18th Aug - Tashanta

Relaxed first day in Russia.

Woke up at 6 with the sound of everyone packing up. I had been nattering till about 3 and had drunk too much red wine and so I did not feel particularly great. I tried to get back to sleep but there was too much noise and so I just got up and chatted with people.


Although the Mongolian Rally is not supposed to be a race it really seemed like the atmosphere between the different teams had changed in the morning and where was a race to get to the border crossing first. The border only opened at 9 and so I as surprised that they were all packing up at 6 and trying to beat each other there. I suppose they did not want to end up at the back of the queue.


Needless to say, James and Tim, the motorbikers, were rather more relaxed about the whole episode and did not emerge from their tent until about 8. I had a lovely natter with them over breakfast and coffee. They are really great, funny guys. I would like to catch up with then when I head back to the UK. We could understand why you travel by motorbike or bike through these amazing countries but we did not understand the people that do it in a metal cage i.e. a car. I really would not enjoy the experience in a car at all. I want to be IN a country not separated from it! Mongolia is the sort of country that I really think you can only experience to the full on a motorbike, horse or a bicycle.

James had spent some time working in a bike shop in the past and kindly showed me how to tune my spokes and a couple of other handy things on the bike. It was good to have some English speaking company. It made me miss the UK a bit.

By 10am everyone had left and there was just me and my bike and tent left. I was exhausted having pushed so hard to get to the Mongolian border and all I really wanted to do to day was sleep, relax, faff with my photos and write my diary. I spent about 3-4 hours in the sunshine faffing with Xena (my bike). She had been completely hammered in Mongolia and was covered in mud and felt like she was falling to pieces. She needed some love, care and attention.

It took ages to change my tyres from my off-roading tyres back to slicks (for use on Tarmac). The slicks had changed shape over the last month as they had been folded for transport and they were really really tight to get on. I did not have the physical strength to do it by hand and so had to use tyre levers - I snapped 3 plastic ones. I then bent my metal tyre lever on my bike tool and also managed to trap the inner tube with the metal tyre lever and put a hole in the inner tube! This meant taking the tyre off again, fixing the puncture and then going through the whole process once again.... Once I had successfully got the front tyre on (without any punctures) I then realised that this tyre was worn down far less than the other slick tyre and so really should go on the back wheel instead. Off with the tyre again to put it on the back wheel (trapping another inner tube in the process)..... All this with a hang-over and exhaustion from the last week did not make for a happy girl....

Once I had finally got 2 new tyres on my bike, fixed the front pannier rack with some more wire, put on new brake pads, found that my oil had leaked all over my bag and generally faffed, I decided to head back into town to see if I could use the internet anywhere to let people know that I was OK. It had been several days by this point since I had had a connection in Mongolia and I had pretty much disappeared so I thought it was a good idea to put people's minds at rest.

The village of Tashanta is only small. All of the shops where shut this afternoon and the only place I could find to use the internet was the immigration office that I had visited yesterday. I did not feel particularly happy about this as the guy had come on to me yesterday, but I only wanted to send one email. His connection was via is phone and the connection was so slow that I gave up trying after 1 hour! I had logged on, written the email but it would not send. They guy then tried to charge me £5 for using the net for 1 hour when I had not even managed to send one email!


The good thing was that while I was in the office a Russian hitchhiker called Alex turned up. He spoke really good English and so could help out with the translation with the immigration officer.

As I could not get online we decided to leave our electronic gadgets charging and go and have a late lunch together out of town. We had to pass over loads of glass to get down to the spring where we wanted to eat lunch. I was hesitant to go as I did not want further punctures. I find my bike really heavy and can not easily carry it far (although during this journey I have got stronger and find it easier than I did at the beginning). I found it very funny that Alex just picked up my bike with ease and carried it about 200m while also carrying his big rucksack at the same time. Most people can't even lift my bike. He just said in a strongly Russian accented voice "Not so heavy for me" and off Rambo walked!

We had a good lunch. It turns out that he has read more English Classics than I have! He currently lives in Moscow in what he describes as a Hippy Commune within his flat :-). We were both planning on camping tonight and he suggested that I join him at a place close to a river going through a valley a good walk from town. The valley is famous for a huge battle that took place centuries before. There are apparently loads of bones and swords buried there and the area is rather spooky but beautiful. Alex was good company and I felt safe with him so I said yes. I had not had a swim in an river or lake for a couple of days and so the idea of camping next to one sounded like a great idea.


Off we went to camp in the valley. I had not realised quiet how far it was (10km) and it took about 2 hours to get there. It was a lovely walk (Alex)/ride(Me) though. I had a very refreshing swim in the river next to where we camped. It was freezing cold but it was great to wash my hair and clothes and to feel really clean again.


It really was a beautiful valley and a glorious sunset. Alex was great company and did not fit the stereotype of Russian men. I had been really tired all day and it was lovely to have a relaxed evening and watch the stars. A good first day in Russia!