory Memorial to WW2.
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4441/...f3a11dd7_b.jpgRussia Novosibirsk-11 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4388/...856dc4e1_b.jpgNovosibirsk-14 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4442/...a2d51b5b_b.jpgNovosibirsk-15 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4363/...d2fa4474_b.jpgRussia Novosibirsk-7 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4348/...7367c14e_b.jpgRussia Novosibirsk-8 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4337/...18c180bc_b.jpgRussia Novosibirsk-6 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4413/...310853ba_b.jpgRussia Novosibirsk-9 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4345/...6b567a3b_b.jpgRussia Novosibirsk-10 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4420/...2856d4f8_b.jpgNovosibirsk-16 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4335/...9c224fd9_b.jpgNovosibirsk-17 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4331/...b8e14973_b.jpgNovosibirsk-23 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4418/...75c6f902_b.jpgNovosibirsk-22 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4342/...556e346a_b.jpgRussia Novosibirsk-12 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4340/...b9ceb780_b.jpgRussia Novosibirsk-13 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
Then we sorted the metro out for the ride back. This meant we could make a second trip to the mall as Dan had not found anything yesterday.
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4390/...84a77919_b.jpgRussia Novosibirsk-16 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4436/...08e560a7_b.jpgNovosibirsk-25 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4364/...0b5ea46a_b.jpgRussia Novosibirsk-17 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr Another memorial near the hotel. https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4441/...732578ee_b.jpgNovosibirsk-26 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4435/...b3951ab4_b.jpgRussia Novosibirsk-2 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4407/...5b9797dd_b.jpgRussia Novosibirsk-5 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4383/...d12b6a9e_b.jpgRussia Novosibirsk-3 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr We had an amazingly good Japanese meal also very near the hotel. https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4339/...793a4d1e_b.jpgRussia Novosibirsk by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
Today we have a relaxing 230 km due south to Barnaul. This is where we had our tires and oil shipped from Moscow and where we will meet of with Wolfgang. He left Hamburg 7 days ago and will have come 6000 km in 8 days to catch up with us.
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4388/...269bf570_z.jpgScreen Shot 2017-08-05 at 17.14.46 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr It is as predicted another straight pretty boring ride thru Siberia. We had slightly cooler weather at 28 degrees. https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4364/...fd53c812_b.jpgBarnual by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4431/...9057be0e_b.jpgBarnual-2 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4359/...9ef221f8_b.jpgBarnual-4 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
We got a late start at 11 and so rolled into the hotel in Barnaul at about 3. It is Sunday and almost everything is closed.
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4403/...c25fa779_b.jpgBarnual-6 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr We had to walk 40 minutes to find a restaurant that was open. We managed to get back in time to meet Wolle as he rolled into town. We would have missed him, but he had his first flat ever an hour before Novosibirsk. He has stayed in the same hotel in Tatarsk last night as we had. Small world. https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4350/...682e853c_b.jpgRussia Barnaul by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4428/...098eb7ae_b.jpgRussia Barnaul-2 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4361/...2655f81d_b.jpgBarnual-13 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
We had bought some Russian caviar and bubbles to celebrate our reunion.
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4368/...94e6b71c_b.jpgRussia Barnaul-3 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4364/...cac36226_b.jpgRussia Barnaul-10 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4351/...70d97bed_b.jpgRussia Barnaul-9 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4416/...69a26721_b.jpgBarnual-9 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4339/...3f71c72f_b.jpgBarnual-10 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4374/...79770587_b.jpgBarnual-7 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4398/...f536792a_b.jpgBarnual-12 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
Wolfgang also came bearing gift he had brought from Louis for us.
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4384/...5138fcf4_b.jpgRussia Barnaul-8 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr The tire deliver guys= Andrew also showed up this evening with our order. https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4388/...dc9acc76_b.jpgRussia Barnaul-6 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4420/...4b37db95_b.jpgRussia Barnaul-4 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
The plan today was to meet Andrew at the shop to get the 10 tires fitted, change the oil and change air filters on 3 bikes and the chains and sprockets on 2. It is of course raining!
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4399/...ca384309_b.jpgBarnual-8 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr Orvar had ordered an air filter and when he checked his that was “supposed” to have been replaced in Novosibirsk 3 days ago it was full of bugs and clearly not new. Proof they never did the valve check. https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4384/...77f971dd_b.jpgRussia Barnaul-16 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr The set up here is far from idea there is no room in the shop for the bikes. The shop owner showed up an hour late and it rained on and off all day. This meant swapping out the tires and filters and changing the oil between downpours. When changing the oil on the 650 we could not get the filter off and actually broke the weld on the remove tool. We will leave it until we are in civilization to deal with. The guys in Tbilisi cranked it on way too tight. When we took out the drain plug we thought was the source of the leak we also found they had 2 crush washers in there. WTF you can not trust anyone! Andrew was asked several times for the shop location and never sent it this meant we blindly picked a hotel location that turned out to be on the total opposite side of the city. Top it off that Andrew pinched the tube on Orvar's bike as well. This was a long and frustrating day. We arrived at 9 and left at 330. If we did this again would use a proper bike or tire shop. https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4342/...8fcdaaee_b.jpgRussia Barnaul-11 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4386/...05887719_b.jpgRussia Barnaul-12 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4368/...959226ed_b.jpgRussia Barnaul-13 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4439/...ea568fce_b.jpgRussia Barnaul-14 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4398/...7a357a82_b.jpgRussia Barnaul-15 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4417/...6b395223_b.jpgRussia Barnaul-17 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr Well at least it is finally sunny out, it is Monday, and that means pizza and Game of Thrones!! https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4353/...dc904184_b.jpgBarnual-11 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
We have 890 km to Ulgii, the first major town across the Mongolian border and the exit from Russia according to FB friends who crossed last week was 5 hours. This means it will be a 3 day affair to get it done.
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4344/...c91e79d0_z.jpgScreen Shot 2017-08-09 at 21.48.01 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr For the first leg we wanted to get as far as Onguday in 445 km since this is the only place with at least a few hotels listed on line or maps.me. https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4392/...9d6b3864_z.jpgScreen Shot 2017-08-09 at 21.15.33 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
It had poured rain in the night, but it was dry when we set and and for most of the day. We had one short rain shower and we waited out the second very heavy rain at a gas station. The storm was moving fast and after 20 minutes we had sunny skies for most of the rest of the day. There is much more interesting scenery today with farms and trees and some more hilly landscape.
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4379/...fbed6db0_b.jpgOnguday by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4366/...3d3cf9ce_b.jpgOnguday-2 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4389/...93bbc9f8_b.jpgRussia Novosibirsk to the Border-2 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4340/...890cd98f_b.jpgOnguday-3 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4432/...2ac1e869_b.jpgOnguday-4 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4428/...e53bce53_b.jpgRussia Novosibirsk to the Border-4 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4400/...a8812096_b.jpgRussia Novosibirsk to the Border-3 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4398/...0c26583c_b.jpgOnguday-5 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
Arriving to Onguday it was starting to spit rain. We checked out a few places, and settled on a rooming house for 500 R each (8 USD). It was simple, but clean and they had lots of hot water. We had quiet a good dinner there also for 200 R each.
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4335/...677fb011_b.jpgOnguday-6 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr There are some beautiful wood houses here. https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4332/...479d9020_b.jpgRussia Novosibirsk to the Border by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4374/...7784fee4_b.jpgRussia Novosibirsk to the Border-5 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4423/...0d324f88_b.jpgRussia Novosibirsk to the Border-6 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4414/...d567ac29_b.jpgRussia Novosibirsk to the Border-7 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
On our walk after dinner we could see the storm coming and just made it back before it started torrentially raining. This lasted thru some of the night, but we woke to bright blue skies.
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4440/...c9b2c86d_b.jpgRussia Novosibirsk to the Border-8 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4384/...3c972cb6_b.jpgRussia Novosibirsk to the Border-9 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4338/...43776936_b.jpgRussia Novosibirsk to the Border-10 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4344/...344ba515_b.jpgRussia Novosibirsk to the Border-11 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
We have decided to not try for the border today since if we did that it might end up a 12 hours nightmare. This means we have an easy 257 km to Kosch-Agatsch. This is still 51 km from the border, but border towns are always unpleasant and there is only 1 lodging place listed there. At least in K-A there are 4 hotels. We did not get breakfast at the hotel as their restaurant was not open. We made a quick coffee and headed out. We made a quick coffee and headed out.
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4417/...f1d55394_z.jpgScreen Shot 2017-08-09 at 21.15.55 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4377/...fae7ee11_b.jpgKosch-Agatsch-10 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
The ride today was so much nicer with hills and curves and views of the rivers, lakes, and mountains. We came across this “alter” and standing stones. Nearby there was a sports pitch for the game of Buzkashi.
