This update was typed sitting in a tent while it rained…

Although I gave myself one more day in UB, news of VERY bad roads leading to the big Gengis statue along with thunderstorms meant that I just spent an evening into the city and back again with a view to rest up to leave the next morning.





With rain forecast in Ulan-Batar for 11am, I wanted to get out by 930am but as always, slowly getting through breakfast and packing turned that into 1030am.

I had hoped that I would miss peak hour traffic by leaving a little late however some traffic light failures meant the main road out of UB was bumper to bumper with 15km taking almost an hour!



Once out, I decided to stop for lunch however the problem I’m facing in Mongolia is even though I can read most things, I don’t know what they are!

Thankfully, some guys in the café helped me order a dish of grilled meat and veg topped with egg; delicious!



Luckily, a passing thunderstorm also rolled through while I was eating. Unfortunately I didn’t brush the seat off before getting on so enjoyed a good hour or so with damp jeans after that

The plan for the day was to do 370km to Kharkorin, the site of Gengis Khans capital, however I decided not to push it and find a place to stay about 100km before. This would also mean that my following day would be an even 200km instead of a shorter 100km to Tsterleg.

Whilst the road is paved, it doesn’t really allow for much more than 70-80kmh due to the quality of the road and a LOT of potholes to be dodged.
This slow pace meant I was able to take in some of the scenery as well as see the wildlife; sheep, horses and bactrian camels!











When I got to my intended place to stay for the night; a “tourist camp”, I was a little shocked to hear they wanted $165 for a night!!! The manager came down and offered to knock it down to $115… yeah nah

A quick check on iOverlander showed a great place to camp 2km back. So, camping it was.

In front of the tourist camp there was a 24 hour café and toilet. So, a delicious dinner for less than $5 and a place for breakfast as well as a toilet in the morning! Perfect!

The campsite wasn’t hard to find but it was only after setting up that I realised that I probably should have gone in a little further from the road (about 100m at the moment) .. will do that better next time







Ever since I packed my bags in Sydney I was wondering what was the point of carrying all this camping and cooking gear… I think that question got answered today

Now just to hope this rain is another passing sprinkle and tomorrow is a bright and sunny day to head on to see the Erdene Zu Monastery at Kharkorin and onwards to Tseterleg!

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Exploring the world by GSXR; www.7days1shower.com

Nice Reading,looks like your having a blast

A bit of a sleepless night but surprisingly I woke up well rested! It rained through the night and a slight drizzle in the morning but cleared up enough so that I didn’t have to pack away wet gear



By 9am I was all packed and first stop was the café 2km down for a hearty breakfast and using their toilets to brush my teeth!





On the road, the scenery was quite nice although it was necessary to be vigilant to look out for wild animals but also a LOT of potholes.



As my research proved though, it was entirely paved all the way through to Kharkorin!

At Kharkorin, I stopped to see the Erdene Zuu Monastery which is the oldest in Monglia but more to my interest, it is the last remnants at the site of the Old Mongolian capital of Karakorum built by Gengis Khan.









It was also interested to see how far Mongol influence reached as till now I had only heard the name Karakorum with reference to the Karakorum Highway in Pakistan!

At the monastery, I was also lucky enough to see some Nadaam games!

Nadaam is a national festival which goes form 11-15 July. The original plan was to get into Mongolia to catch this somewhere but I fell a little short; so this was extremely exciting. Furthermore, I also got to hear some throat singing!







Back on the road towards Tseterleg for the night stay, it continued to be paved but the quality seems to be deteriorating. Tomorrow I plan to do another 200-300 and may camp again but all depends on the weather and road surface!

Mongolians love posing on the bike!

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Exploring the world by GSXR; www.7days1shower.com

A short day but good day from Tseterleg to Khorog; 170km

I was a bit disappointed with the stay in Tseterleg; place was touted to be an overlanders oasis but just lacked big time in customer service

Leaving Tseterleg





Once on the road, I found myself stopping to get some photos as the landscape was changing for the better. Even got the drone out twice although being like the 3rd time ever I’ve used it, my skills are quite lacking

Potholes galore















The slow pace also suited me as my right hand wrist is starting to hurt at the point where the pressure lies when sitting on the throttle. Will take some painkillers tomorrow and see how that goes

Also bottomed our the bike for the first time on a particularly big hole in an unpaved section but thankfully no damage; guessing it was the header pipes that hit...

Arriving in Khorog I’ve come across the most beautiful place to stay as recommended by Yosuke who was here yesterday

An option to put my tent up or a bed in a ger for an extra $5 ... I took the ger

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An amazing days ride from Khorgo to Tosontsengel

But it didn’t start that way. In my newfound excitement to use the drone I decided to get a video of the ger camp before leaving

Unfortunately right after taking off, I was looking down at the display and backed it right into my face

Bit painful but from there on the day was bound to be better!

