“Bike 4 a cause 2008”

Traveling from Germany to China by Land - Crossing Mongolia by Bike

BugoyBikers are planning there next trip. Biking through Mongolia for a cause – a Philipino cause. The idea is to bike trough Mongolia and raise money for the Cebu based Bike4U Bike Foundation by selling all the kilometers they are gonna to cycle (estimated 1200 km).

Expedition
The idea is to travel from Germany to Beijing without flying. Highlights of the trip will be:
• TransSiberian Railway from Moskow, Russia to Irkuzk, Russia
• crossing Mongolia by Bike (around 1200 km).

Mongolia – land of the nomads
This expedition will start in Germany, in the hometown of “BugoyBiker” Jens Funk. Jens will travel all the way to the border of Russia/Mongolia without flying. Using the famous TransSiberianExpress and a ferry will bring him via Luebeck (Germany) – St. Pertersburg (Russia) – Moskow (Russia) to Irkusk (Russia).
In Irkusk (Russia) Jens will get off the train and starts his biking journey. Passing Lake Baikal (deepest Lake of the world) will bring him to the Mongolian border (around 200 km).
Jens will cross whole Mongolia by bike. Estimated travel time will be 3-4 weeks for a stretch of 1200 km. Reaching the Chinese border Jens will continue with the TransSiberian Express to Beijing. Jens will take care of all his expenses during the trip.

Bike 4 a cause
Jens will sell all his kilometers he cycles via the internet. The expected amount of money to be raised for the Cebu based bike foundation BIKE4U.org will be around 60000PHP.

Estimated Travel Itinerary:
1. Frankfurt (Germany) – Luebeck (Germany) 1 day Train
2. Luebeck - St. Petersburg (Russia) 8 days Ferry
St Petersburg (Russia) – Moskow (Russia) 8 days local train
3. Moskow (Russia) – Irkusk (Russia) 6 days TransSiberianExpress
4. Irkusk (Russia )– Mongolian border 6 days Bicycle
Crossing Mongolia 24 days Bicycle
5. Border (Mongolia/China) – Bejing 8 days TransSiberianExpress

Description of the journey
The challenge of the trip will be crossing Mongolia. Even though there will be no serious mountains to cross (like in my Pakistan-China Expedition) the remoteness of Mongolia will be the challenge. Besides the capital Ulan Bataar, which lies exactly in the middle of Mongolia there will be no mayor towns for food and accommodation. That means both stretches of 600 km (from the Russian/Mongolian border to UlanBataar and from UlanBataar to the Mongolian/Chinese Border) Jens will have to bring all his food, water, spare parts for the bike and all his belongings on his bike and find his way through Mongolia. The roads are in quite bad condition so that it will be a challenge to do all that by bike. Before all that, Jens will travel via the world famous Trans-Siberian Express from Moscow to Irkutsk. This 6-7 day train ride through Siberia is expected to be another highlight on the trip. This stretch he might use for relaxing his legs and get ready for his expedition to cross Mongolia, the land of the nomads .

Statistics

day	cycle day	where	km total	km day	up total>	up day	down total	down day	remarks
	1	Nauskhi-Kyatha(Russia)	37	37	480	480	390	390	12 km/h
	2	Kyatha-Camp1	104	67	766	286	666	276	16.7 km/h
	3	Camp1-Darkhan	190	86	1281	515	1307	641	14.8 km/h
	4	Darkhan-Camp2
	5	Camp2-Monastary
	6	Monastary-Camp3
	7	Camp3-Camp4
	8	Camp4-Camp5
	9	Camp5-Camp6
	10	Camp6-Ulan Baatar	721	77	??	?	??	--	km/h
	7 rest days - organizing chinese visa				71	??	?	??	--	12 sep
	11	Ulan Baatar-Terelj	779	58	??	?	??	--	Di 9.sep
	2 rest days - horse riding				71	??	?	??	--	12 sep
	12	Terelj-Camp7	850	71	??	?	??	--	12 sep
	13	Camp7-Camp8	944	94	??	?	??	--	13 sep
	14	Camp8-Cojr	1024	80	??	?	??	--	14 Sep
	15	Cojr-Camp9	1080	56	??	?	??	--	15 Sep
	16	Camp9-Camp10 (Govi Ugtaal)	1120	40	??	?	??	--	16 Sep
	17	Camp10 (Govi Ugtaal)-Ih Gazaaryn Chuluu	1167	47	??	?	??	--	17 Sep
	18	around Ih Gazaaryn Chuluu	1193	26	??	?	??	--	18 Sep
	19	Ih Gazaaryn Chuluu (Camp 11) Bayanjargalan (Camp 12)	1258	65	??	?	??	--	19 Sep
	20	Bayanjargalan (Camp 12) - Ondorshil (Camp 13)	1333	75	??	?	??	--	20 Sep
	21	Ondorshil (Camp 13) - Camp14	1395	62	??	?	??	--	21 Sep
	22	Camp14 - Camp15	1446	51	??	?	??	--	22 Sep
	23	Camp15 - Sainshand	1511	65	??	?	??	--	23 Sep
	2 rest days				??	?	??	--	24/25 Sep
	24	Sainshand-Camp16	1533	22	??	?	??	--	26 Sep
	26	Camp16-Canp17	1600	67	??	?	??	--	27 Sep
	27	Camp17-Canp18	1644	44	??	?	??	--	28 Sep
	28	Camp18-Canp19	1704	60	??	?	??	--	29 Sep
	29	Camp19-Zamyn Uud	1779	74	??	?	??	--	30 Sep