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4363/...99fa99b1_b.jpgKosch-Agatsch by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4437/...826c9ed1_b.jpgKosch-Agatsch-2 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4397/...67ab3a6e_b.jpgKosch-Agatsch-3 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4405/...7f139d08_b.jpgKosch-Agatsch-4 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4413/...e4348569_b.jpgKosch-Agatsch-5 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4378/...05fc49d4_b.jpgKosch-Agatsch-6 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4407/...aee15790_b.jpgKosch-Agatsch-7 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4430/...85c3ae91_b.jpgKosch-Agatsch-8 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4413/...8205cf13_b.jpgKosch-Agatsch-9 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4429/...41332dd5_b.jpgRussia Novosibirsk to the Border-15 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4411/...61894777_b.jpgRussia Novosibirsk to the Border-13 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4383/...5432ee08_b.jpgRussia Novosibirsk to the Border-12 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4422/...a50c0a40_b.jpgRussia Novosibirsk to the Border-14 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4378/...048119a6_b.jpgKosch-Agatsch-14 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4380/...dea29024_b.jpgRussia Novosibirsk to the Border-16 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
After about 100 km we found a town with a bakery and a shop where we could get some fresh baked bread and some meat and cheese to serve up on the road side.
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4423/...7bf6e260_b.jpgRussia Novosibirsk to the Border-17 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4365/...8c57df33_b.jpgRussia Novosibirsk to the Border-18 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4417/...6d3e31a9_b.jpgRussia Novosibirsk to the Border-19 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4424/...930ba65a_b.jpgRussia Novosibirsk to the Border-20 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
It was nice to have a relaxed day where we could stop for photos and to enjoy the views.
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4392/...accc8074_b.jpgRussia Novosibirsk to the Border-28 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4373/...8704c8fe_b.jpgRussia Novosibirsk to the Border-21 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4428/...8d33c88e_b.jpgRussia Novosibirsk to the Border-22 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4343/...01c41595_b.jpgRussia Novosibirsk to the Border-23 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4412/...d16ae77a_b.jpgRussia Novosibirsk to the Border-25 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4351/...e0fcc90b_b.jpgRussia Novosibirsk to the Border-29 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4350/...659c03ed_b.jpgRussia Novosibirsk to the Border-31 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4359/...50712432_b.jpgRussia Novosibirsk to the Border-32 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4347/...e2ec62ae_b.jpgRussia Novosibirsk to the Border-33 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4393/...ec73503c_b.jpgRussia Novosibirsk to the Border-35 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4397/...eafffe14_b.jpgKosch-Agatsch-12 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
We went for the first hotel listed on the GPS and they had rooms and good parking.
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4392/...c5e200c1_b.jpgRussia Novosibirsk to the Border-36 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4398/...6a2c31ac_b.jpgKosch-Agatsch-11 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr We checked the 650 oil and it is down! AGH! Ok take off the bash plate, clean, and inspect. The oil pan puncture Sara had in Peru in 2014 seems to be the culprit. The old pan is a mess from the old bash plate that trapped rocks and caused the puncture in the first place. Dan places a large JB weld patch and topped up the oil. Not much we can do now, but we will replace the pan in KL. Also some good news today Electrosport has been kind enough to agree to send us 2 stators UPS to Ulanbaatar! https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4401/...6021649c_b.jpgRussia Novosibirsk to the Border-38 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4413/...a666ed56_b.jpgRussia Novosibirsk to the Border-39 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4349/...510e0537_b.jpgRussia Novosibirsk to the Border-40 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr We walked about 2.5 km into town and found an open nice looking cafe and the lovely owner spoke fairly good English. This meant we got actually what we wanted for dinner!! https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4382/...7898f13e_b.jpgRussia Novosibirsk to the Border-37 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
It is a chilly 10 degrees this morning, but bright and sunny. It is 121 km to our destination go Ulgii in Mongolia.
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4442/...aa7bc96f_b.jpgRussia Novosibirsk to the Border-30 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4388/...8dd64c24da.jpgScreen Shot 2017-08-09 at 21.16.21 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
First we have a 51 km ride to the Russian border town of Tashanta. There is not much here 1 gas pump and 1 hotel.
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4345/...3d78f2f7_b.jpgUglii by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4421/...a4cc2572_b.jpgUglii-2 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr We rode to the end of the main street and this is the border post. There is a long line of vehicles and so we passed the line to the front. At the gate there is an officer who checks your visa and passport before you are let in. There was an issue initially as the 3 Canadians had 20 day visas and not the usual 30 day visas for Russia. This was a flag for him, but it was easily sorted. https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4380/...0a583425_b.jpgUglii-3 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4390/...5dd8a0d9_b.jpgUglii-4 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4331/...9f0b173d_b.jpgUglii-5 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4335/...15816895_b.jpgIMG_9400 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4362/...1185c763_b.jpgUglii-6 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
We waited only a few minutes and all 5 bikes were let in. You drive 300 m and park under the cover. Here the young officer spoke English perfectly and directed us where to park and what to do next. The first thing is to go to the window on the left side of the parking. Here they want your passport, vehicle registration, tourist card and customs form. There are 2 officers working and peck typing in all your info (address at home, milage on the bikes……). They both spoke enough English to ask what they wanted from us. Dan and Brent showed up as well and they are 2 Canadians in the Mongol rally. Dan said “ how did you know to ride up to the front of the line” Experience my friend!!
Next you go across to the right side of the terminal and up the stairs. Here you wait at a desk and again in English the officer asks for your passport and vehicle papers and she enters this into the computer. From here you are directed to passport control in the same area for the exit stamp. Both officers here spoke English perfectly and interestingly a lot of the border official are women. Outside we had to open the luggage for inspection for weapons and narcotics. They were very interested in my medical kit especially the local anesthetic, suture material and instruments. It was otherwise a pretty cursory search actually. The regular people had to drag all their stuff upstairs for X-ray. Then we all rode 150 m to the gate to have a “final” passport check. We were done all 5 bikes in an hour 15 min. So much for the horror stories from other riders of 5 hours to get out! Drama!! There is then 21 km of no mans land on the Russian side with a beautiful paved road. At the end of this there is a another passport check and plate registration. https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4331/...636aa21a_b.jpgUglii-7 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4440/...557fd030_b.jpgUglii-8 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4354/...c617b84f_b.jpgUglii-9 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
There is the 8 km of pretty good dirt to the Mongolian border.
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4391/...ac532ec2_b.jpgUglii-10 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4398/...457ef752_b.jpgUglii-11 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr Here at the gate you park and and the guard says in English “passport moto paper walking”. We got off and walked thru the gate to the office. Here the officers check your documents, gives you the standard small scrap of paper to get your collection of stamps, and then you are flagged thru. The first stop is the tire decontamination bath that costs 50R (a Canadian dollar). You are given a receipt for this. https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4366/...9296d411_b.jpgUglii-12 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
Next you ride 300 meters to the border station and are directed to park on the left. The officer checks your passport, vehicle registration, and your paper scrap. You go inside to passport control for the entry stamp and to fill in the tourist card (with English questions). Next you go to the window to the left for a customs stamp. The last step is to go to Customs office which is the next window part passport control and where they make up the TVIP for you. It is important to get your small scrap of paper back and that it has 3 stamps on it and that the TVIP is signed by the big boss. We were lucky to all get in before the hordes of people showed up for luggage X-ray. They did not even ask to look at our stuff. Trevor was last and the boss was going for his 2 hours lunch, but we managed to catch him for Trevor’s last stamp.
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4346/...9e1fd93b_b.jpgUglii-13 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr Then you ride 300 m to the exit gate for a final passport check and to hand in the 3 stamp scrap. Trevor was turned back here as he did not have the customs passport stamp and had to go back. https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4417/...4475b72a_b.jpgUglii-14 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4432/...da057f73_b.jpgMongolia Border to Uglii by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
Leaving the gate the road is terrible and full of holes. You ride about 250 meters and then a few people run out to stop you. These are people trying to sell you worthless insurance and of course money changers.
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4440/...498f9a63_b.jpgUglii-15 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr We passed them and then another 200 m later there is an “official looking booth with an open gate and a stop sign”. The “ officer look official too”. This is the “Mongolian highway tax scam”. They want 15 USD for this. I said no we are not paying as this is fake. She said why and I said I read it on the internet and rode off. They did not even try to stop Trevor who was last. https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4362/...fb137892_b.jpgUglii-16 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
The road from here is gravel for 34 km and terrible wash board to the first town of Tsagaannuur.
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4413/...54766c9f_b.jpgScreen Shot 2017-08-18 at 13.12.09 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4428/...cacd9376_b.jpgUglii-17 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr There are multiple alternative tracts, which are hard packed and much easier to ride on. https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4351/...ea0f4d46_b.jpgUglii-18 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4436/...849ac801_b.jpgUglii-19 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr It is then good pavement for the next 65 km. https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4344/...792184ef_b.jpgUglii-20 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4365/...15574a2d_b.jpgUglii-21 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4390/...1582dc4c_b.jpgUglii-23 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
We stopped to see if we could help these guys with their flat.
