Lun to Ulan Bataar- Last day of loop 1

Just like every morning, we both wake up with dead arms as the tent is quite small. Shortly after we rise a couple of Mongolians herding sheep on a motorcycle pull up. We do the usual pointing and mumbling game at each others bikes and when content stand in silence. They invite Alan and me back to their Ger so we pack up and head down to two Gers in the distance. On arrival we get invited inside one of the Gers and sitdown (i think we got the place of honour in the ger..sweet!) trying to remember our ger etiquette. The whole family filters in, 4 women, 4 men and 3 kids and sit and watch us eat pieces of goat, Aarag (fermented mares milk), salt milk tea, Mares milk cheese, bread, a lolly and a bowl of tomato sauce! This is far too much for us to eat as we have had breakfast and our appetites have been diminishing with the heat and fatigue. We try to taste everything though, but not too much Aarag as it whispered '...regret' when i sipped. I listened and drank all the salt tea as this is pretty good and leaves the stomach in tact. I pulled out the polaroid camera and spent a whole film taking family portraits...the polaroid is the ultimate friends maker. After a short while we gestured to depart as we were keen to get back to Ulan Bataar for a shower. We both very much appreciated being invited in by the family...it was quite a special experience for both of us and was a great opportunity to see how people live over here. After a couple of hours of riding alonag the usual snaking off road trails we arrive back in Ulan Bataar and negotiate the traffic to the guest house on the other side of the city. Although we are getting used to riding on the right hand side of the road in crazy traffic i still dont much like riding around Ulan Bataar and we usually take taxis when we are staying at the guest house. Here are some tips for riding in traffic here:
1. Use your horn. LOTS. All the time..dont assume anyone sees you, toot them anyway,..hell toot just for the sake of tooting, its fun! Its not like Australia, ...using your horn doesn't cause the occupant of the other car to hop out and beat you with a crowbar.
2. Dont drive in the traffic here. If you have to see tip 1.

Tomorrow we put our bikes in for a service. Probably stay here a couple of days to rest up and psych up for the next loop.

Ugii Nuur to camp near Lun

Today we rode over 200km to camp within a half day ride of Ulan Bataar. Track conditions were very variable today ranging from freshly graded track to shocking potholes, wonky bridges, deep sand and pavement. We passed some ruins of a 7th century city, and although degraded, significant sections remained of two structures and what looked like a watchtower. There was a small museum about the size of my bedroom with a plump Mongolian sitting at the doorway asking 2000 tugriks. His snuff bottle was the best i've seen in the whole country, a jade colour and intricately carved. I sniffed it. It was good. There wasn't too much to see here so we moved on, and hit some deep sand on the way to the next town. I dropped my bike after hitting a deep patch and nearly fell off several other times....a bugger of a track. We stopped to lunch at another small western style town and found a small restaurant. After some amount of sign language and gesticulating we managed to order a dish of which we had no idea. It turns out to be noodle mutton soup with broth. It was nice but didn't go down well as we had a mega breakfast that morning at Ugii Nuur of meat pancakes. After after trying to chat to the town drunk, we paid up and went to the local 'supermarket' to grab some warm lemonades. A 4wd pulls up and a bunch of drunk Mongolian guys pile out to stock up on booze and vigorously shake our hands. One guy is huge and has a gut to be admired and feared. Another guy on a bike pulls up and does the usual point and mumble routine at the various parts on my Yamaha. I decide to get in the spirit of things and point and mumble at various parts of his bike while Alan gets the lemonades. After lots of pointing and mumbling and head shakes he leaves and we are both content. To our relief we find paved road shortly after the town and resume our maximum cruising speeds of 60-70km/hr on our beasty 100's. I just cant explain how good it feels to find paved road and drive on it in this country after you have been driving on crappy tracks for over 1000km. I also cant explain how bad it feels when this road only lasts 10km then dissappears again, which it did! We arrive at Lun to fill up on water and find camp but do neither because there is nowhere secluded to camp and there are hundreds of horses stirring up the river water and crapping in it. We buy water and find camp some kilometres on the other side of town. We camp a kilometre off the main track up in the hills. >>Matt

