Blog

In the morning we find out that we camped right before the end of the road. The route leads us straight through the desert. After several hours we hit a piece of road again, which ends way too early. And after passing a broken bridge in the river bed I hit a whole which broke the frame of the car. The end for the moment, the car is not steerable anymore.

The end for the moment. We decide that the others continue to Altai, about 80 kilometers ahead to find someone to bring the car to town while I wait in the desert. While waiting there, watching all the trucks bringing material for the road construction (which road???), Kolia with his bike arrives. He was missing a junction and went to the wrong Altai - there are really 2 sities with the same name... At least we are now 2 waiting. When the others come back with a truck to transport our car, the next teams also arrive towing a car. This ends up in our car on the truck and the other one towed. All this through a complete non-road, deep sand, even the truck having troubles. After many more hours we arrive in Altai, where we already have some food prepared in a restaurant, ordered by the truck driver. At least in the hotel the cold and windy part are forgotten for the moment.

Only 320 kilometer to the next city. First bit is OK, but then the mongolian roads strike back. Washboard for more than 200 kilometers. No way to make more than 20km/h. We almost make it to Chowd, but have to camp 20 kilometers before we reach the town because the roads are too tough to drive in the dark. Mongolia is cold and windy.

Even after going to bed early the day before we wake up late and make it to Chowd only at lunchtime, where we meet several other teams. After Chowd the road is much better and we start to crunch miles. Until the bike has a puncture. Our dream of a hotel for the night is gone. Korbi and me are waiting on the road while the others drive back to Chowd with the tire to get it fixed. Once they come back we finally continue to wards Altai. Of course the darkness is catching us and we camp next to the road. Our russian friend with the bike is missing again. Mongolia is still cold and windy.

Still a good bit to go to the Mongolian border. Rumors say, the border´s going to be closen Saturday noon. We are lucky and it is still open, when we arrive there. The russian part is harmless. Then the 20 kilometers towards the Mongolian control alreasdy show us, what we can expect from now on: Roads, even worse than the Georgian ones. The immigration takes quite a while, since we have the red stickers on the car, but all in all there is no problem. Mongolia is cold and windy. Right after the border a biker stops and tells us about his hotel in the next town. A good offer, since we planned for one 100km further. At the end we are 4 cars joining him.

The hotel is a Yurte, where we get a welcome tea. The brother of the guy disappears soon after our arrival. He cames back a while later on his bike with a sheep (Maybe this is the point when one should stop asking and simply start accepting). The sheep is now told that it will become our dinner. And in fact, after an hour it is dead and prepared to bee cooked (video of the act only on demand, it might be unsuitable for minors and vegetarians). In the meantime the Russian biker also finds uns and rejoins the team. After some beers and Vodkas it is time to sleep. Since the Yurte is not big enough for all 8 of us next to the owners, we sleep in the car. Did I mention, that Mongolia is cold and windy?