Poland to Häverstädt, 9.10.-10.10.2010

By now we really felt an urge to get back to Häverstädt again. It is hard to describe but in the weeks which led up to our return we had really warmed with the idea of ‘getting there’, seeing family and friends and starting the next bit of our lives. We were highly motivated and we started calculations as to when, if all continued to go well, we would be in Germany and where we would have our last sleep. We arrived at the border rather soon and again were lucky because in contrast to the trucks, cars were handled rather quickly. We were confident to be in good old EU soon, but how wrong were we!

Well, to say the most important bit first: We made it through. But for a few hours it did not look like it. When we were at the gate it turned out that Holger & Sandra were more than welcome to go through but that this was a different story for Melville because he was a non-European citizen. First they sent us from the ‘nothing to declare’ section to the ‘something to declare’ section. And it became very soon clear that the officials had no clue what to do with us but felt they should do something… The difficulties started with the fact that we had to officially import the car into the EU which we had planned to do once we were back in Germany as this would be the new country of residence for troopy. To us it seemed to make sense as we are German citizens. From what we had read this meant that once back in Germany we would go to the nearest customs office with our paperwork and declare troopy (including paying for road taxes). Simply driving through Poland therefore couldn’t be such an issue in our eyes and should at the most involve announcing the arrival of the car to German customs. This was also what the first Polish border guard had told us.

However, for some reason the border guards became increasingly unsure what to do with us and then decided that we would have to pay a bond in form of a Carnet de Passage and once back in Germany would get the money back. This was not a fee paid to the Polish government but to a private insurance company situated at the border which sells you a certificate where they vouch for you that you will not sell your vehicle while crossing a country. We found this all very weird but followed the young guy who was sort of responsible for our case to the office. It is probably not difficult to imagine that we lost countenance considerably when a rather indifferent lady told us that this would be 5000USD in cash, thank you. No they would not take credit cards and the next teller was in the border-town 20ks away, easily reachable with a cab… Despite the unsurprising fact that we of course did not have said amount handy we were outraged as to why all of this was necessary. Whoever has laid their eyes on troopy knows that yes, he is a strikingly good looking car and yes, his worth for us is rather immeasurable, but no, in plain money he is not worth 5000USD – and why would somebody in POLAND of all places be interested in buying him!?!

We spent a ‘fun’ afternoon in the border office, talking to different officials, persuading them that it was rather idiotic to ship a car worth 5000AUD for 4000AUD to Russia, drive it for several thousand Ks (not to mention several thousand dollars worth of petrol) through Russia and Mongolia to sell it in Poland while we are on our way to Germany… Until finally after about 2 hours of unnerving hanging out and lamenting, a lady-officer who spoke really good English listened again to our story, translated it to some higher ranking guys who after a discussion, that felt like the 123^rd that afternoon, decided that we had two choices: Either pay the bond or simply drive away. Aha. Their rather lame argument in favor of option a was that we might have difficulties with the German customs if we just drove off but how the bond was connected to this they could not really explain… hence we drove off, relieved and pumped with adrenalin. After all the places we had been through getting into Poland turned out to be the biggest issue – who would have thought that!

We drove deep into the night to make some mileage and stopped at a really nice hotel which had a room available. We had to revive our Frensch because the staff spoke Polish and French but no English :o) Finding a bed turned out to be difficult because it was a Saturday and most hotels we stopped were fully booked because of weddings taking place. The Polish roads were absolutely fantastic, road-signs told you the outside temperature, the street-temperature and we saw soooo many shiny new cars. Everything was clean and neat and the streets were lined with Carrefours, Mediamarkt and Lidl, Penny etc.

We were back in Europe! Now nothing could stop us and when we really made great progress thanks to German and Polish Autobahnen on Sunday we decided to arrive a day early.

The last K’s were weird and we talked about how the adventure was coming to an end but also about the new things awaiting us, it was very exciting!!! We arrived at around 10pm, and in Minden our families had prepared a spontaneous welcome (my branch had just returned from a holiday the same night). It was so great to meet them all again, it was a cheerful occasion and we had some champagne and exchanged a zillion hugs :o)

Ukraine, 7.10.-8.10.2010

Although we had initially intended to stay in the Ukraine a bit longer we soon decided that we would merely drive through. After all it was already October and the weather did not allow for a lot of outdoor fun anymore. Besides the first stretch of the Ukraine we went through was heavily industrialised and to get to the without a doubt beautiful Carpathian mountains would have meant a considerable detour which we were hesitant about. Kiew sounded promising but same as Moscow we would have preferred to visit these cities by themselves on separate trips and we did not feel like visiting big cities at the time.

