Blue Mongolia

Mongolia is quite big…..and empty….

Mongolian tea is salty. Many Mongolian lakes are salty. Sometimes the only water you can get for the day is salty lake water…..but at least you can get a swim and clothes wash at the same time.

Camping is easy here! Just pull off the track….find a nice spot and pitch your tent…fantastic.. It is possible though that a Mongolian wind may pick up in the night!! Then your tent will be leaning at about 45% and sleep will be impossible.

Everywhere there are boys on horses….often racing each other across the plains, with much whooping Mongolian stylee! It does look fun and a great way to grow up.

We met these two three times! Once at a Ganz (tea house,) once in a shop and then on the road on their way to shoot something! (probably a grouse type bird, but who knows!) The gun is Mongolian, the bike is a Russian “ISH” and the clothes were made by their mothers…. Lucky lads!! (Nic thinks that they were off to impress the local women in the next village!!...you decide?)

Half Way Across Mongolia

As Mongolians are great travelers themselves, they are always interested in where you are going and where you have been…..except for the little boy….who just wants to go home!

Those of you who are interested in how merino underwear holds up after a year of constant use can zoom in to find out. Otherwise I strongly advise you not to.

Navigation here isn’t too difficult…but it pays to check with the locals! This shepherd gave us some Mongolian tea (which he keeps tucked under his del), we gave him some sweets.

In western Mongolia we didn’t meet much traffic [less than 20 “vehicles “ a day ]…all locals, and mostly on Chinese motorbikes. Two days in a row we stopped to fix punctures that weren’t ours. These two used one of our bike patches , and as they’d also run out of petrol, they got some of our stove fuel as well. ! Fun.!

Even in the high desert it’s the rainy season somewhere….but we managed to outrun [ha ha ],or outmaneuver thunderstorms for 8 days until they got us .Mongolia is all about off-road and big skies…the sky gods live here.

Map Update ( to Mongolia)

This is the route so far from Kazakhstan to Mongolia via the Russian Altai.We cant quite stop just yet as we need to cycle east to Ulan Bataar (which may be the next place we can do a blog from?) before our visa runs out. What next ........who knows!!!

Russia to Mongolia

After 11 months of only one pair of shoes we finally cracked and splashed out big time on a new pair each.Mine are particularly delightful ,and Jon’s are particularly big [try before you buy !].They cost 100 roubles from a small market stall in Aktash…another small Russian altai town where some of the men have been drinking too much vodka ever since they got up.! (another example of men being useless…Liz!)

Fun camping in the rain again! Jon is trying to get the world service on our wee radio so we can find out how the world cup is going. At least its too wet for mosquitoes,and jon keeps me amused doing his different engine noises…..various motorbikes and his latest obsession,the Kamaz truck,which is the only one I get right.

Perfect camping.High,dry and beautiful…….The Russian Altai above the confluence of 2 big rafting rivers….very popular with Russian paddlers.The area is also great for proper mountaineering [big 4000m snowy peaks ]and off-roading. Its big and wild and beautiful….another place worth revisiting. So much to do,so little time……!but we are trying hard!

Our guardian angels are still on the case…..this time in the human form of Rita and Ulrich, 2 swiss overlanders in their spiffy Toyota “Sir James “. At the obscure border between Russia and Mongolia [the one Ewan Macgregor and Charlie did ]we faced a fine [straefe ]for breaking “protocol” ,having failed to register properly ,despite our intensive efforts [another story in itself of wasted hours spent at a police station on 2 days !],and also we’d have to backtrack 50 kms to pay the fine,and then there was no way we could actually cycle across the no-mans land between the 2 borders [more discrimination against bicycles]. Anyway,luckily the computers went down with power failure ,and the official man [in the picture ]relented,smiled,and hurried us on our way.The bikes had to go on the roof ,and we all drove across to Mongolia.

YES.Look.We really are in MONGOLIA…….we are having a few reality problems…..

Rain in the Russian Altai

In the rain again we camped under a handy telegraph pole where we could use our tarp as well as the tent. The local shepherd came to visit us,first on his horse,then 10mins later in a car with his wife [she could speak some English!],young son and friends.Within 2 mins they had made us a blazing fire,using diesel and wet larch branches.We went to the house to say thank you in the morning.How typically kind.

