Day 69-71, From Gusinoozersk to Ulaanbaatar (Mongolia)

Day 69, 105 km

Next morning I discussed with Evgeniy, the bee-keeper, how we should do with the helmet which I had forgotten at Evgeniy's mothers apartment. I thought he could get it as a gift because he also was a bicycler and because it was shorter for me not to return there. I said I could buy a new one in Mongolia or China. But he thought I would need it more than him, so he wanted to drive back to get the helmet. I said if he would drive only for my sake 60 km, that would make emissions and that is against my policy. But then he said he anyway had something to do in the next village with his truck so he could give me a lift for some kilometers. When we were in his truck suddenly he remembered that he had promised a friend to fetch some furniture in Gusinoozersk and called him if it was a good day. Then he told me that he was going back to the town and asked if I would like to join.

Evgeniys truck

Although it was made up I agreed to follow all the way and was actually happy because the road was bad and it was raining.

Gusinoozersk is a town with a big coal power station, close to a large lake

On the way to the town we passed about hundred of small houses without roof, doors and windows. Only the walls were left. I asked if this village had burned but Evegniy told me that it had been plundered. His family also owned one of the Dacias but one winter, somebody had stolen everything there!

Many people had warned me that I never should leave my bike without watching it but I did not believe that Russians were such thieves before I had seen this village.

After I had got the helmet (and a good lunch) from his mother and we had loaded the truck with furniture, Evgeniy and Gala dropped me in a village called Novoselenginsk. There was a sign that it was 119 km to Kyakhta, the border town to Mongolia. It was already 13:30 and out of experience I had learned that signs showing kilometers not always were right, so I was not sure if I could make it before it was dark. But I tried.

The rain had stopped some hours ago and I had a good wind from behind.

I also saw many new kind of insects, for example this giant grasshopper about 8 cm long):

The road was good and there was almost no traffic, so I really enjoyed that day!

Still I was followind the river Selenga, upstream to Mongolia.

Soon I saw in sandy parts that some bicyclist must have passed after the rain. I was very curious who they were so I rode almost without any breaks until Kyakhta. Surprising for me was that it was only 100 km. Otherwise Russian signposts often show to few kilometers, as they only use to show how far it is to the edge of the road. Although I did my best I could not find the group of bicyclists.

I think this part of the way was the most beautiful of my journey so far!

In the evening I came to the town Kyakhta.

There I did some sightseeing and bought some groceries for my last Rubles.

Then, when it almost was dark, I found a sleeping place in some bushes.

Day 70, 80 km and a lift of 250 km

Next morning was the birthday of my son and I really wanted to get access to the internet. Although I had filled up my account with 100 rubles in Ulan Ude I could not use it since then, because internet did not work any more. The day before I had seen a closed phone-shop in the town. Exactly as I decided to go back to the shop (for asking if they could help me) I saw a group of 5 bicyclists riding along the road. I was not sure if it was the group I had been looking for, because they had almost no luggage. But I thought I could ride to them and ask them. It really was the group an the reason why they had so few panniers was that they had an escorting bus!

Now it was only 500 m to the border where they had planned to eat breakfast. They invited me for a cup of coffee and while they ate, I told them why I was doing my journey.

Their guide Thomas (to the left) worked for a German Agency called www.China-by-bike.de and he had made the tour Irkutsk – Ulaan Baator – Beijing many times before. He also has an private site/blog which I highly can recommend: www.tomtomtravel.com He was very nice and gave me many advices. He also thought that I could join with a Swedish group in 2114, when he was planning to ride with a big German group through Baltikum, Russia, Mongolia, China, Vietnam, Thailand to Singapore. It sounded really interesting!

I decided to follow the group through the customs.

They had to unload their luggage from the Russian escorting bus and carry it to the other side were a Mongolian escorting bus was waiting.

At the "entrance" of Mongolia we made this picture:

Then we rode together to the next town Sukhbaatar .We had good wind from behind and all the way I talked with Thomas at the same time as we were riding 25 km/h in avarage.

