Last day in Mongolia! And what a day......
Anyone for Goats Brain?
These photos were taken first thing in the morning - about 6.30. You can still see the moon in the sky.
Today was totally different to expected. On the map it showed a flat plain for the first 50k and then a climb through the mountains. Therefore, I expected and easy morning and then a tough ride in the late afternoon into the evening. It turned out rather differently.
I knew from the map that I really should try to get to the town of Tsagaannuur today as this was 30km from the border and this would give me enough time tomorrow to cross into Russia. It meant that I had about 80km to do. I was up at 6 and on the road for 8.
The ride on the flat plains was the hardest ride I have ever done on a flat stretch of land. It was absolutely beautiful but really challenging. For starters there were 3 river crossings which each involved me taking off my bags and carrying the bike and bags across in separate stages. 2 of the 3 crossings were fine but one of them was water up to my waist and a fast flowing river. This took me about 1 hour to get across (with all the time to load and unload my bags on either side). Harder than the river crossing though was the soft sand and mud I had to push my bike through for a considerable distance today. Then there were the sections of track which were made up of large pebbles rather than gravel and again I could on bike on these!
As you can see from this photo the sand was difficult to walk in with out sinking let alone try to cycle through.
These are 2 photos from one of the river crossings (a mild one). I got some video of the deeper crossing but I forgot to take a still photo. Tweety pie enjoyed sitting by the river in the sun for a few minutes and having a wash to freshen up and get clean!
I was extremely glad that my GPS would work today without a Data connection. I had plotted my route on Google maps in a town when I had a connection and although my phone would not show me the maps themselves it would show me an arrow of where I was in relationship to the route I had plotted. Therefore I could at least see how far I had traveled away from the main route.
The flat plain was really huge and it was extremely difficult today to tell which path I should have been traveling on.
However, Google showed a really long detour for one section (2 sides of a triangle and via a town that I did not want to go to). I followed the detour for a bit but I could see a few other cars off in the distance taking the much more direct route to where I was heading. Therefore, I decided to go cross country to meet up with the track that the other cars were traveling on. Big mistake. Once I had decided to take the Google detour I should have just continued as at least the track was a reasonably good one and I was making good time on it even if it was going East when I wanted to be going Southwest! The off track short cut had started off really easy but then the terrain turned to rocks and I ended up having to push my bike for about 1 hour.
This is a photo of the terrain I was biking across at about 7km per hour!
At about 4 in the afternoon having been biking solidly from 8am I just lay down on the gravel (about 3 km from the nearest track) and just stopped for a while. My blood sugar had gone and my legs felt like they had nothing left! I knew that I still need to push to get to the border on time but I just stopped and cooked myself a coffee and then heated up some noodles and a can of fish and relaxed for a while. I thought about my friends and family a lot. I felt much better after this and pulled myself together and started pedaling again.
The flat stretch just seemed to go on and on today..... I have never taken so long to cross this distance by bike. Large sections would have been faster to cross on foot instead.
However, the desert creatures were out in fine form today and wanted me to take their photos!
Which track would you take? I certainly had no idea!
I hardly saw anyone for most of the day. It meant that it was difficult to be certain that I was on the right track and also it was mentally challenging to be so alone when my body was knackered and I was having to push to cover the distances on tough terrain!
These 2 lads where the only people that I saw between 6am and 2pm! They took their cattle down to drink at a river I was crossing. I was in the middle of a wash having not seen anyone for hours and found it quite funny that they should turn up just at the wrong point.
I finally got to the mountains for about 6pm. I was very happy to get back on a proper track but I was not looking forward to the climb but it actually was no where near as steep as I thought it would be - but still a climb. However, the the big difference to my expectations was that it was highly populated. The track followed along a small river and there was flat plains of lush green grass on either side of the water. A perfect place for crazing animals (in contrast to the desert plains I had just been cycling through) and so there were loads of Gers all the way along the valley. It made a big difference to my mood to have some people around.
The people all the way along the valley were really friendly and loads of children kept on running from their Gers to say hello and invite me back to their houses. It was lovely after seeing no-one for most of the day. After about 1 hour of climbing I decided to take up some of the children up on their offer and have a break from the bike and relax for a bit. The family were lovely.
I thoroughly enjoyed watching them milk the goats and having a go myself. They found it very funny that I had no idea how to milk a goat!
I would be so bored milking goats everyday. I am surprised that they drink so much milk and eat so many dairy products considering quiet how boring the whole process is!