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4348/...496f493f_b.jpgUglii-22 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4414/...15686784_b.jpgMongolia Border to Uglii-2 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4392/...5e7f38e1_b.jpgMongolia Border to Uglii-3 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr The boys did some off road hill climbing. https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4347/...9689d7a1_b.jpgMongolia Border to Uglii-10 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4431/...e0ec1133_b.jpgIMG_9367 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4433/...306852a1_b.jpgUglii-28 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4386/...07b3468e_b.jpgUglii-27 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4436/...1cb4bf36_b.jpgUglii-25 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4355/...c2602a66_b.jpgUglii-26 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4364/...e47b14f5_b.jpgMongolia Border to Uglii-18 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
Just 8 km before UGLii we crossed a big World wide ride milestone of 200,000 km so far on the trip!!
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4340/...559cf9a7_b.jpgMongolia Border to Uglii-4 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4354/...978098e1_b.jpgMongolia Border to Uglii-13 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4419/...17fed327_b.jpgMongolia Border to Uglii-14 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4386/...595ac0f5_b.jpgMongolia Border to Uglii-15 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4387/...234bd1ea_b.jpgMongolia Border to Uglii-16 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4355/...c5a8c218_b.jpgMongolia Border to Uglii-19 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
Riding into the town we were headed to the Blue Wolf Get camp and our first night in a ger!!
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4345/...7023d9dc_b.jpgMongolia Border to Uglii-5 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4358/...b6fe2f8e_b.jpgMongolia Border to Uglii-6 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4345/...a82b713d_b.jpgMongolia Border to Uglii-7 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4419/...894223aa_b.jpgMongolia Border to Uglii-24 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4393/...9afc0e59_b.jpgMongolia Border to Uglii-9 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4355/...975458d7_b.jpgMongolia Border to Uglii-12 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4402/...494f8d86_b.jpgMongolia Border to Uglii-8 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4387/...18dab9f0_b.jpgUglii-29 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
There are some decisions to be made on our route to Ulanbaatar. The choices are the southern (Gobi= 300 km of deeper sand, but actually many more km of tarmac), the northern (more water crossings, mountain crossings, and difficulty better suited to small bikes), or the middle route (a mixture of both).
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4340/...8088356f_c.jpgScreen Shot 2017-08-31 at 19.26.22 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
Well we managed not to leave the Blue Wolf today at all and spent the evening in the restaurant there with Brent and Dan from Saskatchewan who are in the Mongol Rally in their Yaris. There were many many beers had and at least 3 bottles of Vodka….This made for a late start today.
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4410/...bea07d8c_b.jpgMongolia Border to Uglii-20 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4381/...bebc4d03_b.jpgMongolia Border to Uglii-21 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr We had breakfast at 10 and then packed and gassed up with 95! We finally left town about 1130. This was after finding an ATM and SIM cards! https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4427/...c941a1d3_b.jpgMongolia Border to Uglii-23 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4431/...18f68ab7_b.jpgMongolia Border to Uglii-22 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
We have 220 km from Ulgii to Khvod and the first 45 are paved.
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4424/...5386f593e8.jpgScreen Shot 2017-08-09 at 21.18.12 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4377/...7c4d832d_b.jpgKhvod by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4425/...56b2e88f_b.jpgKhvod-3 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4405/...23cc012e_b.jpgKhvod-5 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4423/...4b95ff5a_b.jpgMongolia Uglii to Khvod-2 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4333/...affdbe5c_b.jpgMongolia Uglii to Khvod-3 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4429/...290536d8_b.jpgMongolia Uglii to Khvod-4 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4442/...e4209955_b.jpgMongolia Uglii to Khvod-5 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4400/...947d833d_b.jpgMongolia Uglii to Khvod-6 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4411/...7dba2717_b.jpgMongolia Uglii to Khvod by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4351/...16a9d98f_b.jpgKhvod-41 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4347/...37b04836_b.jpgKhvod-42 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
The rest are under construction. The first 100 are pretty good with little sand or loose gravel. There are long sections with hard packed dirt. When it is sandy we go for the grass.
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4360/...bb430bae_b.jpgKhvod-7 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4353/...19cd1ce9_b.jpgKhvod-9 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4360/...3f0579e1_b.jpgKhvod-12 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4442/...37fabccb_b.jpgKhvod-14 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4440/...e28c6234_b.jpgMongolia Uglii to Khvod-7 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4385/...eb8710d9_b.jpgMongolia Uglii to Khvod-8 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
You cross back and forth across the prepared road bed. In one section they were laying deep gravel and the detour was down a very steep grass embankment.
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4408/...596f43a4_b.jpgKhvod-16 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4375/...e180c6cc_b.jpgKhvod-18 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4426/...fb9e89d3_b.jpgKhvod-20 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4347/...725dd492_b.jpgMongolia Uglii to Khvod-9 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4368/...ca987a24_b.jpgKhvod-22 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4334/...72d1ae75_b.jpgKhvod-24 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4381/...d227009a_b.jpgKhvod-26 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4439/...28fef02d_b.jpgKhvod-28 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4378/...0136b4eb_b.jpgKhvod-30 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4344/...54038807_b.jpgMongolia Uglii to Khvod-16 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
We found a cafe (the first) about 95 km from our destination and had a pretty good lunch. We had to wait for a large Russian group to be fed first and so we were there over an hour. The food was fresh ground goat in Jamaican paddy like pockets. The goat is so fresh the next one is tied up to the back of the shop! There were at least a dozen birds of prey playing in the thermals near by.
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4372/...3e8c2acd_b.jpgKhvod-32 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4398/...6a266068_b.jpgIMG_9395 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4437/...2e423902_b.jpgMongolia Uglii to Khvod-10 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4421/...0e389a01_b.jpgMongolia Uglii to Khvod-11 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4384/...189d1425_b.jpgMongolia Uglii to Khvod-12 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4388/...e1ec8181_b.jpgMongolia Uglii to Khvod-15 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4361/...92361fcf_b.jpgMongolia Uglii to Khvod-13 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4356/...60585c15_b.jpgIMG_9394 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4440/...c7773489_b.jpgMongolia Uglii to Khvod-14 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
The last 95 km we started just after 4 and managed to get to a hotel by 630. The last 50 km are more sandy and loose and with some very long stretches where you had to stand for kms.
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4395/...c24ae9db_b.jpgKhvod-34 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4414/...1ecdffa6_b.jpgKhvod-36 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4336/...b83c175c_b.jpgKhvod-38 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4440/...f7e35e88_b.jpgMongolia Uglii to Khvod-17 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4392/...b6e140ba_b.jpgMongolia Uglii to Khvod-18 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4399/...a0ae1c92_b.jpgMongolia Uglii to Khvod-19 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
You can see the last 9 km from the hill top and it is basically just dozens of sand tracks.
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4391/...b5c0660a_b.jpgMongolia Uglii to Khvod-20 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4441/...12d1efc0_b.jpgMongolia Uglii to Khvod-21 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4332/...eef41d0e_b.jpgKhvod-40 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr The hotel we saw first ended up to be the best in town and that is not saying much, but they had lots of single rooms. The bathrooms were added afterwards and consist of a glass enclosure beside the bed. We walked around the corner to the King Restaurant and got the royal treatment. The food was good and the portions massive. https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4361/...2a97904b_b.jpgMongolia Uglii to Khvod-22 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
We woke up to the power to the entire town being off. This was no big deal except that if you did not notice this and left your room you were then locked out with the key card like Wolfgang. That would be ok except the staff then had to search around for 20 min to find the skeleton key to let him back in. Breakfast was 1 cold fried egg on a slice of dry bread and luke warm tea. The other issue of course is the gas pumps don't work either. We finally got out of there about 945.
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4340/...15c6724d_b.jpgMongolia Khovd to Ulaangom_ by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr We headed out of town north to Ulaangom in 218 km. https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4356/...9ab5eccf30.jpgScreen Shot 2017-08-09 at 21.18.46 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
The first few km are under construction and is a good firm gravel road.
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4353/...b40ed836_b.jpgUlummgon by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4380/...f3b69111_b.jpgUlummgon-2 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4412/...0fb1e742_b.jpgUlummgon-3 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr Then there is about 25 km to the next town Norjinkhairhan where they had a working pump to fill up. Unlike Russia they get the concept of the fill up here and then give you gas and then you pay. In Russia you give them cash or the number of liters you want if you use Visa and then they turn on the pump. This creates long waits as everyone has to go in twice. There is 40 km of tarmac in total and this ends at the bridge to Bayankhoshuu. https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4390/...4d3b1ccf_b.jpgUlummgon-4 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4353/...c837bc66_b.jpgUlummgon-5 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4339/...115a3a73_b.jpgMongolia Khovd to Ulaangom_-5 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4392/...cc52da61_b.jpgMongolia Khovd to Ulaangom_-2 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4346/...ea616dd8_b.jpgMongolia Khovd to Ulaangom_-7 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
Initially the road was good gravel for 5 km and then slightly looser.
