Karakorum – Terkhiin Tsgaan

23rd June 2014              12-21’C           307km
Karakorum – Tsetserleg – Terkhiin Tsgaan

There were no curtains on the window of my room, so I was awake with the sun, at 4:45am.
I had told the hotel that I’d have breakfast at 7:30am, so I had bit of a long wait, without Internet access. Breakfast was ordinary, despite the staff being exceptionally friendly. I was asked to park my bike outside the front door of a gur, inside was a man who would mind the bike overnight. He was exceptionally concerned about the bike falling over, and he put a piece of wood under the sidestand, and in the morning I found that he had also put a small stool under the other side of the bike in an attempt to hold the bike up. All very kind of him, especially as it rained heavily overnight, softening the ground, but I have seen how flimsy the ger stools are, they crumble under the weight of a 6 year old, so I’m pretty sure the stool would not have stood up to a 300kg bike. In any case the bike was safe and warm goodbyes were said with the staff as I set off into the cool air.

I rode out of town, snapping a few parting photos of Karakorum. Riding through the Mongolian steppe, I was in awe at the beautiful landscape, green rolling hills that the rain last night had only served to further enhance the verdant hues. Although as I looked out to the south, I could see very dark rain headed in my direction. I stopped in advance of the wet onslaught to put on rain gear, and while I was stopped a guy rode over the hill to meet me and look at the bike. After checking everything out, he was very impressed with the smooth action of the clutch.  I tried his bike, and I have no idea if the clutch actually worked, it was so stiff and barely moved!   He said goodbye and rode back off over the hill, and I set off into the rain.

I made a brief stop in Tsetserleg for fuel and a slice of chocolate cake, along with photos of the monastery.

Riding on, the road soon disappeared and the honeymoon of cruising paved roads in Mongolia came to an abrupt end, leaving me with dozens of tracks to choose from, all seeming to head in the same general direction.
The riding was good, mostly hard dirt or just grass. Grass plains are so nice to ride on, the grass has plenty of grip and a solid dirt base most of the time. Occasional sections of sand or rocks kept me on my toes.

I made a quick quick stop at a small village for lunch of ‘chewy noodles and beef’, that is a complete and comprehensive description of all the dish could be described as, but it served as fuel. There was alot of attention paid to the bike from a group of young guys, one of them even phoned a friend who spoke English to relay a message, asking if he could ride the bike. But I thought that probably wasn’t such a good idea to give a short guy an 800cc bike when all he would have ever ridden previously was a 150 farm bike.

I stopped by a beautiful gorge where the river carved through the rock, and met a bunch of French riders on XR250s, riding around Mongolia for 10 days. Very nice guys.

Continuing west, I rode through absolutely magnificent country, so beautiful I had to pinch myself. It is hard to believe I’m here, riding in Mongolia past snow capped peaks, when I was riding in the tropical jungle of Laos only a little over a month ago.

After paying the 3000 Tugruk entrance fee for the national park, it started to rain again, quite heavily. The guy at the entrance tried to get me to wait out the rain in his little booth, but I wanted to visit the volcano and pick a camp site before it was too late, so I pressed on in the downpour. I should have thought that since I was approaching a volcano, that the trail would be post eruption solid lava, which created a monster to ride on in the rain. The lava itself was very grippy, as the rocks have sharp edges, but the occasional smooth boulders when wet, were treacherous. It was like riding on marbles, and as the trail got steeper and the stones even more slippery, I wondered if this was such a good idea to attempt in the rain after all. But I made it to the top and the rain stopped as I was greeted by a Mongolian mathematics teacher from Ulaanbaatar, who when discovering I was from Australia, roused everyone else in earshot into a round of applause.

Hiking the last 400M to the top of the volcano, revealed a magnificent sight, the volcano cone with a backdrop of forest leading to the lake. It was simply breathtaking.

I spent some time admiring the view before headed back down to the bike and riding the last 10km to Lake Terkhiin Tsgaan, where I chose a ger camp beside the lake. On arriving at the camp, two Mongolia guys lifted my bike into the air, just to prove that they could, and to gauge how heavy it was. Their conclusion, it was heavy.

After dinner and watching the sun setting behind the mountains, I retired to my ger and the roaring fire prepared earlier by one of the staff. It is bitterly cold outside, the wind could blow a dog of his chain, but it is roasting hot now inside my ger as I write by candlelight.

Mongolia is exquisitely beautiful. An unspoilt wilderness with kind and welcoming people. I really love it here, and don’t really want to move towards the border, I want to stay and explore more. I was previously worried if I would have enough time to reach the Russian border before my visa expires on the 9th July, but now I’m thinking about anything I can do to extend the visa and delay my departure from this magnificent land.