While I'm tying my best to keep my Facebook page up to date (7days1shower) I havent had as much luck here. Currently in Kazakhstan (and loving it!) but will slowly bring this one up to date too
It doesn't help that Kazakhstan has just introduced some new Internet policies which is making access a bit tough!
So...going back a little....
After our first hotel choice in Khovd wanted about $150 for the night we moved onto our second choice which had mixed reviews online. And for a while we thought we were in for a rough stay after finding out that “no hot water for now” actually meant no running water at all!
Thankfully, once the water was on a perfect hot shower was served up along with decent beds!
Unfortunately the rest of the town was still a dump with attempts to find food outside the hotel only ending in being caught up in more dust storms.
The hotel staff did engage in the now common occurrence of photoshoots with the Gixxer.
The next morning was looking like it was off to a rough start too after I followed GPS directions to the main road to Ulgii….a dirt road!
At first I thought this must just be a small section but after a few kilometres, luckily, Mark realised that we were on the old road!
A quick backtrack and navigation through town and we were back on perfect asphalt.
"The Misfits"
Riding with the power of Gengis Khan
The trip was fairly pleasant with only a couple of small sections offroad along with more Mongolians stopping for photos.
More people?
Ok fine, one last one
The most noticeable difference was that it was getting cold, REALLY cold.
Combined with the odd drizzle, this made for some very cold hands.
It was then that I realised that pretty much everyone was using heated handgrips….wish I’d thought of that modification for my bike.
As we pulled into town and were about to go to the Blue Wolf Ger camp we saw a Czech couple pull up on a Transalp who suggested another camp very close by that was rated better than Blue Wolf.
Whilst the initial impressions were ok, turns out the gers flood! So a soaked helmet and jacket were more things on the to-do list to sort out.
I did get my pizza though! Worth it.
The plan was to head to the Russian border the next day but all night it rained, hard, continuing into the morning.
Whilst Mark decided to head off anyway, Yosuke and I have decided to wait it out till tomorrow in hope of slightly less rain.
A coal delivery to the dump of a place in Ulgii
A good lunch of kofte in Ulgii to lighten the mood of being damp and cold
Although things outside were still miserable
A possible solution to my cold hands?
So now, an early 4am start to get to the border. Only 95km away but 30km of that is unpaved which with the rain, could mean mud. That combined with stories I’ve been hearing from others coming into Mongolia at the same border to 8 and 11 hour crossings, the earlier the better. Just hope its quicker the other way…
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