Just in case you have’nt quite realized how much mud and rain there was.The kazaks are sometimes quite embarrassed about the state of their roads.They should see their neighbours’,the mighty Russian’s,then they would’nt feel bad at all. The mighty Kamaz truck is still king out here.. but on the smaller scale the Taz is the vehicle of choice for most people who can afford to step up from the Lada.. But the Racing Lada still wins on speed!!

Mud..Those of you who,ve done a 24hour british mtn bike event will know what its like when there’s so much sticky mud that everything stops turning.Jon’s bike with its Rohloff set up was a bit better than mine.At times I was pushing my bike downhill…..After slow hard kilometers on muddy dirt roads we detected why the Russian altai is so greenly beautiful…..it rains nearly all the time.Each day the scenery got more and more impressive…we also visited an archaeological dig in a cave where they have discovered a “new “early man….it was quite exciting…..

From left to right..Nina, the next door neighbour who is a journalist and interviewed us for the local Russian newspaper.Yuri,Vadim’s father, a lovely kind man who fired up the family “banyo”for us to use later {we did’nt have a clue though,and did’nt do it right at all.,]…..and he showed us all the vegetables growing in the garden [we ate lots of strawberries]. After us is Vadim,who found us cycling along in the rain and mud as he was driving back home after an all night drinking session. He is finding his feet again after a recent divorce….hence he’s living back home with his parents. …very lucky for us.!He speaks brilliant English,and insisted we partake of some Russian hospitality.Missing from the picture is Vadim’s Mum,Tamara,who was feeling shy.She is a great cook,and a wonderful hostess,so we had fantastic traditional food,and a very comfy bed for the night.It was hard to leave the next day.Hopefully we will meet again ……..

Things are really wearing out now!! Since getting a new rear rim on my bike even more has gone wrong…. First… the quality wellgo pedals we got in Almaty failed after only 1200km.. so they may as well-go straight in the bin.. it has been replaced by a 2 pound replacement Russian model, which has already done over 1000km…. heavy, glows in the dark but as strong as a Kamaz truck.. The next thing to go was the gear cable on the rohloff… not a straightforward repair but sorted in ½ hr and back on the road… what will be next? Watch this space…

Yum!!
Trail food at its best



Wash and go
Jon didnt see the snake swimming in the water! There is no point washing clothes seperately when you can do it all at the same time..


Very expensive Russian visa.
When the girl at the embassy said the price we could feel the blood drain down . "What " we said. " How much ?" .."Each ? "..."Are you sure ?"..."Can you write it down ,please ?". Well,we did'nt have enough. Nor could we change our minds as we had already paid a fortune for the letter of invitation and express delivery by D.H.L. ....we had to go away and get more dollars.
So, we would just like it known that if you are ,for example, Swiss ,or french , then you can get a Russian business visa in Tashkent for 86 U.S D . If you are British ,it is ....[hold on to your seats ]..364 U.S.D ...EACH !!!!
We have psychologically just about recovered now,and are very determined to enjoy ourselves greatly there !


The route to Almaty
We are now 1000km north of Almaty heading for Russia then Western Mongolia..



The longest Blencathra in the world
Who wants to run up and down all the ridges then?



Sunrise in Kazakhstan.



Salty stripes
If you can see Jons back is zebra striped with white dried salt stripes. Lovely!!



Nic's eyes.
After some bizarre "visual ' disturbances I took medical advice and had a proper check up. No worries...good to go for the next 50 years. ! The best bit was not the MRI brain scan [ though its nice to see I have got one ...],but meeting Dr Bobomurod, who was the nicest,kindest most reassuring doctors you'd ever come across ,and someone we'd like to meet again one day. This trip is keeping my eyes on their stalks.



Kazakhstan
The flowers out here are just beautiful



How to stay cool.
Its quite hot out here. Any opportunity to get wet is worth taking.. dry again in 10 mins



Distances from Tashkent
I think we have done most of these except for Tehran.



Chai and yaitsas.
We still havn't managed to order much more than chai and yaitsas, but at least we can ask for milk with our chai now. (chai s molokom)



Cafe people.
This is Shanara. She is as lovely as she looks, and of course wouldn't let us pay for our eggs and chai.

Mosquitoes..

Jon's death ray glare only seems to attract even more mosquetoes



Bike repair..
After 20000km things start to wear out!! This is the first rack repair.. but.. also a new pedal wheel rim and tyre for Jon. For Nic... new Grips frame weld and another chain. Our clothes are a lot worse.