Land of Extremes

Today we have arrived in Tariat and the weather over the last few days definetly reflects a more mountainous area.We are in shirts and shorts one minute and the next we are in thermals, gloves and hats.

We rode out of Tsetserleg after we had waited out a thunderstorm. It's a steep climb out of town which gave us a great view. Up the pass we met Ranjii and his family who stopped to do the ritual flicking of Airag (fermented mares milk) in all directions as a prayer for a good journey. He gave us a little bottle of Airag freshly produced by his grandparents.

We still have pockets of tarmac, still we had our second puncture! Good opportunity to stop for a little brew up too!

We have passed several mountain passes and have camped above 2000m. The nights are clear, crisp and full of stars, leaving thin layers of frozen dew on our tent.

We have some fantastic early morning riding - we try and get up just after dawn (5.30am or thereabouts) so we have a full day on the bike and can get camped up for about 5pm.

The countryside is very peaceful and almost every night we are stunned at the utter and complete silence. No sound at all - apart from the barking dogs, if we are close to gers or villages. When we get to villages that is a different matter - we are often chased down by children (or dogs). In the case below a bunch of kids recruited Tim to help them fixing their bike.

We had a fantastic welcome on the roads and tracks of Mongolia. People are interested and friendly, always toot their horns, wave or stop and check we are alright or more often what on earth we are up to. Most are concerned about our thin tyres and tyre pressure. Because good tyres is a must on these sandy and rocky roads. And boy, these Mongolian drivers have strong nerves, like this one driving a truck, a truck and a minivan across a bumpy sand track. The van on top was rocking side to side, scary stuff!.
Below is a typical truck - we see those a lot, filled to the brim with furs, full nomdaic households -including solar panel, satellite dish and grandma strapped to the top or with livestock.

We also come across lots of Buddhist religious sites, like this sacred tree called "Zuun Salaan Mod". Like with any sacred site one has to walk around three times and make a wish.

In Tariat we also found bread, cheese and tuna! and for the first time in ages we had some delicious sandwiches for lunch. We had a celebratory picnic right after this (interesting) wooden bridge, which also marks the entrance to "Khorgo-Therkiin Tsagaan Nuur National Park". We paid 3000 Mongolian Togrog as an entrance fee. (1 UK pound = 2000 MG Togrog)

A happy Sara with full belly and excited about the rest days riding ahead. We head North to the lake and beyond!