THE SNOW PALACE
JOURNAL ENTRY NO. 16
It was then that we decided to meet up the following day. We visited the Murun (Moron in English) Tourist Information Centre and met Katrin (Germany), Zsofi (Hungary) and Maria (Slovakia). All 3 are volunteers working there for 4-6 months. So the 7 of us – 2 Spaniards, 2 Aussies, 1 German, 1 Hungarian and 1 Slovakian “invaded”the 'Dul Hotel's' restaurant and had a great night – what a mix of people in an extremely small town in the middle of nowhere – COOL!!!
12th SEPTEMBER - 7th OCTOBER 2007
Moron to Ulaan Bataar
Returning to Murun was nearly as crazy as the riding – we have cycled 3000 km thru some gnarly places and will die in a Mongolian jeep! Aaaaaahhhhhh!!! We believe the driver had “IBS” - “Instant Braking System” - newly installed. He hit the picks at 80 km/ hr exactly at your door so you exited through the windscreen!!!
More like a mis-adventure, let's list the events. The horses did what they liked – mostly sniffing each others butts; the 1st day we covered less distance than we could have walked in a couple of hours; Cavey's horse threw him off.... twice!; Dylan's horse threw him off; we had a hail storm; our guide wouldn't let us go faster than a walk; it snowed the second night; Jorgé and Dylan saw a wolf (supposedly); Jorgé's horse wouldn't move so we nicknamed it “Donkey”; Cavey's horse decided to smash him into a tree at full gallop because it needed to be with the other 3 horses – he hit the ground pretty hard so we nicknamed him “Jackie Chan”; Sylvia's horse always wanted to bolt; we nicknamed Jorgé - “Jorgé Wayne”, Sylvia - “Curly Sue” and Dylan - “Misty Clit Eastwood” (cause he's a girl when it comes to horses); after 2 “solid” days of riding (not) we rode back to Hatgal (with lock-knee) in a few hours; and to top it all off, on return, we found out that our guide wasn't really a guide, he was the guide's son (who had never taken a group out before). The guide had broken his wrist when it had been kicked by his horse!!!
The next morning we received our horses and guide (he looked 17!)and headed off from Hatgal (our starting point) on a wicked adventure ...... or so we thought!
Starting out for the last 130 k's, we were overtaken by Damien (Canada) and Souroce (Quebec) who had commenced cycling with Zac and another friend. They had split paths in Siberia when Zac, the other friend and Sally took the train to the Mongolian border while Damien and Souroce kept cycling. They were meeting up in U.B. and were now only a day apart! These 2 guys were machines – 150, 170, 180 km a day ...... every day ..... we felt pathetic!!! Seeing as they were travelling quicker than us we let them go – kind aren't we?
The bikes were safe and in one piece as were the 4 of us ....... just! Curly Sue and Jorgé Wayne left for Ulaan Bataar and China and we decided to stay a few more days at the “cottage”. The girls didn't want us to go ...... what could we do? ....... say NO?!
4 or 5 days on our way to Erdenet, our next port of call, Cavey noticed his rear inner nuts (no, not his haemaroids) for his axle kept coming loose. There was nothing to do but keep riding! Roughly 50 km later (just after Dyl had repaired 2 flat tyres and Cavey 1 flat and a broken chain link) it collapsed all together. On pulling it down he found the inner bearing seat had broken away from the hub housing. But , being an extremely intelligent aerospatial, mechanical, civil engineer and fabricator (What The???) he was able to use the cylindrical section from a sponsor's rehydration tablet container ...... thanks Nuun ....... to repair the damage! It lasted 40 km's, so the Caveman resorted to metallic alternatives. Being creative, he filled the hub with 3 wheel nuts from a car (donated by a local shopkeeper – they were spares we hope!); ran the axle thru the centre hole of these; spent a couple of hours filing down a thick washer (with a pocket knife) to fit the hub; greased and replaced the ball bearings and re-assemble the hub ......voila ........ a brand new, car-nut filled rear hub that made it the 550 km (approx) to U.B. (and is still going!!!)
