Into the wilderness - Western Mongolia - Part two

Tuesday 1st of July - Tosontsergel - 70 miles

After a good night sleep we visited the dreadful pit (!) before trying to get some breakfast. We asked if we could get some eggs but the landlady said no! So we drank some fruit juice from the supermarket, and some bread with our mixed chocolate spread. We abandoned the rest of the bread...rock hard. 

We left Nomrog soon after 9 am. From there we were really expecting to see some improvements with the road, after all, in our map, this section is now a " major road"! It had been raining heavily during the night. I was hoping the sand would be compacted, making riding easier. Let's just say it took us 5 hours to do 70 miles! 

This below is actually a good section of road! Really! 

The road went from bad to worse, rivers, mud, sand, holes the size of a truck.... It was very had and very tiring! I don't have any pictures of the hard parts, as I was too busy riding those and trying not to lose the will to live! 

We got to Tosontsergel by 2:30 / 3pm.... Although...we  must have crossed some invisible portal as we lost another hour .... We were now 8 hours ahead of the UK, same time zone than Singapore and Beijin apparently! 

This time we found two hotels in town. We had high hope of a hot shower and flushable toilet, after all this town is quite important... It even had an airport, according to my map! 

Unfortunately, there was still no running water in town.... Only drafted from a  pump and brought home in containers.... So facilities were the same... No shower and the dreaded pit toilet!  We picked the less dodgy looking hotel. Downstairs they had a restaurant, and they even served food there! We managed to get fried eggs and rice! That was quite a nice change from our usual diet! 

After that we went to look for the local "supermarket" ( well, that would be the village shop for you and me!). 

We met two bikers, a couple from Poland, riding two up on a massive BMW 1200 GS with tons of luggage and stuff ( that is a very big motorbike for those non biker reading this! ) 

And they looked so clean! My riding suit was covered in mud and sand, my bike the same, my panniers almost invisible through the dust and sand and mud.... They came from a different part of the country.... South. We told them it took us most of the day to do 70 miles.... They said they were doing 250 km a day. My jaw dropped to the floor! And they were not going to stop in town but continue. Not tired  at all! They were going the same way than us from here, East to Tariat and then Tsetselerg. 

I thought the guy must be some sort of semi God of the off road, we did look rather amateurs and useless with our slow progress! And they were so clean! Not a speckle of mud in their trousers! Anyway, they left and we went back to the hotel after buying some water. 

We did not sleep well. The hotel was busy with locals, each room filled with full extended family. Very noisy. On top of that the sheet over the mattress was so ridiculously small, they always are here, it did not cover half the mattress... Which was not clean! Stressful! 

Wednesday 2d July - 135 miles, near Tariat

Considering that Tosontergel is actually a biggish town ( Mongol style) we really expected this time there must be a road! Well, there will be one day, as there are massive roadworks, but for us it got worse! 

We left after a solid breakfast of fried eggs and rice (!). The road leaving town was like riding in the Sahara, sand dunes and all! Where is all that sand coming from? It was horrendous and  it took us an hour to do only 9 miles. My bike got stuck trying to ride up a steep sand dune. A truck was already stuck in the sand  no far. My back wheel digging a hole half way up. Alistair had to come to the rescue and get the bike out of the hole and up the end of the bloody dune! 

Few hours later the tracks came across a deep large river. We saw a 4X4 going through, it was waist deep, it would submerge most of the bike... Not passable for us. We stopped another 4 wheel drive car, they pointed further down a trail. We followed them. A mile later, the car went through the river. We had to get through, but this passage was almost as  deep! 

Then, big luck, another 4X4 came behind us, saw us stuck and passed the river, doing a big swerve to the right! It was shallower on the far right side. We "thumbed up" the car as a thank and Alistair went first. It was deep but doable. I followed, without style and wobbly but I did it and was really pleased with myself. I wondered how our polish friends managed  with their huge heavy bike? Maybe semi God just levitated? 