The Ukraine was a mixed bag, and we did not enjoy it as much as I had hoped and in many ways it was a step down from the conditions in Russia. Entering the country in itself proved to be the first adventure and this was the only time ever that we had to pay an ‘extra fee’. Border procedures can be tiring and usually involve several stations: 1) Hand in papers for a first check to be allowed to enter the actual border compound; 2a) Do the immigration bit, optional: 2b) medical check; 3) Do the customs bit 4) When leaving compound hand in pieces of paper you have been given while doing 2) & 3). We thought we were lucky because apparently we had picked a border crossing which was not too busy. However, when Holger approached the first border point the following conversation allegedly happened:

Guard: You want to Ukraine quick?

Holger: Yes, only two days for Ukraine…

Guard: No, I mean QUICK!!!

Holger: ???

Guard (gesturing money counting): QUICK!?!

Holger shifting over 10 USD: ‘Ah, quick!’

Guard: You pay, you quick Ukraine: Two minutes!

Guard (gesturing more)…

In the end Holger payed 30USD ‘Extra Fee’ as apparently there were three people involved. In the end it took longer than 2 minutes because the border guards were in general confused (again I’d have to say) that two Germans would drive with an Australian car. We also had a feeling they were trying to get more money from us because suddenly one passport seemed to have gone missing but because their English was just as bad as our Ukrainian we were stubborn and after a couple of minutes the passport appeared and they let us go. We still don’t have a clue whether the 30 dollars sped anything up but at least there it was: Our bribe story ;o) Aaprt from the first 30 minutes, the Ukrainian people we met were again really helpful and nice. Even the policemen we met were cheery fellows, despite the horrible stories we had heard. To be honest, after the episode at the border we had expected to be pulled over regularly for money which had also curbed our enthusiasm for the Ukraine but thankfully this never happened.

In the two days that followed we had some fab Bortsch for breakfast...

...took the wrong turn several times, again came across a McDonalds (the last until Germany), slept in some really horrible beds where the linen had not been changed in a while but hey, it was half price because we only stayed 12 hours! We had some fantastic mushroom-omelette in a bee-style cafeteria we could just not drive by … The roads were pretty horrible and the landscapes and places we drove through ranged form heavy industry zones to the smallest little farming villages...

... and the living conditions seemed to be in general rather poor. In the end we were glad when we approached the Polish border but also sad that we did not get to see more nice sides of Ukraine – well, we have to go there again in summer, I reckon :o)

Volgograd, 5.10.-6.10.2010

We crossed the Volga at nightfall and did not get to see much of the river but had to drive over a very long bridge to cross it. The reflections of the city of Saratov gave us an idea of how wide the river runs. After some nights in rather crappy places we were looking forward to explore a bit of city life again in Volgograd (formerly named Stalingrad) and we were not disappointed: Volgograd was stunning. Although most of the city was destroyed in WWII during the monstrous battle of Stalingrad the remains of pre-war Volgograd displayed an aura of splendidness and grandeur. As per usual we spend about an hour driving though the city to find our bearings and discovered that the old city where the hotel was situated we were looking for is not where the city’s heart beats nowadays. ‘Downtown’ is a fairly modern affair with big shopping malls, designer shops and – tatterattatata – McDonalds! What a joy that was :o) The fast-food outlet had just been opened and was swamped with people, young and old. It was huge and quite chic, the staff had handheld POSs to limit the queues and in no time we had placed an order with a friendly lady who spoke some English.

After lunch we set off to find the hotel and some friendly locals showed us where to go to come to the old part of the city. The hotel was probably the most luxurious place we had been to during the whole journey. It spanned a block and had several restaurants attached to it, among them a premium coffee-bar and a very decent looking pizza-place.

The entrance hall was all marble with huge paintings, thick carpets, plush sofas and doormen in livree. The staff spoke several languages and because not all rooms (particularly the bath rooms) have been renovated they also had economy-rooms which were in our price range. The room was furnished in dark wood, had red curtains and high ceilings, it also overlooked a large plaza. Breakfast was included and the next morning saw us face the last Russian style breakfast on the tour which we made the most of :o)))))

After check-in we spent the rest of the afternoon exploring the famous memorial park situated on a hill which was a main battleground in the battle over Stalingrad. The park is called Мамаев Курган (Mamajew Kurgan). At the heart of the richly decorated park is a statue of a fiercely looking Mother Russia stretching a sword into the sky.

