August 22nd - September 2nd (Day 42 - Day 53): Olgii to Khovd

August 22nd (Day 42, 12km): We rode our bikes out to the airport to "pick up" Anna and Tyler (Chris' sister and brother-in-law). We put their bikes into working order at the airport (with at least one curious airport employee lending a hand) and rode back to the hotel. There we gawked at all the western goodies (mostly food) that Anna and Tyler brought for us.

From Olgii to Khovd

August 23rd (Day 43, 33km): Before heading out onto the road in the morning, we enjoyed our final Olgii meal at the Bluewolf Cafe. Luxurious 'American breakfasts' are rare in Western Mongolia so we took our time and ate as much as we could. The road out of Olgii was in good shape (it's the main road connecting Olgii and Khovd) but gains considerable elevation.

From Olgii to Khovd

August 24th (Day 44, 50km): We continued on the main (Olgii-Khovd) road to the town of Tolbo.
When the four of us entered town we got a lot of attention from the local kids. We were unsure if this extra attention was because we are now a bigger group, or if the kids in this town are friendlier than other towns. Probably a combination of both. After searching around a bit, Krystil got a group of kids to show us where the town well was. The kids were excited to help fill up our water containers. Chris started to pump only to be moved out of the way by several kids who insisted he was doing it wrong. A bit later Krystil returned into the pumphouse to take a photo of the water pumping party but found out that one of the smallest kids had been left to do all the work on his own while everybody else was outside to watch the tourists. We left the main road at Tolbo and continued a bit towards Deluun before setting up camp.

From Olgii to Khovd

From Olgii to Khovd

August 25th (Day 45, 65km): A big day of biking! The roads have been quite good allowing for easy progress. We made it over another pass, and camped shortly before the next pass.

August 26th (Day 46, 39km): After biking over the third pass we headed down into the town of Deluun. As we ate lunch inside a crowd of kids gathered around our bikes. Just like in Tolbo they followed us around town as we did our shopping. By the time we left we had quite the fan club. We camped next to a stream a small distance from town; quite a treat after spending so many nights camping without water nearby!

From Olgii to Khovd

August 27th (Day 47, 30km): We made it into a beautiful canyon that follows the Buyant gol (river). Just as we were approaching Krystil's rack was in need of urgent repair. As we began to fix it, two motorcyclists stopped to visit. Most Mongolians are very interested in (and some are quite skilled at) fixing vehicles. They insisted we were doing it wrong, but after we completed the repair they gave us their reserved approval.

From Olgii to Khovd

August 28th (Day 48, 23km): The main branch of the road we were following left the valley we were in at the bend in the river shortly past our previous night's campsite and headed towards the town of Duut. We stayed along the banks of the river on what is marked as a seasonal road on our map. However the route turned out to be just a horse trail for about 15km (we had to push and carry our bikes for most of this). We crossed the river several times before seeing the first ger of the day where the trail turned into a faint road. We were invited into the ger and served some tea, vodka, distilled fermented mare's milk, solid fermented mare's milk, bread sticks, and butter. We continued for a few more kilometres to where the road became better defined and camped.

From Olgii to Khovd

August 29th (Day 49, 63km): We expected the road to follow the river all the way to Khovd, but shortly after our camp the main branch left the valley. We followed this road over a couple big passes before doing a big descent into Khovd. We initially tried to stay at a tourist ger camp a few kilometres before Khovd but seeing as it was mostly closed (they had no food to cook us) we found a good hotel to stay at it town.

From Olgii to Khovd

August 30th (Day 50, 13km): We took most of the day as a rest day. We enjoyed a relaxing breakfast before touring the market and stores. Krystil got a miniature watermelon. We found a vegetarian restaurant that had Illy coffee and enjoyed a small cup each (the first non-instant coffee we have had since Ulaanbaatar). Then, since the hotels were all booked up we biked out to a different tourist ger camp just outside town. The camp was basic (no showers) but it was in a beautiful location. We ordered way too much food for dinner and we could not finish it (except, let the record show, for Chris who finished his portion). We felt bad about returning the uneaten food to the hostess.

From Olgii to Khovd

August 31st (Day 51, 53km): We left most of our luggage in the gers and set off on a day trip on our bikes. We got some views of a large lake (Har Us nuur) and picked up some beer in the nearby town of Buyant. We returned to the ger camp and managed to eat all that we ordered for dinner.

