Today was the first I could sleep well and straight. Despite this, I have become so accustomed to getting up early that from 7 to 9 in the morning I force myself to stay in bed. I have some ‘Bon-o-Bon’ and juice for breakfast before going out for a walk. Just before stepping out of the hotel, I leave my clothes at the reception desk so they can wash them during the morning. The clothes I was wearing already smelled. I had to use the service before going off-road in Mongolia again.
I need to change the front tire and rear brake pads in Russia. I brought 500 Euros with me because I know credit cards aren’t working there due to the blocking related to the war with Ukraine. However, I didn’t expect to make such an expense and I need to convert Tugriks into Rubles.
My first stop is Төрийн банк, but they don’t do this type of exchange.
My friend Vladimir suggested I should try to get some Dollars and then change them. I go back into the bank to try again. The Bank only gives me a maximum of 100 Dollars and the ATM does not accept my credit card. Since the employees didn’t know the reason, they referred me to the Хаан bank, the only one that allows the withdrawal of 800.000 Tugriks. In it I get 200 Dollars for 695.000 Tugriks, leaving me an extra 105.000 Tugriks for the border. I will probably change more tomorrow and request they give me slightly smaller bills. Today I got two bills of a hundred Dollars.
I continued my walk through the city and after six kilometers I returned to the hotel for lunch. They brought me my clothes around 4 p.m., but I had to finish drying them. The good thing was this was the first hotel I found with the heating on.
I spent the rest of the afternoon resting until dinner time.
I wanted to have dinner at the hotel, but the girl was already telling me what I should order before I did it myself. Finally, I ended up buying some hamburgers at the supermarket across the street.
It’s the second night I’ve slept straight. I got up at 7:00 in the morning and went to the bank to get two hundred Dollars extra in smaller bills. The same woman from the day before assists me, which makes everything much easier. By 9:00 in the morning I have everything ready and the motorcycle with a full tank. Although this time I had less than three hundred kilometers ahead of me, I decided to pour five liters into the jerrycan.
It’s just for emergencies, but it would help me to light a fire if I have to camp.
I rode the first thirty-five kilometers over poor-quality asphalt. Not because of the type of asphalt but because of how cracked the road is. After this unpleasant stretch, the off-road begins. From afar, it seems the road is well indicated on the map: an improved dirt road. I have about forty-five kilometers to the campsite where I want to spend the night.
I considered that my best option was to divide the three hundred kilometers to the border into a three-day ride. After the first ten kilometers, the path begins to narrow. Despite that, it is much easier than the one I already took through the mountains on the way to Lake Ugii. Following the path sometimes becomes complicated because there is only one on the map and the locals transform it into a tangle of 10 different routes according to their convenience. This is because, when a path has been traveled too much, road saws are generated and are very tedious. The problem I have is that sometimes I want to take the best path and I find myself taking one that goes in another direction.
This has happened to me twice today.
In the first one, I realized it alone. However, in the second I followed the directions of a sign that said ‘Ger Camp – 24km’ and it was a couple of natives on a motorcycle who told me I was going in the wrong direction. When I stopped at that sign I checked the map and saw that I had twenty-four kilometers left to travel and, more or less, it was in the same direction. Luckily, I ran into this couple one kilometer later.
I was heading to ‘Suldet Camp’, on the shores of Lake Üüreg. There was another campsite closer to the mountains called ‘OT Tourist Camp’. In any case, the poster only said ‘Ger Camp’. I was traveling through the Valley today, and it was very easy to rectify and cross it straight instead. Going back and resuming the path in another direction was a more time-consuming option. I had to travel about five kilometers down a narrow road full of loose stones before reaching the valley again.
I think it was the most complicated part of today’s journey.
Finally, I arrive at the campsite and see that it is the only one on the shores of Lake Üüreg, a very beautiful place surrounded by mountains. Several of them are covered in snow, which reminds me of the Panettone cakes. I see two people walking around the property, who inform me they aren’t the owners and that they are alone. The owner went into town and won’t be back for a few days, leaving the care of the campsite to them.
‘Bobby’ offers me hot water, and his brother ‘Irgo’ offers me to eat with them what they have prepared: Tsuivan. While eating, they explained to me they were conducting a personal and private investigation.
They are looking for some kind of monster.
More specifically, for an undefined creature that inhabits these waters. A few years ago there was a sighting of an elongated figure at surface level. It looked as if it were the back of a crocodile. Since 2017, these two brothers have spent a couple of seasons a year at the campsite trying to find out what it is. They showed me photos from different dates, videos, and even sonar images. It seems incredible that I came across this group and their story. Will we have a sighting tonight? According to the sonar image, the animal must be about four meters wide. They invite me to coffee and we continue chatting, translator in hand, about my trip.
I approached the lake to see it up close and I was surprised by how crystal clear the water is. From the outside, the water didn’t seem so cold and I went for a swim. Indeed, it is cold. Not as cold as the Terkhiin Tsagaan Lake I passed by 4 days ago anyway. I want to stay for a while looking at the lake on some wooden beds placed on the shore, but it starts to rain slightly.
As I am returning to the campsite ‘Irgo’ waves at me to follow him.
He takes me to a Hippophae plantation, a fruit that is mixed with water to treat light throat diseases. I had never seen this fruit. He tells me he planted them with the owner in 2017 during his first visit. The afternoon passes and I am surprised by the number of people who stop by to stock up, mainly on alcohol. First, two soldiers; then a wool carrier; and, later, another soldier. Every time someone comes, ‘Bobby’ has to call the owner to ask about prices.
Before nightfall, I took the motorcycle to the edge of the lake to take some photos. As the brothers heard the engine, they appeared a few minutes later to join the photo session. I let them both ride my motorcycle. ‘Bobby’ tells me he has an HD Road King which is the only one registered in Mongolia.
At night, they invite me to have dinner with them.
The older of the two, ‘Irgo’, tells me I will always have a glass of tea and something to eat in Mongolia if I approach people. They serve me stewed lamb, noodle soup, and, lastly, fruit tea to help me with the cold and sleep well. It’s 8:30 p.m. and we say goodbye to each other before going to bed.
After discussing with ‘Bobby’ the route I would take tomorrow, he suggested a place where I could sleep along the way. Reducing the hundred and fifty kilometers stretch left would make it easier to ride. This way I can do ninety kilometers and leave the rest for Sunday. Then, only twenty-five kilometers until the border on Monday.
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