Woanders

Route in brief with the main supply points: Ulaanbaator southwest > along the Tuul River until Öndörshireet > Rashaant > Kharkhorin > through Orkhon Valley to Tsesterleg > Jargalant > Bayanbulag > Otgon > Uliastai

03.05-19.05.2024

Gps tracks will follow at some point

Taste of the dessert – Ulaanbaatar & Töv Aimag

Westwards from UB we first follow a busy road southwest, which become smaller as the landscapes become wider. Fewer cars more gers more herds.

After 50km we arrive at Altanbulag which lies in the Töv province (“provinces are called aimags”) where we stop at little pavilion for some premium snacking (bread, olive oil, salt, cucmber) and some melted Zotter Nougat.  Altanbulag marks the end of tarmac and we head towards the west on sandy paths still pretty easy to ride. The first drift in the sand feels a bit woobly with the weight on the handlebars but soon getting the hang of it. First washboard sections waking us up again. Feels great to be in the wide open, away from the asphalt, riding amongs horses and sheep and endless sand. In the distance we see a mountain range.

We set our tent at a superb camp spot close to the river Tuul. Filter 5 bottles of water (better safe than sorry) and arrange the bags – this will become a daily routine. Filtering or cooking the water is absolutely necessary here, the rivers are broad and flow semi fast but they are surrounded with herds. By the amount of cadavers we smell and see, the water doesn’t feel super safe to drink without any typ of filtration.

Cooking during sunset- what turned out to be probably the best camp dinner for the both of us.  Yummy 🙂

Some yoga before bed time because we are overly motivated the first days and then our new MSR Hubba hubba bikepacking tent waits to be tested. 

We continue the next morning around 7ish, first breakfast then off we go. We follow the sandy pistes, some hills and come across a few gers (jurts). After we deflated the tires a bit the paths become comfier. Over the day there were probably 3 cars and 4 motorcycles that crossed our ways. The landscapes, the light, the colours are surreal. The deep blue sky seems so close and broad. So much space, nature – unpaved, uninhabitet it is hard to grasp.

We find a campspot close to a hill and cook what is probably the second best camping food after yesterday‘s dinner 🙂 enjoy the last sunrise accompanied by some horses that stand on the top of the hill. This night becomes frosty, our bags and the sleeping bag have a icelayer when we woke up.

We dry the tent for a bit and decide to first ride one or two hours before we eat breakfast. We head towards the first little town to resupply – Öndörshireet. The shops have a good arrangement and we eat at a playground accompanied by 5-10 kids curious about the map, the bikes and us. The boys were wrestling around us, driving the bikes till they break, the girls where sitting quiet next to us occasionally smiling. Ralf fixes the derailleurs of one of the bike, Julia puts the chain back on another one, so that they can race us out of the city.

Unfortunately this is also the time when Julia s stomach starts to feel funky – this will make the next 4 days annoying. We ride a little bit more, constant stop and go to have a little breather and camp on the foot of a hill.

The next day we start over flowy pists towards a little town called Erdenesant with bright and colourful houses.

Crossing the Kangai mountain range –

Övörkhangai & Arkhangai aimag

Afterwards via a tarmac road towards Rashaant crossing briefly into a new Aimag: Bulgan where a few km outside we find a nice camspot.

Via an aspalt road we head towards Kharakorin in the Aimag Övörkhangai (southern “Khangai”). Kharakorin used to be the ancient capital of the Mongolian empire. An exhausting stretch of 80km tarmac, in tough sun with headwind.

Happy to be riding the last km towards the city again on tracks through the fields. We pack up on meds and supplies and sleep in a guesthouse to recover a bit. The woman that runs the guesthouse is very helpful.

In the morning we visit a contemporary art gallery run by a french guy and had a little chat. Really impressive pieces and one photograph leaves an lasting impression. We learn that the Artist was also the Director of Photography of a film we wanted to watch before coming here: „If only I could hibernate“. We visit the Erdene Dsuu monestary and the size of the property gives an impression on just how big this place must have been during the time this city used to be the center of the empire. Out of the 62 temples around 18 still remain.

We can get a feeling of how many tourist may be here later in the year by the size of the bus stops and the souvenir shops. This time of the year we would see three other tourists groups around. This city marks the crossroads for tourists and probably a few weeks later lots of 4WDs will leave in various directions to explore the country side.

Us – we will head into Orkhon Valley towards a village that could easily be confused with a german town namely Bat Ulzii (ger: Bat-ölzii > “Bad[T]ölzi”, haha). The valley lies on the crossroads for trade and has archaeological sites that date back to the 6th century. Half a day spent under a tree and Julias stomach is getting better again and finally feeling stronger and ready to explore with full energy. The valley is grazed by herds and plays an important role for the nomadic people as well as tourism development. The paths are smooth rideable and go along side of the river. One unplanned detour lead to a not so smooth river crossing and Julia getting cemented in the mud together with her bike.

