I survived the Gobi

An update - its now 10 days since I left Ulan Baator and in that time I (in company of two Swiss motorcyclists David and Claudia) have been down to the southern Gobi Desert getting as close as 100km to the Chinese border at one point.

[caption id="attachment_433" align="aligncenter" width="480" caption="David and Claudia (and serious dirt road bikes)"][/caption]

 

 

Its been 10 days of mainly bush camping and dirt roads, tracks and on many occasions more sand and gravel than I care to think about.  Some of the toughest riding I've ever done - the bike has been on its side about twenty times - but I (and it) are still in one piece and in return have seen scenery one can normally only dream about.  In places I've been riding in sand dunes that went up to 3oom high (and the 20 km to cross them was one of the toughest parts for me) and in other places up in the mountains passing through narrow rock strewn passes or on high mountain plains.  I've been invited into shepard Gers and fed and shown wonderful hospitality, been camping at the snow line with some nights well below freezing but then at other times when you dive back down into the valleys its quite warm and at one point we were at a genuine oasis with apple trees growing in the middle of the very desolate desert.  All in all a fantastic set of memories - and without the generosity of  David and Claudia  letting me ride with them it wouldn't have been possible; much of this has been seriously desolate area with small villages over a 100 km apart and only a few nomadic Mongolians in between.  In the last few days we have averaged seeing only one car/truck a day (though a few more small motorbikes the locals use for transport) outside the villages so you really have to look after yourselves.

The plans from here are to spend another 4-5 days in Mongolia exploring a little of the middle  before exiting back into Russia before the end of the month so that I have enough time to cross the rest of that huge country before my visa runs out (October 20th)

Here are some photo's I took during the last few days - not as many or as varied or as ordered as I would like as much of the time we were so full on riding and stops for photo's were limited - also I'm sending it from an Internet cafe in the small town of Altay - which is the first access I've had and I haven't had any chance to to really sort through the ones I have and format them.

[caption id="attachment_434" align="aligncenter" width="480" caption="Typical dirt roads - they go everywhere - but which is the one you want?"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_435" align="aligncenter" width="480" caption="Eenie, meenie, minie, mo: most will come together at some point - but not always and you can suddenly find yourself heading up the wrong valley or pass."][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_436" align="aligncenter" width="480" caption="Typicl small village - first they were 20-30kms apart but as we got further into the Gobi you were lucky if it was one every 100km. All had water and most had fuel so we filled up regularly. Fuel was only 80 octane though - but bike ran fine on it (albeit using quite a bit more than usual)"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_437" align="aligncenter" width="480" caption="A lot of the Gobi is gravel rather than sand desert. Parts of it, like this were easy to ride on, albeit there were frequent very rough wash-outs caused by the summer rains (which are heaviest in July and August so we missed them) to slow your progress and keep you on your toes. Also in some parts it was heavily currogated really shaking up you and the bike."][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_438" align="aligncenter" width="480" caption="Sand - my first view of my least favourite surface. Two hundred kilos of bike plus luggage plus a rider with limited experience of it is not always a stable combination.  They say the secret is to keep the power on - unfortunately this can also be a recipe for crashing at a faster speed!  Overall though I was pleased how I managed it - and how much better I quickly became."][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_439" align="aligncenter" width="480" caption="We did some tourist things - this is a ruined monastry in the middle of nowhere."][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_441" align="aligncenter" width="480" caption="And these are the "Flaming Cliffs" so named because of the way the sun lights them up at sunset (we weren't there then). This is also the area where most of the large dinosaur fossils (which Mongolia is famous for) were found."][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_442" align="aligncenter" width="480" caption="And a photo to prove I really was there - this must have been quite early into the trip; neither I or bike or too dusty yet."][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_443" align="aligncenter" width="480" caption="Eight of the ten nights we camped out - it was the only option."][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_444" align="aligncenter" width="480" caption="This campsite was really beautiful - in among sand dunes (but riding in and out was a nightmare!)"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_445" align="aligncenter" width="404" caption="But it could be cold at night - thats thick ice all over the top of my tent. I was glad I decided to buy a good sleeping bag for this trip."][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_446" align="aligncenter" width="480" caption="For David and Claudia the major foicus of this part of their trip was to ride the sand dunes of Khongor Ells - Mongolia's largest and up to 200m high. For me they gave a sense of dread! In front of the dunes was a Tourist Ger Camp where we spent two nights - the first to have a shower after 4 days riding and the second because the local village was out of fuel and we had to wait for a delivery."][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_447" align="aligncenter" width="480" caption="And this is what a tourist Ger looks like inside. Very comfortable. The camp also had a restaurant so for two days I didn't need to rely on my one pot cooking."][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_448" align="aligncenter" width="480" caption="And this is what the dunes looked like when you were on them - I only had 20 km of these to cross!"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_449" align="aligncenter" width="361" caption="Riders eye view - looked pretty when stopped. When moving it was hold the throttle open hang on and try and point the bike in the right general direction. Actually once you were up to speed it was generally OK - the trouble was getting there, turning and slowing for obstructions. Lets just say there were a few exciting moments and a few falls."][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_450" align="aligncenter" width="480" caption="After the falls we moved into hillier and rockier country."][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_451" align="aligncenter" width="480" caption="Here the surface was sometimes ball bearing shaped gravel - when it was thick riding on it suddenly made sand look really attractive (and sand was softer to land on)."][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_452" align="aligncenter" width="480" caption="But the scenery was continually stunning - none of these photo's do it justice."][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_453" align="aligncenter" width="480" caption="For the last few days we moved into serious high country - a lot of the time near the snow line (and occasionally above) - which is around 2400m."][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_454" align="aligncenter" width="480" caption="And here is the bike (just) above the snow line."]

[/caption]

This is a shot of Burgus Oasis - a genuine oasis in a desert.  The trees in the middle ground are an apple orchard fed by a spring on a sand plain surrounded by mountains. The people harvesting the apples were lovely and wanted to give us huge quantities of them - but with the bikes we could only take a few.  Sorry I don't have a better photo.

 

[caption id="attachment_456" align="aligncenter" width="480" caption="The people everywhere were really friendly.   Whenever you stopped you were surrounded by people who were fascinated by the bikes and who poked and pushed at everything - switches were always in a different place at the end of a stop.  No malice - just natural curiosity for something new.  Kids of course loved to clamber on the bikes."][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_457" align="aligncenter" width="480" caption="This is a nomad family herding sheep and goats  that we met high in the mountains. The middle of nowhere.  It must be a hard life but the Ger was well set up; solar panel, satellite TV. They insisted we come in and fed us a beautiful lunch of stir fried mutton washed down with fermented goats (sheeps?) milk. They also gave us cookies made of the same milk - which had a very distinctive flavour!"][/caption]

Hope you've enjoyed the photo's.  I'll try and post a few more of the people soon as I realise as I put this together I have concentrated too much on scenery - the people really were so friendly and welcoming they are going to be the long term memory.