The statue is huge, apparently about 80 metres high and can still be seen from very far away. Many vendors have stalls set up along the steps leading up to the statue and the memorial hall, selling souvenirs ranging from beer mugs to medals. Old grannies sell flowers and the memorial hall with its eternal flame and the massive rolls of honour was a prominent spot for photographs. In summer the place is probably buzzing with tourists but the approaching dark and the chilly wind saw only a few people explore the area.

Next day we set off to organize a ‘green card’ for troopy which is obligatory for cars not registered in Europe but roaming European streets. While trying to find the right building we encountered again numerous adventures: I was nearly imprisoned because I entered the wrong building (which was a bank and had a security gate I kinda ignored on my quest); we met the slowest teller machine ever (which needed 5 minutes to give us the cash – I am not exaggerating here); walked into a shop where you could buy really big bolts for tractors and the like before finally entering the right building!

Getting to the Ukrainian border took us another day and a half and the drive was not very memorable because the road was full of trucks and since we had left the Ural the country was heavily plastered with industries and large agricultural facilities.

Barnaul to Volgograd, 31.9. – 5.10.2010

Ok, it’s been a while since we arrived back home and because there is a bit of free time in the Christmas-break I thought I might finish the blog with an account of the last two weeks of our fabulous trip! Where were we… ah ja, in Barnaul!

Altogether we stayed a full week in Barnaul waiting for mail Borut had kindly posted in Perth for us. I have to say the staff at he Barnaul Hotel proved to be unbelievably helpful in retrieving our parcel (which Post Australia was not, actually that was quite a frustrating ‘customer service’, or rather ‘non-service’ experience). Once we had communicated that we were waiting for a delivery receptionists called the Russian Postal Service to find out about the whereabouts of the parcel containing some 4WD goodies and did the best they could to get things going. Meanwhile we enjoyed living in a clean modern hotel room which was for our standards unprecedented luxurious, i.e. the bathroom appliances did not fall off the wall and there was hot water all day around :o))))) The price for the room was one of the most economic we had come across on our tour and so we took the time to relax, read books, go for coffees, do some internetting, plan the route to get back to Europe and to sample Russian food-stalls (restaurants are really expensive and our budget did not include any extras given that we stayed in a hotel).

However, we were glad once we got the parcel to able to head off. In Barnaul we had decided to drive first a bit up north to go around Kasachstan and then head west along the Southern border of Russia via Omsk, Kurgan, Ufa, Saratov and then stay a day in Volgograd before reaching the border to the Ukraine. The weather was by now surprisingly chilly and every night was below 0° degrees hence we had to skip our plans to enjoy some more camping. As a consequence we stopped over in truck stops and motels the numbers of which were increasing as this was a major truck route through Russia. I have to say from now on accommodation deteriorated significantly until we reached Poland with the exception of Volgograd. There were many deserted army barracks on the way which served as privately run ‘motels’. The little huts with a communal ‘bathroom’ and two or three bedrooms/dorms were often arranged like satellites and connected by a pipe system delivering hot water for showers and heating. One camp was situated in a copse and enclosed by a fence, to enter the compound and get to the administration office you had to pass a turnpike and fill out a form with a stern looking military-clad guy. Usually, there hardly was more furniture other than a table and some beds and chairs in a room. For the sake of the experience and because the better-looking truck stops were often fully booked we stayed in one for a night. By the looks of it, in this army barrack they had not even bothered to change the mattresses which were really a bit disgusting and very likely the original mattresses – good thing we had the sleeping bags and hence did not have to touch the mattress and the linen :o)


To go easy on the budget we planned to do the last bit of driving through Russia in a week which basically meant doing around 600-800k’s a day, with an average speed out of town around 80-90Ks. The road conditions were most of the time good, even with some stretches of Autobahn in between, but still it was a hard drive and we had to pull long hours sometimes driving for 10 to 12 hours.

Of course with this schedule we were less inclined to stop and cook therefore we fed mainly on the widely available goulash. It is usually the most economic option, the quality and the meat contents vary greatly and it is either served with bread and rice or pasta or, that was a bit odd, fries.

We drove once more for a while through Siberia and had one of the most surprising encounters on the whole journey. While we were taking a nature break a large 4WD truck honked and once the inmates left the car we were staggered to realize that we had met these guys, father and son, before when driving from Khabarovsk to Chita in Far Eastern Russia where they had stumbled in a road side café with their pet-snake Jeanette. How weird is that to meet the same people twice in a time period of 7 weeks in a different place in a vast landscape such as Siberia!?! They had easily recognized Melville, couldn't believe and stopped. After a big hello, we each made some pictures. Such Lovely guys, as a farewell present they gave us a CD of a Russian singer and we gave them some German schnapps in return.

