11th Aug - Asgat to Tes

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Really good morning this morning. I had my normal breakfast in the kitchen of the family, packed up and got on the road for about 9. It was a lovely sunny morning again.


I managed to find the right road into the mountains and enjoyed riding for a couple of hours before a truck stopped next to me and offered me a lift to the town of Bayantes. It was pretty much in my direction and so I took them up on the offer - about 20km. As the shops had been closed in Asgat in the morning, I stocked up on supplies in Bayantes and then headed West to Tes.


This old lady in Bayantes was fantastic fun! She just laughed and laughed at me...


I followed the directions which had been given by locals to the right track and missed the main one which google showed and so once again I took a slightly longer route. It was a very nice ride though. It was no where near as windy as yesterday and although there was one reasonable climb the ride down into Tes was great. I was in a very much more upbeat mood than yesterday. It was good to catch a lift part of the distance and make up some of the time I had lost by getting lost.


I stopped off at a Stupa on the way to sit and drink some water and a van full of 5 Mongolian men on their way to Hyargas from UB stopped off along side me. The offered me some of the Mongolian spirit which I enjoyed trying. It is 39% Alcohol. No wonder about 1/3 of the men I meet are drunk!


They gave me some apple juice as well and offered to give me a lift but I did not much feel like riding in a packed van with 5 drunk guys and I was enjoying the ride to Tes.


I arrived in the town at about 4.30. It was sunny, I had not done too many kilometers more than it had said on the map and I was in a good mood. I asked for water at the station in the town and a lovely lady came up just to say hello. I went and got something to eat in a caravan thing. These can be seen in small towns in Mongolia - an old caravan converted into a kitchen with a dining area where you can get snacky food - usually minced mutton wrapped in some type of wheat pastry. The food at this places was actually very tasty and I bought some for my journey later.


I wondered round town for a while trying to buy some oats and showing people the empty packet that I had saved from when I bought some in Moron. I really like having cereal or porridge for breakfast. It is easy and good energy food. As it is dried it can be used as emergency food on the road as well. Apparently, like many other small towns in Mongolia, none of the shops sold oats. There were many shops in the town but all of them pretty much stocked exactly the same produce. There was not exactly a large supply of fruit and veg either. The rural Mongolians really do not have much variety in their diets.

I met the same lady that can over to say hello again in the street and asked her about the oats. She took me to her house and asked her mother in law and her mother if they knew but apparently they do not sell it in town. She then invited me for something to eat and I charged up my gadgets off her solar powered battery. She introduced me to all of her family and invited me to stay the night. There were still about 3 hours of daylight and I had planned on cycling further today but they were such a lovely family that I decided to stay with them.



I am still getting used to the fact that there are no bathrooms inside Mongolian houses. The loo is a whole in the ground covered by a shed. The kitchen is just a stove in the middle of the house that provided heating as well as for cooking.


They boiled up some water for me so that I could wash my hair in a bucket in the garden. This is how they normally do it. One female helps the other female by pouring the water over their heads. I felt great after washing my hair and body. I had not done so since Moron a few days ago and I was covered in dust and dirt from the tracks.


The family asked to see photos of my family and England. I felt homesick for the first time today when I saw a photo of my Grandad. It bought tears to my eyes. Then when I saw photos of the rest of my friends and family I really missed them all. I will be ready to go back to England in a couple of months and I am really looking forward to seeing everyone.


They kindly fed me. Rice and Mutton tonight.


I love the old cars around Mongolia!