Zamyn Uud - Beijing

1 - 5 Oct
Zamyn Uud - Beijing
We were packing our bikes, when a Mongolian approached us with beer. We told him, that we don't drink in the morning coz we want to cycle to China. He started laughing and told us the border is closed for 3 days because of Chinese Holiday. ...and he was right. So, we had a 9am beer with this guy and the rest of the day we tried to figure out, how and when we would be able to cross the border.
Finally we could hop on to a train the following day ( a tourist train going to Beijing. But we were only allowed to ride to Erlian, the chinese border town. The ride is only 10 km but wegot stuck in the train for 7hours. That is how long the procedure takes the chines to adjust the train gauge width and to proceed the documents. We reached Erlina, China at 1 am in the morning, had something to eat and checked into a hotel. The next day we took a mini van to Beijing.

Going South

26 Sep
Getting lost Sainshand - Camp 16
We started early, withdrew some money and refilled our stockes and pumped air in the tires at a petrol station (useless as we will find out shortly after) .... we were cycling around sainshand for about 10km to find the main road ... then we thought we found it and continued cycling ... after another 5 km the road got narrower but it was still a road ...we saw an abandoned house and decided to have our stop there ... once we reached the house we realized our tires were full of small thorns ...out of a plant which grows in the sand...after our soup we checked our tires .... all flat ... so we started repairing and exchanching tires ... back on the road we couyld harldy cycle coz of the thorns ... if we pushed our bikes they could not get deep inside .... after another few km suddenly the road stopped ... we continued in a dried river bed ....but the deep sand made it almost impossible to get forward... at around 6pm we decided to camp beside the river bed ...exhaused from the day and still seeing Sainshand from far doesn't make us happy ... we only made 9 km line of site today ... luckily we were checking ourt the surroundings and found the "high way" the worst thing of this day was we didnt brought enough water and supplies coz we expected to be in the next small village before the evening .... so always bring your food ...

27 Sep
Camp 16 - Orgon - Camp17
We woke up and pushed our bikes to the road ...it was an easy cycling on good road ... at km 54 we reached Orgon and stopped at a supermarket. there is no restaurant here so the ppl in the supermarket gave us cooked water and we had our cofe and soup and some chocolate bars ... we continued cycling... brought out of the city by some kids who wanted to join us a bit. we cycled for another 10 km ... and 1 car passed us ...the first of today. Best cycling is between 4 and 6 because of the great sunlight ....
We also realize it is getting colder ...the wind , when it blows is really cold and it is time to leave mongolia ...the winter is approaching
Road conditions rolling and good roads

28 Sep
Camp 17 - Erdene - Camp18
we started at 9 ...and planned to be in Erdene around noon time ...to restock our food and have something to eat .... and then continue further to Zamyn Uud .... The road was ok ...so easy cycling was guaranteed .... we passed a camel herd and besides that again nothing ... then the last 12 km we had to change a bit the direction and realized the wind ...who was turning into headwind now ... we had to climb a bit and with the wind we made around 6 kms per hour ... so the stretch to Erdene got longer and longer ...finally we reached Erdene and it was like reaching a gost town ...the wind and the sand where blowing and nobody on the streets ... it looked scarry and unreal. Finally we found a supermarket and had an ice and some cold drinks .... after checking aroudn we found a restaurant and the made us really nicxe food ... neat filled pancakes ...GREAT ... we were so full and tired and realized it was already 4.30. We decided to continue a bit more ...now knowing, till Zamyn Udd there will be no place to refill stocks. We bought water and soup and chcololate bars ....but beer ...no beer to find ...we checked out all supermarkets but no beer ...strange coz the 25 was ove r... the i askd a woman: Where can we buy shan airag (beer) and she waived with her key and opened her supermarket .... so fullty stocked we cycled out of town and camped inbetween some nice small stone formations. We pitched our tent and started to have some cloud nine, haribo, mars bars , beer and mandarines which I got from a passing car and bonfire ...great life :)
Road conditions rolling and good but rough roads

29 Sep
Camp 18 - Camp 19
We started in the morning and enjoyd the nice and easy cycling for 19 km. There we reached the "main road" going to Zamyn Uud. After a break at a ger and climbing up a small hill ...we had to pass a valley ...the dust valley. The road was so sandy and there are some chinese trucks passing by ...and everytime a truck passeds ....you have to cover yourself for at least 2 min ....to not eat all the dust. After we climed the 2nd hill ...it was around 4-5 km rolling .... we decided to camp inbetween some hills to avoid to be seen by the road. There we had the biggest and nicest bonfire of the trip ... I guess I carried another 10km of fire wood :)
Road conditions rolling and good but rough roads

30 Sep
Camp 19 - Zamyn Uud
The 1st 20 km went fast and smooth .... we stopped at a ger and had a soup cofe and a water melon ...we continued and passed a camel herd ...then we saw it Zanyn Uud. We had a last breajk and started cycling the last 25 km .... The 1st 15 out of that 25 km were easy cycling and I started recall the whole 5 weeks in that awesome cycling country ... I never cycled in such a great "outdoor country".The last 10 km to Zamyn Uud ... we had serious sand ...that means we had to push the bikes once in a while ... Once we reached Zamyn Uud ...we cycled the last 3 km to the bortder on paved road ...what a feeling .... then we reached the border ...the guy told us it is closed now (even though he still let trucks in) and he explained us we could not cross by bike ... so we went back and check in into an hotel .... dreaming of beeing in China tomorrow ...but this was a dream ....