Siberia: Barnaul, 24.9.-27.9.2010

While I am writing this we are watching Russian TV and a short while ago Holger was laughing his arse off while watching Ice Age in Russian :o) ... The last two days saw us drive towards Barnaul with an overnight stop in Gorno-Altaisk. The landscape has changed again and this is now very much like Europe already, a mixture of forests and agriculture.

But first things first. Following the Katun river coming up to Gorno-Altaisk we drove again through beautiful areas.

The Katun river is very wide and in summer a popular destination for Russian holidaymakers and offers plenty of whitewater-rafting.

Watching the river for a little while you know why :o) As in so many other places before many facilities have closed down already.

The day before we had noticed that clutch was giving us a bit trouble: the clutch master cylinder was leaking a bit and when we saw a garage in a village we stopped to see what they could do. Three hours later we were quite a few Rubel poorer and none the wiser. The guys could not fix it and were quite brutal and when they wanted to cut a hose and solder it to a different cylinder which was not quite fitting Holger, already getting a bit nervous, intervened. Actually he started to get nervous when he had to lend the guys some tools… Well, the old cylinder was put back in and we now hope to make it until we find a Toyota dealer or maybe until we get home… Fingers crossed!

Gorno Altaiks was very busy and we had to drive around quite a bit until we found a hotel with a vacant room (which was room with a single 90cm-bed and we solved the problem by one person lying upside down :o)…) Next day we made it to Barnaul (roughly the size of Hanover) where we are now awaiting the arrival of a parcel Borut send us from Australia with some parts. The Hotel, Hotel Barnaul, is really good: everything is very clean and fully functioning, the bathroom is in full working order, there is WiFi and all appliances are attached – quite luxurious circumstances :o)

We made the most of it by sleeping in … and in… and in… and watching TV and going for walks and coffee and getting cookies from the bakery around the corner, nmnmnm!!! Such a treat to be in a city with all the amenities :o) So many people in the streets, music and a Skateboard event, a Hare Krishna parade (not what you expect in Siberia , that’s for sure)…!


We now have around 4000k’s more to go in Russia and then about 3000 to get home which we want to do in the next three weeks, our aim is to reach Minden about the 12th or 13th of October.

Parcel from Mongolia, catching up with ‘Peking to Paris’ & a speedily border crossing, 21.9.-23.9.2010

To thank our dear friend Borut for all his efforts we wanted to send him a bottle of Ghinggis Gold, arguably the best Mongolian vodka. Hence we packed a parcel and went to the post office. However, before sending a parcel overseas you have to get it through customs, I guess they want to make sure that you do not send out any antiquities or petrified dinosaur eggs and the like. So next morning saw us at the customs office and where we again had to face Mongolian officialdom. First of all there was nobody in the office so we went upstairs and were told that customs inspector was situated downstairs, we checked again and then went up once more to tell the officers that there was no one. A phone call was made and then another one and after much talking we were told somebody would be down soon. About 5 minutes later a group of young women came in (we don’t know from where, I’d say a meeting, Holger suggested a coffee shop) and the door was opened. We showed our parcel and after inspection every corner was meticulously plastered with scotch tape. An official looking woman in a uniform arrived and asked us about our journey, the contents of the parcel and the receiver’s address and translated the information while another lady wrote these details in a book. All this happened with much giggling and good humored joking around. We were told that it would take a little while and I had to sign the book and we spoke a bit more about our travels to the lady in uniform. After some more waiting the door suddenly threw open and a guy burst in, rushing to a cabinet with a key in his hands, took out a briefcase and – tatarattata – the stamp appeared which was the missing bit we still needed. Guy disappeared in a flash and we were good to go to the post office again, which by now was of course closed for lunch break ;o)

We went to have lunch at the small eatery again and farewelled Arnauld and Gregore who were also having lunch there as well. They also intended to leave for the border that day but would presumably arrive a day later. After finally delivering the parcel to the post office we could leave Oelgyi. When leaving the town we saw an oldtimer with a large sticker ‘Rallye Peking to Paris’ on its sides and also a start number, we got excited and hoped to see him again later.

