Kazakhstan to Mongolia

Again Internet has been a problem d\so lots of travel in a short update.

From Uzbej\kistan we crossed into Kazakhstan. A huge country that proved a difficult section of the trip. The language, the administartion but above all the roads took their toll on both vehicles and passengers. Despite this we did see some good sights and had a couple of days as guests of The director of a nature reserve. Camping in her garden we explored the mountains so it was good.

The long drive to the Russian border seemed to take forever and the steppe scenery was mostly unchanging. One highlight was the city of Semey. A former nuclear test zone with a huge memorial to those who perished and suffer still from its effects. Yes that truely was a highlight of this rather bleak region.

Crossing into Russia was an experience. It took one back to soviet days of queues for everything. Five and a half hours to get through. The first city we hit was dire. The only hotel in town was closed due to the 'problem' whatever that was and the town was full of moskitoes. Oh and a fixer tried to swindle us out of the rent we were paying for a small flat for the night. It turned out to be in such a rough area of town we took turns to sleep in the car wuth a pick axe handle next to us.

Thankfully out of town to the Altai region the change was stunning. Breathtaking mountain scenery with fast flowing rivers, fields covered with a huge diversity of wild flowers and some excellent places to wild camp. We lingered in this region a little to restore our spirits.

The to the border and into Mongolia. Again the Russian border was the problem, this time nearly six hours to complete the formalities. Into Mongolia the scenery changes instantly. No longer arid the mountains are dry and dusty. They rise to 2500 m and beyond stand snow capped peaks that mark the border with China.

Mongolian towns are not great places. Poor, dusty and full of rubbish. The rural countryside is fantastic. We have passed numerous Ger camps (Only the Russians called them Yurts). Seen Yaks trekking across the mountainsides and even stumbled across a Nadam festival. This is he traditional games of archery, horse racing and Mongolian Wresting. This was only a small event and approaching its close yet it was magical to happen upon it as we followed remote mountain tracks far from any town.

I am now in Hovd and today I walked to a ger camp outside the town whilst my companions rested. I was greatly honoured to be invited in the take food and drink with a local family. I can report that fermented mares milk is not as repulsive as one might think but nor is it to be recommended.

Tomorrow we head further east towards Ulanbatar and our meeting in 10 days wiuth our wives.

Sorry no photos dial up internet would fall over if I tried.