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4400/...8014c068_b.jpgUlummgon-7 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4435/...424b8322_b.jpgUlummgon-8 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4442/...21964f71_b.jpgUlummgon-9 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4412/...cbc60b2b_b.jpgMongolia Khovd to Ulaangom_-3 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4389/...cd5a2eee_b.jpgMongolia Khovd to Ulaangom_-4 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
The next 50 km to Uglii (number two) was more challenging with a lot of sand. When it was very deep we would go off the tracks to the grass, but you have to watch out for large rocks and the occasional crevasse.
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4395/...205115b0_b.jpgUlummgon-10 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4407/...0d90dd58_b.jpgMongolia Khovd to Ulaangom_-8 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4341/...8c16da6b_b.jpgMongolia Khovd to Ulaangom_-9 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4399/...049ec61d_b.jpgMongolia Khovd to Ulaangom_-10 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4370/...c28bfcdd_b.jpgMongolia Khovd to Ulaangom_-11 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4393/...156f0d9d_b.jpgMongolia Khovd to Ulaangom_-12 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4341/...b7cb62e8_b.jpgMongolia Khovd to Ulaangom_-13 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4405/...50c89c20_b.jpgMongolia Khovd to Ulaangom_-14 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4399/...0c5dfccb_b.jpg https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4432/...f0da292d_b.jpgUlummgon-15 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4372/...b3e5139e_b.jpgUlummgon-16 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4434/...014f865d_b.jpgUlummgon-17 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4428/...0543ecee_b.jpgUlummgon-18 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4359/...bc1817ee_b.jpgUlummgon-19 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4406/...f97d30d7_b.jpgMongolia Khovd to Ulaangom_-15 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4358/...40db597f_b.jpgMongolia Khovd to Ulaangom_-16 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
The lunch stop as usual took an hour to get food and so we did not leave there until 4. Here we met 2 riders and got the scoop on the routes ahead. For us now the next 100 km the road gets slowly better. Unfortunately it is not the same for them.
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4356/...f18dfc9a_b.jpgUlummgon-23 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4437/...4a777f41_b.jpgUlummgon-24 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4404/...20f8b6b3_b.jpgUlummgon-25 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4417/...a4c7e816_b.jpgUlummgon-28 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4383/...60585c15_b.jpgIMG_9390 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4348/...7d764117_b.jpgIMG_9391 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4390/...84cbbd58_b.jpgIMG_9392 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
Leaving the town initial you pass by the lake and the tracks are pretty sandy, but once you pass about 10 km it gets a bit better. And then it gets sandy again, but you can blaze across the grass lands. We had all kinds of terrain this afternoon thin sand, deep sand, grass, rocky wash outs, hard mud road, and gravel.
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4400/...c5b85302_b.jpgUlummgon-30 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4421/...1764bed2_b.jpgUlummgon-31 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flick https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4414/...998a4a3e_b.jpgUlummgon-34 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4340/...01a2f117_b.jpgUlummgon-35 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4360/...2fe03ce8_b.jpgMongolia Khovd to Ulaangom_-17 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4399/...6eedf318_b.jpgMongolia Khovd to Ulaangom_-18 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4385/...8b98657d_b.jpgMongolia Khovd to Ulaangom_-19 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4348/...0220389d_b.jpgMongolia Khovd to Ulaangom_-20 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
At one point Dan and I took the right track and the guys who were ahead had taken the left. They went on two sides of a hill. We saw a big herd of camels on our route. One we passed the hill it was grassland as far as you could see. This local biker blew past us on our track and then braked hard….He just wanted to say hi and then turned left and blasted across the grass.
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4407/...f38871e1_b.jpgMongolia Khovd to Ulaangom_-22 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4333/...038bac81_b.jpgMongolia Khovd to Ulaangom_-23 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4427/...9e985b39_b.jpgMongolia Khovd to Ulaangom_-24 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
The guys had spilt up when they realized they had not seen us for a while and all tried to find us. We headed across the grass to meet the main track again. The wind was fierce for a short while and while we were fighting it. We saw a big bike in the distance barrel to us and on a meeting trajectory. Orvar caught up to us and then had to go back for the others. It is easy to get separated with so many tracks to choose from. We stopped in the lea of the wind to take a brake and take some photos while we waited for them.
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4433/...499bb6eb_b.jpgMongolia Khovd to Ulaangom_-25 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4382/...7bc58006_b.jpgMongolia Khovd to Ulaangom_-26 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4423/...7d12f41d_b.jpgMongolia Khovd to Ulaangom_-27 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
We have 65 km to go still and it is after 6 pm. At 7 we stopped to decide what to do with the 40 km left and with the overcast sky the decision was to go to the town as there would be no star shots tonight for camping.
The road is gravel from here with a few wash outs with deep rocks and some water to cross. At the “cross road” the guys went straight since it was 20 km shorter than going right and over to the paved road, which had been the plan. This 20 km took almost an hour with the light fading. There were several small water crossings and one large river crossing. There were also a few wash outs to deal with. The last 10 km was good gravel to the town. https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4420/...59c4e6fd_b.jpgUlummgon-37 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4332/...5af9e8a6_b.jpgUlummgon-40 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4398/...d98aae8c_b.jpgMongolia Khovd to Ulaangom_-28 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
On the way into the town Trevor’s bike was making some loud noise and he though it was the chain linkage from the new chain. We arrived just as the rain started and headed to the hotel recommended by the people we met at lunch. It is clean and cheap, but there is no hot water (it will be a few minutes…not). It is one of those places where the door handles are not properly attached and fall off when you open the doors, the window is not installed properly, and none of the plugs work. In fact we could not get back into our room with the key after breakfast. Luckily we had left the window open and Sara could go out Trevor’s window, along the ledge, and into our room.
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4333/...a9cf1f15_b.jpgMongolia Khovd to Ulaangom_-31 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr It was raining all night and still pretty hard at 8 am. By the time we rolled out at 10 it was down to a drizzle. We made a stop to check out the statue of the famous Mongolian wrestler in front of the sports palace. The plan for the day was to try to get past Songrino to camp by a lake. We are unsure of how much of this is paved, but we were told by other riders that this distance was possible. We had been told the road was paved “for 50 km past the junction” what ever that means. https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4412/...39a006bc_c.jpgScreen Shot 2017-09-04 at 22.19.25 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4335/...963156a8_b.jpgMongolia Khovd to Ulaangom_-29 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4356/...89d9c28d_b.jpgMongolia Khovd to Ulaangom_-30 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
We headed to the fuel station and met some Russian riders on small bikes.
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4368/...9028991d_b.jpg https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4437/...f52400b3_b.jpg https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4363/...42d4bfa8_b.jpg |
We only made it about 20 km when Trevor’s bike was really making noise. We stopped and found the rear bearing was destroyed. We are super thankful to the Perkins who we met in Sari-Tash on their Africa Twin as they warned him about the bearing issue. He had searched everywhere on line and there is nothing about bearing failure (20,000km). Also luckily Trevor still bought some bearings when we were in Bishkek otherwise it would be a truck and waiting 2-3 days for parts from Ulanbaatar. He took off the wheel and Wolfgang packed it, while Dan packed Trevor back to town. Orvar and Sara set up a shelter with the tarp and relaxed.
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4332/...14f3a21e_b.jpgCamp at rocks-3 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4425/...4cfa4308_b.jpgUlaangom to Wild Camp-4 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4382/...ac3f535b_b.jpgUlaangom to Wild Camp-5 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4344/...907ef460_b.jpgUlaangom to Wild Camp-6 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
We had a few visitors the first was a local biker who stopped to check out the twin and say hi. The next was 2 guys in a car who said hello, came to shake our hands, proceeded to top up their oil, and then toss the bottle into the ditch! There is an unbelievable amount of trash on the road side here for the small amount of traffic. My bad drivers = garbage theory is blown here since they are very courteous drivers who throw their trash out the window.
It was a quick fix as the first shop they went to got right on it and they were back in about 2 hours. https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4419/...612a0464_b.jpgUlaangom to Wild Camp-7 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4378/...5d7b875b_b.jpgUlaangom to Wild Camp-8 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4350/...fbce42e7_b.jpgUlaangom to Wild Camp-9 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4364/...cf354ea6_b.jpgUlaangom to Wild Camp-10 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4387/...3ab0c94a_b.jpgUlaangom to Wild Camp-11 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4416/...a6fbb010_b.jpgUlaangom to Wild Camp-12 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4366/...0d058df6_b.jpgUlaangom to Wild Camp-13 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4331/...dc9f32d3_b.jpgUlaangom to Wild Camp-14 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
While we were packing up a family arrived, stopped, unloaded and swarmed around us. They were super chatty (in Mongolian) and super curious. Just before they left they handed out big pieces of cheese to us all. We said thanks and tried it, but had to spit it out after they left. It was like very salty and very sour Parmesan.