The road to the border point was paved for some k’s and we enjoyed the sound of asphalt under our wheels. Once the asphalt ended we drove over a pass which brought us up to about 2600m and enabled us to see some more of the Altai mountains in their full glory, quite spectacular actually. There was a huge ovoo and for a last time I did an Ovoo-Walk and offered some of the small money I had left :o)

Sad moment, our last pass in Mongolia :o(

We passed Tsagaanuur, a scruffy windswept border town and headed further East. Given our experience when entering Mongolia we wanted to be at the border as early as possible and wanted to camp simply a few k’s before the checkpoints. But, as on so many occasions before, we were again surprised. Probably 10k’s before the border we saw some more Oldtimer and also a camp where more were parked and constantly arriving.

WOW- No way we would pass that possibility on! We asked the officials who were timing the participants' arrival if we could have a look around and they were happy to let us in. On the way into the camp some flags marked the way but there were also some which indicated where there were muddy spots better not to be driven through – well, how on earth were we supposed to know that!?! We found out the hard way and while the cars from early 1900s kept on passing by we were trying to dig our good ole’ 1984 4x4 Landcruiser out and after getting nowhere for a while gladly excepted the offer of one of the guys from the support team to pull us out (we would have gotten us out eventually but it felt a bit stupid to start a big rescue mission while help was so readily available). The guy belonged to the support crew and his job was solely to pull cars out, he had all the gear readily available and told us he had used it that day already… Needless to say that Holgi was furious (not to say embarrassed) but by now shares my opinion that it makes for an excellent story :o)

Walking around the camp was fun, all those beautiful old vehicles, the buzzing atmosphere and the sound of cursing men trying to fix mechanical or electric issues – Ah, the sound of a racetrack, how had I missed it ;o) Holgi quickly started chatting to the (mostly) guys about their machines and the rallye. 100+ vehicles had started 11 days ago in Bejing and were now making their way to Paris through China, Mongolia, Russia, the Middle East and Europe, to reach Paris after altogether 35 or so days of racing.

This is the Itala from 1907.

Aaaah, oooh a Bentley

The Aston Martin :o), yeah!

Many people were setting up their tents and more cars kep on arriving. Holger particularly admired an Itala (pre-1910) which did neither have a roof nor a windscreen and an Aston Martin, slightly modified for off road use. Most drivers’ were happy to have a chat and tell us about their adventures and their motor situation, everybody was very excite and cheery.

There was, however, a slight difference in between their travel experience and our travel experience. They hardly had any contact with Mongolian people nor did they have time for decent stops, at least in case they were seriously competing. They had a support crew with 5 mechanical teams and several organization vans, they had a paramedic and in every country heaps of ‘fixers’. To participate apparently 35000 British Pounds starting fee are needed per party + all the additional costs for getting the vehicles there, not to mention getting the actual vehicles in shape (several vintage Bentleys, Rolls Royce, etc), the whole event had ‘Big Money’ written all over it. In Mongolia ‘Nomads’ a well established tour operator had deployed two teams of large 4x4 busses and trucks carrying numerous staff, generators and supplies to each stop. The Mongols also dug out toilets, set up a canteen with a kitchen and cooks and installed showers. So much effort and comfort – unbelievable! It was a bit sad, though, to hear some (uppity) drivers complain about warm beer or the temperature of the showers and such petty things. Unfortunately they had had some not so good experiences in UB where some participants became victims of pick-pocketing and this had tainted their experience of Mongolia and their opinion of Mongolian people. It sounded as if they were travelling in their own little rally-bubble, but then again not everybody is able to drive 300ks in Mongolia in one day in an oldtimer (let alone one without a windscreen) and after all is was a race not traveling.

The rally also wanted to cross the border next day which had our inner alarm clocks shrill, even though they might have had all the paperwork together for the large party we did not really want to have to wait with about 120 odd vehicles at the border, given our previous experiences with Mongolian officialdom. Hence we decided to rock up real early and camped about 5k's from the border, our last night in Mongolia, sniff...

After a really cold night (apparently it went down to -12 (!) degree and the car windows were again frozen from the inside) ...

... we were at the border at about 7ish, only two cars of the rally-organization had beat us. Unfortunately we had to wait until 9 for the border to open – not so much fun when it’s below 0 degree and you do not have a stand-heating… Anyway, we were there & we were in front of the pack! Turns out that, as we had expected, the Mongolian officials had problems with grasping the situation and it was obviously very confusing for them that yes, we were international travelers but no, we were not part of the rally, sigh! It took some time to get that sorted although I still cannot see how they could overlook the fact that we did not have a meter-high starting number in black on the car (or any other stickers indicating our participation). What made me even a bit angrier was when one of the rallye-guys became a bit pushy and kind of jumped the queue so to speak which confused the customs guy even more, he mixed up the papers and clearly was unsure how to proceed. This was a bit of a nuisance, this particular officer held tight to Holger’s passport and was running around the compound with me, of course, following suit because of the passport, aarghh!!! Anyway after repeatedly pointing out to the customs officer in question (Njet Rallye!!!) that we were not part of the rally and some support from the other non-pushy rally people we eventually got the guy to check our car and let us go through passport control the final hurdle… We then drove through some no-man’s land and finally reached Tashanta and without any problems entered Russia again. This was all very turbulent but it took only 2.5 hours – Hoorayh, we were in Russia!

