THE LAND OF THE SCENIC DETOUR
JOURNAL ENTRY NO. 15
29th AUGUST - 11 SEPTEMBER 2007
Uliastai to Moron
We homed in on a very basic guest house and found the bath-house (after 4 days in an arid environment a wash would be awesome!) it happened to be next door!
Right, retract all statements about “western movie” towns. Revert that back to Altai City! Uliastai is a funky town (for Mongolia) with a bustling community of young intellectuals and university students. One of the main streets is a cool conglomeration of newish bars, karaoke clubs, restaurants, a museum, a government building and post office. Two of Mongolia's latest Prime Ministers have come from Uliastai! Our first really “back home” feel since Siberia.
Seeing as we had decided on meal 1st, wash 2nd, guest house and sleep last, it was quite late (closing time) and the wonderful people at the bath-house stayed open so we could wash and revive our nearly gnarled skin! They even gave it to us for free! Wicked!
A few nights out, dancing with the owner of bars, meeting the locals, walking through the markets and talking and laughing with people in the street is an experience we are privileged to have. We also had some super photo opportunities.
On the move once more we are blessed to be able to live freely in the wonderful country called Mongolia. It's hard to believe that this was one of the fiercest nations on earth, not to mention one of the most far reaching. The Mongolian Hero is Ghenggis Khan (or Chinggis Khan/ Chiggis Khan) who brought all the communities together and created a Mongol Empire that touched nearly every corner of the Middle East/ Eastern Europe, North and Southern Asia, Northern Indonesia and parts of the Pacific. If their management of these territories wasn't so poor we might all be close descendents!
In Mongolia no-one owns land, it belongs to everyone. If you want to place your ger in a certain place you can! So when it came to us camping - no-one blinked an eyelid when we pitched beside a pristine lake, or amongst some trees, or out on the open steppe! Unreal! AND ...... it's totally free!
Although, we think they enjoy watching all the hassle we go to to make a comfortable sleep for ourselves. Most of the Mongolian Herders we met in the open just curl up on the ground in their heavy cloaks. But they are on horses.... and sleep while their flocks eat.... we pedal all day and need our beauty sleep.
In this section we had our only 2 “bumsteers” by the locals. The 1st sent us pedalling through soft sand in the rain.... on a basically unused track.... while on the other side of the river was a beautiful, newly finished, hard-packed road. 2 hours to travel 12 km's! We would probably have done 40 km's on the other side. After 15 km's battling it out, we stopped, undressed to our knicks and decided on a “carry the gear across” water crossing of the Selenge Gol (River). It was knee – waist deep and quite swift in one section. All the gear across, we reloaded the bikes and pedalled off towards the new road.... only to discover we had crossed after a fork in the river and now had an even deeper crossing ...... we were on an island in the middle of this huge river. To make matters worse it began to rain again!
Searching for a suitable wading point, Cavey decided to descend the bank onto a sandy section (we were still on the bikes) and on the way down park his front wheel neatly into a perfect grove that was tyre size. Over the handle bars and down a metre. What a sight! Ha ha ha ha ....... sucked in buddy! In the end, with night setting in and the rain pelting down, we decided to make camp and name it “Gilligan's Island”!
Over the next few days we experienced a few different changes in weather, from bright sunshine to cold wind to rain to frosty mornings. It is getting cooler as we head further North.
Just before a tiny town called Shine Ider (pronounced: Shin Ida) we encountered a torturous mountain range. On making the pass we celebrated with a photo session, and noodles! Setting off we were passed by 2 4x4's loaded with Mongols. The downhill section was the steepest, and fastest, we had encountered to date (75 km/ hr). And the look on the faces of the drivers as 2 bicycles bombed it past them ....... PRICELESS! YEEEEHAAAA!!!
Our second “scenic detour” was self-imposed really. We went left instead of right, and had a wonderful day's riding around a beautiful lake surrounded by forest, mountains and gers. Not to worry, we rejoined the “main road” and only travelled an extra 26.5 km. It was then on to Moron.
Moron is the “Gateway to the North” and lays at the Southern end of Khovsgol National Park. It is one of the most scenic, and visited, parts of Mongolia – and generally only for one reason – Khovsgol Nuur (Khovsgol Lake). This lake is the second 'Lake Baikal' (Southern Central Siberia) and some geographical experts even say that the 2 are growing every year, and if you believe it (in a million years or so) will join together to form the world's largest fresh water sea. Lake Baikal is the world's deepest lake at approx 1600 metres.
Reduced to having a decent feed and a local brew (so hard ......we know, but someone had to do it!) we meet another awesome couple ...... this time from Spain. We were crossing the road and noticed 2 bicycles against the wall of the 'Dul Hotel'. These bikes had panniers and gears that worked ..... something most Mongolian bikes do not!
“They must be Westerners” Dyl shouted! And they were – Sylvia and Jorgé – the first foreigners we had seen in 3 weeks! They were doing the “loop” from Ulaan Bataar to Dharkhan by train, then cycling to Erdenet and Moron (approx 600 km) and then back to U.B. by jeep ....... basically our route ........ but in reverse.
Dude. Let's stay and talk ...... so we did ........ in Spanglish!!!