Road conditions 40 km rolling then more down then up last 10 km deep sand

Sainshand (Mongolia)

24 Sep
Chill out day We are so tired from biking, that we decided to have 2 rest days here. Today we didn't do anything except eating, drinking and Internet ...and of course washing our cloth.

25 Sep
Important day The 25 in Mongolia is a important day. You should always keep that day in mind while travelling here. Today we went to the kharmaryn khiid monastery. This was the nicest monastery we have visited here. No tourists, really familiar and in a perfect setting in the desert. We rented a cap anhd had a great driver who showed us around. Once back, we ordered some food and beer BUT today is the day .... the 25 of every month there is no beer available in whole Mongolia. - good to know :)

Road conditions to the monastery. It is around 50 km south of Sainshand. All flat, rough road, mostly wash board ... with very nice scenery. There is also a hotel at the monastery to stay overnight.

Gobi Desert - Part IV

(21. Sep.-23 Sep)
160 km nothing
After we woke up, we had a coffee and offered one to a old lady who was passing by our tents while collecting horse shit (hard job - ask me) for making fire. We cycled back to Ondorshil to the supermarket and bought food and water. We knew the next 160km till Sainshand there was nothing to expect except of nature, steppe , sun and sky ... but no supermarket food or what so ever.

We both loaded 11 liters of water besides the coke, juices, chocolate bars, soups and candies.
The bikes weight now more thyan 70 kg .... but it feels good to know you are prepared for such a trip. We left Ondorshil and I still could not believe that we will not see a town, saupermarjet or just a place to get some food for the next 3 days.
The 1st 20km went smooth and easy. You often have that while cycling, 10 km are passing by like nothing anmd the next 10 km you seem to need hours. We had our stop after 20km and had some soup and coffee. The next 20km also went fast but the wind became a bit stronger. We found shelter at a wooden hut - most probably the only one onm the way.

The next 10 km felt like cycling on a home trainer. Same scenery ... sandy and wash board road and wind from the side. We felt like not moving ... on the other side it was still amazing to see the landscape beeing the same for such a long time. The next 10 km the sun came out and the landscape changed. I felt like cycling in an african steppe with all the bushes. We stopped at around 60km and hided behind our bikes from the strong wind.
We pitched our tents - which was not easy with the wind - and made some food.

22. Sept.
Hardcoreis the only way to describe the 2nd day. We had serious wind the whole night and when we woke up the wind was still freezing cold. We had our breakfast and started cycling again. We had our 1st stop after 10km. Deep sand and wash board rad made it hard to get into the rythmj. After 5km we had our next break. Same conditions and we got tired from cycling. We both knew we need a break from cycling but we wanted to make it to Sainshand.
After that break I hit myself with the pedal on my leg ... not the best cycling day. After 7km we stopped again ... waiting for a miracle to happen.

The shy ger
After km 30 the road got better. We continued cycling, passing by camel herds and the sun started to shine again. After 50km we decided to stop at a ger (the only one on the way).
The owners seemed to be very shy and didnt offered us anything ... so far.
We prepared our food and listened to the weeping camels. With all the wood we collected on our way we started a bonfire and suddenly the owners appeared and gave us some butter milk candies. Those were by far the most horrible onces I ever tasted :( ... for my philippino crowd ....don't worry I will bring some of them home ... and once you tasted them you know what i am talking about :)

23. Sep.
...and if you think it can not be worse ... be prepared. Hardcore 2was waiting for us. We woke up it was still cold. We had our coffee and realized Erika had a flat. After repairing it we started cycling. Seep sand and wash board road would be the conditions for today and we got more and more tired. The only thing that kept us going was the knowledge of Sainshand ...where a shower, food and cold drinks would wait for us. We saw Sainshand 15km before we reached it ...but this was most probably the longest 15 km I ever cycled. Finally we made it, had some serious food and found a nice hotel. I don't know if the showers are open again but I am sure after we finished our shower they had sto seriously clean it for the next days.
In the lobby we met a spanish guy, Diego who is cycling with his friend since 6 month ...thgey are so tiored they hired a taxi in Ulan Baatar who is carrying their luggage whiler they are cycling without.
They hearded about us on the street. Kids where telling them in Cojr that there are 2 cyclist passed by a few days ago.
So we

Road conditions
The 160km from Ondorshil to Sainshand is quite hard. A lot off sand and wash board roadsa make the cycling a serious ride. The fact that there is no shelter or anything to rest or get shade doesn't make it easier. At least it is not very hilly :)