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4385/...a51122ab_b.jpgUlaangom to Wild Camp-16 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4381/...3f1e7e8f_b.jpgUlaangom to Wild Camp-18 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4406/...fa4c23ce_b.jpgUlaangom to Wild Camp-19 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
Not too far along the road we had these guys posing for us.
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4357/...ff123019_b.jpgUlaangom to Wild Camp-20 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4333/...cb93a896_b.jpgUlaangom to Wild Camp-21 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4424/...68c7fb17_b.jpgUlaangom to Wild Camp-23 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4343/...8567bdaf_b.jpgUlaangom to Wild Camp-22 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
I was going to ask how the Honda was holding up!!
Excellent pics and story as always Rock on Gino & Fiona |
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Other than this minor problem it has been stellar!! Cheers Sitting here with a guy from Aberdeen in UB!! |
This small break down will change our planned destination for sure and we will just have to see how it goes. We headed out again at 3 and in the end found there was 250 km of paved road in total.
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4364/...4d265e27_b.jpgCamp at rocks-5 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4403/...7ce624d2_b.jpgUlaangom to Wild Camp-15 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
We made a stop at one local place, but it did not look very clean. We met a few local here including this nice couple on a bike who we saw several other times today along the road. They had to drive a very long way to buy what ever they needed. We had to settle for Choco pies (not good).
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4384/...1b5ece82_b.jpgUlaangom to Wild Camp-24 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4442/...00102a4c_b.jpgUlaangom to Wild Camp-25 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4439/...20b3c5c5_b.jpgUlaangom to Wild Camp-29 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4419/...1368a5c5_b.jpgUlaangom to Wild Camp-30 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4425/...d27e72c5_b.jpgUlaangom to Wild Camp-31 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4352/...80634a2a_b.jpgUlaangom to Wild Camp-32 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
More Camels!!
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4402/...49d70e6f_b.jpgIMG_9414 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4439/...62e5878d_b.jpgUlaangom to Wild Camp-33 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4385/...2fd2de8f_b.jpgCamp at rocks-8 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4432/...29bd4cec_b.jpgCamp at rocks-9 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4436/...c5aabd61_b.jpgCamp at rocks-10 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4342/...0ec79fc0_b.jpgUlaangom to Wild Camp-36 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
Today our lunch stop was finally in Naranbulag and it was a busy place and we had goat and rice and some goat dumplings (buzz). Several of the local were keen to get to try out the big bikes, but none of us took them upon it. One particular guy in a pink long coat and “cowboy” hat was vey insistent and perhaps a bit drunk. They were also butchering a goat out back of the shop. Along the road we saw a few camels and the vast landscapes.
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4380/...14d384a3_b.jpgUlaangom to Wild Camp-26 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4442/...1daf5984_b.jpgUlaangom to Wild Camp-27 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4360/...93712652_b.jpgUlaangom to Wild Camp-28 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4430/...bdf6ce1c_b.jpg https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4335/...0f1051ab_b.jpgUlaangom to Wild Camp-34 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4414/...67fe9410_b.jpgUlaangom to Wild Camp-35 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4408/...5db67c62_b.jpgUlaangom to Wild Camp-37 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4404/...c30a631f_b.jpgUlaangom to Wild Camp-38 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4364/...83bb45cf_b.jpgUlaangom to Wild Camp-39 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4346/...9a5abbeb_b.jpgUlaangom to Wild Camp-40 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4402/...afea1339_b.jpgUlaangom to Wild Camp-41 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4412/...303f4036_b.jpgUlaangom to Wild Camp-42 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4384/...843099c1_b.jpgUlaangom to Wild Camp-43 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4387/...054375df_b.jpgUlaangom to Wild Camp-44 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4433/...8c047537_b.jpgUlaangom to Wild Camp-45 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
When we got to the end of the paved road we had to decide on a camp spot. There is a lake about 10 km from the road, but these are small standing water holes with livestock and not too appealing.
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4363/...b0f3fb32_b.jpgCamp at rocks-12 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4349/...19c86fee_b.jpgCamp at rocks-13 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4338/...f6d885c5_b.jpgCamp at rocks-14 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4360/...ef2e5b5b_b.jpgUlaangom to Wild Camp-48 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4440/...729d6a32_b.jpgUlaangom to Wild Camp-49 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
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We had passed some interesting rock formations about 5 km back and though that would be cool and would offer some shelter from the wind and we could be away from the road.
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4417/...044378d7_b.jpgCamp at rocks-15 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4426/...5e46b834_b.jpgCamp at rocks-16 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4426/...ae8c768c_b.jpgCamp at rocks-17 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4431/...ffa4dbdc_b.jpgUlaangom to Wild Camp-50 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4374/...78299a6d_b.jpgUlaangom to Wild Camp-51 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4363/...63e57d18_b.jpgUlaangom to Wild Camp-52 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4398/...4f58e5fe_b.jpgUlaangom to Wild Camp-53 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
The sky tonight is looking better for some Astral photography and we are keen to see the Persieds meteors too. We set up camp and cooked up a nice Russian beef in a can dinner. We had an incredible lightning show from a massive cloud in the distance that was luckily moving away from us.
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4342/...808dc741_b.jpgUlaangom to Wild Camp-54 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4347/...124365ff_b.jpgUlaangom to Wild Camp-55 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr The stars tonight were amazing. We saw a lot of fast moving satellites and tons of meteors. They were as bright a emergency flares and with long red tails. We are only at 1200 m and so it was cool after sunset, but not freezing. https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4433/...43fb3110_b.jpgUlaangom to Wild Camp-56 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4333/...1dab02e0_b.jpgUlaangom to Wild Camp-57 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4369/...4fd11891_b.jpgUlaangom to Wild Camp-58 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4391/...64019b9c_b.jpgUlaangom to Wild Camp-62 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4360/...06ab049a_b.jpgUlaangom to Wild Camp-64 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4350/...f02b8648_b.jpgUlaangom to Wild Camp-65 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
Todays (in hindsight) optimistic plan is to get 97 km to Songrino and then try to get to Tosontsengel village in another 87 km.
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4391/...decd1c89_b.jpgScreen Shot 2017-08-17 at 21.34.38 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr We cooked up some instant oatmeal and coffee and hit the road at 9. It was 5 km back to the end of the paved road where we aired down the tires. https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4333/...17ce9b27_b.jpgWild Camp to Numrug by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4340/...727d85cb_b.jpgNumrug by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
The road is WASHBOARD to start and one main track before it branches out. It goes from a skiff of sand to several inches.
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4412/...1b1f4677_b.jpgNumrug-2 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4423/...9e84968f_b.jpgNumrug-3 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4427/...48c7c58d_b.jpgNumrug-5 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr We had some fun chasing these camels around. https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4368/...9254251c_b.jpgWild Camp to Numrug-2 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4401/...1223df86_b.jpgWild Camp to Numrug-3 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
When the sand got deep we again resorted to the grass. This means we all got a bit spread out even though we are all going in the same general direction by the GPS.
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4414/...ab2a3836_b.jpgWild Camp to Numrug-4 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4373/...b74d8962_b.jpgNumrug-6 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4394/...965e5fa0_b.jpgWild Camp to Numrug-5 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4383/...e4d0e018_b.jpgWild Camp to Numrug-7 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4398/...2bc31a93_b.jpgWild Camp to Numrug-9 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4391/...61226ce1_b.jpgWild Camp to Numrug-11 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4378/...628b0359_b.jpgWild Camp to Numrug-8 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
The car and truck drivers here all wave and smile! Mongolians are super friendly smiling people, We managed to get to Songrino by 1 pm and found a cafe for some lunch. There is no running water anywhere out here, but you can for sure get gas everywhere!
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4426/...a8aa3db3_b.jpgWild Camp to Numrug-12 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4435/...54c32c24_b.jpgWild Camp to Numrug-13 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4427/...af73de0f_b.jpgWild Camp to Numrug-15 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4438/...4efaf270_b.jpgWild Camp to Numrug-14 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4334/...336263ef_b.jpgIMG_9420 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr Hmmmmm GOAT. Definitely requires a breath mint afterwards! https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4436/...610ff913_b.jpgIMG_9426 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr Goat Buzz! https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4434/...cfb21b11_b.jpgIMG_9425 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
The road after lunch was more of the same with sections of deep sand and several bikes had dirt naps. (Never Dan’s of course!). We came across a few herds of Yaks.
