Days 18-22 Arvaikheer-Zetzerleg-Ulaanbaatar

27209 - 28065 865 km

After the disastrous day with the rear tire problems we headed to hot springs in Zetzerleg. As Marius had come there a day earlier we already knew we have to cross a river to get there. At this point I was traveling with Janine and Natalia. We drove pretty fast because we started a bit too late – again. On the way a young Mongolian stopped us due lack of fuel in his motorcycle. He was very drunk. While Natalie took some fuel to a bottle for him from her tank the guy draw his phone number in the dust of my windshield and gestured that I have to call him as soon as I get to UB and we shall have a wild party. I think that will never happen.

It was already getting darker when we found the river. I just tried to look at the most shallow place to cross it and succeeded. I probably drove a bit too fast because my feet got a little wet. Janine and Natalia stopped on the other side to look for a place to cross. Janine chose wrong route. The river was way too deep for her to get on the other side. She got stuck near the shore. Natalia drove over the same way I did and we had to jump into river to drag Janine’s bike up. The river was easily over 50 cm deep. My boots are waterproof which means they also keep the water inside if it gets there. We dragged the bike up and started our off road section to reach the ger camp we were heading for the night. Actually we had already decided we will stay in that place for two nights just to rest for a while before heading to Ulan Bator.

We found the route in complete darkness. We were really freezing. My shoe laces were frozen, I poured half a litre water out of my shoes and even after 24 hour on a heater they were still wet inside on tuesday evening.

I borrowed shoes from Marius, got dry clothes on and an omelet to eat. After the dinner we headed to the hot pools. After all that freezing it was so nice to just lay in the hot pool and listen to good music and talk about music and whatever.

On tuesday we slept late, ate good lunch and repaired the exhaust of Marius’ bike. It was a tricky one. The bolt we needed to install was in a very small hole and in the end Janine had to install it with her smaller hands. In the evening we decided to stay in the same place for one more day as the weather forecast for Wednesday was terrible in Ulaanbaatar. Only 4 degrees and hard rain. On Thursday it should be about as cold but sunshine. It would be much better day to travel.

I have to find a repair shop in Ulaanbaatar. I think the rear wheel bearings have to changed. As we were fighting with the tire I dropped the greasy dust cover to sand and there might be sand in the bearings. I also want to have the motor oil and filter changed and the carburetors adjusted. The bike runs really rich and pushes a strong black smoke. I also had to tape the covers again. I fell down in sand again after Bayanhongor and there are new craks in the covers. I don't have any idea how to fix them when I get home. Probably I have to get new upper cover from ebay or somewhere. It’s made of glass fiber and is way too difficult to fix nicely. Well, this is not the time to think about that.

At this very moment I feel I should get back to Bayanhongor and shoot the tire guy. I was just helping Marius with his bike maintenance and realized my rear tire looks somehow odd. It is wrong way around on the rim. The rotation is wrong. Now I have to make it turned around in Ulan Bator. That idiot cost me way too much money and time already. Now it will cost another 5000-10000 Tukruks. Aaargh...

Mongolia is definetily a country of extreme conditions and hars but at the same time beautiful nature. You can drive 50 km without seeing any other vehicle. Only some cows, sheeps and goats. And horses running wild. Hundreds of horses. During this on and half weeks in Mongolia I have seen only one field of some grain. And that had fences around it. The animal ate where ever they could find something to eat. And from my point of view it ain’t easy to find. At least at this time of year the grass is so short and there are huge areas where nothing grows. Just sand and stones.

What can I say about Mongolian people? Same kind of extreme difference is also on them. Some of them are extremely helpful and friendly. Some ignore you complitely. It seems only a few can speak English. In this resort only main chef and one girl who looks very scared all the time. If you’d say her ”BUU”, she would run to the hills… One day in Khovd we found a pizzeria. Well, there was only one slice of pizza and a microwave oven. Couple of guys were more interested about playing card than for the customer service. On the other hand in one hotel the receptionist really tried with her poor English. She really made an efford to serve us the best she could.

This nation has so much to do with their environmental protection. The ditches are filled with trash. Empty bottles, plastic bags, whatever you can imagine. They have some sort of central heating in the cities and you cannot imagine the smoke the oven pushes. It is terrible. Black and thick and there’s a lot of it. It seems they burn everything there. The same kind of ”I don’t care” attitude seems to be in everything. Everything is somehow broken or just done with extremely poor quality. If something gets broken it can remain broken. Like door handles, locks, lamps etc. In tthe cities the main road and square are usually pretty nice and clean. But when you go behind the first buildings everything is broken, messy and trashy. It really makes me feel sad. All it needs is a different attitude. But changing the national attitude is a huge work. It must start from the up. But like the doktor in Khovd said: ”they are all old kommunists who only care about their own wellfare and not the country’s”.

I had a long discussion with Natalia about the environmental issues. She is environmental engineer and had found out the same issues. Mongolia probably doesn’t have much legislation concerning waste management. There are only about three milloin people living in this huge country. Part of these people are nomads staying in one plave only for a few months with their ger and animals. How can you organize a waste management in a country with no proper addresses or even roads?

In the Wednesday morning I also talked with the chef of the resort. Mike is from the Philippines. Been here for six years and will go home after this season. We talked about the service in Mongolia. He said it is a problem everywhere in Mongolia. He told an example. The breakfast was ready for the international quests at eight and the quests came to eat. The Mongolian guide arrived 20 minutes late and complained the breakfast was cold. According to Mike it was the same every time. The level of service is poor and it will affect to the amount of tourists. Somehow the Mongolians cannot understand the money available in tourism.

These couple of days off the bike have been really necessary. After all those hard off road sections is nice just to sit in the restaurant and talk about life and traveling. What kind of places we have seen and our experiences. One problem there is in this kind of free time. I tend to eat too much and drink way too much tea, mainly to keep me warm. For two nights we slept in a Ger with no real heating. There is an oven but it warms only when there’s a fire and it burns only about an hour at the time. So in the morning it is as cold inside as it is outside. About 2-3 degrees. I’m sleeping in my sleeping bag with a blanket on top. Getting out from the sleeping bag demand huge efforts.

I started Thursday early. I wanted to get to Ulaanbaatar as early as possible. I was a bit nervous about the river crossing I new I had ahead of me but to my great surprise I managed to get over it quite easily. I stopped a bit before the river and found tracks of some local motorcyclist. I decided to follow those tracks. They must know where is the best place to cross the river.

After that I just drove towards east. I stopped only to take fuel and gained 510 km today. In UB I faced a little rush but nothing bad. Oasis Guest House seems like a nice place. The receptionist talks good English. Here are travelers at least from Holland, Switzerland, the UK and France. Great folk. Everybody is like a same family. The French are travelling with children for about 50 months! That is really something.

Today was my first day of traveling alone for a long time. Actually it seems to be the last one too as I'm heading towards Russia on Saturday with a Brit and a Swiss. I was a bit nervous about traveling alone but after the off road section in the morning I realized it was really ok to travel alone. I had great time with Janine and Marius. They are absolutely great people. And especially on the off road section it was really good to travel as a group. But for me it seems to be easier to decide myself about my speed and schedule. I'm glad that Eddie (which I'm traveling with after Saturday) has a similar time table in achieving Vladivostok than I have. We only have to find the best way to get there.

Here is the happy couple having a continental breakfast on a balcony. (Bread, some canned fish and water)