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...

Via Zuun Nuur to Moron, 7.9.2010-10.9.2010

Despite this apparently being a common route we were surprised by the road: It took us through the most imaginable beautiful valleys which cut through by a million little water flows, spotting lush meadows, trees starting to spot autumn’s colors, much life stock everywhere, picturesque outcrops and gers, we had to go over a few steep passes which opened up to more stunning views – the road, however, was one of the most difficult bits we came across and we hardly left first and second gear, sometimes going down the mountains meant basically going through one dried up riverbed after the other.

Fun but also hard work for driver and Troopy, although this is where he is most comfortable. It took us all afternoon to do about 40 k’s! We ended up camping along the banks of the river Ider and, after the usual visits by herders, retreated to a peaceful night orchestrated by the wind in the forest and the gurgling sounds of the river.

Next day we made it to Jargalant and on our way to Shine Ider messed it up – again! Normally all paths intersect numerous times before they leave the valley and in case of rivers there will be a few river crossings or bridges. When leaving the place we made a long and difficult drive over dry mudbeds, through a bit of a swamp, through a river just to find that for some weirdo reason we ended up on the wrong side of the river, and once we had realized this tried to make our way on the other side. The river by now was a substantial river and there were no more bridges to find so we had to follow it (we have a bit of a ‘Only go back the same way if track is not otherwise do-able’-policy). So, we ended up with a detour of about 40k’s. Does not sound much, does it? Well, it can be if you can only do between 10 and 30k an hour and have to snug around cliffs with an angle and an ice cold river hovering about half-a meter away and 3m down from you (nothing like the South American Road of Death but surely enough to disconcert little Sandra) .
We were rewarded by the beauty of the valleys we drove through and this surely was off the beaten track, again by pure chance :o) On the way we were stopped by a Mongolian driver who got stuck in a riverbed. He was driving his Sedan(!) through the waterway when he got stuck, lost his battery due to this circumstance and now the motor wouldn’t start. Holger pulled him out and tried several tricks to get the car running again but to no avail. I do not know why the guy thought that we should first try the recovery with his bright orange scarf (Mongols use them as belts for their riding coats), maybe he did not want to cause any inconveniences, I don’t know. But it is probably not too difficult to imagine that the scarf was less than impressed by this rescue mission and gave in after 3 seconds.

Thank goodness he then agreed to use something more sturdy and the car was out in no time – the battery issue however, was not to be so easily solved and after an hour or so of trying to jump start the car Holgi gave up. Not much we could do apart from that… Much to Holli’s dismay crossing the river later on was over a bridge ;o} We then camped at Zuun Nuur another pretty lake.

Next morning we were woken by a shepherd and his flock of goats and sheep who came by grazing. It was a funny moment when, after Holgi had announced that we were surrounded by sheep, we opened the Swag, sat up – and found a rather old herder sitting on his horse looking at us and gesturing at the sun which was already high up. I take it he was wondering what kind of people we were sleeping in a green canvas bag until 9.30ish – what he did not know was that we had already been up at 5.30ish to watch the sunrise, which was awesome! Mongolia gave us so many great sunrises and sunsets, I hope some of the pictures come out quite alright and we can make some large prints.

Unfortunately the road to Moron (the Aimag capital) and the one later on to Khovsgol lake proved to be quite bad as well, heavily corrugated and with big holes and dips. A new paved road is under construction but by the looks of it, preparations have been going on for some time and bits which are just waiting for tarmac have already started to deteriorate again – sad, it’s a waste of resources to let them fade away. Anyway, in Moron we stayed at the 50-100 Hotel which was quite alright although a bit overpriced. On our way back from Khovsghol we had a half-lux instead of a lux room which proved a) much nicer and b) a bit cheaper. The hotel also had a pretty good restaurant attached where we had dinner and breakfast. Breakfast was a funny thing: You could not choose between different items but there was a set breakfast menu scheduled for each day, fair enough it all sounded fine. The staff was very adamant that there was only today’s breakfast available (whatever the day was) however both times we ended up with a good and hearty breakfast, which did not fit any descriptions on the menu :o)
As per usual after arrival we first started to do some washing (Holger and I are now experts in hand washing an entire large load although our T-shirts start to resemble shapeless canvas bags by now) before we set out for food and internet. If we arrived early enough that is - sometimes we were too late and neither found food nor internet after 8pm. Days in Mongolia start and end early… Therefore we were so happy that the hotel’s restaurant was open until 11pm! We were a little less happy when we found out that the town’s loudest (and only!?!) nightclub was directly opposite our hotel room :o} The mixture of bad house music (how many frickin’ versions of ‘Hermes’ Houseband’s take on Country Road are there!?!) and DJ announcements (‘Are you ready to rummmmbblle????’) made for an interesting backdrop before which we wrote postcards and then tried to find some sleep.

