Tuesday, August 14, 2012

From Irkutsk to Ulan Bator



I just returned from an interesting trip where I didn't have any internet so I hope you'll forgive me for being late. Here is the report, about my excursion you'll read in my next blog:

As I write this I have no internet as I am about 350 km west of Ulan Bator in the town of Karakorum where I'll visit the first monastery of Mongolia (founded in the 16th century)

The last week again was full of (driving) activity. Monday morning it was raining again but it cleared towards noon when I went to see Nicolai for a farewell lunch after which I left Irkutsk direction Ulan Ude. The road first runs at times along Lake Baikal and has really nice vistas from time to time. Its quality, though, varied  and at times was again atrocious. It then goes through almost endless birch and mixed forests and on my map there were a even a few camp sites. Alas, the one I picked which was a little off the road wouldn't accept people like me... So I had to go on which, however, brought an interesting encounter: soon I overtook a big truck with a trailer covered with advertisements of Seefestspiele Mörbisch. I was able to get a good picture and forwarded it to the office of them but have not received any reaction... But it was getting dark and I desperately needed to find a place to stop. The motel mentioned in my guide didn't exist anymore so I just parked close to a gas station with a few other trucks. That's the advantage of driving your own hotel room....
Next morning I continued to Ulan Ude which actually was quite pleasant and I spent about 3 hrs there including lunch. It sports the largest Lenin bust in the world, quite impressive. Which reminds me that I'm late with all my pictures. My apologies but I really was too busy...

My intention was to reach the border by the evening. Both, the road and the weather started to deteriorate as I went south and traffic got less and less. Also the villages on the way became more and more dilapidated.  One of them has a museum of the Decembrist which, however, was already closed as I arrived but to be banned to that place really must have been awful.

Kjakhta is the border town to Mongolia and that's what it looks like: a big military camp and a town with unpaved roads that turned to mud as it was raining when I arrived. There are two hotels, one worse than the other. So I went to the first one asking for a room (with actually no real intention to take one) when they offered me to share one with another Russian. I politely refused but at least got them to let me stay in front of the hotel and do the registration for me which my guide book said was vital for crossing the border. It was rubbish as nobody was interested as it turned out the following morning.

There were only 3 trucks and about 8 cars waiting when I got to the border. It still took an hour till I got to the Russian customs. There I was surprised by their interest in checking everything, not intensively, but more then when I came in. But again I had to fill out the customs declaration for my vehicles twice and the officer diligently put everything into the computer again, just like when I came. I will never understand why they are so complicated… The Mongolians were friendly but not less bureaucratic. I think I had to get 5 different stamps and fill out 3 different forms with basically the same information. Must be a Russian tradition. But after 1 1/2 hrs everything was done and I could leave. Well, not quite. Just as I was leaving the border post I get stopped again and had to pay USD 50 for car insurance….

But then I was done and proceeded south to Ulan Bator. What sprang to the eye immediately was that more or less all of a sudden the hills were green but much less forest and the villages looked much more prosperous. I stooped at the first village to get a local sim card. There was a mother with her maybe 13 year old daughter in front of me. When it was my turn I tried to make the lady behind the desk clear what I wanted but she didn't understand. The girl interjected in very good English and pointed me into the right direction and 15 min later I had a Mongolian phone no.

The road to UB was almost excellent and I made good time and about 6 pm passed the sign for UB. Almost at that moment the road started to resemble a landscape of the moon and slowed the traffic to almost walking speed. Next to it was a perfect road but it was still not finished. Today it was, thank God, as I was already dreading this drive… I took about 2 1/2 hrs to the guest house (ca. 15km) that had been recommended by my guide as it was run by an Austria/German couple. I had to call as I first couldn't find it but then was received cordially by Sybille, the landlady. The guesthouse was founded/built by her and her husband also as a social project as both of them came to Mongolia as development helpers in 1995. They rent rooms and gerts (the local tents used by the nomads and dotting the landscape as soon as I entered the country and they also have a few spaces for motor homes. I immediately felt 'at home'…

Thursday I relaxed a little and had to do a few little repairs/improvements in my 'Datcha' and had a walking tour of UB city center dinner with Prof. Batsukh, a professor for management at the local university who I had met in January in Vienna as he was guest of a school mate of mine. He then gave a lecture about management style in Mongolia. 

Friday was a bit disappointing. I was looking for a motorcycle mechanic who could fix my headlight on the motorcycle which had stopped working and I was unable to find the fault. So my landlady pointed out that there was a Japanese guy right next door who could fix it. I dropped the bike off and by noon he hadn't been able to find the fault but ruined my spedometer/computer which will cost me 350 eur to replace… He then proceeded to tell me that he had to go to the Mongolian Rallye, an event which sounded interesting and he invited me to join him. He would continue working on my bike thereafter. Well, it took us the better part of 3 hours to get to that place which was about 15km out of town… His company sponsored 2 'cars'. Most of the about 40 'cars' were mean machines, all 4x4s but tuned to about 350 hp and 'slimmed' to about 1500 kgs. And that rallye would take them almost 4000 kms through some of the worst roads of Mongolia.
The teams were either Mongolian or Japanese. In the motorcycle class were about 50 participants, many on KTMs…

It turned out to be only the technical check, the actual rallye would start today. So we went back and he continued to work on my bike. when I checked at about 7pm he hadn't been successful and I found out by asking specific questions and suggesting certain tests that his level of knowledge about car electrics hardly exceeded mine… So at 9 I told him to go home and that I would put together my bike myself the next morning which I did and now have to see that maybe somebody more talented will look at it in China…
Saturday I spent till early afternoon putting the bike back together and had a nice gulyash with dumplings and then met some English motorcycle drivers that were staying and a Bavarian with a Mercedes G and we got carried away talking and finally killing 3 bottles of red wine… 

So today I got up at 6 to be able to see the start of the rallye. I was slightly late but got to see most and a few motorcyclists. It was quite spectacular seeing them speeding down those dirt roads… Got some good video footage, I believe…

After that I proceeded towards here, the road being 'paved' most of the way which is important for me as I don't have four-wheel drive. The quality of the road though again was very mixed and waves and potholes forced me to slow down. The last 15 kms were the worst but at least I made it without any (visible) damage. I arrived here after closing of the monastery and the museum so that I'll do in the morning. I also met a group of Poles with 4x4 motor homes and stopped at a camp close by where I met  a group of Germans traveling with a Rotel which is a German company running special bus tours where the participants sleep in little compartments best described as 'drawers' in the back of the bus…

And I just remembered that I didn't mention a guy I met in Moscow with the name of Mike Perham. He was 14 when he first crossed the Atlantic in a sailboat alone, only his father following in another boat behind. With 17 he went around the world singlehandedly and now is on an around-the-world trip by car and within the next 2 years he wants to be the first one to have circled the world by sea, land and in the air. If you are interested check his web page under  www.mikeperham.tv

That's it for this week and I hope I can send this out tomorrow…

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