Close to Bat Ulzii we suddely see a three lane dustroad being flattened by massive trucks. Probably prepping for this years tourist season. We re happy that we re early in the saison, not having to share the roads with many vehicles but only with wildlife and our constant companion the wind.

With tailwind the riding feels smooth and we gain some easy kilometers heading into the Arkhangai-Aimag (referring to North of mountainrange Khangai) and towards our next destination: natural hot springs at Tsenkher! The next day the wind turned against us making us work for the relaxation. After some river crossings, steep passes seemingly going in a straight line up the dirt roads, wind from all sides and being hailed on – we arrive in the evening at the hot springs. Its early in the season so most of the places are still closed and/ or currently in the process of renovation. Leaving us with the only option of a slighty overprized place and our first night in a ubercomfy ger. The water that is coming out of the hotsprings is about 80degrees and one of the pools is unbearable hot. Another one feels comfy especially after getting stuck in the hail earlier that day. We chat with some guys from UB and some germans that are here for the weekend.

Last day until the first restday at a guesthouse in Tsesterleg (the capital of this Aimag). We ride against the wind over two passes, scared off some herds of horses and yaks. Its funny to watch how they react to the potential “threat”: us cyclists. The horses are usually overly excited, quickly sprint with elegance and flowing mane in one direction to just stop again and look curiously towards us. The foals seek shelter close to their mothers.  While the yaks stand up moderately, look at you with a mix of indifference and fierceness ready to take a headbump towards you. Some especially the younger yaks hop away, somehow looking like dogs playfully jumping over the grass. The really fresh calves are super playful chasing each other gleefully.

We raced with one horserider downhill – after chatting in sign language. Fighting the wind until the last meters to the guesthouse we are happy to find this amazing spot that has hosted many travellers before. Chatting with the owner about our planned routed, enjoying a coffee and a veggie burger and exploring the market. Hello rest day!

One Yoga flow followed by a chill day, later we fuel up at the Supermarket and off we go again.

With strong headwind we follow the first 20km on semi tarmac, a road – under construction- where it feels like in a sandstorm with the cars come rushing by.

We apart from the main road and head towards Zuun mood gol river for a little detour and a nice break spot. A fairytale forrest follows and in my mind the kodamas (treespirits in Hayao Miyazakis movie Princess Mononkee) watch us carefully 🙂 

We follow the path and camp under an old tree next to a river. What a magical campsite! The countryside is so sparsely populated so camping is absolutely necessary here but also it feels like the area is a campers paradise. Always minding the “leave no trace” mindset, you may have to carry your trash over some passes before the next little town appears. In the morning we find a bumblebee sleeping in hole of the tree – right above Julias Bike which is named: Alpenhummel (Bombus Alpinus).

Early start to escape the wind – wind is in our favour today and we have a bit of tailwind. Arriving at the pass and a new valley opens. A wide, gentle valley with a majestic width surrounded by rocks that cut through the landscapes and stir up the softness. The rivers flow wild – not following a line but making their way naturally through the landscapes. The paths are smooth and we gain some easy kilometres. Bridges ease the river crossings and so yey no wet feet today!! 

We leave the Chuluut river (stony river translated) behind go over some hills and follow another valley that will lead to the highest point so far of 2500 meters of altitude.  Just as we enter the new valley we see a huge ice layer on the river. The surface of the ice shimmers in various colours and we remember everyone telling us: “its not august or july yet it is THE may!”

The sky turns greyer as we make our way over hills, through this valley and we search for a windstill place.

Wide open land (Northern part of the Bayankhongor Aimag)

The days starts with headwind, not whispering in our ears but rather yelling, and rocky roads shaking us awake. The last snowfields mark the end of winter of the mid of spring.

Arriving at a pass brings pure happiness, deerstones close by and we follow rocky road for the downhill crossing into the Bayankhongor Aimag. Full concentration is needed not to be thrown off the bike by wind and rocks.

We stop at river for a break, mentally prepping for the crossing as  a truck comes pass the river. Impressive how these vehicles and the drivers ride these roads. He stops to fix some issues on the vehicle and to let the truck cool down. Out of the passenger seat comes cute puppy and freshly born yak standing woobly on its feet going rounds across the truck trying to feed on various parts of the car. Over the past days we saw a handful of trucks that appear to be setting up gers for summer.

Refuel the next morning at a great supermarket (tiny shop) at the tiny village Jargalant that even had some yummy muesli. And after some “baked peas” (yep that’s a thing when having an sugar overload) we are more or less ready for many, many river crossings. Together with horses and yaks we stand united in the muddy rivers pushing our bikes over rocks through mud not bothering anymore to take the shoes off.