What an introduction to the best horsemen/ horses in the world. The trip was a little disappointing but it was full of adventure ...... and the company we had ....... FREAKING AWESOME!!! ....... boy did we have some laughs.
150 km's from U.B. we met Sally (UK) and Zac (Canada) who were also cycling to U.B. Both had come through all of Russia and Siberia and were now heading thru Mongolia to China. Puncture problems stopped us from riding into U.B. together. We went through 3 tubes and 12 patches in the space of an hour – they just crapped out!!!
Digging our bikes out, packing down camp and loading the rigs was a very “cool” affair! So was riding on the iced up roads. Dyl took a slide on his arse and pannier when he hit a patch of packed snow on the edge of the road. Fortunately, no damage done except a small hole in the side of the pannier. It was pretty funny though – luckily he saw the funny side of it!
Cavey had dreamed of riding a Mongolian Horse since he was a young whipper-snapper – he'd read books about Ghengis Khan and the Mongol Empire – and was keen to test his prowess against some of the world's best horsemen. During discussions with Sylvia and Jorgé, (and finding out that's what they wanted to do also) and under good advice from the girls, we hatched plans to travel to Khovsgol Nuur and see it from horseback. The Bikes ...... well they stayed at the girl's house ...... all four of them ...... plus all the gear ....... from 4 people ....... sorry ladies!!!
What an adventure the horse riding turned out to be!!! The jeep ride was sweet ..... great driver, good cornering technique, great acceleration and braking. Overall a good 107 km's. Staying the night in a traditional ger was sweet! The food was sweet! So far it was all sweet.
Maybe 1 hour later we noticed a cyclist coming THE OTHER WAY! It was a Frenchman named Sebastian. The 3 of us looked each other over and got down to business discussing routes and travel tips for the next stages of our respective adventures. His tips for the southern Gobi, our tips for Central Mongolia. Seeing as he had come from China, and was returning there, we parted ways hoping we might catch up again somewhere down the line.
73.54 km (to be exact) from U.B. we camped for the last night before entering civilisation again. As we prepared dinner, this funny, powdery white stuff started falling from the sky. SNOW!!! Within 3 hours it was a half a foot thick!!! Awaking in the morning, we found our “Avalanches” buried ...... that's right ...... BURIED ........ under at least a foot of snow, maybe more. Everything else was snowed in too ..... the tent, the track we had taken, the main road, the mountains and even the massive powerline bases! We stayed another night and the temperature dropped to -10 (minus 10) in the tent – man that's cold!!!
Pedalling down the main street of Ulaan Bataar – Peace Avenue – for what seemed ages (about 5 km) we stopped to ask directions to the 'centre' of 'town'. Apparently we still had 6 km to go. It was nearly dark ...... again ...... as we stopped outside the State Department Store. An American couple, Rusty and Vicki, stopped to see if we were OK and said there was 2 spare rooms at their guest house. Soon we were official inhabitants of “Zaya's Guest House”, Ulaan Bataar. It was the start of another awesome friendship. U.B. (as everyone calls it) is the “centre” of Mongolia, its Capital and 2539.58 kilometres from our entry point in the West!!!
HOLY MACKEREL!!! WE MADE IT!!! IN ONE PIECE!!! UNBE#%&*!@#LIEVABLE!!!
We have spent 2¾ (10.5) weeks (including “days off”) of solid riding in Mongolia - Breathtaking!!!
Back on the road, we stop at a log hut to ask if they serve food. Alright!.... they do Tsulvan! While waiting for our meal Cavey asks the Mongolian shop keeper if he can sharpen his knife. The guy gladly gets into sharpening the knife using plenty of trusty Mongolian spit on the stone. Still waiting for our meal we glance to our right to see the same guy in full swing, slaughtering and butchering a sheep.... with Cavey's beloved knife! "Surely that's not for our meal!" Yep.... it surely was! The freshest Tsulvan we had every had! Although this was harsh to watch, it was a brilliant and eye opening experience to see how these amazing people live.