From Olgii to Khovd

September 1st (Day 52, 13km): We lazied around the ger camp for the first half of the day. After we packed up we headed back into town (Khovd). We stopped for a beer with some Mongol Rally drivers staying at a ger camp that had been specially set up to attract Mongol Rally participants. We managed to get rooms in the same hotel we stayed at on August 29th. We went to a nice looking pub for dinner where an Australian music anthropology PhD student helped us order some food (she was doing research in Mongolia and spoke Mongolian).

From Olgii to Khovd

September 2nd (Day 53, 4km): We did the short bicycle ride to the airport. We arrived at the airport about 3 hours before the flight but the LED displays indicated the flight was actually leaving in only 1 hour. This turned out to be false but we still felt rushed at the check-in counter. They happily took our bikes (for the right price of course) without any disassembly. In fact, we suspect they preferred it that way as the ground crew got to ride them to the plane. We wimped out and had our guest house arrange a van to transport us from the Ulaanbaatar airport (the traffic is scary). We put our bikes back into boxes in the guesthouse and went out to eat fancy Ulaanbaatar food.

From Olgii to Khovd

September 3rd-5th (Beijing): We flew to Beijing on the 3rd where we said goodbye to Anna and Tyler after an enjoyable meal at the airport. They stayed in a transit hotel at the airport and flew out the next day while we spent two nights in the city. The next day we failed to get to the Great Wall and instead went to check out the Forbidden City. In comparison to cycling across Mongolia this turned out to be quite dull and we soon left to wander the city in search of Starbucks before returning to our air-conditioned hotel room. The air quality was as bad as the first time we were in Beijing. At times it was raining and when water got into our eyes it burned. We flew out the next day and after a long layover in San Francisco we made it back to Vancouver!

We may put another post up with some of the practical details of our trip if there's any interest. We could discuss what equipment worked and what failed, how to get internet access everywhere in Mongolia for a few cents a day, etc. Let us know in the comments section if this is worth putting together and if you have any interesting questions about the trip.

Photos from this last section of our trip are in the Olgii to Khovd album.

The map of our bike rides (August 22nd to September 2nd) is here (google earth version):


View Larger Map

Quick Update (August 24th, day 44)

Anna and Tyler arrived safely in Olgii and we have now been cycling south for two days. We are currently snuggled up in our sleeping bags about 5km from Tolbo. From here we will head south to Deluun and eventually Hovd.

August 14th - August 21st (day 33-40): Sidetrip to Altai Tavan Bogd

August 14th (day 33, 54km): We had a slow start to allow time for one more big breakfast at the Blue Wolf Cafe before heading off. We made quick progress over a pass as the road was in good shape and we were well rested. The plan was to have a short day and stay at a tourist ger camp in Sagsay (the first town we would pass through). Unfortunately the camp was fully booked by a Chinese tour group. Though the kind staff at the camp offered us a place to sleep in their own apartment, we decided to carry on further and found a nice place to camp.

From Olgii to Altai Tavan Bogd (and back)

August 15th (day 34, 25km): It was chilly when we got up. It got colder as we cycled up a 2600m pass (for reference, Olgii is at 1660m). As we took a quick break at the top it started to snow. On the way down from the pass Krystil's hands got cold and we had to stop a few times to warm them. When we got down to the valley the precipitation had stopped but the temperature was still cold and the clouds were threatening so we decided to pitch the tent by the river. A number of other tents were scattered around the area and we quickly found out that they were harvesting the grasses for winter. After some time of hiding in the tent Chris went to socialize with one group of reapers.

From Olgii to Altai Tavan Bogd (and back)

August 16th (day 35, 59km): The temperatures were still low but the skies had cleared. As we gained elevation heading up a valley we were quickly surrounded in snow. The road was soft and wet from the snow melt but the blanket of snow added beauty to the scenery. The valley was narrow and steep but populated, so we passed in close proximity to many people and gers. As we neared a lake at the top of the valley the snow mysteriously disappeared. After descending from the pass we crossed a park check point at a bridge. From here we began to have great views of snowy mountains which form the border with China.

From Olgii to Altai Tavan Bogd (and back)

August 17th (day 36, 50km): We biked to the south-western shore of Hurgan Nuur. As this is a populated area and not a major through road the route around the lake was difficult to follow. At first we tried to stay high but as the road petered out near a cluster of gers it became apparent that we had chosen the wrong track. We were invited into one of the gers for some tea and snacks before heading off to find the right road. The biking was slow due to the micro terrain in the area (a lot of going up and down over small hills). We eventually made it to within a few kilometres of Syrgali (a bridged narrowing between the Hurgan and Hoton lakes) and found a forested spot to camp. This campsite was the western most point we will reach on this trip.