The next few hours were fantastic, we drove through the Altai Mountains on paved roads – what a treat!

The area was so impressive that it is hard to put it in words: The mountains are so massive, you can see snow capped mountains all along the way, the road is winding around mountains and going over steep passes or through scenic valleys, often following fast flowing rivers, all is dressed in very bright autumn colors (which was such a change to the bright green Siberia we had left 6 weeks ago), wonderful little villages are snuggling in valleys, stunning!

For quite some time we were following the Itala which had caught up with is and admired the beautiful machine:

After a stop for Ghulash we saw even more cars and decided to camp along the river to watch more of them passing through. Imitating good ole’ Tour De France- behavior Holger took his folding stool, a yummy beverage and sat on a rock beside the road viewing the cars speeding by and taking heaps of pictures :o)

Oelgyi, 19.9.-21.9.2010

Next day we made for Oelgyi and the drive there was one of the best once we had: Going through really high mountainous terrain and dunes, being surrounded by snow-capped 4k mountain tops and then cutting through a steep valley in autumn colors following a fast flowing river threw us into an unbelievable scenery, truly awe-inspiring! Oelgyi itself proved to be a lively charming place and the change in the scenery also reflected a change in people as Oelgyi is mainly inhabited by Kazakhs.

The hotel we found was quite nice and affordable, everything was fairly new and included the usual little hiccups: plumbing was not invented in Mongolia and it’s always best to bring your own toilet paper :o) But the water was hot, the city offered many options to enjoy food and had a nice vibe about it, so were really contend.

The first room (we moved after the first night from a single to a double room) also had satellite TV and we could sit in bed and watch Boney M videos on VH1 :o) Oelgyi is a nice little town situated beautifully in the dramatic Altai Mountains.

We spend two fun days there and met two cheery Belgian cyclists, Arnauld and Gregore. They had been on the road since October 2009, starting in Turkey and were now on their way to Russia to take the train back to Belgium. Wow, a whole year on the road – we truly enjoyed our time on the road (and there is much to be said about the excitement when starting the day and being on the road or to be able to spontaneously throw over itineraries in favor of other plans – I absolutely love it!) but we could also feel that now, after nearly 9 weeks and while getting closer to Germany there was an emerging sense of wanting to be there, to be with family & friends and to start a new part of our live, having lived far away for more than 5 years. From this perspective, a whole year seemed very long. We met for lunch, the two showed us a good budget eatery where we had for the last time some Mongolian noodles, booz and milk tea and listened to the fantastic tales the two had to tell.

Getting to Oelgyi, 18.9..-19.9.2010

Our hope was to drive to a place called Khovd the next day to stay there in a hotel but again we had dug ourselves a hole (in a literal as much as in a figural sense, as you will see) we had mixed up which Khovd we were driving to ;o) The one which we picked as next day’s goal was not the prosperous Khovd heralded in LP, which would have been another 100k’s further south. We had found early on that in the same Aimag several cities can have the same name (indeed we passed another, even smaller Khovd on the way) but we thought by now (after 5 weeks of navigating) we were clever cookies and had would not be fooled anymore by such circumstances - hahaha! Slightly disgruntled because we felt the possibility of a hot shower slip away from under our grip we nevertheless decided against the 100k detour to get to Khovd-City.


Again this turned out to be a really good thing as we found again an unbelievable pretty scenery in form of a river valley offering fantastic camping :o) Well, after we had dug ourselves out of an actual mud pit, for that matter. OK, this time it was me: I was driving, and after descending through some sand cliffs I drove along the river bed in search for a spot. We avoided some muddy looking bits and I saw a meadow on which I wanted to make a turn. Somebody had made hey there so I thought it’s safe to drive over the earth. I’m not sure what they harvested there but I know now for certain that it is growing in rather swampy conditions – I had dug us in and rather colossal I’d say!