This poor old goat was rather roughly handled purely to show him off to me.
I decided to get going again and not take the family up on their offer to stay over night in their Ger because I was still to far away from Tsagaannuur to be relaxed that I would have enough time to get to the border in time tomorrow. There were so many children that ran out to greet me and invite me into their Gers that evening. I have never seen an area of Mongolia so densely populated with Gers (with the exception of settlements).
I have to say that it was really lovely to have people around me being so friendly and for the climb through the mountains not to be as steep as I had thought it was going to be from the contours on my map. It had been such a hard biking day and I was tired from the last few days. Instead of a hard solo slog up a pass to get to Tsagaannuur it was instead a gentle incline with loads to see and people to keep me occupied. In fact there was one guy on a horse that road next to me at about the same speed for about 2 hours. It ended up being a little joke between us as I would pass him on the down hill stretches and then not long after he would pass me as I was climbing up hill.
As it was getting really dark I decided that I had gone far enough for the day and I decided I wanted to spend my last night in Mongolia in a Ger and so I stopped of at a camp of 4 Gers just off the side of the road. It was a great decision! They were a lovely family and extremely welcoming. They gave me so much food and everyone from the 4 Gers came round to the Ger I was staying in to say hello.
The family cooked a Goat to share with everyone! It was fab to watch how it all worked with everyone round the carcass eating every last bit. One guy with a knife chopped up every part of the creature (skin, intestines, brains - everything) and put it all on one big plate for everyone to help themselves. I was past an ear to eat which seemed to be quite a delicacy.
The group were the first Muslim Mongolians I have seen in Mongolia. They were extremely welcoming and fun people to spend time with.
Mongolian children do not tend to go to sleep any earlier than the adults. Everyone goes to bed at the same time. I suppose as everyone is sharing one room if people were asleep at different times then they would wake each other up. I have no idea how people have the privacy in Gers to make babies (or practice at it)! There are people in and out of the Ger all the time and the children are always in the same room....
I was really tired by 11 when everyone went to their beds. I have been a long day. It was a great end to my last full day in Mongolia. I loved sleeping in the Ger and sharing a goat with the family. It is amazing how much you can communicate without sharing the same language.
This was my bed for the night.
Anyone for Goats Brain?
These photos were taken first thing in the morning - about 6.30. You can still see the moon in the sky.Today was totally different to expected. On the map it showed a flat plain for the first 50k and then a climb through the mountains. Therefore, I expected and easy morning and then a tough ride in the late afternoon into the evening. It turned out rather differently.
I knew from the map that I really should try to get to the town of Tsagaannuur today as this was 30km from the border and this would give me enough time tomorrow to cross into Russia. It meant that I had about 80km to do. I was up at 6 and on the road for 8.
The ride on the flat plains was the hardest ride I have ever done on a flat stretch of land. It was absolutely beautiful but really challenging. For starters there were 3 river crossings which each involved me taking off my bags and carrying the bike and bags across in separate stages. 2 of the 3 crossings were fine but one of them was water up to my waist and a fast flowing river. This took me about 1 hour to get across (with all the time to load and unload my bags on either side). Harder than the river crossing though was the soft sand and mud I had to push my bike through for a considerable distance today. Then there were the sections of track which were made up of large pebbles rather than gravel and again I could on bike on these! 
As you can see from this photo the sand was difficult to walk in with out sinking let alone try to cycle through. 
These are 2 photos from one of the river crossings (a mild one). I got some video of the deeper crossing but I forgot to take a still photo. Tweety pie enjoyed sitting by the river in the sun for a few minutes and having a wash to freshen up and get clean! 
I was extremely glad that my GPS would work today without a Data connection. I had plotted my route on Google maps in a town when I had a connection and although my phone would not show me the maps themselves it would show me an arrow of where I was in relationship to the route I had plotted. Therefore I could at least see how far I had traveled away from the main route.The flat plain was really huge and it was extremely difficult today to tell which path I should have been traveling on.
However, Google showed a really long detour for one section (2 sides of a triangle and via a town that I did not want to go to). I followed the detour for a bit but I could see a few other cars off in the distance taking the much more direct route to where I was heading. Therefore, I decided to go cross country to meet up with the track that the other cars were traveling on. Big mistake. Once I had decided to take the Google detour I should have just continued as at least the track was a reasonably good one and I was making good time on it even if it was going East when I wanted to be going Southwest! The off track short cut had started off really easy but then the terrain turned to rocks and I ended up having to push my bike for about 1 hour.This is a photo of the terrain I was biking across at about 7km per hour!
