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.
Sunday, September 26, 2010
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