Later, again, another bloody river. How can this be a "major road"? Again we  saw a  car passing, it was deep enough but no more than before. We got through again. 

We came across yaks. They look so funny! 

We pressed on through the day. We wanted to get to Tariat and check out if the hotel there had a shower. If not, few miles further north, inside the national Park, there was a Gers camp with hot showers and flushing toilets! According to our guidebook! By then we deserved that! Worse case scenario we would camp by the lake and  bath there! 

Near 7pm we eventually got to Tariat. We checked out the local hotel, which was the same dreadfulplace  than the others! We decided to ride to the national park, few  miles further away. 

On the way we saw the big BMW of our polish friends. They did not go far today... Less mileage  than us... They found the road very tough and went very slow.... So... No semi God of the Off Road then! They just rode much easier trails before meeting us, coming from the south! I felt much better about my riding skills after that.... And they even looked a bit less sparkly clean in their riding suits! 

Then we came across a board pointing toward Khorgo Gers camp. I checked the Lonely Planet. It was the one mentioned as having flush toilets and  hot showers. To get there, we had to cross another river, that was fairly deep and I got water inside my boot riding through. Never mind... Showers, real toilets.... I would have gone through an ocean! 

So we went there, they confirmed what the guidebook said. We took a  ger! We got the ger's wood stove going and using it to cook our dinner of.... Noodles again.. But with added onion and pepper! 

We were told there would be hot water at 9 pm. I went into the shower. Cold water. Then a tiny big less cold water... I was not happy... The lady in charge of the shower block was around..., I complained... Where is the bloody hot water? Now, you must know that this place is rather high up and it was quite cold, the water was icy. The woman just opened the curtain of my shower to check the water! The fact I was stark naked there, trying to wash my hair, did not mater apparently! Anyhow, we had a coldish shower... But at least the toilets were real toilets... With a flush! And clean! And with toilet paper! Civilisation at last! Of sort anyway! 

Into the wilderness - western Mongolia Part 1

Saturday 28th of June - 154 miles 

( apologies to my readers about the constant bad typing, very hard on an iPad, the blogger app gives me a tiny window and it would be so much easier with a real keyboard! )

And so we  left Ulaangom early, with no breakfast. We were aiming to camp by a lake. We were then in the district of Uvs. It means grass in Mongolia. Why? No clue as it is really only desert. The good news was that the exit of town and for about 80 miles was paved more or less. 

We wanted to find a specific trail and spot on the edge of the lake, called Khetsuu Khad,  where apparently there was a gers camp and   wonderful views. 

We never found the junction or any trail going in the  right direction. 

We rode that road back and forth several times, asked some road builders, could not make sense of the response ( pointing in all directions!). In the end we decided to ride cross country. The soil was not too bad, no ravines or high rocks, it was doable. By the time we reached the southern side of the lake, we realised that we would not have enough fuel to reach that gers camp and come back. So we  picked a spot by the lake and set camp. 

The place was like a desert, with funny looking lizards that had like a big sting on the tail, and raising them like a scorpion! I did not fancy one of those coming close to me! 

Sunday  29th of June - 185 miles

Concerned with fuel, we  consulted the map. It showed a village off a small trail. Our GPS did not show any road there. Once again we rode back and forth, asking for that village and fuel. Once again, we could not make sense of the answer, involving pointing in lots of different directions. If we  continued,  the next town on the main "road" was too far. So we decided to turn back on the paved road and ride back  about 55 miles to the last fuel pump. 

At the same time we stop at the village shop to buy water and some food. 

We filled also the fuel bladder, that gives us an extra 8 litres of fuel, as we were going to cross a very desolated area. It is called the Great depression. It deserved that name! By the time we got out of it few days later we were ourselves very depressed! 

Anyway, at the village we were surrounded by two idiots touching everything on the bikes! 

