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Published: October 14th 2006
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Ulaan Baatar
Posing at the UB city sign to the north of the city - on the edge of the wild. Day 133, 11th October
Darchan - Salcheet - Buruunharaa
Awoke to a glorious sunrise over the valley. A dog from the nearby ger came to visit the tent, I threw him some food and had a friend for life. Then, a huge flock, or herd, a sheep came towards our tents munching away. It was like a tsunami wave approaching, a munching mass of hungry grass-nibbling mouths. As they came closer and closer, we began to fear that they would just march straight through our tents, oblivious, leaving just the frames standing. This didn’t happen, but as they past the munching noise became a cacophony of farting sounds as they continued on their way.
After breakfast, I went up to the ger for water and was invited in by the family who lived in this cozy nomadic tent. A man, his wife, a small girl and a baby occupied the 20 foot diameter tent. In the middle a fire of dried dung burned on bare earth and the smoke left from a hole in the roof. Toby and Rory arrived, and we were seated to the left after entering the door, given milky tea, dough-balls, and rock-hard sweet
Young Girl
She stood as still as a statue as we each took a pic of her. What is there for kids to do in such a place? things. We tried to talk a little and afterwards took the obligatory photos.
On the road to Darchan there were headwinds. Darchan is the second largest ‘city’ in Mongolia, which isn’t large for a country whose population is only two million, and on the approach to town we stopped at a bakery to get bread. The women who worked there were so taken aback with us that they stopped working and invited us in as special guests. We were treated to tea with delicious freshly baked biscuits. Afterwards the ladies wanted to sit on our iron-horses.
We went into the city, which was basically a rectangle of communist-style buildings around a huge square. The square resembled the surrounding grasslands, so much so that it looked as if the buildings had just been plopped there overnight. We decided to eat more and had a meal in a strange café before heading south again with a great tailwind.
A truly strange sight just after leaving the town was seeing wild camels wandering across the road in front of you. I’m certainly not in Stoke on Trent now… it’s surprising where you can get to when you leave home on
Ger family
We camped about 200yds from the ger, and in the morning were treated to tea with the family. Nomads meet Nomads... your bike for a “little trip” somewhere! The tailwind blew us along terrifically and by the end of the day we had made over 70 miles before camping up a valley in grassland. It was dark by 8pm and the wind had dropped, all was silent despite us being next to the main road…
Total Miles: 7204.14 Todays Miles: 73.08 Average speed: 13.3 Time on bike: 5:20
Day 134, 12th October
Buruunharaa - Ikhsüüj
Rory woke up quite ill, he puked all last night and was coughing for ages. Toby has just fought off influenza and is feeling a bit drained. Scott’s stomach has been bad for months and is drastically losing weight due to having the shits several times a day. And my left knee was in agony after the stupid accident in Russia. What a bunch of absolute cripples we are - will we ever make it to Singapore in one piece?
It was partly cloud-covered today and colder. The scenery was much the same today with distant mountains on the horizon and friendly people waving all the time. I’m kind of getting used to seeing no European-looking faces now. The few
Campgound
Take your pick of camping spots! If you look closely you'll see the 4 tents in the valley below. cafes we stopped at rarely advertised the fact that they were cafes, the only distinguishing fact was that the building was a building and not a ger. In the cafes you are given big portions of stodge and a big flask of milky tea, enough for several cups each. The cafes are basic, plastic tablecloths, wooden floor, cracked window, and, as in Russia, a huge poster on one wall with either an photo of a big western-style breakfast, or a bowl of fruit. And the flies!
While cycling, distances can be deceptive. A building that you see ahead can be over 5 miles away. Scott made an interesting observation that the Mongolians are probably the only people we’ve encountered on this trip who can relate to our ‘Nomadic’ lifestyle. After all, it’s what they do, isn’t it? After 60 miles, we were 40km away from Ulan Baatar, and decided to camp on the crest of a hill just to the right of the road. The night was silent again, but warmer.
Total Miles: 7268.00 Todays Miles: 63.85 Average speed: 12.0 Time on bike: 5:18
Day 135, 13th October
Ikhsüüj - Ulaan Baatar
It was
Near Darchan
Grassland, the odd tree, and a few scattered gers. a much warmer night. I awoke early, ate, and climbed the mountain behind the tents to get an amazing view of all the valleys around us. What struck me was the nothingness, there was absolutely no sign of life except the thin road below me and the four coloured dots which were our tents. Another thought struck me - what was the possibility of being the only human being to spent the night, ever, on that spot of ground where we had camped, and where we would camp in the coming weeks?
As I made my way down the mountain, I saw a traditionally dressed Mongolian horseman approach the tents. He was friendly and let us sit on his to take photos. When we left Tobes was late again, we waited a good half hour, and then when we were on the road he got pissed-off cos we were leaving him on the hills. I suppose we are all getting a bit tetchy and need to rest in a proper bed for a few days.
After 20 miles we entered the outskirts of Ulaan Baatar which lay in a valley shrouded by smog. There was a huge city-sign
also Near Darchan
Grassland, the odd tree, and a few scattered gers. Once again - and a bit of a fire. which was ideal for a photo-shoot, with the big diesel-trains of the Trans-Mongolian Railway passing behind it. We’d made it to Ulaan Baatar - a place mysterious for travelers and up there with Kathmandu and Timbuktu. A spot on earth you just have to go to because it is - Ulaan Baatar.
It was amazing how the traffic just miraculously appeared once you entered a city, is that a pre-quisite with all cities on Earth I wonder? The dusty road on the edge of the city fast became a six-lane highway in the centre. We found the main square no problem to get our bearings, then checked into Nassams Guest House, actually an apartment. We got the price down from $7 to $5 a night and I volunteered to sleep on the floor in the lounge with the bikes. The others got a 3 bed room and were happy about that because of my snoring I think? The apartment belonged to Nassam’s mum, and we could use the kitchen to cook stuff etc..,
Later on we went to a few pubs on Peace Avenue to check out the prices, very expensive! Well, by expensive I mean a quid
An Oolov (I think)?
On the top of every hill is one of these piles, consisting of branches, blue-ribbon, skulls, trinkets, and money. The truck driver had stopped to leave something and to give us some milk. a pint thereabouts. We had only one drink then found the Pizza del la Casa place which was good value at around $3 for a big pizza. We headed back at midnight past rows of internet cafes, sending emails will be no problem here!
Total Miles: 7296.05 Todays Miles: 28.05 Average speed: 11.0 Time on bike: 2:32
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Rory
non-member comment
Itchy feet
Bloody hell is this nostalgic, back at a desk, winter drawing on, money in the bank, forget buying a house, I could so bugger off and do the other half of the planet. Anybody want to come? I've given up the fags and beer for breakfast (honest).