2017/08/16

Day 18: Tosontsengel - Tsetserleg

Time is running. The days are full of impressions, encounters, landscapes, search for roads, search for food, search for accommodation ...

I guess I can not make it to Ulaanbator in the planned time. Even if I'm only one day behind my schedule, I will have to decide soon about my route, depending on what my friends' plan to do. 

We're very slow on these roads and Sara is not doing well, she's feeling quite sick. And of course the recent days were very hard for her, even more than for us guys. But she's really brave. Really a tough person!

In the morning we increase the air pressure of the tires again. We've been told, that there will no sand anymore, only tarmac. We take breakfast in the restaurant, where we had lunchtime yesterday.

On the way we meet two older French cyclists, who rode to Mongolia from Brest via the Pamir Highway in 16 months - impressive.

Today we ride about 350 km again. A great route through wonderful landscapes with beautiful views. There are many critters on the road, among other things. also wonderfully shaggy yaks. We are going through a sort of quarantine station where we have to pay 1000 Tugrik for a lady, who sprays something on the tires of our bikes.

We stop with the view to a big party, a wedding. People invited us to join the wedding, but we don't want to make a big show and we still have some distance to ride.

Insertion: The Mongols are always also very interested in our motorbikes, because they themselves are grown up with bikes, which I have - I believe - already mentioned. But of course, they ride either without a helmet or with a kind of construction helmet, which can then fall down in the wind when riding, so they are not really a protection.

Tonight, we have hamburger with fries and salad in the Australian-run Fairfield, which is next to our hotel. The hotel is again modest, and would be in need of some more cleaning and repairs. Parking costs extra and also the showers are unreasonably expensive - so we all take only a short shower in the room of Sara and Dan, which has a shower. Soon I have to find a laundry, to wash by hand will not help anymore for some clothes.