14th Aug - Uluuangom to Uureg Nuur

Now 270km over the mountains to the Tsagaannuur border and then into Russia!

Woke up early and had another shower! Lovely. I had some breakfast and then headed out for a walk around town to find somewhere that I could use the internet and buy some food for the next leg of my journey.


I thought that it would be an easy task to find oats for me cereal in such a large town which was only about 100km (on a tarmaced road) from the nearest border crossing to Russia (not one that foreign nationals can get across), but no! I went to all of the supermarkets (apart from the largest one which is closed on Sundays) and to the black market (where there are a huge number of food stalls) but failed at getting any oats. I did managed to stock up on other things and get some bread and fresh fruit and vegetables though. It took a couple of hours to wonder round. It was interesting to see the town anyway.


I found an internet place without too much difficultly, the only problem was that the connection kept on dropping every 5 minutes! I needed to use the internet to find out about the next leg of my journey in Russia. Uluuangom was the last major town which was likely to have the internet before Russia. I needed to let people know that I was OK, look at maps of the next section, find out about accommodation and where I would be able to next get food, water, a Sim card, a map of Russia and the internet when I passed into Russia.

Unfortunately, instead of spending time doing this I ended up spending several hours getting rid of 2 computer viruses I had managed to pick up on my SD card when I had transferred some photos to the computer of the guy who gave me a lift yesterday. Arrggg. My photos would not copy on to my laptop as the anti-virus software correctly stopped me doing this and I could not use my full SD card anymore so I needed to fix this while in town (as otherwise no more photos).



I met an English couple (that had immigrated to Canada several years ago) in the internet cafe. They were the first English people I had seen in Mongolia. They were driving across many countries. We had a good old natter and I showed them the hotel where I had been staying and we decided to meet for a late lunch once I had done my internet stuff and they had settled in at the hotel.

We went for lunch about 2 at one of the local cafes. They very kindly bought me lunch and we ordered loads of different dishes to try. They had a lonely planet guide to Russia and maps and they gave me a map of Russia! Fantastic :-) It was a relief to know that I would be able to know vaguely where I was going when I got across the border. I might see them again in Russia - who knows.


By the time I had done all of my shopping, finish on the internet, got rid of my computer viruses, packed up and said good bye to the English couple, stocked up on water and ridden out of town it was 4pm! Arrgggg. Oh well. I had a really easily first 40km on tarmac. What a difference it makes. I was surprised by how few cars there were on this main road North to the Russian border.


I had to turn off at 40km to then go West again, off road and up a major pass. What a difference in speed. It was slow going but great views from the mountains to the plains behind me.


There was loads of dust on the road and with the evening light it made for very pretty dust trails.


It was about 8 and I was thinking about riding for another 30mins and finding somewhere to camp. I had been climbing for about 2 hours at this time and I knew that I would not make the top of the pass today. Along came a lorry and stopped next to me. There were 4 guys and they call jumped out and did not really give me much of an option and picked up my bike and put it in the back of their lorry and indicated that I should get in. I did got a very positive vibe off them and did not feel unsafe (all that you can go on really when traveling) and so off I went. I knew that I was short on time to reach the border and so could not really turn down the offer of a lift!


It was a fun ride to the top. They were a nice bunch. We stopped off at the top and they made offerings to the Gods and rolled some rocks 3 times and prayed. The then opened a bottle of the Mongolian Vodka and again made offerings before each having a drink and offering some to me.


Mongolian man showing off his muscles. They were quite impressive I have to say...


There was an amazing sunset while I was in the lorry. The mountains were beautiful.


They said that they would give me a lift to the lake (Uureg Nuur). I wanted to camp there so that I could wake up and have a swim to get clean in the morning. After the top of the climb I suggested that I could bike down to the lake but they were having none of it and wanted to drop me right next to where I would put my tent up. It was a fun ride and they were bubbly and I did not feel unsafe as they drank more and more Mongolian Vodka - including the driver. They offered me some and I had a couple of shots but not too much as the stuff is 40% alcohol!

When they dropped me at the lake they would not leave until I had put up my tent and they had helped me - which was nice of them. However, once they had done this (drinking all the time), three of them walked back leaving me alone with the driver. "Uh oh" I thought. It was then that he got out a condom in a packet and suggested that he stayed with me in the tent while the others go off and then they pick him up in the morning. I very firmly said "No" several times. Not only did I not want to but he had been showing me photos of his wife and children about 5 minutes beforehand! Fortunately he respected my decision and left without a problem and I did not feel threatened by him. He was just trying his luck.

I was glad to have got further today than I thought I would as I knew that I have several mountain passes to get over before the border.