From Olgii to Altai Tavan Bogd (and back)

August 18th (day 37, 65km): After crossing the bridge at Syrgali we started heading back towards Olgii along a more northerly route than we had come from. The route took us past some interesting graveyards near passes. The road eventually joined Hovd Gol (river) and followed its southern shores. Our maps show the road following the northern shore so we spent some time keeping our eyes open for a crossing. Like other roads that follow major river drainages, this one was quite rocky. We found a nice place to hide our tent in a side valley and only had a couple cows and one nice man on a horse visit us in the evening.

From Olgii to Altai Tavan Bogd (and back)

August 19th (day 38, 65km): We followed the river-side road to Tsengel where we found a good guanz to eat lunch at. We ate buzz: boiled meat dumplings. We limited ourselves to 16 each since we wanted to do some more cycling in the afternoon. As we were leaving town, three young boys on bicycles followed us for some distance. With their lightly loaded bikes they were much faster than us on the soft roads (they must have thought we were pretty out of shape). We made it over a pass to Ulaanhus (where we failed to find an open guanz for dinner). Shortly after Krystil's rear rack broke. We made a temporary repair and camped in the first hidden spot we could find.

From Olgii to Altai Tavan Bogd (and back)

August 20th (day 39, 40km): The road up the next pass turned out to be sandy. We thought this area was too mountainous to have sandy roads. At least since we were heading east (for a change) we now had the prevailing winds in our backs. After pushing and pedalling our bikes over the final pass, we started our descent into Olgii. The power was out in town so we had to content ourselves with cold showers and a limited menu at the Turkish restaurant. Though we weren't in nearly as exhausted a state as the first time we arrived in Olgii, we still thoroughly enjoyed these relative luxuries.

From Olgii to Altai Tavan Bogd (and back)

August 21st (day 40, rest day): We enjoyed another big breakfast at the Blue Wolf Cafe on Krystil's birthday (though they didn't have any yoghurt and fruit). We met an interesting American man who has been organizing horse tours in Mongolia since 1992 (his clients had just departed the previous day). We also chatted with a couple Irish lads who are participating in the Mongol Rally. We enjoyed additional luxuries such as the sauna at the town's public bathhouse (the motorcycling Americans we met the previous week told us about this) and found some German chocolate in the grocery store (most sweets we find here are made in the developing world and are generally of lower quality). We are expecting the arrival of Chris' sister and brother-in-law (Anna and Tyler) tomorrow on a plane from Ulaanbaatar. They will be joining us for the last two weeks of our trip. We plan on taking an indirect route to Khovd from where we all fly home.

Additional pictures from this part of the trip are in the Olgii to Altai Tavan Bogd (and back) album.

Here's a map of route for days 33-39 (google earth version):


View Larger Map

July 30th - August 13th (Day 18-32): Long haul to Olgii

July 30th (day 18, 64km): We left our friendly hotel in Tosontsengel and continued on the main road towards Nomrog. We were stopped by a couple who gave us a whole bag of solid airag (fermented mare's milk). We had to find room to carry it in our panniers until we could offload it onto someone else (we don't like it). We gave them some pens as a gift. We camped by Telmen Nuur (lake) and had a brief and polite visit from a herder.

From Tosontsengel to Olgii

July 31st (day 19, 49km): We continued along the main road around the lake and over a pass into Nomrog. We quickly located the nice (and only) hotel in town (we had found information about it previously). The owner speaks German as he had worked in a Mongolian consulate in Bonn. We had expected Nomrog to be our last town with good services for a while as we planned to leave the main road shortly afterwards. We were surprised to find that it had no electric grid, no bank (we were running a bit low on local currency) and the main Mongolian cell phone company did not have service there (and therefore we had no internet access).

From Tosontsengel to Olgii

August 1st (day 20, rest day): Despite the limited services in town we took a rest day as the hotel was comfortable and had good food. We went for a nice (slow) hike in the hills above town. We enjoyed a chat in the hotel's restaurant with a university professor from Ulaanbaatar who spoke English well. She left when her driver finished fixing the car.

From Tosontsengel to Olgii

August 2nd (day 21, 76km): We followed the main road for another twenty-some kilometres, but it didn't seem all that major any more. We found the junction with the road to Tudevtey. We are impressed that our GPS map knows the location of this intersection (it doesn't seem very major at all). We stopped for some Huushuur (fried mutton pancakes) in Tudevtey before pushing on over a pass and settling into to camp. At times the road was merely a faint track in the grass (though it follows telephone poles so does not feel completely remote).