I kept saying in english " yes it' s a motorbike, it has two wheels, just like yours!" To no avail! 

We then rode to the fuel pump and same circus again! We had a quick bite of bread with some spread, that looks like Nutella but comes in a swirl of neatly separated white and brown spread. By the end of the day the whole spread had mixed into chocolate colour, due to the tremendous vibrations and corrugation of the trails.

Then we rode the same road again, passing the end of the lake, running out of tarmac into horrendous tracks. They went from bad to worse. We looked for a side trail going north but once again never found it or any evidence of a track. We were glad not to insist as a sudden electric storm started, with massive lightenings coming down on the valley we had planned to cross. Those lightenings were frightening, especially as it is flat desert and the only thing sticking out is us on our bikes! 

The tracks were going in all directions, many criss crossing, some running parallel, all bad, either very bad corrugation or sand. It was stressful and exhausting! In top of that the scenery was just desert, with nothinga round, not a gers camp, not a camel or a goat, nothing  

We continued slowly for a long time until we got too tired. 

We then rode away from the road to set camp. The next village was very far away.

As we set the tent and our inflatable mattresses,we  found out that one particular plant was very spiky! It pierced the tent floor in a couple of places! We had to empty the tent. We defined a square zone with my boots, and started a weeding job to remove all these herbs! Eventually it was done and we set the tent there. It was incredibly hot! 

After our usual dinner of pot noodles, we set to rest, just to realise that my mattress was losing air fast! Big puncture. Some roots were going through the floor and punctured my mattress! After repairing the puncture, we used the plastic chopping board and my motorcycle winter gloves to isolate from those. 

We finally set to sleep, although my mattress must have had another tiny puncture as  it lost air slowly and  I had tore inflate a couple of times overnight! 

Monday 30th of June - 98 miles - Nomrog

We got up at 6 am as the sun was high already and it was too hot. By 7:30 we were back riding. We eventually crossed some valleys with some sign of life, few animals grazing, few rare gers. 

We came across, in the middle of nowher, of a gers selling some drinks and providing food. We declined the food but had a couple of sodas, warm as they had no fridge! 

As we sat in the Ger, on what was the unique  massive family bed, the family sat in front of us, on a sofa and two armchairs; the mother, the father, the teenage daughter and younger son, and another bloke, all staring at us, as if we were from outer space! Maybe for them we were! We were happy to be away from the sun in the shade for a while, but it was very uncomfortable having this group of people just staring at us! So we left. They all came out to stare at us! 

The tracks unfortunately got worse. With long sections of deep sand, and badly deformed tracks with huge deep holes and bumps all over the place. 

We observed more storms and electrical storms once again! The views are so far away in these open spaces,  that you can observe several storms at the same time! 

Through the day I dropped my bike three times in sand. It was exhausting.

By mid afternoon we got to Nomrog, the first town since we last bought fuel! Town is a big name for what is only a single street! 

Nomrog had a hotel, of sort. With no running water in town, there was no showers, bathroom and the toilet was outside, the usual wooden but, with a wooden platform, with one plank missing and a big hole! Using was filled me with dread but no choice! 

We were too tired to continue so we decided to stay. At least we would be out of the sun. We cleaned ourselves with some Wetones, hoping for a shower the next day ! 

The hotel had a big kitchen and dining room, set like a restaurant, although it was completely deserted during our stay. Then upstairs there were several bedrooms. The owner showed us several rooms and we   picked one. The beds were made, usually guesthouses and hotels since Georgia, beds are unmade, maybe to show the bedding is clean? In this case I doubt it was.

 As evidence, the next morning, the entire family emerged from one single bedroom, the son, two daughters, the mum and another lady, all sleeping in one bedroom! That was one of the bedroom the woman showed us. Then she made the beds there again and  I suppose the next traveller can sleep in there again! oh well, considering how dusty I was I just felt sorry for whoever sleep in my bed sheets next! 