So out came the recovery gear again and after connecting all straps we had Holger winched us out – and this time we have photographic evidence :o) It took only about 30 minutes or so, but I have to admit I felt kind embarrassed…
While we were setting up camp some horse riders approached us, a family who had been out collecting seabuckthorne-berries and who were a really cheery party :o) They gave us some berries and in return we gave them some of our presents. They invited us to mount their horses to make some pictures and then we made some pictures of them with us, with the car, on their horses, etc. We all enjoyed this interlude very much and there was a lot of laughter.

They invited us to their ger a few k’s down the river but as we were in the middle of setting up (and very keen on putting the camp shower to use) we passed this one on. We exchanged addresses and promised to send the pictures once we were back in Germany. An hour later or so, the two teenage boys returned and brought us some milk and some Aaruul and were obviously fascinated by Melville and our journey so we chatted (as much as possible) with them and shared a few moments.

This was really great meeting and because these were the last Mongolian herders we were to meet this made for a memorable and long lasting positive impression :o))))

Through the good & the bad: Moron to Ulaangom, 15.9.-17.9.

After this great time at Khovsgol we went back to Moron for another stop over and then headed West. We knew there were now some long drives ahead of us to get to Bayan-Oelgii, the last Aimag we visited, and we had planned to camp about 3 times before we got to Ulaangom and crash in a hotel there before we make it to Oelgii in another 2-3 days.
On our first stop we camped in very scenic valley surrounded by hills covered by forests and cooked some stew:

The evening was quite brisk and we decided to sleep in the car, preparing for a seemingly cold night:

Imagine our dumbstruck faces when we woke up after what was arguably a cold night to find frost (Eisblumen) on the windows INSIDE the car – boy it was cold and it must have been even much colder during the night, I needed two coffees to get warm :o)

Clearly we had been in Australia far too long because we had ignored the danger that un-insulated taps can be damaged by frost and – bingo! – we had busted our tap, it was dripping now grrrrr! Thank goodness my daddy and I had build in a second, internal one and we did not loose our water. The bottled water and the moist wipes also had frozen… We thought again of Guy with a dog and hoped he had migrated to the wooden hut!!! The frost gave the scenery a nearly eerie atmosphere and despite it being frickin’ cold it was very beautiful to watch. We had driven through marches before and the little water pools were now also frozen… We were quite happy that we had decided to stay at Khovsgol lake instead of going into the higher mountain areas! The next few days we just drove west. This is where we we encountered petrol stations where manually operated pumps are still in use and Holgi jumped in to help pumping the 60 liters we needed to fill Troopy up and which was a bit of an ordeal for the attendant.

Ulaangom then proved to be a big challenge if not to say one big disappointment and we were really a bit on the edge on that day. The day had begun with a kind of typical Mongolian interaction: At dawn somebody passed by on the nearby road on a motorbike, saw the car, stopped and knocked at Troopy’s window while we were sleeping. He ‘just’ wanted to have a look in the car and ask again how many people were traveling with it, WTF!?! By now we were fairly used to being stared at, not only is Melville a rare sight in Mongolia but also we two were both obviously visibly different to the majority of people. Most of the time, Holger got the brunt of the staring because he is over-towering most Mongolians and is also having quite a beard which sets him apart. Because I’m rather short I blended in a bit better and I also might have had better training in being stared at when after chemo when I stopped wearing hats once my hair came back and I looked like GI Jane. Anyways, most of the time this was not an issue but once in a while when we were not in the mood it could get to us and this was one of those days where we were just plainly annoyed by it.
After more really bad roads which brought Holger to the brink of his patience (after a while he suffered at every bump, hole and corrugation Melville had to take) we did not find a place to stay in Ulaangom as we had hoped. The only hotel we found (two of the three listed by LP were closed) looked more like a jail and did not have hot water. For us the main thing was having a hot shower when we stopped at hotels in Mongolia hence this one (apart from being really hideous and not very clean) was ruled out. If there was no shower there was no point in staying - we think we are better of camping, for sure you have the nicer scenery outside towns. Finding an internet café also proved difficult, actually all of the West was bit void of public internet-access and I’ve come to a real loathing of internet cafés particularly because repeatedly we were turned away: Although there were apparently computers available we were not allowed to use them for unknown reasons. The best facilities were mostly found in post offices as all other internet places were swamped with Mongolian youngsters splattering blood playing Counter Strike or strategic role play. The day turned a bit brighter when we had a nice lunch to celebrate our 8th week on the road and purchased some really good Russian cookies (they make excellent cookies) at a store :o) After leaving Ulaangom we headed South to camp outside the town.