From Tosontsengel to Olgii

August 3rd (day 22, 70km): We continued on through Songino where we stopped for lunch in a ger guanz for some buzz (boiled mutton dumplings). The daughter in law of the owner spoke English. She's from Ulaanbaatar and is in the country side for the last 2 months of her pregnancy (she was due any minute). We enjoyed this increasingly rare opportunity to chat. We filled up on water (25 liters) before pushing onward (we would not see another town for over 250km and other opportunities to get water are limited).

From Tosontsengel to Olgii

August 4th (day 23, 80km): We decided we had enough water to continue on the direct road to Hyargas Nuur (lake) instead of detouring to the town of Ondorhangay for water. We had originally intended to carry an extra day (or at least half day) worth of water for this stretch in case we had a mechanical breakdown. However, the road sees more traffic (mostly heading to Ulaangom) than we expected and we were confident we could hitch a ride or get water from a passing vehicle if needed. Nonetheless we stopped to examine roadside wells to see if we could replenish our supplies. They were all dry, but one polite motorist saw us looking at one and gave us a bottle of (store bought) water. Later in the day we unexpectedly come across a guanz on what is an otherwise uninhabited stretch of road. It's a busy place! We enjoyed a meal with other travellers and manage to get several litres of water. We've never been charged for water in places like this despite all their water being trucked in. We continued on a bit afterwards and camped.

From Tosontsengel to Olgii

August 5th (day 24, 60km): The morning was rainy so we got a few extra hours of rest before starting off. We had biked only a short distance before we came across another guanz where we had lunch and got more water. In the afternoon we met a French solo cyclist who was going the other way (Olgii to Ulaanbaatar). He was the first foreigner we'd seen in over a week. He was on leave from his military assignment in Afghanistan. He planned to complete the route in only 17 days. This seemed impossibly quick to us, but based on his rapid progress thus far it seemed like he was on track to succeed (he had taken only 5 days to get to this point). However he had a broken rear spoke and didn't seem to have any ideas or plans to deal with it. The roads in Mongolia are extremely washboarded which is difficult on the equipment. We're hoping his bike doesn't let him down. We camped by Hyargas Nuur (salt lake).

From Tosontsengel to Olgii

August 6th (day 25, 46km): We cycled further along the lake shore to a soviet built resort (Har Termes). We washed up in the nice outdoor sink (closest thing we'd had to a shower since leaving Tosontsengel). There was a veterinary conference wrapping up and we enjoyed the educated company (some English spoken). There was a lively beach scene of picnickers and bathers. We hiked up to the cold springs (the only fresh water in the area) and filled up on water. For dinner we made the mistake of getting the mutton and noodle soup rather than the fish we had for lunch. The soup tasted old.

From Tosontsengel to Olgii

August 7th (day 26, 69km): We continued on the washboarded road through the town of Naranbulag. We were pleasantly surprised to find that we got cell phone reception and we stopped on the way out of town to send out a quick blog update. Most of the traffic we had seen in the last few days turns north-west at Naranbulag towards Ulaangom. We instead headed south-west towards a town called Olgii (in the Uvs province, not the larger Olgii in Bayan-Olgii). We saw no traffic along this road except near the two towns. The road also gains significant elevation and is in parts very sandy. We cycled on this road for about 20km past Naranbulag before camping.

From Tosontsengel to Olgii

August 8th (day 27, 47km): Chris woke up with some traveller's diarrhea. We decided to start antibiotics right away as there's not really any room to "wait and see" on this deserted (water and traffic-wise) road. With the help of some Imodium we push on the hot, uphill, and sandy road to Olgii (Uvs). We filled up on water, gas and food in town. We then found a beautiful campsite overlooking Har Us Nuur (lake) 6km past town. We like to hide our camps from roads and gers as we don't like to have too many visitors. This particular campsite involved pushing our bikes up a steep hill over a ridge. We were hidden from the gers and road below but had a beautiful view of the lake. Despite covering only 47km it was one of the more difficult days thus far.

From Tosontsengel to Olgii

August 9th (day 28, 64km): Chris' stomach made a quick recovery and he was back to full strength. We continued along the road (which became sandy again) around Har Us Nuur to Omnogovi. At some point the road veered off the path shown on our maps but continues on towards Hovd (Uvs). The road is still sandy. We don't like washboarded roads, but they are better than sandy roads. It's very rare that the road is not washboarded or sandy. When it happens, we usually have a fierce headwind.