 We observed that too later on in other guesthouses, where a full extended family, children various men and women will share a bedroom! I suppose in gers that is how family life is, everyone sleep in the same gers, sometimes in the same huge bed.....

Part two to follow later today....

Taking a shortcut in northern Mongolia

25th of June 2014 - Olgii - zero miles

We had a day rest in Olgii to do some chores, like laundry, bike maintenance, catching up on the blog, buy food etc....

We had pretty much made our mind that we wanted to ride the northern route, which is supposed to be the hardest, but also the most beautiful. 

We stayed at a Gers camp in town. We met with few travellers and exchanged information with them. Apparently the main road north was blocked by two rivers that are currently too deep for even trucks to pass. Two cyclists, father and son from california, on a round the world trip, told us about a combination of short cuts. A dutch couple , driving on a big landcruiser from China to Holland gave us also some valuable info on the northern route. 

Thursday 26th June - somewhere by a lake - about 100 miles

For various reasons we left rather late. 

Our plan was to take the shortcut below, from Olgii to Ulaangom, as the main road north was impassable. 

To start with, it was an obvious gravel road, that turned into various tracks. Navigation became difficult as there were tracks on the ground going all over and no idea which one to take. Eventually, it did not matter, we trusted our compass and the GPS, at least we knew we were going roughly north - East....

Which way? 

The tracks got from bad to worse, these are probably the worse tracks we ever rode. Lucky we had the perfect bikes for that, they were amazing through rocks, sand, rivers, anything! 

Let's just pick a track.... Any track! 

We went up into high deserted plateaux, across mountain passes, down green valleys and lakes and up again. The scenery was incredibly changing! 

And up again and down into a valley with a big lake, where the tracks changed from rocky to sandy! 

A storm was behind us, so we only stopped to eat an apple for lunch before pressing on! 

Then the terrain changed to some dry river bed with big stones.

Up a mountain we met with some canadian cyclists and spent some time talking to them.

Then our first river crossing. 

We then came across this scene below. A bike down, a man on the ground, face full of blood and bruises, a kid standing along....

We stopped. The man was still alive, the kid did not say a word.

We did not know what to do. We decided to take a picture of the man and the kid, and alistair rode back up the hills to a small settlement, using the photo to explain what happened and get help, while I waited with the kid. I did not get a word from him, maybe he was in shock? He did not speak russian i guess...

Meanwhile Alistair found some people, but when he showed then the picture they just laughed at it like complete morons! 

Eventually he came back. We were considering to get Alistair to take the kid pillion and ride to his home and get help there. We could not leave the man there, it was getting late and he would surely die of hypothermia overnight!

Then, a young lad turned up in a motorbike, he conversed with the kid, they seemed to know each other. The lad gave the kid his backpack and rode across toward a lake, to a ger, to get help. 

So we left them to it. There  was not much more we could do. 

By then it was very late. Too late to make it to Ulaangom in such dizfficult tracks, and we were tired.

We rode for a while a took a track towar a lake, but the shore was very far. Sowe  just set camp. We could see some gers far away.

We got the stove and prepared what is now our staple diet: pot noodles! 

As soon as we got eating, a couple of motorbikes turned up and two mongol came to stare at us. Wgave  them some bread... Then they left! 

Friday 27th June - about 65 miles - Ulaangom

We had a   good night sleep, it was a peaceful place and no mosquitoes! Such a relief! 

Then as we were getting ready to pack up, two guys om two motorbikes turned up and inspected all our  stuff, our bikes, and were more than willing to help packing, but not with the best results! To pack all small enough it fit in our roll bag is an art! 

We got back

on the road, the scenery across a mountain and valley was sublime.

We then got into the good road to Ulaangom, it was even paved! The place is a dump but we need to buy supplies for several days and have a last shower! Beyond Ulaangom, we will go into the wilderness for several days, until we reach the town of Moron! Honest, that's the name!