Gobi Desert - Part III

19. Sep.The highlight regarding scenery was waiting fro us today. We started after our breakfast and had to fight with serous road conditions ... deep sand, wash board road and sun ... .
Even if the Gobi was an open steppe the last days .... it was even more open today. Not one mountain or hill could be seen on the horizon and we just saw sky sky sky and nothing else.
It seems like i am repeating myself ... but that is how it was .... It is hard to describe if you see nothing the whole day but sky and steppe and you feel you are part of it. I have never experienced that and I am just overwhelmed.
After 65 km we reached Bayanjargalan. We stopped again at a supermarket and bought what we need for the next day. Then we looked for a restaurant ... but there was none.
We found somebody who cooked for us some mutton dumplings ... after that we went out of town and pitched our tent.

20. Sep.
Rush hour
We started in the morning our way to Ondorshil. It seems this morning we started to early and came into the rush hour. We saw 2 trucks and a motor bike in the 1st 1 1/2h ... quite busy in the desert.
After passing by a workers ger camp where we had a stop , we continued on smooth road and were happy to almost have cycled 40km at around 1 pm.

Dog bite
We saw a ger and decided to stop. The dog welcomed us nicely .... like most of the dogs here ... was waving with his tail ... and an old couple came out of the ger. We asked if we could have some shelter from the sun and sit eside their ger to have a break. They were smiling and agreed. So I parked my bike and made some steps towards the ger .... it seems that the dog of the house saw it as an attack ... coz 2 sec later we was already at my ancle ... luckily the old lady reacted fast and got him and kept him away from me.
But one tooth found its way into my flesh ....
It seems like the old couple felt gilty, coz after that incident they offered us a lot of freshly made yoghurt.

Where the f... is Ondorshil From here we started cycling again on a serious road. Deep sand and washboard ... made our trip a hell o of an easy cycling day. We just wanted to reach Ondorshil ...but after every hill ...we saw the next one coming ... but its wasn't OndorsHIL
We were totally done for the day and finally saw a motor bike ... the guy told us 5 more km to go ... and it seems it was the longest 5 km in my live.
Finally we reached Ondorshil, bought again food in the supermarket and looked for a place to pitch our tent.
It was already dark when we pitched our tent ... totally done for today.

Road conditions
The way from Ih Gazaryn Chuluu to Bayanjargalan is quite hard. Expect the rough road to be like a wash board ... and if not than it is deep sand. The 1st 35km are more up than down ... than more down than up.
From Bayanjargalan to Ondorshil
1st 40km are easy cycling ... than deep sand and wash board till the end.

Gobi Desert - Part II

17. Sep.
Ih Gaazaryn Chuluu was one of the reasons we went into the Gobi. The stone formations are just awesome. You feel like cycling on the moon ... the open desert around it makes it to an amazing location.
We started in the morning and where looking for Ajirhay, another small town on the map 15 km away from Govi Ugtaal. But once again we only saw some abandoned houses, that's when we realized it must be like that ... all small towns on the map are not a destination to expect some stock up on food. Anyway, we made our break here, to have some shelter from the wind and prepared our soup and coffee. Starting again cycling from here ...seeing the stone formations on the horizon .... was an amazing ride. Some horses, some sheep ad 1 motor bike ... beside that ....open steppe and amazing views to the stone formations.
At the stone formations is a tourist ger camp, where we rented us a ger and enjoyed the food. The sun set behind the stone formation made us speechles. (Thanks to Erika ... maybe I was to nice to her the whole trip ... coz she started to clean my bike ... and I did nothing from stopping her hehehe)

18. Sep.
Sleeping in the stonesWe packed our things and brought some wood (nope we didn' steel, just borrowed it ) and went into the stone formations. We hided our stuff in the stones and started cycling around. Once again, without the GPS we would have been lost ...
After stopping at the ger camp again and had some food we went back into the stones and pitched our tents ... made some bonfire ... and enjoyed the scenery .... AMAZING !!!!!


Road conditions The way from Govi Ugtaal to Ih Gazaryn Chuluu is around 50km on rough but good rolling - more up than down -road. The scenery is amazing ... and once in a while you might see some animals ... but don't expect to see a lot of people.

Gobi Desert - Part I

15. Sep.
We started in the morning, after stocking up on food , water and chocolate bars and a great breakfast (Goulash) to cycle into the Desert .... from now on all on rough road.
The scenery was just awesome ...seeing nothing but open sky. We saw the whole trip of 56km 2 motor bikes, 2 gers and nothing else. It is really unbelievable and without GPS you are definitly lost. Our aim was to reach Hongor, a small town (at least it was mentioned in the map ... but at around 5.30pm we got tired and wanted to enjoy the sun going down. We decided to pitch our tent.

Spagetti coffee We made some water for the coffee and prepared some food. That was the moment when Erika and me got our first fight hahaha. Somehow she didn't like the fact, that my cookset was still with some leftover from our spagetti sauce the day before ... and she could not get used to the coffee which tasted a bit like spagetti.

The horse fire
After that incident I had to do something good and promised Erika a fire. We had not enough wood but there was a lot of dried horse shit ....so we burned this and close the whole horse living cycle ... we rode on it, ate it and burned its shit .... :)
Enjoing the full moon abd dreaming of the scenery we had today we went into our tents and fel asleep.

