There are not enough superlatives in the lexicon to describe Mongolia. The beauty, the emptiness, the variety of geographical features. It has left all of us 'mad motorists' almost speechless with wonderment. We all agree that mere photographs cannot possibly convey the spectacular gorgeousness of this place. You have to be here and see it all for yourselves. But first leaving UB.
We had a special send off from UB. First, we had to group in the main square. There was a stage, banners, balloons, a brass band, throat singers and lots of jolliness. Actually, we were all eager to go as we had a very long day ahead of us but it was made more enjoyable by the hot toddy that we were all given.
About twenty miles out of UB, in a stark, bleak place that, at that moment was probably the coldest place in the whole world our engine stopped. Adrian went to investigate, fiddled around but could not discover what the problem was. Just as I was about to get the sat phone to call for help one of our medic crews turned up. J-P, a Cardiologist, diagnosed a mitral valve problem and was going to send us for an ultrasound. Actually, he and Caroline, one of our other Doctors were more concerned about us all getting frost bite. The difference in temperature from only one hour before was extraordinary. With the wind chill it was below freezing whilst in UB we had been warm. We called our support team and Simon, ace mechanic, appeared fairly quickly. He too could not find the problem but fiddled and managed to get the car working again and off we went. He said that they would shadow us for a few miles to make sure that we were o.k. Thank goodness he did as after about ten miles we stopped again. It turned out that there were two problems; the coil had failed and there was swarf in the carburettor blocking the main jet; a manufacturing defect in our new, expensive carb.
We were soon off again. Mongolia is one of the most sparsely populated countries in the world. Almost as soon as you leave UB the emptiness is apparent. In the most fabulous countryside imaginable there are just some nomad camps of maybe just a couple of gers, almost no villages to speak of and odd individual gers doted very infrequently around. The Nomads herd their cows, goats, sheep and yaks. The animals all look very healthy and well cared for. Plump, glossy coated and very attractive. It's good to know that our cashmere comes from such happy goats. I find the yaks particularly gorgeous. They are herded by men on horseback or, sometimes, by someone on a motorbike which looks rather incongruous. It is all so utterly, utterly spectacularly wonderful.
We spent the night in a ger camp which was very cosy. The 'road' to get there was interesting and very challenging. I have told you before that Mongolia has almost no roads or traffic outside UB. What it has are tracks of varying descriptions. They are truly appalling to drive on..We average about 20 mph. The holes catch you out along with the corrugations, massive dips and drops, the loose stones,the dust; all are there trying their best to break your car. Cars are falling by the wayside all the time. One car was having a repair done at a small workshop and Julie was invited into the family ger. Many of the gers have solar power and a satellite and this was one such. She said that there was a flat screen television showing X factor! She was slightly nervous as Mongolian hospitality is legendary and she heard the clatter of pots from behind the ger. Fortunately, the car was fixed before any local delicacy could be served. The other thing that we have to be careful of are the dogs. Every ger has a large, healthy, almost wolf like dog outside it. Rabies is endemic here and the dogs are known to be vicious and unpredictable. WE have been told that if we get bitten we will be sent home. Even after being vaccinated early treatment is essential. The vaccine just buys you more time. It is not possible for our medics to carry the necessary treatment as it needs to be kept refrigerated. We are all very wary about the dogs because of this. Some look as if they can hardly be bothered to move but we are taking no chances.
After a comfortable night in the ger, which we shared with another couple, we set off very early for our next camp. What a day. Shocking driving conditions made it all very hard going. The car, and us were jolted and thrown about in an exhausting way. We had a couple of river crossings, one fairly interesting one saw some cars having to be towed out but our brave little car made it through without difficulty. We had a puncture, no big deal really but some cars suffered dreadfully. You cannot begin to imagine how difficult it all was. All this was set to a backdrop of outstanding natural beauty. Vista after vista of ever changing fabulousness. And all under a sky of the most intense blue imaginable. On the approach to one ridge we could see mountains rising like the sun on the horizon ans as we reached the summit a massive plain ringed by spectacular peaks left us both speechless. All is made lovelier by the odd ger, the lovely herds of yaks, the eagle just sitting by the path and looking at us, the buzzard circling over a dead animal, the odd nomad on his horse waving madly, the emptiness. Just wonderful. But, what a difficult a day it was. We arrived at the camp almost shell shocked from it all as did the others that were not broken on the road side.
