On the 16th Of August I drove up thу easten side of Lake Bikal. I drove up with Tanya a girl I had met in Ulan-ude hostel. We left late morning and by lunch time had our first veiw of the lake.
Just the sheer size of it is just incredable with it holding 15% of the worlds fresh water. With the waves rolling onto the shore and even a slight tyde mark in the sand but yet we were standing by a lake.
We arived in the Natinal park late evening.
With a clear sky we camped on the beach right next to the lake. Even better there were NO mosquitos.
Sunday 21 August 2011
Sunday 14 August 2011
as i trundled along the road to Ulan-ude
As I trundled along the road to Ulan-ude I came across some more great people chasing their dreams:
The first was a young German girl cycling from Irkutsk in Russia to Ulaanbaatar in Mongolia!
The second was these two guys driving a British ambulance from London to Mongolia for charity with the intention of donating it when they arrive in Ulaanbaatar.
out of Mongolia and back to Russia
Saying goodbye to Mongolia……
……..and hello to Russia for the 3rd time.
Well as far as feelings go it was strange to say it felt a little like going home. I can’t really explain it but I suppose it was just going back to a familiar ground and a language I’m slowly beginning to understand.
But all I will say it felt good to be back and on to the next step of the adventure.
It was a mountainous drive on route to Ulan-ude but it was more than clear I was back in Russia.
Friday 12 August 2011
Finaly......
Ok so hear I am in Irkutsk Russia....
First of all I really need to apologize for the lack no contact over the last... well long time. I am still alive and going strong. Over the next couple of weeks I will make my way up to Magadan at the end of the road of bones.
I will give you all a long drawn out story soon so keep an eye out. So for Now I will say this:
Mongolia:
Mongolia has been amazing but very demanding. The roads are non existant and are just dirt tracks with some being really hard to drive with not being able to do more than 30mph so over the day not realy managing to cover much mileage.
I have lost count of the river crossings I have had to do one on the 2nd day when I was with the French cars took us 2-3 hours to cross due to trying to find a safe place to cross.
It has been a lot of fun but just tiring. It is all worth it with the endless beauty and changing landscapes, Mongolia is just a magical place to be. I have been doing most of my shopping in the local markets so it has been fairly easy to carry food ECT... I've kept all water and fuel topped up but had no real problems along those lines. I suppose the first issue came when I met the two German bikers that I had met in Russia the day before I crossed the Mongolian border. They waved me down and asked me to camp the night with them, as I was in no hurry to be anywhere I agreed. It was nice sitting around exchanging adventure stories. It was a little windy that day but I had no Idea what was about to come.
It was mid afternoon when I decided to put the tent up, I had just finished when I turned to see what looked like a 200ft wall of sand heading my way! I didn’t have time to do anything but grab hold of the Landy… The sand storm hit hard and fast, the cover to my tent was blown into the dust cloud along with one of the German’s tent! I had never seen anything like it before in my life! When it eased up we were able to go and see what we could recover! The only thing I lost was the cover to the ladder extension!
It was heading towards Ulaanbaatar when I got two flat tyres a day apart with the 2nd being the new one… so you can imagine how that impressed me! Well when I got to Ulaanbaatar I managed to get one tyre repaired (the new one) but the other old one cant be repaired due to the damage but I'm not to worried an the mo as I have one spare and may look into getting another in Russia for when I do the road of bones as all tyres will have to be replaced anyway when I get to Canada.
I only meant to stay in Ulaanbaatar a couple of nights but ended staying about a week due to meeting some great people. I really wish I could name all names but I thing I would be hear all night. But I have to say Thank you to the Oasis café and guesthouse for a wonderful stay, the perfect place for overlanders. All the bikers out there you all are great fun! Of course to the London to Mongolia ambulances all place crazy and a great butch I had a few good nights with you all. The other guests of the Oasis and to David in the Jersey land rover and Andy in the Australian Nissan Patrol both whom I spent most of my time with.
It’s finally time to head for the Russian border…….
Goodbye Mongolia, Thank you for my time in your amazing landscape……
First of all I really need to apologize for the lack no contact over the last... well long time. I am still alive and going strong. Over the next couple of weeks I will make my way up to Magadan at the end of the road of bones.
I will give you all a long drawn out story soon so keep an eye out. So for Now I will say this:
Mongolia:
Mongolia has been amazing but very demanding. The roads are non existant and are just dirt tracks with some being really hard to drive with not being able to do more than 30mph so over the day not realy managing to cover much mileage.
I have lost count of the river crossings I have had to do one on the 2nd day when I was with the French cars took us 2-3 hours to cross due to trying to find a safe place to cross.
It has been a lot of fun but just tiring. It is all worth it with the endless beauty and changing landscapes, Mongolia is just a magical place to be. I have been doing most of my shopping in the local markets so it has been fairly easy to carry food ECT... I've kept all water and fuel topped up but had no real problems along those lines. I suppose the first issue came when I met the two German bikers that I had met in Russia the day before I crossed the Mongolian border. They waved me down and asked me to camp the night with them, as I was in no hurry to be anywhere I agreed. It was nice sitting around exchanging adventure stories. It was a little windy that day but I had no Idea what was about to come.
It was mid afternoon when I decided to put the tent up, I had just finished when I turned to see what looked like a 200ft wall of sand heading my way! I didn’t have time to do anything but grab hold of the Landy… The sand storm hit hard and fast, the cover to my tent was blown into the dust cloud along with one of the German’s tent! I had never seen anything like it before in my life! When it eased up we were able to go and see what we could recover! The only thing I lost was the cover to the ladder extension!
It was heading towards Ulaanbaatar when I got two flat tyres a day apart with the 2nd being the new one… so you can imagine how that impressed me! Well when I got to Ulaanbaatar I managed to get one tyre repaired (the new one) but the other old one cant be repaired due to the damage but I'm not to worried an the mo as I have one spare and may look into getting another in Russia for when I do the road of bones as all tyres will have to be replaced anyway when I get to Canada.
I only meant to stay in Ulaanbaatar a couple of nights but ended staying about a week due to meeting some great people. I really wish I could name all names but I thing I would be hear all night. But I have to say Thank you to the Oasis café and guesthouse for a wonderful stay, the perfect place for overlanders. All the bikers out there you all are great fun! Of course to the London to Mongolia ambulances all place crazy and a great butch I had a few good nights with you all. The other guests of the Oasis and to David in the Jersey land rover and Andy in the Australian Nissan Patrol both whom I spent most of my time with.
It’s finally time to head for the Russian border…….
Goodbye Mongolia, Thank you for my time in your amazing landscape……
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)