Mostly great asphalt with the exception of a couple of small patches of light off-road

I’ll let the pictures do the talking!

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Exploring the world by GSXR; www.7days1shower.com

A TOUGH day and an unexpected twist that almost put my Mongolia crossing to an end.

Tosontsengel was a bit of a dusty dump of a town and the “best” hotel in town matched. I wasn’t even sure if I was going to get a meal for dinner so when I came down to the café I was surprised to see an Australian couple sitting there! Although they were just as surprised to see me there out in the middle of nowhere



Turns out they were on their honeymoon and had bought horses to ride across Mongolia, except the horses ran away after 4 days. Then they bought a camel…which also ran away, so now they were just hitchhiking their way across.

Then to add to the mix another girl showed up, traveling solo, hitchhiking across the country!

Some people call me crazy for riding a motorcycle here but there’s a lot more crazy out there!

There was also a young Mongolian boy there who had been born and raised in London and was on holidays with his grandparents driving across the country which made for some good conversation.



Now I knew in advance from Yosuke who is one day ahead of me on his little Honda Monkey that there was about 60km unpaved today.

Once I hit the road, the asphalt was so nice for the first 120km that I knew there had to be some tough unpaved ahead since Yosuke hadn’t reached the city of Uliastai till evening!





And right on cue, the road stopped, blocked for construction which means you go off into the wide open steppe.



To be honest, using the trails on the steppe is not so bad since if one is bad, you just switch to another. The difficulty lies in making sure the trail you take isn’t leading off elsewhere











What really hurts me (and the bike) and is also time consuming is being back on the “in progress” road which is littered with potholes ranging from big to HUGE. And then the whole thing is corrugated just to rattle things a bit more.

So as I covered 60km slowly over 3 hours I climbed up the small Zagastay Pass only to suddenly see vehicles backed up with trucks blocking the road.
As I got off, I was being told that the road is closed; how can that be?

Thankfully there was a woman there from one of the cars that helped translate for me with the construction worker.

Hadn’t I been told by anyone that the road was closed? Well..no

It was published in the newspaper since June 20 that this road would be closing … again, I didn’t know, plus my Japanese friend just came through here yesterday

Ok no, there has been an accident here last night and since then the road is closed, if I have a problem with it, I can go back to the last town and speak to the police.

I tried pleading via my translator that I didn’t have enough fuel to use the 200km detour he was suggesting (who even knows what kind of road it is or even where it is?!). I tried pleading I didn’t have enough food or water, I am hungry and thirsty, please I just want to pass and rest. No deal.

He started saying the road was very bad and there was heavy machinery ahead, what if I had an accident or got run over by the machinery, who would be responsible then?

Clearly this guy was not one to be reasoned with so I decided to just take a step back since all the other Mongolians were trying to bargain with this guy too.

Suddenly; the lady said to me, ok quick, lets go, he said go!! I thanked her profusely and jumped on the bike and carried on.



The blockade opens!



I was getting so stressed thinking, ok, if I have to go back, I am just going to find a truck to take me towards the Russian border. I am so deep into the country now that any other roads up here are simply not going to be passable by me. But I got through!

And what would you know, the road pretty much remained the same and I saw maybe one bulldozer…clearly a guy on a power trip

That being said, it does seem this road will be closed going forward which will make a huge impact to overlanders using this route!

It was slow going from there with lots and lots of potholes. I kept checking the GPS to see how far I was. Average speed was maybe 20kmh.





As I neared a city, I started to rejoice…but too soon. Again the roads were closed off and I had to cross a river 3 times just outside the city!

The first time it was only ankle deep, the 2nd through mud but the last I was so worried about as it was knee deep.

I watched a Prius ahead of me struggle and get through, nearly getting bogged in the mud at the exit.

I hesitated and was scared…the Mongolians on the other side beckoned me to come through

Ok, Leeroy Jenkins, lets do this! I powered through riding the clutch in first with no idea if it was mud or rock under me and praying I didn’t get bogged.

But somehow the bike powered through, grabbing traction with those meaty tyres; I think the surface was silt! I love these tyres…



I booked myself into a hotel tonight paying about double what I’ve been paying last few nights ($32 for tonight) but I really needed a hot shower after 3 days, a good bed and some Wifi to unwind.

Tomorrow is going to be a much bigger day with 200km of the stuff I did only 60km of today expected.

But, I have some company tomorrow as Yosuke has stayed back a day so we can tackle this supposedly tough section together.

A GSXR and Monkey taking on Mongolia; I need all the luck I can get!

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Exploring the world by GSXR; www.7days1shower.com