16. Sep.
Abandoned towns After our coffee in the morning we started cycling. We expected Hongor, a small town after around 10km but we didn't find it. We just saw some abandoned houses. (Later we would find out, that all "small" dots on the map are only abandoned houses. Maybe somebody lives there in winter.
Luckily we didn't plan on that small towns and still had enough water and food ... otherwise you are lost ...

Respect nature Once you are sitting on the bike and crossing the desert, you realize how huge it is and what a hopeless small creature you are in that scenery. It scares you sometimes ...coz you don't see or hear anything ... you just realize ... you check your GPS and hpe you have still enough bateries ... you check your water if it is still there ... and you are very happy if you have food in your bags ... don't ess with nature .. respect it :)

Fata Morgana We had a break some soup and coffee and continued cycling .. this day we didn't see any human beeing .... just some horses ... that's it. We got tired and realized that we are now cycling 90km in the nothing without seeing anything ... Finally after the next climb ..... Govi Ugtaal ... a small town appeared. We stopped at the supermarket and bought coke and chocolate bars and ate it outside sitting next to our bikes. 5min later the whole town was around. Everybody wanted to see that crazy cyclists and could not believe somebody is coming here by bike.
We had lunch and went back to the supermarket to stock up more food. The supermarket was crowded .. i guess like never before ... We gave sweets to the kids.

EEEEEEEEEErikaSometimes it is good to have a dificult name. We got invited by a familie and went to their ger. They offered us food and tea and the man was prode to show us all his stones, skeletons of a marmot, pictures and so on ... and he always wanted to have attention ...so he couldn't say my name ...but he could say EEEEEEEEErika hahaha. I had my beer and slowly got tired of all that attention he wanted. We just wanted to rest after the cycling.
Finally they showed us their ger outside the vilage, where we pitched out tent. The boy stood with us in the ger ... we where already sleeping when the man arrived again at around midnight and an EEEEEEEEEEErika ....woke us up. He was drunk and wanted to party with us ...but we could convince him it is better to go to sleep.

Road conditionsThe way from Cojr to Govi Ugtaal is around 96km on rough but good rolling - more up than down -road (don't expect the Govi be to flat) . The scenery is amazing ... and once in a while you might see some animals ... but don't expect to see a lot of people.

Cojr (Mongolia)

We continued from the National Park to Cojr. The whole trip is around 212 km all on nicely paved road but that's it. we are entering the Gobi Desert and don't expect anything on the road. From Cojr to the Chinese boarder there will be no more paved road at all.

The alcoholic or the men ger?

We cycled down south ... and the views and the horizon is getting more and more open. No more animal, no more herd no more people ...just we and the road and once in a while a greeting truck driver.
We had to climb a lot even so smoothly but expected it more downhill.
When it got dark we found a ger and decided to stop. The dogs where really aggressive and the guy seemed to be drunk. He offered us airag (fermented horse milk) we drank a bit but he wanted to drink with us.
We didn't felt comfortable and decided to move on. Luckily 1 km away we found another ger where we pitched our tents. There were 4 guys and one woman. They brought us the best yogurt (made of goat milk) we ever ate and some cookies and for sure tea.
Then we were chating in front of our tents for around 2 hours before we went to sleep.

The retirement ger

The next day we cycled another 94 km. 94 km nothing .... I never had that feeling of enjoying only the sky ...and a bit of grass ... coz that was it what we saw. On the whole 94km we passed 1 small town a settlement and a supermarket. Nothing else no animals, no people nothing.
The road was also weird... you thought you are on the top and when you reached it the next small hill was waiting ...it was a smooth climbing and all with headwind.
We pitched our tent at another ger ... with a lady with 81 years ... quite old for Mongolia and that living conditions.
We enjoyed the sunset, while the guy was bringing back his sheep via his horse and couldn't believe this is true. The sunsets and sunrises are just so amazing ...it is incredible.

The bombed town

We had another 80 km to Cojr and started around 9. After 20 km we reached finally the top and the rest was all downhill. Same story, nothing on the road ... but sky.
We were focusing on Bayantal, a small village 25km before Cojr. We wanted to have our break there. When we reached it we were shocked. It looks like a bombed city ...with empty houses trash every where and no people ... so also no supermarket. We stopped on the road made some noodles and continued our ride.
Finally we reached Cojr ... well, also not nice but at least we found a hotel, a hot shower (after 7 days :)) good food, beer and an internet cafe .... so what else ....?
Ahhh by the way .... today I reached km 1000 .... in total i have now 1024.

