9th Aug - Ger Breakfast and Tseterleg

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I was worried last night that my sense of direction might have been wrong and that I had camped in the middle of nowhere down a local track and that it might take me a long time to get back on to the main track. I did not have a huge amount of water with me. Therefore, I was very relieved when I woke up and I could see telegraph poles in the distance and some Gers. In Mongolia the main roads often follow the telegraph poles (or visa versa) and so I was pretty sure that I just needed to bike down into the valley and I would be back on the main track again. What a relief!


I was in a great mood when I hit the main track again and was then invited into a Ger by 3 young lads that raced across the fields to greet me. I was made very welcome by the mother, her daughter, her friend and the lads. The mother made me a huge bowl of noodles and meat.


They were a lovely family, especially the youngest son that would not stop talking to me in Mongolian the whole time.


I stayed there for about 2 hours it was so much fun. They showed me their horse riding skills and also tried out my bike. It made my day to be so welcomed.


It was a little surreal that the lads all enjoyed watching Mongolian dubbed English cartoons in black and white on a tiny TV.


They loved trying on my glasses - especially the mother :-)


They made me try on some traditional Mongolian clothes. Very warm!


It was a gray day and windy too and the ride over the mountains was rough and not particularly inspiring. I had been biking for a few hours and I had not seen any Gers or evidence of human civilisation for about 1 hour when I saw this body about 50m from the track. There was no form of transport anywhere near and there were 3 empty bottles of the Mongolian Vodka lying next to him.

Having had bad experiences with drunken Mongolian men, I was rather apprehensive about going anywhere near him but I was concerned that he might be dead and so I thought I should check. It was actually very cold and windy on the top of these mountains and I did not want him to have frozen to death. I approached slowly and heard him snoring and so tiptoed away leaving him to it. I have no idea how he got there as it was miles away from a Ger in any direction. I hope he got home alright. I am sure a Mongolian will have given him a lift somewhere when he woke up.

It was less than 30 minutes later when a man passed me on his motorbike, zig-zagged along the track, drove straight into some soft sand and went flying off his bike. He staggered around for a minute and then tried and failed to pick up his bike again. He was obviously absolutely hammered. Fortunately, Mongolians tend to wear big thick 3/4 length jackets even in the heat of the summer and this protected him when he fell. There was no other way past him and so I tried to cycle past. It took me 15 minutes. He grabbed onto my bike and arm and talked Mongolian at me for the whole time. I had no idea what he wanted or was saying (I could see a Ger only 5 mins walk away so figured if he needed help he could ask there). Mongolian men are strong and it made me feel very uncomfortable but off I went on my way with no harm done.

I think it is probably about 20% of the Mongolian men driving that are absolutely hammered. Not just a little drunk but to the point that they can hardly see. The think is that there is nothing for them to hit out here and so they do not see it as a problem. There are very few trees, even less vehicles and so the only harm they are really doing it to themselves. It is a major social problem though. I am not sure how many are actually alcoholics and how many just really enjoy a drink and just drink to excess when they do?


There were hours where I would not see anyone or any vehicles and then all of a sudden some Mongolians would ride over just to say hello. I love this about Mongolia.


I reached the town of Tseterleg in the mid afternoon. It did not look very inviting as the weather was dull and there was only one restaurant open. I ordered some minced mutton in pastry and the owner kindly let me charge my gadgets in her house. While I waited I did some food shopping. I tried to get some money from the bank only to find out that they could not give me any over the counter using my international visa card and that the nearest ATM was 300km away. I was glad that I had enough to last a few days.


The daughter of the owner of the restuarant could speak some English and was really friendly to me. We had a good old natter about her university plans and she invited me to stay with her family in their Ger over night. As I had only done about 45km by this point today I thanked her but said I needed to travel further. They sent me on my way with a full belly. Nice people.


I managed about 35km once I had left town at 6. It was a gray evening and not very interesting - with the exception of this bridge - which I found very funny. I don't think you can quite see from the photo how rickety it was... I had to push my bike across it :-)

I biked to about 1 km from the settlement of Harboom, knowing that I could pick up some fresh water there tomorrow but not wanting to camp too close or safety from drunk men and dogs. It was dark by the time I put my tent up but it was good timing as I just got into my sleeping bag when the heavy rain arrived and continued through the night.