This morning, the family directed us to our intended destination. We didn’t get lost but we also didn’t reach our target. At this point in the journey it shouldn’t be a surprise but it’s also moot since we’re so close to the finish. Therefore we never corrected our course and by chance we ran into a nice town with a gas station and lots of shops. We had the thought of staying there for the night but wanted to get a little closer to the finish and made the fateful decision to carry onward. For the next four hours it rained progressively harder and when it finally eased, the wind took its place with a steady 30MPH flow from the North. Now I know why the ger doors all face South. The wind blew our bikes all over the “road” and we struggled at times to even keep our balance. Along the way we did assist a truck that was stuck in the mud and I think we were rewarded a short time later by running across an abandoned single school building. We set up camp inside to avoid the wind and any more rain.
The day started out having all the signs of being a disaster. We woke to the realization that Jon’s bike is in need of serious repair, it’s also raining, and quite windy. We asked the hotel owner where we could find a mechanic and he promptly pulled out his tools and went to work on it. Apparently everyone in Mongolia is a mechanic. After taking off the gear shifter he straightened it by banging it with his axe a few times, filed it down a bit, and also did something to it with his bow saw. To me, it was brain surgery so I stayed out of his way, only there to hand him tools he pointed to. It only took him about 45 minutes to fix it and we were on our way. We putted along mostly in second gear as if we expected gloom and doom at any moment. As we continued to rack up the kilometers, the rain stopped and it started to clear up. Maybe we were wrong about today? Then around 4pm we realized we’ve been traveling in the wrong direction for most of the day. The locals directed us to a similar named town in the NE as opposed to our intended destination in the SE. With that, we devised a new plan with a new destination and were quite happy when we reached it without incident. However this town apparently doesn’t have a hotel or a restaurant so we decided to continue onward and find a ger camp. As darkness approached, there weren’t a lot of options so we were about to camp for the night when we spotted a ger in the distance. When we arrived there, I went through the protocol to tell them they had guests but it was a single guy around 20 years old who I had just woken up and didn’t seem to be in a mood for guests so we left. The next ger had a family with kids who met us outside their ger as our motorcycles rumbled to a stop. I broke out the rest of our gifts and we asked to stay. The kids seemed excited at the prospect and probably convinced the adults to let us stay. They cooked us a meal even though we told them we were full and we watched the Naadam festival on TV like one big Mongolian family.
The day started out in normal fashion with us formulating a plan and then hitting the road. The first milestone was supposed to be 50km away but after getting lost and driving 100km we finally made it. The town was hosting a Naadam festival so we stayed for a bit to watch. They don’t seem to have any sort of schedule of when the various events happen and don’t seem to be in a hurry to do much so it was mostly us sitting in a small stadium talking with locals, getting our pictures taken, and being general celebrities. We left after a few hours as the next town was 20km away. This is where the problems happened. We got lost and nearly ran out of gas so had to stop at a locals ger to ask directions. Luckily they had fuel too so we asked to buy a small amount and then they were kind enough to have their 7 year old give us a motorcycle escort leading us to the correct road to the next town. The 20km to the next town turned into another 50km of hilly, wet terrain and it seemed every ger along the way had a dog that would chase us off. See, the dogs either think we’re a predator after their livestock or a sheep that needs herding back to its pen. It was during one of these dog encounters that Jon took a spill on the bike and caused his motorcycle to only go in first gear. So now it’s getting dark and we’re still climbing tall hills and Jon putting along in first. One river crossing in the dark later we reach our town destination where everyone is asleep. Luckily there was a market still opened and a policeman inside so I went into my charade routine to ask for a hotel. The police escorted us there, called the owner, and waited for him to show up to let us in. Another rough day in Mongolia.
We’re at the point now where all days are tough. We’re tired of the dirt in the eyes, bugs in the face, chapped lips, sunburned wrists, and long jarring hours on the shitty bikes. Oh, and Jon took a tumble over the handlebars while going down a hill with loose rocks. This added another bruise to his left leg so the good news is that he has no more room for bruises on that leg. The bad news is he has another bruise free leg left. Other than that, today was a success. We found the elusive Red Waterfall, hung out at a local Naadam festival where I traded monkey bike rides for horse rides, we ended up at our target destination, and found a fancy Wellness resort where we’re staying the night for the low, low price of 485,000 Mongolian Moolah.
