Mushypea

Ullaanbaatar

ULN is a cool city once I got used to it.  The people are super friendly but no-one really speaks English except it would seem for the local lawn mower shop.

I thought it was a camping shop and one of the workers spoke in brilliant English and explained that I was in the wrong part of town(in all ways, wrong – I felt like I was in Baghdad and was expecting to see snipers pointing their shooters out of the glassless windows).

I spent today getting last minute supplies for the trip tomorrow, gas, matches, food etc.  I’ll head to the ancient capital of Kharkorin, where Chenghis Khan set up shop to start murdering, raping and pillaging.

I hope to get a 4WD ride for the 350km trip but failing this I may have to either hitch or ride.  Riding would be ok but it means I’d miss the Nadaam Festival in Tsetserleg which would be a shame – I’d be the only tourist to be in Mongolia in July and actually miss the festival! Not to worry, the ride from ULN to Kjarkorin offers some spectacular camping I hear so it’s good either way.

From Kharkorin I’ll head NW to Tsetserleg on a track for two-three days, about 200km, this will be my first test off road.  The rains are pretty heavy here in the afternoon and I can imagine the trails getting pretty
boggy quickly which will obviously slow my progress.

From Tsetserleg I will travel south over the top of the Arkanhai Mountains for the best part of 400km through Khangai Nuruu NP over a 3000m pass, waterfalls, gravel tracks, grasslands and remote Ger (Nomad tents) settlements before hitting the town of Bayankhongor on the northern fringes of the Gobi.  I have a choice of heading East or West here, I’ll decide wheh I get there, my decision  will depend on my fitness, track conditions and weather.

The food in ULN rocks!  These guys know how to BBQ.  There is a saying here that “Men eat meat, Animals eat grass”. Rumour has it that Chengis Khan’s soldiers used their sheilds to cook their meat over dung, ‘inventing’ the Mongolian BBQ. Where we trim fat off of our meat, these guys love fat as I found out last night with my bowl of lamb fat with ‘essence’ of meat.

Speaking of food, I have still to try the famous Bodog, the authentic Mongolian BBQ which first involves pulling the innards out of the neck of a goat or marmot.  The carcass is then stuffed full of scalding rocks and the neck cinched up with wire.  The bloated animal is then thrown upon a fire (or blow torched!)to burn the fur off the outside while the meat is cooked from within.  The plague can be passed by handling marmot skins – which is nice :o)

The only damage to the bike is my right fork has a blown seal, it’s leaking oil but the left seems good so should be right for the trip if I top up the right every day.

I should be on the tracks crossing the Arkanghai Mountains in about 7 days all going well.  Not sure if there will be any internet access at Kharkorin or Tsetserleg so this might be the first and last email for a while.

The Migjid Janraisig Sum – a Tibetan Monastery reconstructed when in the 1940’s US Vice President wanted to see a Monastery.

The then PM of Mongolia hastily set to rebuild this one to disguise the fact he’d destroyed most of ‘em!

This entry was posted on Friday, July 6th, 2007 at 21:12 and is filed under Bikes, Mongolia. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.