In the meantime we are both safely in Mongolia. We have ridden more than 13.000km so far. Since the last post we have been through Tajikistan and the Pamir, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan. Central Asia was amazingly beautiful and an experience of a lifetime. We will never forget it.

We have been back in Russia but in Western Siberia now, and via Barnaul to the beautiful Altai mountain range. We have a tough choice at this point.
Both of us are pretty tired. We want to see Baikal lake. But how to get there? Through the nice russian roads with asphalt.
Or should we try Mongolia?

Larisa does not need a visa for Mongolia, and I have a visa, but I need to enter before the 1st of August.
Well we went all the way through the Altai, and at the end of it you have the Mongolian border.
So why not try it? We both agreed to give it a try. But you must know, Mongolia has almost no roads.
The asphalt road literally stops when you enter the country.

We made a very quick entry of the country and rode in an our in the evening and rain over a mountain to the city of Olgii.
Yesterday we have ridden from Olgii to Khovd. The weather was good. Blue skies again, but there was water on the road.
We had to cross several small rivers, but no problem. The only downside is that we are riding on the same tyres we put on in Volgograd, the Heidenau K60.
They have now about 9000km on them and the back is nearly worn. I should have put the TKC 80 set on which was waiting for us in Barnaul. But we were not sure to go through Mongolia or not. OK, now it is more changeling 🙂

Mongolia is a special country. The nature and landscape is stunning. I feel like watching a movie all day long when I ride here. Eagles are watching us when we ride through the steppe and mountains and sometimes they come really close. You have to know in this big country the average is 1 man on 1 square km. So you can really be alone here.
The food and drinks are something here. The tea is milky with a salty taste. We had the national dish which is called Tsuivan. It is a mix of macaroni, potatoes and beef. Quite good, but the macaroni was not so good like the one I had in the Pamir in Jelandi 🙂
Then you have communication, I mean talking to people. We both speak Russian and English, but here it is almost no help, you have to speak Mongolian, which is almost not understandable. Sign language does the trick here. Getting money from an ATM in Olgii was easy, and we could even buy a Mongolian SIM card, from an operator called Mobicom. I now have 250Mb credit 🙂

         

 

The offroad is a paradise so far for me. Sometimes difficult, sometimes easy. The BMW is doing a great job, the ESA is really great so far. The only thing we have to do is inflate the tyres now and then, now actually on an almost daily basis. It is like buying fuel and water. The fuel by the way is expensive here. 2000 Togrog for one liter, which is almost double than in Russia. Larisa is doing a great job in the backseat. But I think she will be happy when we reach civilisation again in UB and finally Irkutsk. We are both missing our son Erik as well.

More detailed posts of the travel story will follow later, when I have more time to write. Maybe on the transsiberian from Irkutsk to Moscow 🙂

Greetings from Mongolia to all our family and friends!