Two more passes and the landscape gets lonlier, dryer and we don’t see horses or gers anymore. Dinner time in the probably remotest part so far. We prep our special finding of today: potatoes and cabbage!

Wake up early to escape heat and wind and we are happy that a semi frozen river runs enough water to fill up our bottles. This stretch marks the longest until the next water point. We roll until 12ish easily on the paths and can see the first gers again –  with 3 dogs that “greet” us. The dogs here are annoyed by bikers and will follow with angry curiosity, but they are friendly compared to shepherd dogs in other countries.

New recipe for breaky – plum and cinnamon rice.  Perfect fuel for the next  pass in a even more remote feeling area than we been before. The wind picks up speed and the pass is exhausting. When arrived the landscapes opens up to a different view. We roll down and rocks in crazy shapes and colours appear around us. One looked like from a distant like the wing of a plane – someone could think these are remains of a crash or a meteor. So we just wonder where these rocks all of a sudden came from. Another valley that suprises us –  after every pass a suprise. Bayanbulag is a spot where we hope to treat us with some goodies. One tiny supermarket is open, a guy smokes inside and soon, after we entered 3 more people join us – that is about the capacity the shop could take and we stand there cramped not able to turn anymore. We get the necessities and stroll through the little monastery chatting over google translate with some curious guys. The physical map is a great conversation starter as the are curious about our routes. Like in all other villages we have been so far, schools and kindergarten as well as playgrounds are painted in lovely colour and seem fairly new, while the rest of the town appears to either be falling apart or about to be reconstructed – hard to tell. Random new?, old?,  partly finished? houses are usually in the centers.

The next pass awaits, which will mark the highest point so far with 2700. An easy gravel road leads towards the pass and we can see from above the Sangiin dalai nuur lake which we had choosen as a break spot. The lake is quite empty and so we ride on the dried ground towards the shore. Feels good to be close to water in the otherwise so dry area.

Unexpected great Route and Adventure next to holy Otgon Tenger Mountain – Zavkhan Aimag

We head further towards Otgon, cross into the Zavkhan aimag over another pass and a quite fun downhill until the roads get flatter, washboardier and the wind picks up speed. Refuel in Otgon and we search for a campground. After Otgon we have two roads to choose – one is the “main road” towards Uliastai, which we found on other bikepacking blogs and the other one a village road into the mountains (a small shortcut with the high potential to be gorgeous but also with the uncertainty that the roads might lead to nowhere). We decide for the safer option in the evening and so we start on the 5 lane dirt-road towards Uliastai the next day. At the crossroad peaking into the mountainous we spontaneously  take a turn towards the second option, crossing an icy river to join the other path through the mountains – time to explore a bit and happy to be away from a washboard road. This soon turns out to be the best choice so far. What follows is the best day and route we had until now.

We follow fun motorcycles single trails with view on Otgon Tenger Uul – the sacred mountain of the Mongolians with an altitude of 4029meters. Steep uphills await us, fun downhills and so it goes the entire morning. Puffing our lungs out on the short but oh so steep uphills – but simply happy to be away from the washboard-wind combo.

What follows next is the highlight so far – we follow a ridge with flowers blooming on one side and majestic boulders on the other side. Like on a rollercoaster we flow the ridge up and down towards the valley. A few more river crossing and we come to another highlight in a new valley. The paths lead along side of impressive rock formations and green lush grass and a beautiful river on the other side. Flowy, partly rocky this route was definitely worth it. As we have enough energy we decide to continue onto the last pass.

A nice lady stops us and tells us to follow another road towards Uliastai one valley earlier than we originally had planned – “trust the locals” we think and follow this advice. By the sign language we understand the other path is too rocky and pumpy.  We continue on a small track leading into the valley and around the corner get a peak of the road we shall follow. Well – probably okay to ride with a motorcycle but this was such a steep hill,  that not even we couldn’t ride it anymore but also pushing was so tough we were happy to be able to some space to zig zag up that hill. Almost at the top a motorcyclist came following us looking at us with sheer confusion. From there we descent to the valley we originally planned to go through and by the looks at the roads that  where behind us they didn’t look all too bad from a distance. Oh well maybe we saved 3 km but we gained a few more hard altitude meters before dinner. We only had very friendly encounters here so far, getting supplied with water, red bull and other goodies out of driving cars, offers to be transported on the back of vans and on motorcycles (not sure how that would work). When possible and we have internet we can chat via google translate getting some insights of life here.

Last push to the pass – and we look down the valley, the snow capped mountains standing in a blooming flower field. What a day! The next morning we descent the last 40km towards Uliastai, first 10ks flow easily then follows a typical “straight” dirt road next to a river. Lush and oh so green trees appear – flowers bloom and Uliastai appears in the distance. We are ready for a late breakfast and a coffee!