At about 4 in the afternoon having been biking solidly from 8am I just lay down on the gravel (about 3 km from the nearest track) and just stopped for a while. My blood sugar had gone and my legs felt like they had nothing left! I knew that I still need to push to get to the border on time but I just stopped and cooked myself a coffee and then heated up some noodles and a can of fish and relaxed for a while. I thought about my friends and family a lot. I felt much better after this and pulled myself together and started pedaling again.
The flat stretch just seemed to go on and on today..... I have never taken so long to cross this distance by bike. Large sections would have been faster to cross on foot instead.
However, the desert creatures were out in fine form today and wanted me to take their photos! 
Which track would you take? I certainly had no idea!I hardly saw anyone for most of the day. It meant that it was difficult to be certain that I was on the right track and also it was mentally challenging to be so alone when my body was knackered and I was having to push to cover the distances on tough terrain!
These 2 lads where the only people that I saw between 6am and 2pm! They took their cattle down to drink at a river I was crossing. I was in the middle of a wash having not seen anyone for hours and found it quite funny that they should turn up just at the wrong point. 
I finally got to the mountains for about 6pm. I was very happy to get back on a proper track but I was not looking forward to the climb but it actually was no where near as steep as I thought it would be - but still a climb. However, the the big difference to my expectations was that it was highly populated. The track followed along a small river and there was flat plains of lush green grass on either side of the water. A perfect place for crazing animals (in contrast to the desert plains I had just been cycling through) and so there were loads of Gers all the way along the valley. It made a big difference to my mood to have some people around.The people all the way along the valley were really friendly and loads of children kept on running from their Gers to say hello and invite me back to their houses. It was lovely after seeing no-one for most of the day. After about 1 hour of climbing I decided to take up some of the children up on their offer and have a break from the bike and relax for a bit. The family were lovely.
I thoroughly enjoyed watching them milk the goats and having a go myself. They found it very funny that I had no idea how to milk a goat!I would be so bored milking goats everyday. I am surprised that they drink so much milk and eat so many dairy products considering quiet how boring the whole process is!
This poor old goat was rather roughly handled purely to show him off to me.I decided to get going again and not take the family up on their offer to stay over night in their Ger because I was still to far away from Tsagaannuur to be relaxed that I would have enough time to get to the border in time tomorrow. There were so many children that ran out to greet me and invite me into their Gers that evening. I have never seen an area of Mongolia so densely populated with Gers (with the exception of settlements).
I have to say that it was really lovely to have people around me being so friendly and for the climb through the mountains not to be as steep as I had thought it was going to be from the contours on my map. It had been such a hard biking day and I was tired from the last few days. Instead of a hard solo slog up a pass to get to Tsagaannuur it was instead a gentle incline with loads to see and people to keep me occupied. In fact there was one guy on a horse that road next to me at about the same speed for about 2 hours. It ended up being a little joke between us as I would pass him on the down hill stretches and then not long after he would pass me as I was climbing up hill.
As it was getting really dark I decided that I had gone far enough for the day and I decided I wanted to spend my last night in Mongolia in a Ger and so I stopped of at a camp of 4 Gers just off the side of the road. It was a great decision! They were a lovely family and extremely welcoming. They gave me so much food and everyone from the 4 Gers came round to the Ger I was staying in to say hello.The family cooked a Goat to share with everyone! It was fab to watch how it all worked with everyone round the carcass eating every last bit. One guy with a knife chopped up every part of the creature (skin, intestines, brains - everything) and put it all on one big plate for everyone to help themselves. I was past an ear to eat which seemed to be quite a delicacy.
The group were the first Muslim Mongolians I have seen in Mongolia. They were extremely welcoming and fun people to spend time with.
Mongolian children do not tend to go to sleep any earlier than the adults. Everyone goes to bed at the same time. I suppose as everyone is sharing one room if people were asleep at different times then they would wake each other up. I have no idea how people have the privacy in Gers to make babies (or practice at it)! There are people in and out of the Ger all the time and the children are always in the same room....I was really tired by 11 when everyone went to their beds. I have been a long day. It was a great end to my last full day in Mongolia. I loved sleeping in the Ger and sharing a goat with the family. It is amazing how much you can communicate without sharing the same language.
This was my bed for the night. 
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