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):


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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):


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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).


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July 25th-27th (Day 13-15): Off the main road

Day 13 was our second rest day at the Kongor camp. In the morning we walked over to check out Tsagaan Nuur (lake). In the evening we chatted a bit with the guide and driver of a German group that was staying at the camp about the possibility of staying on the north side of the lake and going through Jagarlant rather than going back to the main road on the south side of the lake. They agreed this was possible and that the pass we would have to go over might even be a bit lower than the one on the main road. The other advantage is that we would have one more tourist ger camp at Jargalant.

From Tsetserleg to ...

On day 14, Chris wasn't feeling too good so we only made it 24km along the lake and made an early camp in a beautiful and quiet spot on the lake shore.

From Tsetserleg to ...

On day 15, we went over a 2350m pass on the route to Jagarlant (the lake was at 2070m). This was much lower than the 2600m pass we would have to go over on the main road. From there it was a speedy descent down to Jagarlant (at about 1650m). The scenery was beautiful (reminded us of Switzerland) and there was even less traffic than on the "main" road. After a great 67km ride that day, we were really glad we made this route choice. Along the way we stopped to chat with a well off Mongolian family (they were driving an Xterra). They offered us some meat from a bucket (marmot and sheep), airag (fermented mare's milk), and some solid version of the latter.

From Tsetserleg to ...

Photos from days 13-15 have been added to this album.

Map of route for day 14 and 15 (google earth version).


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July 21st-24th (Day 9-12): Still on the tourist track

In lieu of a rest day, on day 9 we had a short 25km bike ride over a pass to a tourist ger camp near the town of Ikh-Tamir. There were 3 tourist ger camps in this spot as it's next to a famous rock (Taikhar Chuluu). Unfortunately the rock is riddled with graffiti and surrounded by pushy touts (you can get a photo of yourself on a horse in front of the rock). However it looks like there would be some good short climbing routes on it, but you'd have to watch out for the loose candy in the pocket holds (offerings)! An organized (supported) group of German mountain bikers stayed at the camp as well. The tour leaders had clearly brought food for the group as they had much fancier meals than we did in the camp's restaurant.

The next day we pushed on another 70km and set up our tent on a ridge somewhat hidden from the gers in the valley bellow. A couple boys (early teens) on horses came by and chatted with us and just hung around playing. Only later, when their big brother came around looking for them, did it become apparent to us that they had been sent to herd the goats and sheep back to the ger and were slacking off.

On day 11, we stopped in on a great guanz (small roadside restaurant) for a second breakfast of noodles, onion and meat. This fuelled us for a long 80km day in the hot sun. We got to the town of Tariat and went looking for an English teacher who opens up her home as a guesthouse. Since she wasn't home (though her mother indicated we could stay there) we continued on to the national park by the lake known as Tsagaan Nuur. The English teacher found us on the road and invited us to her basic ger camp on the south side of the lake. She also told us our Spanish friends were staying there. Though this was appealing, the alure of a full-fledged tourist ger camp 5km away on the north side of the lake was too much temptation. We therefore declined the offer and found our way to the Kongor camp. We haven't regretted the decision. This place has the best food we've had since (at least) Ulaanbaatar, very friendly staff, and great hot showers.

Day 12 is a rest day at Kongor. We hiked up the nearby volcano and came back for a large lunch. We will probably take another rest day tomorrow as this is (and this time we're serious!) the last bit of luxury we expect to have until we hit Olgii in 4 weeks.

Pictures from days 9-12 are in a new album. Sorry, no inline images today as this camp only gets power from a generator for 2 hours a day.

Map of route for day 9-11 (google earth version).


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