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4381/...343a0473_b.jpgNumrug-7 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4369/...3eb2b4a6_b.jpgNumrug-8 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4351/...02154489_b.jpgNumrug-14 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4338/...8922f98c_b.jpgWild Camp to Numrug-17 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4374/...56499d34_b.jpgWild Camp to Numrug-16 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
When we got to the fork in the road by Tudevtei we met Wolfgang, but we had no sign of Trevor and Orvar who had been ahead. The routing for Wolle’s GPS is the same as the other guys and not ours and so we think they may have gone left at the fork into Tudevtei instead of right on the main track.
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4359/...012d44e1_b.jpgScreen Shot 2017-08-17 at 21.35.20 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4371/...b0fc5055_b.jpgNumrug-10 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4338/...137b4014_b.jpgNumrug-11 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4407/...72a98d05_b.jpgNumrug-13 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
We confirmed this theory with a group in a car stopped there changing their tire as they had seen them. This means they went into the town, but will they realize the mistake and come out the same way or take the other road out the back side that eventually meets the correct track. HMMM. Wolle decided to wait 30 min there and we went ahead to see if they were at the next intersection. It is also getting very late and there is much more sand. We had 34 km to go to the next village of Numrug (for a total 0f 188 km) and it is already almost 4. This took almost 2 hours and we 3 all arrived a bit shattered.
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4375/...a76fe0b3_b.jpgScreen Shot 2017-08-17 at 21.35.02 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4399/...436a9677_b.jpgWild Camp to Numrug-21 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4438/...982a360b_b.jpgNumrug-16 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4366/...f40e0824_b.jpgNumrug-17 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4404/...2047bb15_b.jpgWild Camp to Numrug-23 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4361/...2baa0f87_b.jpgWild Camp to Numrug-22 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
Sara was into the village first and stopped at the first “hotel” on Maps.me..…NOPE. At the other end of town there was a cleaner place and the manager spoke some English. We managed to get on line there with the SIMs and saw Orvar's SPOT was just 20 km away. They had come out of the village and gone back 50 km to get cell reception at the lunch place and to check our SPOT. They were not thinking clearly, but were worried we were in trouble. They arrived to town and like Wolle and Sara; Orvar had had a crash in the deep sand. Both Sara and Orvar were a bit battered and sore but with no permanent damage.
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4346/...b91fe2ab_b.jpgIMG_9408 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4341/...ae28a883_b.jpgWild Camp to Numrug-25 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4375/...8dfe4ed7_b.jpgWild Camp to Numrug-26 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
The rooms are simple with wood beds and we slept in our sleeping bags. There is no running water (no shower & squat outhouse). The owner did boil us up some water to clean up a bit. They had cold beers and also let us use their kitchen to cook a pasta dinner. There was a lot of noise in the town with dogs barking, motorbikes cruising up and down, People checking in late and then knocking at the front door to check for rooms at all hours.
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4384/...ca60793b_b.jpg20799991_10203802209812615_5533751767420413886_n by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4382/...609ee787_b.jpg20770344_10203802208172574_665569626436886670_n by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4405/...5092b4e8_b.jpgWild Camp to Numrug-27 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4393/...bf647bd7_b.jpgWild Camp to Numrug-28 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4416/...dd7c52ec_b.jpgWild Camp to Numrug-29 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4362/...12dcf2d0_b.jpgWild Camp to Numrug-30 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4388/...01ae6f5b_b.jpgWild Camp to Numrug-31 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4386/...ba07d170_b.jpgWild Camp to Numrug-32 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
None of us got much sleep. We took over the kitchen again to make coffee and oatmeal and then set out for our destination of yesterday in 107 km. We did not know how much farther than that we would get, but we had been told the road was “paved after Tosontsengel”. Its 107 km how long could that possibly take???…… Well the sky looks ominous for sure.
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4411/...a6d71944_b.jpgScreen Shot 2017-08-17 at 21.36.15 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4338/...9dbde80a_b.jpg20799434_10203806830008117_3198838007379367699_n by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
We headed out of town and initially the road was quite firm with a skiff of sand…..until it was deep!
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4388/...109db3a2_b.jpgTosontsengel by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4349/...39cd07b0_b.jpgTosontsengel-2 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4425/...aa5199b5_b.jpgNumrug to Tosontsengel-2 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4431/...4f1ed56c_b.jpgTosontsengel-3 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4333/...af688764_b.jpgNumrug to Tosontsengel by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4423/...345be4aa_b.jpgTosontsengel-4 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
Then of course it started raining and then pouring. The track was wet washboard at times, there were patches of deep sand and we spent some time going cross country on the grass (which was not slippery at all), thru the bushes and up some steep hill climbs.
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4367/...37100c7b_b.jpgTosontsengel-5 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4361/...dfdb7b16_b.jpgTosontsengel-6 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4367/...5423ed5c_b.jpgTosontsengel-7 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
There was some muddy sections to deal with after the first 3 hours of rain and it was back to the left and on the grass for us.
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4377/...c67023b9_b.jpgTosontsengel-8 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4358/...3af4f3ca_b.jpgTosontsengel-9 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4377/...fe771353_b.jpgTosontsengel-11 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4345/...6113f4f2_b.jpgTosontsengel-12 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4389/...bacc58f3_b.jpgTosontsengel-13 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4423/...507c7f22_b.jpgTosontsengel-14 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4368/...bf4cb9c4_b.jpgTosontsengel-15 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4401/...9504bcee_b.jpgTosontsengel-18 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4355/...1391983a_b.jpgTosontsengel-23 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4391/...8fc85e61_b.jpgTosontsengel-25 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4388/...139028e8_b.jpgTosontsengel-28 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
Unfortunately the other guys were in the far right and very muddy track and both Orvar and Wolle had their bikes down. Orvar hit his head hard enough to scar the helmet, bend the handle bars, and the brake lever and Wolle to break the left crash bar.
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4385/...62291126_b.jpgTosontsengel-29 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4359/...6b7c9cc1_b.jpgTosontsengel-30 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4382/...693efdfc_b.jpgTosontsengel-31 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
We are now only 8 km for the town and there is one more steep muddy hill to climb. I was never so happy to see a constructed road bed when we reached the summit. It was then an easy 5 km down to the town.
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4342/...549e3167_b.jpgNumrug to Tosontsengel-5 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4422/...0de4ed7c_b.jpgNumrug to Tosontsengel-6 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4372/...4fa758d7_b.jpgNumrug to Tosontsengel-7 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4358/...7eeb49ea_b.jpgNumrug to Tosontsengel-8 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4353/...6a1a73a7_b.jpgNumrug to Tosontsengel-3 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
We gassed up and asked for a place to eat near by while we waited for the other 3. Well now we know it takes 4 hours to go 107 km off road in Mongolia when its raining. We used our handy Point it book to get exactly what we wanted and the owner was so pleased. Baaah soup, rice and coffee.
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4440/...53bb5daa_b.jpgNumrug to Tosontsengel-23 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4435/...7863b6d4_b.jpgIMG_9437 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4344/...6167dcbe_b.jpgIMG_9438 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4417/...6a3c3e3f_b.jpgNumrug to Tosontsengel-10 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4336/...04dac565_b.jpgNumrug to Tosontsengel-11 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4410/...e8ecff10_b.jpgNumrug to Tosontsengel-12 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
We are all a bit wrecked and at lunch decide to see what the “best hotel” in town has to offer.
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4416/...8e92374e_b.jpgNumrug to Tosontsengel-9 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr It is 3 pm and 354 km to the next real town Tsetserleg with services (like a shower). The internet says this takes 6 hours. The hotel is not too bad ( our standards have slipped). They actually have a shared bathroom with a flush toilet and a separate room with a hot shower! We are happy after no shower for 3 days. The rooms are clean and comfortable. https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4379/...34d9b8ae_b.jpgNumrug to Tosontsengel-14 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4389/...92bbe332_b.jpgNumrug to Tosontsengel-13 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4426/...746dccbd_b.jpgNumrug to Tosontsengel-16 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
The town is not much to speak of, but we did the rounds. They had a big screen and so we re-watched the last Game of Thrones. What ever Sara ate at dinner did not agree about an hour later and she had a very long uncomfortable night.
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4369/...5f4ac343_b.jpgNumrug to Tosontsengel-15 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4437/...3196b161_b.jpgNumrug to Tosontsengel-17 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4339/...c764b965_b.jpgNumrug to Tosontsengel-18 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4353/...a6ec7041_b.jpgNumrug to Tosontsengel-20 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4383/...a9d72f9e_b.jpgNumrug to Tosontsengel-19 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4400/...a9194c9e_b.jpgNumrug to Tosontsengel-21 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4408/...2a38dba6_b.jpgNumrug to Tosontsengel-22 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
The night was again noisy with some domestic issues of the hotel staff and an actual cat fight at 1 am. Because of the “the staff was not in “ for breakfast and we went back to the lunch spot from yesterday. Back to the point it again! (Fried eggs, toast, fake nutella, and coffee).
