Month: August 2019

Bulgan, ~Khutag-Undur, Moron – ~480km

From Dashinchilen – a wee short-cut, about 150km of dirt roads, after a night of rain. (Oh – that night in Dashinchilen… I’d mentioned the bugs in the ger/yurt… that got better. After dinner, returning to the ger – it was raining bugs. Inside the ger. It sounded like the approach of a thunderstorm, where there’s a massive raindrop every 2 or 3 seconds. But… this was bugs, dropping from the ceiling to the floor of my accommodation. I spent the night curled up in a sleeping bag liner, attempting to remove any possible crack where a bug might drop in, or crawl in. And then dreamed about bugs. Bloody bugs, I dinnae like’em. In the morning – after thoroughly bashing every bit of clothing, I still discovered a (live) bug in the toe of one sock, a minute after putting it on. Bloody bugs.)

Anyway – the riding – I changed the oil in the bike, and then headed off for 150km of dirt (sometimes mud) roads, and at least one water-crossing, through the middle of nowhere. Really, really hoping that my first ever attempt at any sort of motorcycle maintenance hadn’t been completely botched.

Made it to Bulgan – a really happening town. (this is sarcasm). Wandered around that a bit – discovered everything there was to see. 1 statue of Chinggis, and 1 “National Museum”. Then found the only place in town serving food/beers on a Sunday, and settled in. Ended up drinking with a couple of guys staying in the same hotel as me – in a bizarre evening of food, beer, suddenly-loud-bad-music (and dancing), and Mongolians binge-drinking without the stomach for it.

From Bulgan, about 180km of boring tarmac road… just getting the distance done to get towards Khovsgol. Met a French couple in a spot I stopped at for lunch, recognising the bike and luggage as a very probable fellow client of my bike rental (greeting each other with “Cheke Tours?”) – and swapped plans/experiences. They’d been camping nearly every night, whereas I’m still working up the wherewithal to do that… I’m perfectly happy with the camping bit, it’s just the strongly recommended “rock up to some random family’s ger, ask them if you can put your tent up in their back garden” (as otherwise, apparently thievery and/or drunken local nuisances are likely).
Anyway – on this day, I’d decided I finally had all the kit I needed if I was to put up the tent for a night (having finally purchased a frying pan and some tinned food) – but came across a little restaurant/store/hotel in the middle of nowhere, about 25km west of my originally planned Khutag-Undur.
So – paid my £8 or so for a bed in a room, and spent the afternoon sitting in the sun, drinking beer, and then being befriended by a 12-year old kid speaking better English than most of the Mongol adults, and his ridiculously cute 3 year old sister. And then, their super-suspicious grand-uncle, thoroughly disapproving of anybody drinking beer, but who came around to my sparkling conversational skills.

In the morning, 4 Shineray 150cc bikes turned up to the restaurant, loaded with suspiciously western-looking luggage… and sure enough, 4 aussie guys who I could also meet with “Cheke Tours?!” They sat down for breakfast, while I loaded up – and headed off.. for another 150km of boring sealed road. The scenery is great, if a little “same-same” after some time, but the riding… just boring. I mixed it up by heading off-road a couple of times for photo-ops. And eventually, got to Moron – where I’ve opted to pay over-the-norm for a “proper hotel” – in order to get the wifi (so that I could post this, and let everybody know I’m still alive), and hopefully – a shower. The shower – yeah, I got one, but the hot water unit doesn’t seem to be attached to the actual plumbing.
Other than that – Moron has… about as much as Bulgan.

From here on – internet is going to be a very occasional thing, so… probably more sporadic and overly-long posts to “catch-up” similar to this one, I’m afraid.

Dashinchilen – 220km

Day#1 on my “rebound bike”. And after the Tiger, she just doesn’t compare. But, the best I can do for now.

Late start to the day… sheer laziness on my part, then a delay in getting a taxi, who then got lost – not listening to me telling him exactly where to go, then a distraught lady managing the bike rental place. Had no record of my “booking”, but found all my emails – and evidently decided I’d obviously tried to book, just nothing official. She then gave me a big rant about people hiring the bikes, bringing them back dented/broken… all claiming “nothing’s their fault… they say Mongolia has bad roads, that our suggested itinerary put them on dirt roads, blah blah…”. I think she was a little flustered by the fact she had 2 brand new (0 km on clock) bikes sitting there, and she was going to have to give one to me. I tried to namedrop “London to Beijing”, but couldn’t get a word in edge-wise.

But, eventually, did the paperwork, got my brand spanking new Shineray 150, packed up some dodgy looking cheap panniers bags (all the good ones being out-and-about), and headed off.

2 days in UB… just doing little bits-n-pieces.

National History Museum… interesting, partly in that Chinggis Khan was hardly mentioned. A relatively small place, laid out mostly as a History Museum, so walking through the major periods of Mongolia history. The section involving being a Soviet puppet was odd… some displays not-so-subtly showing that Soviet Russia pretty much tricked them, and then were bastards… alongside displays obviously showing pride in Mongolias achievements during that period.

Central Museum of Dinosaurs… Dinosaurs!

State Shopping Mall… reminded me of a giant “Farmers” from 1980s NewZealand. Bought a gas cooking stove, and some overpriced shorts… preparing for the upcoming 3 weeks.

Mongolia craft beers… haven’t found any that taste good yet. There seems to be a large German influence here, including beers, so “craft breweries” are just making classic bland German varieties. Boo.

Some Temple/Museum – reminding me how nasty/violent the imaginations of Buddhists are. Whoever did the painting of the “8 Hot Hells” (there are also 8 cold ones) – did it after the firearm/rifle was invented. And had a fascination with demons firing rifles at (/into)… the “rear end” of victims on all fours. Nobody had espoused any theories as to any subtle Freudian revelations from such artwork. The throne of the local Lama also had paper-mache bodies of tortured sinners adorning the ceiling, and strung out around the walls.

Every 1st of the month is “dry” in Mongolia. So, I went to the “pub” I’d visited on first night, looking to just eat. They poured me a beer, which was great, until I looked up a few minutes later to see a policeman changing a lightbulb for them right in front of me. Nobody seemed to worry, and nobody was arrested, but the management did suggest I eat my dinner in the “VIP” room if I was to have more beers.