A hellish track

From Wednesday, August 20 to Tuesday, September 2, from Khovd to Ulaanbaatar with part of the journey by bus following a mechanical incident

Very quiet day

This Wednesday, August 20th, we leave Khovd to reach the villages of Ülgii and Ulaangom in a few days. We will have to travel a hellish track of about 200km with only one Ülgii village.

The first 40km pass without incident; the road is well paved. We sleep in the village of Myangad in a house without a shower or running water. The toilets are outside. You need a good lamp because there is no lighting at night. Hygienic conditions to which we are beginning to get accustomed.

A hellish track

After a very peaceful night, we set off Wednesday morning to cross the desert zone. The hellish track is in very poor condition; it’s made of corrugated iron. It shakes the bikes and their loads a lot. A difficult day because we’re moving at less than 10 km/h. During the day, we’ll pass three cars and a small truck that stops to offer us a small watermelon, which we really appreciate given our state of fatigue.

The catastrophe

After 70km, we pitch our tent in the middle of nowhere. Two herdsmen riding their motorcycles pay us a visit. They are very curious; without asking, they open the door of our tent to look inside. This is apparently the custom in this country.

After a routine bike inspection, disaster strikes: a rear wheel axle is broken. It will be impossible to leave without a repair; unfortunately, we don’t have the part.

An unexpected experience

A night that wasn’t so quiet, as two trucks were about to pass on the track near our camp. The noise was impressive in this space of silence and it woke us up.

This morning, we need to find a vehicle, and since there’s little traffic, it might be difficult. After more than four hours, a small truck loaded with goats and sheep will pick up our bikes and take us to the nearest village.

The driver warns us that he has to drop off his cargo near the yurt where his mother lives. A detour through the desert of several dozen kilometers seems endless. Arriving at our destination, we are invited to drink tea and eat some sweets; it’s a wonderful welcome. After unloading the cargo and marking the animals with paint, the driver proceeds to sacrifice a sheep by ripping out its stomach. The method is quite cruel for us Europeans; I’ll let you look at a photo taken. A beautiful day with the desert nomads.

Late in the evening, the driver will drop us off in the small village of Ülgii, where we will spend the night in the only room in the small hotel.

On the way to the capital.

On Sunday, August 24th, after finding a taxi and riding for 3 hours on rutted roads, we arrived at the Ulaangom bus station. From there, we took the bus to Ulaanbaatar, hoping to find the part that would repair our bike. After a 25-hour journey, in a rather uncomfortable bus, on roads and dirt tracks, we arrived in the country’s capital. But since the part wasn’t available, we ordered a new wheel from France. We would have to wait a week to receive it and repair our bike. Thanks to Guillaume, who made the necessary arrangements to send us the new wheel. We can resume our journey in Mongolia from Tosontsengel this Tuesday, September 2nd.
We will discuss the city of Ulaanbaatar, which we had time to visit while waiting for our spare part, in a future post.

Encounter :

• Our savior, the truck driver we met in the desert.

Route: We only covered 118 km during this period. Find our map by clicking here.

Did you know: the Gobi Desert stretches across China and Mongolia over 1,300,000 ^km2 . It covers 1/3 of southern Mongolia, roughly the size of France. It is the 5th largest desert in the world by surface area.