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4375/...b5eb1ed3_b.jpg20882018_10203805751341151_2457812681702382160_n by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr The day is better and the forecast is for sun. We had dried out all our gear and set out about 1030 for Tsetserleg in 354 km. We had been told the “road is paved all the way to UB in 835 Km. This is true except a few stretches in total less than 30 km today. https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4356/...2a5a2314_b.jpgScreen Shot 2017-08-17 at 21.37.18 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4363/...0f0002b7_b.jpgTetserleg by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4405/...58c085f7_b.jpgTetserleg-4 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
It was a straight road for the most part thru vast valleys and sweeping scenery.
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4403/...a59e5fe6_b.jpgTetserleg-2 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4442/...9d4cbcf4_b.jpgTosontsengel to Tsetserleg-2 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4396/...a07eb261_b.jpgTosontsengel to Tsetserleg-3 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4434/...9794f50d_b.jpgTosontsengel to Tsetserleg-4 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
There is almost nothing in between the towns except some prayer mounds and for lunch the guys had ice cream. Sara was stopping every 45 min for an emergency visit to a culvert as there is no shade or shelter. Unlike at home gas stations and many restaurants do not have toilets or out houses even. Most don't have running water.
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4402/...5a375777_b.jpgTosontsengel to Tsetserleg-5 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4440/...05f52197_b.jpgTetserleg-5 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4361/...8ea6bcd3_b.jpgTetserleg-6 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4431/...8a5961c8_b.jpgTetserleg-7 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4423/...c50ae166_b.jpgTosontsengel to Tsetserleg-7 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4417/...38901b7b_b.jpgTetserleg-8 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4354/...84d70416_b.jpgTosontsengel to Tsetserleg-9 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4351/...682d6ee5_b.jpgTetserleg-9 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4372/...389d446f_b.jpgTosontsengel to Tsetserleg-10 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4441/...0f7ff185_b.jpgTosontsengel to Tsetserleg-11 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4364/...9694c62a_b.jpgTosontsengel to Tsetserleg-12 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4391/...c1f48bf8_b.jpgTosontsengel to Tsetserleg-13 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
Tire decontamination 500 T (.35$).
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4383/...c6bdde7c_b.jpgTetserleg-10 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4345/...ba244f7d_b.jpgTosontsengel to Tsetserleg-14 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4431/...f5169422_b.jpgTosontsengel to Tsetserleg-15 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4382/...1549429f_b.jpgTetserleg-11 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4424/...0ce5ba6e_b.jpgTetserleg-12 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4376/...544e00ca_b.jpgTetserleg-13 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr City toll 500T https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4334/...1f6a9e10_b.jpgTetserleg-16 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4346/...db61f2d8_b.jpgTosontsengel to Tsetserleg-16 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4386/...ca4120e6_b.jpgTosontsengel to Tsetserleg-17 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
The hotel said they would let us stay at least until 3 and the other guys went on 118 km to a ger camp in Karkhorin.
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4401/...c127322951.jpgScreen Shot 2017-08-17 at 21.39.10 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr By 2 pm she could stand up and did eat some toast. The road is paved and passes a lot of ger camps and horse farms. there are a few bumpy section, but Sara seemed ok. https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4410/...a0450b9f_b.jpgKhokhan-2 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4365/...7d2e1eb6_b.jpgKhokhan-3 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4375/...e65ed124_b.jpgTsetserleg to Karakhorin-2 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4335/...1ae6f533_b.jpgKhokhan-5 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4407/...2ca1839f_b.jpgTsetserleg to Karakhorin-3 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr Moving the Ger home! https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4407/...3b5449d6_b.jpgTsetserleg to Karakhorin by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
It was not until we turned off on to the gravel road for about 1 km that she started to feel dizzy and by the time she got off the bike she could barely walk. Dan half carried her to the Ger. More gastrolyte and by 10 pm she was 85% better. That was scary for sure, but not as scary as a visit to a rural Mongolian medical clinic. The other guys had done an off road route while waiting for us and said it was amazing.
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4377/...d4ce3db7_b.jpgTsetserleg to Karakhorin-19 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr The plan was for all the guys to ride again today while Sara rested, but just before they left Wolfgang noted his new Wilber’s rear shock was leaking oil. He packed up and headed to Ulanbaatar to see if the KTM there can help him out. We will meet him at the Famous Oasis Ger camp there tomorrow. https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4389/...328d8ce9_b.jpg20915329_1424041374344622_2205655265479553300_n by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
Dan and Trevor took off for a days ride and went up the same valley that Trevor was on yesterday, but on the other side of the river. They got to where they wanted to try to cross the river, but it was still pretty deep. Luckily a truck came by and he asked if they wanted a lift across the river.
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4382/...897a9078_b.jpgTsetserleg to Karakhorin-4 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4335/...45a580b9_b.jpgTsetserleg to Karakhorin-5 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4401/...5bb76e16_b.jpgTsetserleg to Karakhorin-6 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4411/...4750b395_b.jpgTsetserleg to Karakhorin-7 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4359/...68111c54_b.jpgTsetserleg to Karakhorin-8 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4438/...cb84c46e_b.jpgTsetserleg to Karakhorin-9 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4401/...bffc002d_b.jpgTsetserleg to Karakhorin-10 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4397/...fa34c451_b.jpgTsetserleg to Karakhorin-11 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4365/...54791d5d_b.jpgTsetserleg to Karakhorin-12 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4437/...8ef3f74f_b.jpgTsetserleg to Karakhorin-13 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4345/...ff249001_b.jpgTsetserleg to Karakhorin-14 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4334/...617ec56e_b.jpgTsetserleg to Karakhorin-15 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4399/...ddc96561_b.jpgTsetserleg to Karakhorin-16 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4430/...1df13c66_b.jpgTsetserleg to Karakhorin-17 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
The forecast for the next few days was ominous and the clouds moved in just after we had been to the car wash of course!
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4332/...9fb042b2_b.jpgTsetserleg to Karakhorin-18 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr The prediction was for thundershowers in spots and the sky was cloudy and dark this morning. It was however not raining and we decided to go for it and ride the 372 km to Ulanbaatar to catch up with Wolfgang. Sara was recovered enough to ride she thought. https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4412/...c1a96612_b.jpgScreen Shot 2017-08-17 at 21.41.14 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4384/...33bb4aaa_b.jpgTsetserleg to Karakhorin-20 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
On the way we stopped in town to explore the Erdene Zuu Monastery , which is the earliest surviving Buddhist monastery in Mongolia.
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4372/...d26901e8_b.jpgTsetserleg to Karakhorin-21 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4333/...180d2af7_b.jpgTsetserleg to Karakhorin-22 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4381/...ca3c5da1_b.jpgTsetserleg to Karakhorin-23 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4381/...19ec8e8f_b.jpgTsetserleg to Karakhorin-24 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4428/...1d74ba45_b.jpgTsetserleg to Karakhorin-25 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4420/...30bc36a1_b.jpgTsetserleg to Karakhorin-26 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4423/...703d251f_b.jpgTsetserleg to Karakhorin-27 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4400/...575623c9_b.jpgTsetserleg to Karakhorin-28 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4430/...2a4e58df_b.jpgTsetserleg to Karakhorin-29 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4427/...ab279db0_b.jpgTsetserleg to Karakhorin-30 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4339/...69fe19fc_b.jpgTsetserleg to Karakhorin-31 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4337/...3e304182_b.jpgTsetserleg to Karakhorin-32 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4360/...2a1b6c39_b.jpgTsetserleg to Karakhorin-33 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4364/...37104348_b.jpgTsetserleg to Karakhorin-34 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4404/...da668f39_b.jpgTsetserleg to Karakhorin-35 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4402/...290a5bd7_b.jpgTsetserleg to Karakhorin-36 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4439/...7f1a3210_b.jpg |
We made it about 70 km before we had to get the rain suits on and it continued to pour for the next 4 hours. Sara was still suffering a bit from the food poisoning (stopped to vomit several times) and so this was a pretty dreadful day all round. We did run into the second woman we have seen on a bike and they just finished the same route as us. You have to give her credit as she left Swiss with no off road experience until she hit the Pamir! The reported horrendous UB traffic was not so bad probably as it was pouring and Saturday afternoon. The roads were flooded in the city.
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4342/...5ce325b0_b.jpgUlaanbaatar by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4412/...2590ae5f_b.jpgUlaanbaatar-2 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4416/...31edee35_b.jpgUlaanbaatar-3 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
We arrived to the Oasis Guesthouse, which is the hub for over landers of all types. We had booked a ger (Mongolian traditional tent home) and stripped off the wet weather gear and settled in. They have real food here that tastes like home and so the guys are very happy. Sara huddled under the comforter in the very comfy bed with a wood fire blazing in the ger stove. It finally stopped raining!