Terelj National Park

I felt happy, when we left UB in the morning. On the one hand we made quite some friends in the guest house - Marcus, the american who is with his motor bike for 14 month on the road, he is waiting for spare parts before he can continue -, Bert, a swiss guy and Andrea a german ...also on the mountain bike and two other germans on the motor bike but one the other hand the city is so ugly and after that mugging I felt better beeing on the country side again ... that's what Mongolia is for.
After our breakfast we packed our bikes and said good bye.
We had to cycle 58 km to reach the Terelj National Park. After 18 km it started to ice rain and we looked for shelter in a restaurant and waited for better weather. After 30 min, 2 cooffes and a good soup we continued.
The scenery on the road was really nice and most of the 58 km where rough road and single trail. We reached the national park around 5, had "breakfast (sausage, toast, cucumber, tomato and chocolate" with a german speaking mongolian waitress and continued. Finding a ger in the tourist camps was not so easy (expensive) but finally when it got dark we found one.
The nice thing was, there was a mongolian tour guide, she spoke german and she arrange the horse riding trip for the next days for us.
We went to our ger and i made some fire ... a bit too much I guess , because we had to open the door for an our or so, to get rid of the 50 degree celsisus which we had in our room.
That country is in terms of climate really weird. In the night it is around 0 degress ...or below and during the day it heats up to 30 degrees.

Horse innards for lunch

We got a nice guide and two nice horses and started our ride. The guide was singing in mongolian and the scenery was just awesome.
After crossing a river (fuck i got wet feet) we had our lunch in a ger we will never forget. We entered the ger and saw a lot of innards , like liver, stomach and so on in some bowls. The ger was smelling and on the oven was a bowl, where a lot of things were cooked in the bowl.
Then we had to taste it and we found out it was horse liver, stomach and others things we don't know what it was. After the lunch we had to drink tea out of the same bowl and it smelled like horse.
Before we left ...the lady toke other innnards from the bowls at the side into the cooking bowl ...and we had to leave the ger really fast :)
Maybe Erikas horse smelled that we ate his mate because he refused to let her sit on it ... after I tried my luck .... the guide tried it but even he had a hard time.
The rest of the day we could not get that horse smell out of our noses.
After that we continued to the "Dshingis Khan" statue and "tschu" means go horse go ...
and they went ...i still don't know how those mongolians do it, because they have a wooden saddle ... me on my "upholstered" saddle i regreted the first time to be a man :)

Yak attack

We started our second day after a nice breakfast. We had to cross a river again (wet feet again) and were easily riding in a forest. We left the forest and suddenly artound 50 gazzing yaks saw us and started to run in our direction ...i was affraid coz my horse had a lot of energy and already run away 2 times ... our guide also got a bit nervos ...but he decided to attack ...he started to ride fast to the yaks and shouted and waived ...and a few meters before he reached them, or they him ...they started to run away.
We reached his "families" ger and had lunch there ...before we rode back. Erika fell shortly before we arrived from her horse in the mud ...nice that my horse waited and let her pass ...otherwise i guess it would have happended to me hahaha
We arrived and happy that we can change the horse with the iron horse now again :)

Chinese Visa and Mugging

(Day 27-30)

Well, mixed news for friday till Monday. On Friday we asked for ythe Chinese Visa and they told us we can pick it up on Monday. We decided to stay here over the weekend. We visited the temple her and bought some souvenirs.
Saturday evening I will not forget so fast :( I got classically mugged in a private car whichg wiorks as taxis here. Two guys, 1 knife and all I had was gone ...and I had quite a lot ...credit cards, camera , gps , cellphone and money.
Sunday was the day of organizing then...block all cards report at police and so on. Today on Monday morning we got our Chinese visa and tomorrow we continue our trip and getting out of the city.
The next 3 days we head to a national park north east of Ulan Baatar and then we continue heading south :)

Visa Day (Day 25/26)

Lining up and hoping

We were lining up in the morning at the Chinese embassy and luckily got in as last ones 5 min before they closed. There we heard that we are still lacking documents for our visa. I still need a ticket into China and Erika needs almost everything (ticket out, hotel and statement of account). Well, we left the place tried to organize some things via the internet and finally went to buy the train tickets into China.
Booth was closed ... but luckily we still found a place to get the tickets. ... At least one thing done for the day.

Lucky day

Today (Thr, 04 Sep) was our lucky day. We got the extension for Mongolia (two more weeks) in 2 hours, bought a road atlas for Mongolia (which will help us in the Gobi desert), burned some CDs and bought some Mongolian music ... and all in one day ... that calls for a beer :) ... and tomorrow is our China day ...hopefully we have all the documents ... otherwise we might stuck here for some more days ... and unfortunatly the city doesn't get nicer :(

Ulan Baatar

We had head wind for the first 40 km ...but the knowledge that a shower, a bed and some good food is waiting for us after 8 days out in the wild kept us going.
After around 30km we bumped into 3 germans on the bike. They are already on the road for 14 month and on their way back now. We got some useful informations about the Gobis Desert - which is still on our list - before we continued cyling direction Ulan Bataar. Then we made it ...the last climb and a 10 km downhill (with headwind) brought us down to the main road.
The last 19km was rolling into Ulan Bataar ... we saw a group of crazy brits who drove their 5 minis all the way from England to here :)
On the road we passed a weigh and weight our bikes .... My bike including me weights 132 kg ....that means 61 without me .... Erikas bike was the same ... that means if you add the 5-7 kg of water which we normally carry with us ... our bikes including bags is around 67/68 kg.
The guy of the weigh ... didn't want to have money and besides that he went into a close by store and bought us a bottle of water for our trip .... Mongolia is just amazing.