The temperature dropped dramatically that night and we were all freezing despite having all the best camping equipment. It was difficult to sleep it was so cold. Everyone felt the same and yet, another very difficult day was ahead of us. After a bowl of delicious porridge for breakfast off we set.
We had been told that this day was not so difficult. This was obviously a ruse to make us not feel too despondent. It was even worse than the day before. By the end of it, those of us left, were emotionally and physically exhausted. We had had another puncture and, at the tyre place in the village near our camp, we met one of the other crews, Jorg and Rene. They had been getting some repairs done too. They told us there was a hotel in town and they had booked some rooms and did we want one. By this time we had been driving for 12 hours to cover only 200 miles. It was dark, the camp was another 30kms away. Well, what do you think we did? The hotel was very welcoming and clean and the water was hot. We decide that they were not quite ready for their star rating assessment but it felt like the Ritz to all of us. They even managed to find something yummy for us all to eat at very short notice.
Today, day 9, our journey has been even more spectacular, if that is possible. Not quite so wearing as the previous two days as we only had to deal with soft sand, corrugations, unexpected holes and dips, getting stuck, rough stones and getting a little lost. The backdrop to all of this was some of the most truly awe inspiring landscape it is possible to imagine. We travelled for over 200 hundred miles and the only dwellings were three gers. The Gobi is not a desert of sand dunes like the Sahara but there is one part where it is all sand dunes and we could see that today in the distance with a fabulous golden glow. We saw one madly waving Nomad with a shotgun with not so much as a horse in sight for him to have got there. I have no idea what he was hunting for. There were no animals of any description, no trees, just vast plains and mountains and us. I cannot describe the wonder of it. I am sitting on the running board of the car typing this before we have supper. Unlike some, I do not have a satellite and so cannot post but I just wanted to get some thoughts down. The last few days have been so challenging and yet so truly amazing. Cars are failing all around us, but our little Model A, along with the rest of the 'A' team are all surviving this real endurance rally. We have three more nights in Mongolia. It is hard to imagine what else will be thrown at us but one thing that will endure is our memory of this totally fabulous country. We are camping at Teel River tonight in the middle of a vast, unbelievably vast plateau with nothing but wonderful nature around us. It is starting to get very cold and all around crews are attending to their cars. Many have major problems and have not even been able to get this far but, for now and until Paris, we hope, car 29 remains in the rally.. We have a radiator leak that A is attending to and other minor problems. We got stuck in some soft sand on an incline today but luckily there were a couple of crews watching as they had been stuck also and they soon came to help and we were on our way. The phrase, 'we are all in this together has been captured by the Conservative Party but there really is a feeling here that we are all together in the face of adversity and all help one another. It is draining, emotionally and physically as all the best adventures are but we are truly having the drive of our lives. I just hope that the car can stand it. So far, it is proving a brave performer. I just hope that it lasts.
Navigation here is challenging too. It is not just the driver having a hard time. As I have said there are no roads or landmarks. As the tracks erode other tracks are made to the side and, sometimes, W there can be dozens to choose from and they can be spread over a very wide area. We have our gps and tulip maps and navigate using waypoints. It is amazing how the tracks seem to disappear from view and it is easy to choose the wrong one and be diverging quite badly without realising it. You have to be constantly vigilant and checking with the gps and the total and intermediate distances. Sometimes, on the tulip book the only marker is a dip, hole. But Mongolian tracks are really just a series of holes with a few bits of connecting earth or sand like a piece lace material. We are absolutely loving Mongolia though, despite the hardships. We knew it would be arduous, although had not realised just how hard it would be. It is a wonderful thing to be seeing this massive, empty, stunning country by driving right across it. We really feel like pioneers as very few people will ever see Mongolia as we have. It is hard to imagine any other country that we pass through exceeding this one.
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