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4377/...1d5bee46_b.jpgUlaanbaatar-3 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4423/...0b629613_b.jpgUlaanbaatar-4 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4424/...0b8998ae_b.jpgUlaanbaatar-5 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4392/...2e608412_b.jpgUlaanbaatar-2 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
The first bike we saw when we arrived had BC plates!!! Dominck is also from Vancouver and is setting out in the next few days east on our route and so we could fill him in. We loaded him up with our PDF map of Mongolia with the most current road conditions, the maps.me app and info on hotel and such.
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4348/...2b257383_b.jpgUlaanbaatar by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4400/...5d78312e_b.jpgIMG_9440 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr There is a lot of activity here with broken bikes of all kinds 3 Wilber’s shocks including Wolfgang's, broken frames, and various broken off bits. They have a huge covered work area that is filled with bikes and a mechanic next door. There are some German people stating out here on tours and they suited up in their brand new off road gear and motocross boots right out of the boxes never used! One young guy had purchased a Teneree from another rider and unfortunately did not have the experience to know this bike it too tall for him and he has already fallen over trying to leave the parking lot. He was supposed to set off today across the country, but unless he can make some serious modifications he is in real trouble. There is a young couple here from New Zealand who bought 2 Chinese 250’s and plan the same route as us, but maybe “farther off the main route”. He is wearing a climbing helmet and has two huge back packs strapped to the side of the bike and a large bag on the seat. None of these is waterproof. She has less gear, but admits she has only ridden a motorcycle 8-9 times before. She stalled the bike 10 times trying to get out of the gravel parking area. She is wearing gum boots on her feet. I fear for their safety with this sort of set up and experience. |
The next day Sara was quite a bit better and enjoyed her coffee in bed in the ger. It is still raining on and off and we stoked the wood stove in the ger to get the damp out of everything.
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4360/...97ed1034_b.jpgIMG_9476 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr The sun did peak out a few times in the afternoon between the showers are Dan and Sara walked 51/2 km into the city centre to the main square to see the Ghengis monuments. https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4365/...6b70df52_b.jpgUlaanbaatar-2 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4358/...a285ee4e_b.jpgUlaanbaatar by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4349/...62986ecb_b.jpgUlaanbaatar-3 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4382/...e3834fc2_b.jpgUlaanbaatar-4 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4399/...92e06921_b.jpgUlaanbaatar-5 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
been a while since I'd been to that monestry, Ive been going over my photos thew other day, great to see thew changes since my visit... thank you
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There was a battle of the brides for space on the stairs before they lost the few rays of sunlight.
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4437/...ff126f6a_b.jpgUlaanbaatar-6 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4339/...1e8744cc_b.jpgUlaanbaatar-7 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4402/...2a433117_b.jpgUlaanbaatar-8 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4388/...5681b7a2_b.jpgUlaanbaatar-9 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4378/...05934244_b.jpgUlaanbaatar-10 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4371/...456b71a7_b.jpgUlaanbaatar-11 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4389/...eb1a0670_b.jpgUlaanbaatar-12 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4342/...af4807b9_b.jpgUlaanbaatar-13 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4417/...2d5bb147_b.jpgUlaanbaatar-14 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4441/...017b3784_b.jpgIMG_9467 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4384/...621563cf_b.jpgIMG_9465 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4373/...9d09fb80_b.jpgIMG_9456 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4394/...1c98b0ff_b.jpgIMG_9457 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr We took a cab back in a Prius among all the Prius!!! https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4383/...2f0d2242_b.jpgUlaanbaatar-15 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr Wolfgang decided he must ride the 50 km to the “huge” Genghis statue south of the city even in the rain since he will not be back like us. He also ran into Dominick who decided to set out west today also. When we asked so you are leaving this late in the day his parting words were yes, but you never know I might be back. Well 2315 and he just arrived….off for a beer with the guys to discuss his “shattered confidence”. |
Today's plan is to get close to the Russian border, which is 354 km north and then do the border and the ride to Ulan Ude the next day. We have agreed if the forecast is wrong and it is still rainy we will say goodbye to Wolfgang and stay here to wait out the weather. We endured 4 hours of horrific weather yesterday to catch up to him here or we would have stayed put where we were. His plan is to book it all the way to Ulan Ude, but this may take more than 12 hours.
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4346/...9d679ba1_b.jpgUlaanbaatar-6 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr So the plan for us is to go 330 km to Sukhbaatar, which is 24 km from the border and it is supposed to have more accommodations to offer than the border town of Altanbulag. https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4335/...96a08db9_z.jpgScreen Shot 2017-08-22 at 23.13.21 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr We were in no hurry to get out of here and finally gassed up at 10, found an ATM that worked, and then spent an hour getting across the city on the only thru road to access the road north. There is not much traffic here and the road is in pretty good condition except for a few holes. https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4381/...a0c1c60a_c.jpgNorth to The Russian Border-3 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
We had several rain showers, but only one long enough to get the suits on. We were really dawdling and stopped for coffee after 100 km and almost 3 hours since we left the oasis. We did stop for a few pics, but essentially not much to see except the giant metal man in Darkhan.
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4406/...f8dd5c38_c.jpgNorth to The Russian Border-4 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4334/...8eff4785_c.jpgNorth to The Russian Border-6 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4366/...e5f192ac_c.jpgNorth to The Russian Border-8 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4389/...a5e2b1b7_c.jpgUlaanbaatar to Russia Border by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4362/...631c9b30_c.jpgNorth to The Russian Border-9 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
About 40 km from Sukhbaatar it really starts to look a lot more like Russia and not Mongolia at all. This town is a “shit” town and the nicest looking hotel and restaurant are both shut down. We did find an ok place, but no hot water. There is a big Korean influence here and that improved our dinner selections!!
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4338/...332f779b_c.jpgNorth to The Russian Border-17 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr We heard a bike pull into the parking after 10 and it was Nicholas from Barcelona that we had met at the Oasis. He left 2 hours after we did and it took him 3 hours to cross the city in traffic. In the end we did not have a bad night and slept well. Another surprise is they actually served us breakfast (congee and friend dough). https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4400/...daf6f1ea_c.jpgUlaanbaatar to Russia Border-2 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
We have 262 km to Ulan Ude and first thing we all gassed up ad set out the 24 km to the border. Nicholas decided he wanted to ride with us today even though he plans to go 719 km to Irkusk today. He says he rode all the way across Russia and never met any other riders and he is dying for some conversation.
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4349/...5297d26c_b.jpgScreen Shot 2017-08-22 at 23.18.03 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr It was a chilly 12 degrees when we set out and the sky is cloudy, but rain is not in the forecast. Driving up to the border we passed by a line of trucks and were whisked thru the first gate. We lined up at the second gate to wait to be let in. The border guard was young and friendly and spoke English well. Once you are inside the gate you go around the other side of the building an hand over you passport. Here they enter your data into the computer and stamp you out. That’s it you are out of Mongolia in 10 minutes. https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4397/...64a87807_c.jpgNorth to The Russian Border-10 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4401/...589a4e1f_b.jpgUlaanbaatar to Russia Border-3 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
From here we were directed to the Russian check point gate. They are supposed to give you a scrap of paper with boxes printed on it to collect your stamps. (well actually they did not give them to us, but we did get them later at customs). We waited here a few minutes for it to open and then we had to squeeze by the trucks to get into the long line of cars.
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4425/...5f60e620_c.jpgNorth to The Russian Border-11 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4441/...ae031090_c.jpgNorth to The Russian Border-13 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4406/...e9d5da55_c.jpgNorth to The Russian Border-14 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4403/...f15259be_c.jpgNorth to The Russian Border-15 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
They opened a second line and we moved up not that this would help time wise. You have to go to the first window to get your visa checked and entry stamp. They are very specific to blue light scan every page of your passport and spent a good few minutes inspecting each persons documents. Next you need to fill in your customs clearance forms. They are in Russian, but they have examples posted in English. This took forever and the woman who was doing the forms was a battle axe. A huge bus showed up and so Dan and Sara who were last were then sent to another office where a very pleasant woman did the last 2 forms very quickly. We also met up with the two Swiss riders here as well. It took 3 hours and almost all of this was the getting into Russia part. WOW.
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4401/...46668bf1_c.jpgNorth to The Russian Border-16 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
The road initially was new tarmac and then very bad pavement in need of repair for about 10 km, and then a dry mud road for 10 km. Then back to the good road.
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4353/...c986914f_c.jpgNorth to The Russian Border-18 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4413/...7c8f62c4_c.jpgNorth to The Russian Border-19 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4359/...3323d1c5_c.jpgNorth to The Russian Border-20 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr There is no services after the border town for about 80 km where we finally found a restaurant for some lunch. ducky we had saved some Rubles from our last time in Russia. https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4348/...951a1c20_c.jpgUlaanbaatar to Russia Border-4 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr |
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