Ugii Nuur

Today we had just a short distance of 30km to ride to Ugii Nuur. The track was a mix of gravel, sand, rock, more gravel and more sand. We are getting pretty good at dealing with a variety of track surfaces, but the deep sand is still a bit tricky to ride through. The technique is easy to understand...constant accelerator and steer with the handlebars, not your weight. Its not that easy in practice though and we are still learning. We arrived at Ugii Nuur which looked beautiful from the track and started looking for a place for lunch. There are a few tourist ger camps along the lake edge and we stop at one and ask if they are serving food. They say yes and lead us into a huge ger that contains a very tidy and nice restuarant. We have lunch and have broken conversation with the girl serving and an old man who wanders in. The place is so nice that we ask if there is a ger available for the night and we end up staying there. The beds a very comfy and a nice alternative to elbow wrestling in the tent. We spend the afternoon getting tanned and sunburnt while reclined in russian style banana lounges (Russian style in that they are very mechanical), reading, walking along the lake edge and going for a swim. The lake water is perfect temperature and very fresh. We share the entire camp with two other europeans who arrive a bit later and have a relaxing night in preparation for some big distance tomorrow. Alan.

Ikh Tamir to just short of Ugii Nuur

After a fantastic night camping amongst trees by a river perfect for swimming and skimming rocks on, we packed up camp and began the first extended off-main track section of our return to Ulaanbataar. Our first destination was Battsengel and the farm tracks were well defined, hard packed and fast. We covered the first 60 kilometres with no troubles and found that our GPS tracks were almost perfectly matching the real life tracks making navigation easy and allowing plenty of time to look at the passing grassland land and river plains and distant hill. We negotiated a couple of river crossings and opened all the vents on our fantastic BMW enduro suits (the best motorbike purchase ever) as the day started to heat up. At one point in the middle of nowwhere we pass a Nissan GTS Turbo Skyline blocking the track and precariously perched on the lip of a steep slope with nobody to be seen. Some duffer must have driven this low slung sports car to this point and then realised 'maybe it isn't a 4WD after all'. We eventually crossed a pass and could see Battsengel spread out in the distance on a river plain below us. Battsengel was a true western style Mongol town with a dusty main street and a strong hot wind blowing. People in heavy leather boots and cowboy style hats lingered around and eyed us curiously. We couldn't find a restuarant so settled for a lunch of bread, pickled cucumbers, cheese and margarine. Now I thought I purchased cheese from the local shop, but I actually bought a very large block of butter, so no cheese. That block of butter plagued us for the rest of our journey and eventually melted in Matts pannier and covered all of his treasured belongings. So no more cheese purchases unless I taste test first to ensure it is cheese. We made some calls home in Battsengel and rode on towards our next destination, a lake called Ugii Nuur. With the day coming to a close and our concentration starting the waver, we pulled of the track and rode towards some distant trees beside a river we had been following most of the day. The wind was howling and we tried to find some shelter amongst the trees and found a perfect camp beside the river with an impressive view across the river plain to a very flat horizon. After dinner and a swim we were almost ready for bed, but could hear the thunderous roar of a big group of horses in the distant darkness. They all crossed the river and out of the night a Mongolian on a horse with a big stick rode towards us, stopped and silently watched us, which was a big freaky. We said 'hello' in Mongolian, he grunted and left. Very strange. We slept well though. Alan.

The White Lake to Ikh Tamir

After our Marmot liver breakfast we left the lake and backtracked our way about 100km towards Ikh Tamir. Our original plan was to veer off the main track to follow minor tracks north of the route we took here. A problem with navigating here is that some tracks on our GPS are not there, some tracks that are there are not on our GPS and the same goes for the map we have. We were looking for the right valley to head east to our destination but it took us a while to realise we were a couple of kilometres off the track on a minor road. People make their own roads as the main ones deteriorate so the 'main' track may be spread across an area of a few kilometres being a conglomerate of many tracks rather than one. Because there are no fences anywhere, we just head in the direction we think we need to go and find a valley we think we should go up. As we follow it up there are winter stock shelters that are used to keep the stock alive during the -30 degree winters. The track disappears into nothing and we are riding through long grass and rocks again. We were trying to find a pass over the mountains but we just couldn't find any easy way even to get our little bikes over the range. Backtrack. Try another valley, but still no luck and its starting to rain and there is thunder and lightning around us. We gave up and cut overland towards the direction of the main track(s) i have just described. Once we find the track Alan realises that his rear luggage carrier has snapped in half near the supporting bolt causing his bike to bottom out badly all the time. We have tools but no spare bolts...hmm a bit of a problem as its very hard to ride like this and its quite a distance to the next town. As things seem to happen when you are stuck like this, a 4wd that is part of the Peking challenge (a fundraising rally that is travelling from Amsterdam to Beijing) pulls up and they have a bolt that fits perfectly. They have had a worse day then us as two of their group have rolled 4wd's in Mongolia so far, one just today. The occupants are ok though. We motor for Ikh Tamir after refitting the lost bolts, but will need to get the rack welded at some point. We didn't plan to stay at Ikh Tamir but it proved well, as we found a great secluded camping spot in some trees next to the river which was very beautiful. I wish i had my fishing rod because the spot reminds me of the Kiewa river in Mt Beauty (Unca Dave you would have appreciated this spot). >>Matt