Ulan Bataar

What a horrible city .... anyway, nobody comes to Mongolia to see its capital but this is just horrible ...it looks sureal if you have cycled 700km though nature, steppe, open fields and once in a while an animal, a person or a ger ... and then you see this
It looks like all buildings are in planning and not even one buildings seems to be finished at all.
We checked into our "Oasis" guesthouse, rented a ger, had a nice shower, a good lasagne ... and a couple of beers before we fell asleep.

KM

on the road

Sun stroke or dehydration

After our coffee in the morning we started cycling again. A 15km uphill was waiting for us .... smooth but uphill ... after around 40 km we reach another village were we had our lunch. After refilling our stocks we continued cycling.
Now the next uphill was waiting ...it was around 20 km and at aroiund 3pm, when the sun is really stong ... we were supposed to cycle 100km today because we wanted to reach Ulan Baatar tomorrow, but when I reached the top of the climb - Erika was already waiting - I realized something is wrong. I didn't feel well and we decided to pitch our tent and rest for today.
We made a bonfire and went to sleep.

Flies, flies , flies

The flies here can be really annoying specially when you climb up uphill with around 7km/h ... they don't have anything better to do then fly into your ears eyes and nose holes .... good that we were biking and sitting on our butts ...who knows what would have happend if not :)

The flying cat

We woke up and started cycling again ...another 20 km uphill was waiting for us. We found a place were we could have a cold coke and had our lunch before we continued cycling. The scenery is like every day just amazing great landscape with once in a while a ger some sheep, hores or cow herds and thats it ...ahhh on top of all blue sky .... just awesome .... We reached another village, were a fiesta were celebrated ...young boys are horse racing and wrestling ...it is a big event here and it is nice to watch at.
We cycled 10 km out of the village and pitched our tents again beside a ger. The mother of the ger was preparing us tea and food and while we were sitting in front of our tent we were watching at the ger ...were once in a while thing were thrown out by the boys living there. The last thing that flew out looked like a slipper and it toumbled 3 or 4 times before it lay still ...now we realized it was the kitten of the house ... after not moving for 15 min .... the kitten slowly started to alk around again ... hard live for a cat :)

280km detour to Monastary

We decided to cycle to a Monastary and leaving the main road. Welll a detour for 280km just 2 visit a monastary .... I know bikers are crazy but ...its about the journey and not the destination :)
We started in the morning, stopped at a supermarket and filled our bags with water, chocolate and all the other goodies you need on such a trip. We started cycling and after around 70km we saw a nice ger and decided to stop. The familiy invited us in tehir tent and we had again milk tea and fucking hard butter cake cookies which are discustingly salty. Out of politness we could not refuse them and continued chewing one of them while the others disappeared in our cloth. The familie wanted us to sleep in the ger but we refused the offer and went in our tent.
In the morning when we woke up ... we realize it was below 0 because we had ice on our tent. Unfortunatly it was still raining so not the nicest day to start a tour.
After a short stop for coffee we moved on and cycled another 40 km till the crossing to the Monastary.

Camel or what ?

A half russian/mongolian has a small restaurant their in his ger and we decided to stop because it was freaking cold. We had a soup and cycled the remainiung 35 km on rough road to the Monastary. The scenery is just amazing and suddenly a camel were standing in front of us :). We could not believe it and tookj a picture for the evidence before we continued cycling.
Finally the sun cxame out and after around 70km we saw the Monastary and were happy to find a "tourist" ger. We made fire inside and unpacked our wet tent and cloth to get it at least a bit try.

3 h Soup

After visiting the monastary we had our breakfast in the sun, before we decided to continue cycling back. The 35km back on rough road went easier then expected and once we reach the ger restaurant we decided to have another soup. The guy and some3 friends were there and so we started to chat and small talk and after we finished our soup we realized its already 3h later. We decided to continue cycling.

The party ger

After another 30km we stopped at a nice valley with some gers approached one of them and asked if we could pitch our tents. We were again invited inside and it was the 1st time that we had to drink airag (fermented milk) tastes like cider.
After that I had to try raw goat meat .... well .... its nothing I need to try again but for politness you do sometimes weired things. We enjoyed the blue sky in front of our tents before we went to sleep. The guys in the ger started their party now which continued until 5am in the morning. We woke up at 8, had our coffee and started to pack our things, when the drunkards started to approach us with vodka and milk tea. We both took a sip of the vodka but could convince them we have to cycle on and could not get drunk with them.

Butter milk Ice

We cycled on and after some stops fro lunch and coffee we reached fianlly teh main road again direction to Ulan Bataar. We decided to cycle on for some more kilometers. After around 15km we found another small village and decided to buy some beers for the night. We also bought ice and Erika was laughing her ass off, when I told her my ice tastes like the butter milk cookies we hate so much. It seems like the rosines in the ice was a kind of an award that i ate another centimeter away. I can not understand how somebody can produce an ice like that :P We then continued cycling for another 10 km before we pitched our tents on a slope, enjoyed our beer and enjoyed the sky.

Darkhan (Mongolia)

We woke up with a sunny day. It seems like the sky is eating the rest of the landscape. Mongolia is sky ...amazing sky.