Khovsgol Lake: Of Guy with a dog, Holger’s solo adventure and Yak Yoghurt, 11.9.-14.9.2010

It was a good 3 hour drive to Khovsgol lake and as in so many places before once we reached Khatgal we found that most holiday places had closed for the year already. This suited us quite fine because this area is supposedly quite full in summer so we did not have to compete with many other people for camping spots. It also meant: CAMPFIRE!!!!

The road leading to the lake went over a steep pass again but was a really good gravel road, this was quite a relief after the horrible tracks we had driven on for the last 4 days. The first glimpses of the lake were a reward, the blue of the lake and the autumn colors worked so well together :o)

Many yaks were grazing along the forested shores of the lake and we picked a spot to camp about 30k’s along the lake’s shore. Another group was camping nearby: Melanie and Nicole from Switzerland and their lady guide and the guide’s father (who did the driving). Although we were situated in a rather isolated location that evening turned out to be a surprisingly social one: First we were visited by a group of two Mongolian women who sold souvenirs and were driven around by their male partners who carried each the lady and a huge bag with goodies around; next we met Nicole and Melanie and made a bit of smalltalk, after that ‘Guy with a dog’ made an appearance (we were to see him many a times in the next three days), after that a car with four people stopped and after much gesturing, pointing and stuttering along it turned out that someone was stuck a few k’s down the road and asked Holger for a pull. As it was already dark we decided to postpone the action until the next morning. During the night some guys came along to do some fishing and it took us a while to figure out what was going on during which I was holding tight to my tear gas and Holger had the fire extinguisher handy, completely idiotic I know ;o}
Next morning it was raining quite hefty and we were glad that we had put up the tent. When I opened the tent we had again a visitor, a young Mongolian on a pushbike. He could not speak but we communicated via hand, feet and the photoalbum he had with him. Because I had just put the kettle on I offered him a cuppa and he showed me that he was cycling to get fit for Nadaam wrestling. He was a big fan and in his photoalbum he had pictures of himself with popular Mongolian Wrestlers and snippets about wrestling. On one picture he was standing in front of the lake with his father and the lake was fully frozen and you could see how ice sculptures were carved in the background. Amazing, as I contemplated already in Siberia - I think I'll have to come back once in winter !
Once it stopped raining the guy who had bogged himself in came along on a horse and Holger and him set off to rescue the guy’s car. It took three hours until Holgi returned and the reason behind him being away so long was that after rescuing the guy, giving him some help to start the car and then farewelling him, poor Holger had bogged himself in on the way back (albeit in a different spot) and had to winch himself out of that mess. But astonishingly enough he did not really complain about that bit, rather he was a bit annoyed that he left the camera at home so he couldn’t take any pictures :o{

Instead we have pretty pictures of the lake's shore :o) In the meantime Guy with a dog had returned and I had offered him some tea, we did not get very far with our communication but, clever guy that he was, he returned later on with the Swiss ladies’ guide and with her help we were able to exchange a few bits of information. He was a security guide at one of the deserted camps and was to stay the winter up at the lake in a tent (!), we hoped he would move into one of the wooden huts for the snow because his tent did not look as warm and comfy as a ger…. He then asked Holger for some technical advice with his car and Holger tried his best to help him get the car running when he went over next morning but it was a problem with the car’s electronics and therefore not that easily solved although they worked again on it in the afternoon.

We have to say, he really grew on us in those days because he was really friendly and always laughing not to mention his friendly companion tyhe dog, I hope his car is running now!
While at the lake we saw quite a few Mongolian families passing by ushering along herds of stock and having Yak’s pull heavy carts with gers and household items on them. One group set up their winter camp on the other side of the dried out river bed close to our camp site. The herder came along next morning to check out our tent and invited us over to get some yoghurt. I went over and admired the clever set up of the gers once more. This one had a solar panel in the back which powered a car radio to which a telephone, a TV, a satellite dish and a DVD player were attached. Again I was offered Aaruul and tea and to trade in for the yoghurt which was made from yak milk I brought stock cubes, a grain mix for soup and some Kuemmerlinge.
Putje's family arriving at their winter camp
Putje, the family’s daughter, came back to the car to have closer look at our set up again, the whole family was very interested in our travel itinerary and shook their heads upon the big distance we were covering. Unfortunately, Holgi couldn’t come to see the ger because he was repairing, or rather trying to repair, Melville’s door on the driver’s side which had been giving us trouble for some weeks (and is still a sore spot). Mongolian corrugated roads really killed the door’s lock and for the past few weeks we had the door locked permanently with a cable binder from the inside and a cutter taped to the dashboard for emergency cases…

During those three days many animals passed by...