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Very nice photos :thumbup1:
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https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-k...2/DSCF3873.JPG
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-8...2/DSCF3876.JPG https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-d...2/DSCF3879.JPG https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-3...2/DSCF3881.JPG https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-j...2/DSCF3889.JPG https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-I...2/DSCF3890.JPG https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-z...2/DSCN0939.JPG https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-X...2/DSCN0943.JPG |
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-9...2/DSCN0944.JPG
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-F...2/DSCN0945.JPG https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-a...2/DSCN0946.JPG https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-W...2/DSCN0947.JPG In 10 minutes everything happens: we are in the middle of nowhere, in the mountains, it starts raining (it stops shortly after, fortunately), we get lost in a stony track, and the odometer/speedometer breaks. https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-B...2/DSCF3896.JPG https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-I...2/DSCN0948.JPG We go back on our feet, taking a different track from the one we had entered before, and we find a man on a horse who we ask for directions. Making a gesture with his hand, he tells us that we have to cross the mountain in front of us and then get off, but it's not easy to understand even if it is better to do this by passing on the right or on the left: there are tracks in both directions https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-P...2/DSCN0949.JPG https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-P...2/DSCN0950.JPG |
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https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/--...2/DSCF3912.JPG
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-V...2/DSCF3913.JPG https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-E...2/DSCF3916.JPG https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-F...2/DSCF3919.JPG Tole ondulee, corrugations, washboard: call it as you want but it is never enjoyable https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-n...2/DSCN0994.JPG https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-0...2/DSCN0998.JPG We don't know how many kms we have done and the day was pretty tiring, Sabrina is tired and so I am, so I tell her to get off the bike and ask how far we are from Khovd to some people standing on the roadside. They indicate the pass a little more forward, smiling; it seems they are saying that we will see the city from up there. Not yet convinced, we ask "how many kms?" They look at each other, smile, and indicate "5" with their hand; now sure to be close, we smile too ... https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-F...2/DSCN1004.JPG Khovd, at the end of this descent https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-3...2/DSCN1005.JPG |
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-H...2/DSCF3923.JPG
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-R...2/DSCF3926.JPG https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-4...2/DSCF3928.JPG https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-u...2/DSCF3932.JPG https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-k...2/DSCF3936.JPG https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-j...2/DSCN1007.JPG https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-3...2/DSCN1009.JPG A guy on a bike stops to greet us at the entrance of the city: he also rides two up https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-l...2/DSCN1010.JPG |
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https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-i...2/DSCN1020.JPG
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-X...2/DSCN1021.JPG https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-r...2/DSCN1023.JPG https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-j...2/DSCN1024.JPG We try to find a Ger camp to sleep in, we don't find it, it's pretty late and we are tired, so we go to a hotel, dinner in the room ... https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-u...2/DSCF3950.JPG 7/8/2014 https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-B...2/DSCF3954.JPG There is also a monastery in Khovd, not ancient but always fascinating https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-_...2/DSCN1033.JPG https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-b...2/DSCN1035.JPG |
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-X...2/DSCN1046.JPG
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-S...2/DSCN1047.JPG https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-n...2/DSCN1050.JPG The first 176 kms from Khovd to Altai City are paved ... https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-u...2/DSCN1054.JPG https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-l...2/DSCN1056.JPG https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-q...2/DSCN1059.JPG https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-t...2/DSCN1063.JPG ... then suddenly, in the middle of nowhere, the asphalt ends, as if they had begun to pave starting from the city and stopped at random, when the material was finished, wherever it was https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-6...2/DSCN1066.JPG |
...and this starts...
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-o...2/DSCN1068.JPG https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-i...2/DSCN1069.JPG https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-T...2/DSCN1071.JPG https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-0...2/DSCN1077.JPG https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-2...2/DSCF3955.JPG https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-c...2/DSCF3957.JPG https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-f...2/DSCF3958.JPG https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-j...2/DSCF3962.JPG |
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-U...2/DSCF3965.JPG
I've never used a gps in my life, not because I have some aversion towards the object, but much more simply because I never needed one. After we lost ouselves the day before in search of Khovd, and having the odometer/speedometer broken, in the evening I verified if the app that I had downloaded on my media player would work: yes, we have a gps. Not having anything to hold it on the bike, I keep it in my pocket and start to check the position during photo/cigarette breaks. https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-y...2/DSCF3969.JPG https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-s...2/DSCF3971.JPG https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-6...2/DSCF3972.JPG https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-5...2/DSCF3973.JPG https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-L...2/DSCF3977.JPG https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-h...2/DSCF3978.JPG |
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-t...2/DSCF3979.JPG
We are on a side track, the one to the left, the GPS says we are a bit more north than the track marked on the OSM map I had downloaded in Italy, but I don't care because I think it's normal it is not perfectly accurate. The tracks in Mongolia are generally composed of many parallel tracks, which all go in the same direction; usually the outer ones are the ones with less tole ondulee. Checking the GPS ... https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-R...2/DSCF3980.JPG https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-Q...2/DSCF3981.JPG It's a long time since we met anyone, so check again... https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-3...2/DSCF3983.JPG We are still further to the north, too much. It's a long time since we saw the last car. I compare the gps track with the map and look through the binocular toward the south: the error is evident, we are 10-13 kms north of the main track. We managed to lose ourselves even using the gps, good. We have 2 choices: go back or ride through the steppe. The ground is hard, let'go for the steppe. https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-P...2/DSCF3984.JPG https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-f...2/DSCF3985.JPG We reach what appears to be the main road and we verify: the gps says it is the right one, and he's right https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-b...2/DSCF3992.JPG Also buses pass here ... https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-W...2/DSCF3995.JPG |
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-l...2/DSCF4006.JPG
It begins to be late afternoon when we see a few small buildings and some gers. We decide that the day has been long enough and stop here. We ask permission and they show us to mount our tent next to the first building. https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-0...2/DSCF4008.JPG https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-g...2/DSCF4009.JPG Mongols are curious... https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-V...2/DSCF4010.JPG https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-l...2/DSCF4011.JPG https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-H...2/DSCF4013.JPG In the truck parked nearby travels a french girl, by herself, hitchhiking, we talk a bit before they left https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-g...2/DSCF4016.JPG https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-5...2/DSCF4019.JPG |
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