From Tosontsengel to Olgii

August 10th (day 29, 76km): The mosquitoes were vicious in the morning so we had breakfast inside the tent. We continued a descent from a pass we had gone over late the previous day. The road was so sandy in spots that we have to get off and push our bikes despite a very considerable downhill gradient. We crossed Shiver Gol (river) and took advantage of it to cool off and wash up. We continued on through sandy roads past Hovd (Uvs) and joined a more popular road at Achit Nuur (lake). There were quite a few gers by the lake. The road improved considerably as we climbed up and camped near a pass after a very long day (we were eager to reach Olgii the next day).

From Tosontsengel to Olgii

August 11th (day 30, 71km): The road continued to be good but we had a strong headwind. We took plenty of photos on a 15km section of the road which runs along the side of Hovd Gol (river) in a steep canyon. With our dwindling energy we climbed the pass above Olgii (Bayan-Olgii) and descended into town. After checking out various accommodation options we settled in to our comfortable hotel room and went out for a huge dinner at a Turkish restaurant (we had been dreaming about this place for weeks).

From Tosontsengel to Olgii

From Tosontsengel to Olgii

August 12th-13th (day 31-32, rest days): On our rest days in Olgii we've arranged some permits for a trip into Altay Tavan Bogd park. The area lies near the Chinese and Russian borders and therefore requires a permit from the border police. Getting this was a bit intimidating (the Lonely Planet claims it cannot be done without a local guide or affiliate) but it turned out to not be too much of a hassle. We've met three Americans who are touring the area on cheap locally purchased motorbikes and have enjoyed sharing stories over prolonged breakfasts and dinners. Our plan is to do a 300-350km round trip cycle to the park and come back to Olgii in a week.

Additional pictures from this part of the trip are in the Tosontsengel to Olgii album.

Here's a map of route for days 18-19 and 21-29 (google earth version). Sorry, not sure why the google maps version is so jagged (google earth looks fine):


View Larger Map

August 7 (day 26): slowly emerging from nowhere

Just a quick roadside blog update for you. We are now near a town called Naranbulag (specifically we are at N 49deg 21.804min E92deg 33.600min). When Anna and Tyler posted for us we were actually quite near Sogino (it was a rushed satellite phone call).

Yesterday we stayed at a soviet built lakeside resort by Hyargas Nuur. There was a Veterinary conference there at the time. But don't get the wrong idea, there were no showers, flush toilets or anything like that. The conference was ending and we enjoyed some vodka at the beach with the vets to celebrate. Mark my words: Mongolia is an up and coming sun & beach destination!

Full blog update with more stories, pictures and maps coming in about a week.

August 2 (Day 22): somewhere between Tosontsengel and Sogino

(Guest Contributers: Anna and Tyler)

Yesterday (Aug 2) we received an update from Chris and Krystil. They
asked us to relay that they are doing fine but are now way off-the-grid
so the blog posts won't happen for a week or two.

They have left Tosontsengel and are now heading for Songino, then
Naranbulag (near Hyargas Nuur), and then on to Olgii, where they will
likely start posting again.

July 28th-29th (Day 16-17): We reach Tosontsengel

On day 16 we left what we really (really, this time!) think is our last tourist ger camp until we reach Olgii in about three weeks. After crossing an interesting bridge, we followed the north side of Idre gol (river) towards Ih-Uul. The going got pretty sandy and we had to push our bikes through many sections. We covered 44km before the storm clouds gave us an excuse to quit for the day.

From Tsetserleg to ...

On day 17 we continued 10km to Ih-Uul where we rejoined the main road and onward for a total of 55km to Tosontsengel. Tosontsengel is a transportation hub for western Mongolia and is of decent size (4000 inhabitants). We're staying at a friendly hotel which we feel lucky we found. We were planning on staying at a hotel recommended by cyclists who had gone through here last year, but it was closed. This is our first non foreign-tourist oriented accommodation (other than camping) in Mongolia. There's no plumbing (squat toilet outhouse in the back) but otherwise it's a pretty reasonable place. We went to use the showers in the town's public bathhouse. We did some major food shopping to stock up for the more remote sections of our trip. We even found some fresh fruit.

From Tsetserleg to ...

Photos from days 16-17 have been added to this album.

Map of route for day 16 and 17 (google earth version).


View Larger Map