On our way to Darkhan we had to stop several times and get our breath ... not from cycling but from the scenery We stopped by a bow and arrow workshop ... where we met a 13 year old girl who talked with us in german. :)
She wants to study in germany. After visiting the shop we continued and cycled along only us and nature and once in a while a car.
We had to stop severall times to let sheeps pass our way and the shephards are always good for a nice picture.
This country is a bikers or better a nature lovers dream
Tomorrow we are planning to make a 240km detour (not in one day) to visit a monastery. I know how crazy must someone be to make a detour of 240km by bike ....but its the journey not the destination :)

Mongolia

Mongolia did not welcome me nicely. Not because of the people but the weather. It was raining. When I crossed the border the Mongolian guy in charge seemed to be bored.l He asked me into his place and asked me questions about the German Olympic team. The he told me a Swiss girl crossed the border one hour ahead of me.After crossing the border I cycled 25 km to Suekbatar, the border town of Mongolia. The first impression was just amazing only me the steps and nothing else for 20km ...Once in a while a truck and the road is paved, better then expected.In Suekbatar I made a stop to eat something and met Erika the Swiss girl. She is cycling for more than 4 month now and has covered more then 5000km.
After our lunch we continued cycling together and were both amazed from the countryside. We met a Czech motorbike driver who covered 8000 km in 16 days ....but by bike you experience it better :)
At around 6pm we decided to look for a campsite. Then we saw a ger and decided to go there and ask if we could pitch our tents.
We were asked in and got offered some tea. Then we pitched our tents before we had to go back in and talk with the guys ...not so easy if you don't speak Mongolian. At around 9 we went in our tents and realized it is fucking cold in Mongolia at night.
I fell asleep and still could not imagine what has happened. What a great country.

Ulan Ude - Siberia

Ulan Ude

Thursday we got off the train and lost 5h immediately. In the train its Moscow time and here its 5h later. I am staying in a hotel with Manfred the Austrian guy and we do some visits of the sights here around. Sunday I took a train to the border and started cycling to Kjata. Around 30 km cycling to the border town of Russia/Mongolia.

Trans Siberian Express

Trans Siberian Express

Crossing Russia with the Trans Siberian Express is incredibly amazing. It was a 4 days trip straight on the train. I was in a 4 ppl compartment with a family from Siberia. Talking with hand and feet let me found out some more about them, about Russia and Siberia. I met several cool travelers in the train, like Hektor from Cuba, Ben from England, Lisa and her friend from South Africa and Manfred from Austria.
In the Restaurant we had once in a while some vodka sessions with some nice Russians. All the stops in between we used fro refilling and reloading our stocks before we continued the ride. From Moscow till Ulan Ude (Lake Baikal) we covered more than 5000km.

Moscow

I took the night train and arrived in the morning at 6 am in Moscow. When I wanted to get into the train the train attendant wanted to tell me that I can not bring the bike ... at least thats what I understood :). I had a compartment for 4 and no place at all for the bike. Though I put the bike onto my bed and slept beside it. My Russian co-compartment friends where laughing and for sure thought what a crazy guy:)

Moscow

I am impressed of Moscow it is a nice and clean city with a lot of atmosphere. Especially around the Kremlin and the red square a lot of party is going on. Russian ladies are really a nice eye catcher ...all with their high heels and legs till the head ... Seems like they are all 2 meters tall.
In the evening I met Natalia, a Russian girl - I met here via a travel web page. We went out with 2 Turks, another Russian and an Irish girl and the night ended at 5am in the morning.
Saturday Natalia helped me to purchase my ticket and ...its impressive if you speak Russian it takes only 10min hahaha - Thanks Natalia.
After that I tried to find a internet cafe - seems to be a nice one, voted the best internet cafe in yahoo.com .... but I will never know how it looks like, coz after 1 hour searching, i gave up.
Its Sunday 11am ... i am here at the train station now and waiting for my train to Ulan Ude, its a bit further than Irkusk.

St. Petersburg

In the morning at 9 after the passport control i left the boat. The 15 km into the city center would have been easy if I would speak Russian or at least if I could read Cyrillic letters. I asked my way around and maybe every 10th Russian I asked speaks at least a little English. I found my way to the city center and took some pictures of the St. Isaac Cathedral and my bike. After checking in (fuck its expensive here) I met a Norwegian guy and we had some beers and talked about my trip. He did the trans Siberian railway last year and could give me quite some good information. St. Petersburg is a very nice city and i am impressed about the friendliness of the Russians. My hardest time here was to get a train ticket to Moscow, because nobody speaks English at the train station. After 2 days and all in all 5h waiting on different counters I finally got it :)

Ferry Lübeck - St. Petersburg

The atmosphere on the boat is great. An ecuatorian bar keeper reminds me of my south America trip. On the boat are mostly Russian truck drivers, some tourists and some east German carpenters. We have a great time at the bar and everybody want to talk with the "crazy German biker". The food is good and i am enjoying my days watching the Olympic games and the open sea.

Day 1

Hergershausen (my home town) - Lübeck

On the road. I had a nice coffee in the morning at a friends place and then i biked to the train station. At 3pm I arrived in Luebeck. I went straight to the pier and check in into the boat.