Ikh Gazriin Chuluu – Ulaanbaatar

11th June 2014        12-31’C      366km (100km off-road)
Ikh Gazriin Chuluu – Ulaanbaatar

I woke at 4:45am when the sound of chirping birds stirred me from my slumber.  It was a bright night, courtesy of an almost full moon, but I was very comfortable in my tent, and especially happy with the ultralight Thermarest NeoAir X-Lite camping mattress, which has proven to be more comfortable than some of the hotels I’ve stayed in.  Even with tufts of stiff grass and rocks underneath, I’m still comfortable.

The first 80km of the day was riding in sand and rocks again, until the town of Mandalgovi, where I stopped and refuelled both the bike and my stomach with a hearty Mongolian dish of big chunks of meat, with rice.

Then it was an easy 220km on a great road through the countryside, although at 10am I started falling asleep and pulled over for a nap.  There was nowhere to sit or lay down, so I put the bike on the centerstand and slept on the seat, using the bags as support and with my legs resting on the bars.  I was comfortable for about 10 minutes, when a group of truck drivers stopped to look at the bike, making sleeping difficult.

Once I was refreshed, I headed back onto the road, although strangely the beautiful road stopped short of Ulaanbaatar by about 40km, where the road just stopped and a dirt track continued the 40km until the very edge of the city.

The traffic in Ulaanbaatar is horrendous. Honestly the worst traffic I’ve encountered ever.  Worse than Bangkok. Probably just as bad or worse than Jakarta.   It took more than 2 hours to move 5km, creeping along in first gear, stopping, starting.  And it was roasting hot sitting on the bike with no airflow.   Finally parked in the hotel and showered before crashing out early.