The White Lake – Tsagaan Nuur, 5.9.2010-7.9.2010

In Tsetserleg I had visited the local branch of the park authorities who run the National Parks. There are many co-operations with globally operating conservation societies such as the WWF, among them also a German agency. Funny enough in this office they even had some information material on the regional parks in German and one of the people working their spoke German and was very happy to chat with me in order to practice his German language skills. He was very enthusiastic about the White Lake, Tsagaan Nuur, which is covered in ice 2/3 of the year, hence it’s name.
The lake is situated in a stunning landscape created by volcanic activities and a few hours away from Tsetserleg. On our way we saw trees! We had not seen tree-lined hills for quite some time and were getting very excited about this, turning into real tree-huggers :o) This is me looking idiotic doing the happy tree dance:

All guide books tell you that to get into the park you have to cross a bridge in the town of Dariat and the park entrance is apparently right at the bridge. So we stood there in this rather smallish town and the only bridge we could find had stones piled up in front of it, at least on one lane. Altogether the wooden construction looked kinda crooked and bend, bridging a gap created by a fast-flowing and, by the looks of it, ice cold river!?! The little hut beside the bridge, presumably the park entrance, was deserted. When asking the locals about the park and a river crossing they all pointed to the bridge, in all likeliness quite puzzled by our blindness to see the obvious. Then we saw a car crossing the bridge without further ado and decided that this must be the right spot, if looking a little precarious… Maybe the stones just indicated that only one car at a time should go – we never found out but after carefully and slowly approaching the bridge we safely reached the other side.

After another hour or so and very steep pass we reached the lake and because the season had finished the many ger camps along its eastern shores were already closed or in the process of being closed down. The lake looked very beautiful although the weather was rather stormy and windy and the lake's shores were adorned by many ovoos.

We drove out of sight of the ger camps and found a nice spot right beside the lake. The biggest task was now to get the tent out and erect it while a rather cold and strong wind was blowing us away. What usually takes about 30 minutes (it is a rather big tent) now took 90 minutes (although it felt like much longer) and the fact that we had some spectators did not help. As per usual, everybody who passed along had a quick look. One guy in particular was very interested in finding out the intricacies of how the inner and the outer tent connect which offset poor Holger a bit who was trying to tie the outer tent to the poles while not starting an involuntary episode of kite surfing. It was quite a funny scene (if you were not Holger, for that matter) :o) Anyway, at some point the tent stood and we could quickly set up camp inside and enjoy some pasta!
The next day started as grey and windy as the day before but by midday clouds were disappearing and the sun came out and we could enjoy the magnificent scenery.

In the area, you can climb some volcano tops and we decided to do so the next day. The scenery was quite fascinating as you have the black volcanic outcrops but also trees and shrubs of all sorts, in many colors ranging from green to yellow, orange and red. Again we fell prey to Mongolian signposting. A few k’s away from where we had camped sign told us that an ice cave and the Yellow Dog Hell Cave were 50 meters ahead of us. So we climbed the little volcano the signs had been put in front of. After a steep but well trodden ascend we stood on the brink of the crater with no caves in sight, and thought, ‘Well, maybe the caves are inside the crater’. So we followed the now less well trodden path down into the crater and searched this one in vain for the caves. Hence we ascended again, this time on the opposite side of the crater on an even steeper and a path that was hardly visible anymore. Again, no sign of any cave whatsoever. We finally decided to walk along the crest of the crater to get back to where we started and give up on finding the caves. While exploring the crest we saw a three people about 200 meters away in the opposite direction from where we had parked the car, standing in a rather flat field of volcanic outcrops staring down a hole in the ground… OK, you had turnaround and turn your back to the signs to look for the caves, who could have known that!?!… Anyway we had enjoyed our little up and down and came to enjoy very nice views over the park (and then down the caves) and it made for a really good laugh afterwards :o)

We then left the park driving along the lake, bathing in the fantastic landscapes and scenic passes. The initial idea had been to now venture towards the Altai Mountains, get a border permit and explore the Altai Tavan Bogd NP. However, while having a quick rest along the path we were again approached by a herder, who was sternly convinced that we’d now go up further north to visit Khovsgol Lake. This is the route many people, Mongolians as well as international travelers, take.So we sat down and had a thought. The last few nights had been cold and Altai Tavan Bogs is really high up (some Mountains reach heights well up into the 4000k’s) and we were hence wondering if maybe we should explore the northern parts of Mongolia known for their beautiful lakes and forests which might not be as cold. If heading straight for Altai Region many days of driving through parts of the Gobi were ahead of us again and we had truly enjoyed the forests… In a few minutes we revised plans and headed north!
A marmot we met on the way...