Today Mongolia tried to beat us. It was the day we always dreaded we’d have, but were hoping we would avoid. Just 10km away from the hot springs, we encountered two tough river crossings where Jon and I had to carry the bikes across with limited success. We suspect the water caused my bikes electrical to fail again and when I could manage to manually start the bike, the gas was stuck at full throttle. Therefore we walked to the nearest ger and did our best charades to tell them that my bike was broke. They sent over an army of people to try and fix it but to no avail. They then motioned for me to walk the bike to their home where they continued working on it. While the men quickly disassembled the bike, I nearly emptied my stash of gifts on everyone else at the camp in order to build up good will. The men would periodically point to a piece on the bike and tell me it’s no good but then proceed to swap the same part from Jon’s bike and it would work and they would all look puzzled. This continued on for several hours while I taught the kids at the camp how to play Crazy 8s and Concentration while trying to avoid the mid day heat. Then by chance, they put my bike back together and it worked enough for them to start it consistently with the kick starter but the accelerator was still stuck. During his test drive to show me how well the bike worked, he crashed and voila…the accelerator became unstuck. Since the bike was now somewhat functional, we decided to carry on even though we were out of water and my electrical still wasn’t working. The easiest way to get my bike started was to push it downhill a bit while in gear, give it gas, then jump on the moving bike. How fun. The family pointed us in the right direction to the falls so we thought we were good. Over the next several hours we proceeded to get thoroughly lost and were constantly asking for directions, all the while burning through our gasoline and quite thirsty. As late afternoon approached, it then started to rain but we pushed on because we were assured it was only like 30km away. Several km later we stopped at a ger to again ask for directions when we noticed they had fuel lying around in canisters so we offered to buy some. This family was super accommodating and we contemplated staying the night with them but they were cooking a meal that looked very unappealing so we decided to drive on. We drove for a few hours more, sometimes in the rain, and always up and down huge hills, until we spotted a town in the distance. It was a site for sore eyes but we estimated it was a lot closer than it was as we still had to drive another couple hours to reach it. Once we did, we asked locals for a place to stay and they directed us to a decent hotel for the night. In the end, we did a torturous 170km to go about 40km as the crow flies and even though Mongolia tried to beat us today, it failed.
5
Huge success today. We slept in a bit because the plan was to just hit the hot springs which are about 55km away. The ride started out on tarmac then changed to very scenic hilly countryside. A very enjoyable ride. As Tim did suffer the most comical injury of the day though when he tipped the bike in soft sand and gasoline ended up pouring on his nuts. For the next 10km Tim had to stop constantly to dump water on them or use a wet nap to do a thorough wiping to stop the burning. Good thing the hot springs was able to wash all that pain away. We met a few other runners here and spent a good portion of the day with them swapping stories and such. Just was the best day ever.
5
Huge success today. We slept in a bit because the plan was to just hit the hot springs which are about 55km away. The ride started out on tarmac then changed to very scenic hilly countryside. A very enjoyable ride. As Tim did suffer the most comical injury of the day though when he tipped the bike in soft sand and gasoline ended up pouring on his nuts. For the next 10km Tim had to stop constantly to dump water on them or use a wet nap to do a thorough wiping to stop the burning. Good thing the hot springs was able to wash all that pain away. We met a few other runners here and spent a good portion of the day with them swapping stories and such. Just was the best day ever.
Lots of news today. Jon and I decided to sacrifice our nuts and have an ass numbing long ride of about 200km to reach a major city which is close to some sites to see over the next few days. We crashed a festival along the way and our bikes were a hit with the kids. I let a 7 year old ride mine which was not a wise choice as his legs couldn’t even reach the pedals. At least that meant he couldn’t shift out of first so he wobbled around the area and nearly hit everyone but made it back in one piece with no damage to anything. All was good until the last 10km which was all uphill and on a dirt and gravel road with lots of cars and construction vehicles. There were no mishaps but I think Jon wanted to kill me by the end of it. I guess he got revenge though because as I approached the city, all my electrical on the bike stopped working. It will still work like this but you have to kick start it. An adventure ensued as I tried to find a mechanic and after waiting 45 mins he showed me a blown fuse, fixed it and sent me off. As I drove off, the same problem happened so I had to go back and he took apart the bike to find an exposed wire hitting my exhaust which caused the blown fuse. A short piece of electrical tape fixed that issue. I now know way more about fixing motorcycles than I ever cared to know. Hopefully tomorrow will be a short ride to hot springs, finally.
