Arrival in Ulaanbaatar

Made it to Ulaanbaatar but not without some mishaps along the way. Asher decided to take an interesting route across an otherwise shallow river and flooded his car resulting in it needing to be towed the last 200 miles. Hopefully it can be fixed with a new computer management unit.

Otherwise the journey across Mongolia has been straightforward but never easy. In the remote west there are almost no roads as we know the term. Routes tend to be formed by habit across the steppe over mountain trails and through narrow mountain passes and valleys. They wind their way through the country and change their route depending on recent weather events and changes to the terraine. navigation becomes an art rather than a science. The surface too adds challenge. From huge boulder strewn river crossings to steep side slopes and heart stopping climbs up sheer faces driving is never boring. 125 miles in a day is really good going.

A highlight though has been the people who have been curious about what we are doing but always friendly. The picture above show a camel herd who spotted me taking a picture of his herd from a distance. He waved me over and then rounded up his camels on his aged motor cycle then wrestled one to the ground before climbing on top to pose for photos. For his efforts he wanted no more than a handshake and a smile.

If the people have been a highlight the one low light has been the food. Fruit and veg are very rare indeed. Meat of the toughest variety is the staple. My hope rose on seeing Hamburger on a menu but it was a literal translation rather than a culinary one. A slice of ham in a bread roll! But we did avoid the ultimate lowlight blow torched Marmot. We had only just made camp on a mountain side when a motor cycle headed towards us. A nylon bag attached to the carrier was opened and we were offered this Mongolian speciality. Cowards that we are we declined and stuck with our home cooked beef hash.