Rest day at the Great White Lake

Today we had a much needed rest day at the Great White Lake (Terkhun Tsagaan Nuur) which is one of the most beautiful lakes in the country. The area is teeming with life with various birds and eagles, and amazing aray of insects and a lake full of fish (but we had no fishing rods). Swimming is good with several beaches very popular with the locals. We spent most of the time avoiding the sun because any exposed flesh was scorched as the lake is above 2000m and the sun is very strong. The landscape is a result of past volcanic activity. On our way in we pass what looks like a coal seem in the road. I think there is a bit of black coal in Mongolia as we had come across small mines and seems elsewhere. Its strange to see large gulls at the lake that is so far inland...the sounds of the sea at an inland lake. Later during the day a Mongolian family of about 12 rock up and set camp next to us (this is common here....there is space a plenty but they will camp or park right next to you). One of the older guys and a younger man know how to speak a little english and are keen to quiz us on a number of things. They are driving an old Russian Jeep with a trailor and carry two full little Mongolian style potbellies and use dung to cook their food (but only after a snack of marmot when they arrive). The next morning i get the polaroid camera out and take a couple of shots of their family. The Polaroid has proved a most excellent icebreaker. After a couple of shots they came over and gave us freshly picked blue berries with sugar, bread made from locally picked flowers and some Marmot liver. This was funny because we were breakfasting on porridge with sultanas and apple. We tried some Marmot liver and the older man tried some porridge. We both grimaced, smiling at each other going '..Mmmmmmm!' trying to be polite. That liver upset up both our stomachs for the day. We have got some great photos however our memory card has become corrupted and we have lost two weeks of photos which is a real shame. We are trying to find software to recover the files so fingers crossed. >>Matt

Tsetserleg to the White Lake

Ok, we have internet again...its been in short supply where we have been. Today was a big day of riding for us. 200 km on terrible roads to a beautiful destination. Much of the main track is blocked off pending 'road' improvement, which is probably a good thing because the main roads are often the worst roads. We stuck to side tracks which snake here and there within a kilometre of the main track. Today was a little like riding a paint mixer and our sheepskin covers which we scored off a group of Australians driving through Mongolia did little to ease our sore bums. The surprising thing is watching small two wheel drive cars packed with up to 10 Mongols negotiate these tracks (and there are many cars, and tracks). Second hand, low kilometre Japanese cars come to Mongolia to be systematically destroyed by the terrible roads and countless occupants. This country has many contrasts however. As you drive through rundown towns and degraded tracks, you are passed by many brand new turbo diesel Land Cruisers and the like, most of which are owned by Mongols. We stopped at a spectacular gorge en route just before Teriat, but we are both so pulverised by the vibration we find it hard to enjoy the site. We get some good pics and sit apart for a while so we dont bite each others heads off. Shortly after we stop at a rise piled with large rocks to survey where we have come from. We feel extremely remote as you can see for up to 100km in all directions, but on closer inspection you can see familiar gers dotting the landscape, occupying the distant valleys. We finally arrive at Teriat, a western looking town with dusty streets and locals eyeing you as you ride through. We miss the bridge that crosses the river and heads for the lake so spend an hour riding in circles. Once we find camp though it is spectacular...a volcanic lake surrounded by rolling hills and trees! We make camp next to a couple of Mongol families and try to slow our brains after a day of intense concentration trying not to crash our bikes. >>Matt