The group had a resting day there but I wanted to continue (since I had heard that there was no WIFI in this town). So I said good buy at their hotel an continued by myself.

The landscape was not so much different from the last part of Russia. Maybe there were higher hills and more animals.

But the grass was longer and greener which was a sign of more rain.

At 3 pm I found a place on a hill with a beautiful view and cooked some noodles for lunch.

This is the view from my resting place:

I had been trying to send SMS to my son several times that day. Finally I succeeded, I don't know why.

When I continued it started to rain and it became much colder. First a little car stopped and the driver asked about my journey.

He could not any language but Mongolian but still he invited me to sleep at his house in the next city. Since his car was too small for my bicycle we decided that I could call him when I arrived at the gas station and that he could meet me there.

But then another car stopped. It was a minibus and he asked if I wanted to go to Ulaan Baator?

It was a taxi driver with his 10 year old daughter on the way home from visiting his son.

I agreed and we loaded my bike in the bus.

He could speak Russian and even his daughter understood a little. He asked me what I was planning to do in Ulaan Baator (UB). I told him that I was going to visit a friend of a friend, who helped me with my visa. I asked him if he could call her and so he did. He said that I would come already that evening and that he could drive me directly to her address. He also called the guy in Darkhan who I had promised to call from the gas station.

So now I could see a wonderful but rainy and cold Mongolia from inside a bus.

Suddenly he turned off the road on a little field road. After some hundred meters I asked where he was going? He said he just wanted to visit a friend. He drove over the grass and fields quite a far way and asked at many yurts about the way. Finally we came to a place with several yurts and a lot of young peoples, playing volley ball. After we had said hello

we were let into one of the yurts .

There was an iron stove with a fire in the middle, and some beds around. There also was a table with a candlelight and some Buddha icons. On the floor on a piece of plastic there was a pile of meat waiting for a barbeque party. We sat down on on some of the beds and I was offered a bowl of some white liquid which smelled a little bit as beer and old Kefir. I thought if it was good for them it could not harm me so I tasted, and actually it was not so bad. A girl asked something but the driver said I could not understand because I came from Sweden. So she asked again in English: Why do you travel all alone? For a second I did not know what I should answer but than I heard me saying: “Because I like myself” and everybody laughed. The girl told me that I had come to a meeting of class mates. She and all others were working for Mongolian Airlines and they once had gone in the same class. They asked much more about my travel and invited me to join their volley boll and bbq but I said that I had a friend in UB, waiting for me.

When we came out of the yurt it was already dark. I wondered if the taxidriver only visited his friends to show me the Mongolian life in a yurt? The driver drove back to the mainroad and now he was not driving so fast any more. I realized that it was difficult for him to see the road in the rain, especially when he met another car. In many situations he almost stopped the bus because he was insecure in the dark. Suddenly he asked if I was tired. I agreed and in the same moment he again turned down from the road into the fields and stopped the car. He said we could sleep there. I asked him if he meant the whole night or just a break? He meant the whole night, So I asked him to call my friend Oyun again and tell her that we had changed our plans. He did so and explained for her that he could not see the road any more but that it was free for med to continue on my bicycle. It was only 30 km to UB. We decided that I could sleep in my tent and he could drive me there next morning.

Day 71, a lift of 30 km and a resting day

I slept well in my tent in the rain while the driver was sleeping with his daughter in the bus. At eight we continued downtown UB. I remembered the words of Thomas, the German guide: It is beautiful in whole Mongolia except in UB. I took not any pictures as I thought he was right. It was not ugly, but there was nothing special. Than I came home to Oyun, who lives in an nice apartment.

I did not do anything special that day, I just relaxed, took a bath and watched TV.

In the evening I went downtown with Oyun.and she showed me the center of the town. UB s much bigger than I thought. Around the central square there were some interesting buildings and monuments.