Mongolia Pt. 1

So after having crossed over into Mongolia we drove south to the large town of Darkhan and stayed at a hotel to shower and use the internet. That evening we went to a local Korean restaurant and ordered way too much and then had an utterly sleepless night due to a party in the next door room. It was the morning after that we found the back window of the car open and nothing but our very dirty laundry stolen!

We then drove south towards to Ulaanbaatar. Having stopped off for lunch at a beautiful spot by the road we also took the opportunity to dry out the awning and Sir Lawrence of Arabia (the tent) that had both received a soaking at Lake Baikal. The view was breathtaking so we ended up driving further away from the main road on an old track and found a peaceful and utterly hidden spot. We have yet to camp anywhere quite as beautiful and, to be honest, I’ll be surprised if we find anywhere quite as gorgeous again.

The next morning we rather reluctantly left our camp spot and, as we pulled away from a layby where we had just disposed of our rubbish, ended up behind ‘the Korean family.’ (See blog entry Living the Eastern Dream!) We stopped at the next petrol station and had a chat about experiences thus far; while his drone hoovered overhead recording the whole thing – much to the bemusement of the petrol attendant!

After heading south again we arrived in the hectic, polluted and noisy capital city of Mongolia some two hours later. As with all the main cities there was the usual honking, changing lanes, cutting in and general driving mayhem. After another painful hour driving along the main thoroughfare of Ulaanbaatar – only some 6 miles – we made it to the guesthouse in one piece.

Oasis guesthouse (http://www.guesthouse-oasis.mn/en/) is renowned as a place for ‘overlanders’ to stop at in the city. They have dorm rooms or gers (like a yurt) or you can sleep in your car in the garden. It’s very nice; with showers, laundry and a great restaurant. I really liked how you can order what meal you want from the menu or take anything from the fridge (beer, wine, cake). They then trust you to write it down yourself on your food slip and you settle the entire bill at the end of your stay. Showers, laundry and cheese burgers were all done and dusted within the first hour of our arrival!

The next day (Monday) we set off, in a taxi that tried to double the fare, to get our Kazakhstan visas. We needed to pay 60 USD each into a bank around the corner and then go straight back to the embassy with the bank transfer receipts – unfortunately this part got ‘lost in translation’ and we paid the money then headed off into town to buy pants and socks to replace the stolen ones. We walked into town from the embassy and then back to the guesthouse that lies on the eastern fringes of town: a good 8 miles in all. On the way back as we were flagging somewhat, so we stopped in what looked like quite a posh restaurant for a bite to eat.

Big mistake! It wasn’t until 4am that morning that I realised I should not have ordered the goulash for I was awoken by crippling stomach pains which turned out to be food poisoning. Dear god it was horrible – 12 hours of being sick and diarrhoea (luckily we were staying at a guesthouse with a loo near the car!) I was out of it for a good 48 hours, took 3 days to feel more or less normal – but it was a whole week until I felt totally recovered. I’m going to be a lot more careful from now onwards – especially when eating out.

The embassy very kindly arranged for us to collect our visas on Wednesday (when they are closed) as they knew we were keen to get going and, I imagine, they maybe felt a bit bad about the ‘lost in translation’ bank receipt too? Anyway we set off for the Gobi Desert: with two Kazakhstan visas in hand; a full tank of petrol; a wallet full of money and a fridge loaded up with food.

Footnote: the wallet full of money is no exaggeration: £10:00 is the equivalent to 28,000 tughrik! (And there are no coins in the Mongolian money system either)