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Chris is in good spirits considering his leg is broken. Arrangements are now in hand to transport both Chris's and John's bike by truck to Ullabatar. Chris and John are scheduled to fly to Ullabatar later.
So it leaves just me, Steve, Garry and Nick to finish off the 1000 miles or so to Ullabatar, over the next few days. Today we have about 60-70 miles of off road to get to Khvod in Mongolia. Good tarmac roads to begin with, then a mixture of hard gravel stone roads and pockets of deep sand. My bike grounded out twice and I had to pushed out. Generally however the off road was not too bad (perhaps we are getting used to this). The worse bit is coping with the dust that is thrown uo by other vehicles - often you could not see a hand in front of your face. We stopped for tea (chai) and meat dumplings at this remote cafe. The meat came from goats because we noticed their skins outside. I gave the dumplings a miss as my stomach is still playing up.
We finally left the off roads bits behind and did the last 30 miles of our 140 mile day, on tarmac. We found a hotel in Khvod and Tom and Matt were staying at the same place. (Tom and Matt are travelling independently and with a different end game). Good to catch up with them over a few beers in the evening.
The people in Mongolia are friendly and it is their holiday week with many in traditional dress and taking part in local games - horse racing, wrestling etc.
Although we are not in the Gobi desert proper, the landscapes we have been riding through are very remote but we still come across camels and herds of goats tended by families on horseback and small motorbikes. These people live a simple life in yerts, which no doubt get moved from time to time depending on where the sparse pasture may be. Interestingly however many of these Mongolians seem to have a mobile phone.
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