Day 12
Well, today is the day we’ve been looking forward to – we’re finally going to see this amazing waterfall that Frank has been going on and on about. After a quick breakfast we pack up and head over to it – it’s nearby.
“Are you sure this is it, Frank?” We are somewhat underwhelmed. Mongolia has had a milder winter than usual with much less snow and consequently the water levels are lower. This has been to our advantage in making the river crossings manageable but it seriously diminishes the impact of the waterfall.
As this is a touristy area there is 4G coverage and I send a pic home. My wife’s comment is apt – “should’ve gone to Specsavers”.
Ah well, it mightn’t compare with Victoria Falls but we’re glad we came to have a look.
My bike is the older of the three and there are some differences, one being a smaller tank. We’re gone about a half an hour further when I get the signals that I’m about to run out of fuel. Not to worry, I’ll just switch it onto reserve. I do this and a minute later come to a stop. The reserve isn’t working and I’ve run out. Luckily I have some petrol in the cannister for my stove and put this in the tank. Pat also gives me the contents of his cannister and we continue towards the next village with fingers and toes crossed.
Then I see a local guy on a bike coming in our direction and as we draw near I can see that he has a container of petrol strapped to the back. I wave vigorously and he stops. Having developed a high degree of fluency in sign language at this stage I explain that I need petrol and ask if he would sell me his spare supply. He’s happy with this and indicates the price using the method we have become familiar with – two flashes of ten fingers indicating a price of 20,000 Tugriks (MNT), a shade under €7. I’m happy with this and top my bike up with half of it. Frank says he’s ok so I put the other half into Pat’s tank.
We continue on our way but haven’t gone far when Frank discovers that he has got a puncture in his rear tyre. The tools are out in a flash and Frank has the wheel off and the tube out of the tyre in no time. The tiny hole is found and prepared for the adhesive only to discover that the adhesive is hard. Not to worry, we had bought a new tube following the previous puncture after we had used the one we got from Cheke. Turns out the tube itself was the right size but the valve stem was way too big to go through the hole in the rim. We toyed with the idea of trimming the valve stem to fit but decided not to in case it compromised the valve. As far as we can see there are only two possible solutions – get a new puncture repair kit or at least some adhesive or get the hole in the rim drilled out. So we put the wheel onto the back of my bike and as we had passed a shop about a half an hour ago I set off in the direction we have just come from
Unfortunately the shop hasn’t any puncture kits but the lady calls her husband who is working on a trailer out back and I explain my problem. He gets it straight away and goes to get his drill. He drills out the hole in the rim and the valve stem is now fitting perfectly.
His wife had told him that I was looking for a puncture kit so he calls a friend who arrives and offers me a good kit for 5k MNT. Yes, please! I give the husband a few bob too and he’s delighted.
The lads are busy when I return
Everything is reassembled and we are on our way again. They say things happen in threes and sure enough we’ve only gone another little bit when Pat has a fall and snaps off the clutch lever. He exchanges the brake lever for the stump of the clutch lever and reckons he’ll make it to the next town with just a back brake. He’ll be OK, the brakes aren’t much use anyway!
Another half hour sees us to the next town and Pat finds a place that has bike parts. He has the new lever fitted as a brake lever in no time. Lucky we’re not on KTMs or BMWs!
Our objective today is to reach Kharkorin, a large town and capital of the Ovorkhangai province. The modern town lies beside the ruins of the ancient capital of the Mongol Empire, Karakorum. The petrol, puncture and clutch lever have delayed us but we would still like to make Kharakorin today so we continue in a broadly easterly/northeasterly direction. Again, the going is quite varied and our progress is erratic. We find ourselves going in the wrong direction a couple of times and retrace our steps. Kharkorin lies in the eastern foothills of the Khangai mountains and part of the Orkhon Valley Cultural Landscape as designated by UNESCO. These mountains are very scenic and we pass through a section where the surface is grassy with huge rocks appearing to have been placed randomly. Light is beginning to fade as the evening is closing in but we reckon that we are only about an hour away from Kharkorin and decide to press on. We realise that it’s not wise to drive offroad in failing light but Kharkorin is pulling us onward.
After about another half hour or so we crest a ridge and see the brightly lit town laid out below us. By now it is quite dark and we make our way carefully down the track and eventually arrive at tarmac on the edge of the town. We pull up beside a shop which is still open and check to see if we have 4G. We have, so I look up Booking.com and see accommodation offered in a ger which is not too far away. I phone the owner and am discussing the deal when we notice that a lady driving a car has pulled in beside us, has hopped out and is waiting to talk to us. It turns out that she has accommodation also. I would normally be sceptical of this kind of approach but she has very good English and mentions that she has had bikers stay with her before. She shows us the brochure for her accommodation and she even knows about Cheke in Ulan Bataar. She offers to show us the way to her place which is about 10 mins away. This sounds great so I phone back the Booking.com lady and cancel. Very soon after we are unpacking the bikes in a lovely place that has about 10 gers, a garage for the bikes, hot showers, a meal being prepared and a fire on in the ger. What could be finer?
She has a large, well appointed ger for dining in and after changing we head for a tasty meal and some good beers. There are two Russian couples and two young French guys there too. They have guitars and we join in the sing song which features a lot of Beatles songs.
It's been a long and tiring day and we gladly fall into our cosy beds and are asleep within minutes.
Well, today is the day we’ve been looking forward to – we’re finally going to see this amazing waterfall that Frank has been going on and on about. After a quick breakfast we pack up and head over to it – it’s nearby.
“Are you sure this is it, Frank?” We are somewhat underwhelmed. Mongolia has had a milder winter than usual with much less snow and consequently the water levels are lower. This has been to our advantage in making the river crossings manageable but it seriously diminishes the impact of the waterfall.
As this is a touristy area there is 4G coverage and I send a pic home. My wife’s comment is apt – “should’ve gone to Specsavers”.
Ah well, it mightn’t compare with Victoria Falls but we’re glad we came to have a look.
My bike is the older of the three and there are some differences, one being a smaller tank. We’re gone about a half an hour further when I get the signals that I’m about to run out of fuel. Not to worry, I’ll just switch it onto reserve. I do this and a minute later come to a stop. The reserve isn’t working and I’ve run out. Luckily I have some petrol in the cannister for my stove and put this in the tank. Pat also gives me the contents of his cannister and we continue towards the next village with fingers and toes crossed.
Then I see a local guy on a bike coming in our direction and as we draw near I can see that he has a container of petrol strapped to the back. I wave vigorously and he stops. Having developed a high degree of fluency in sign language at this stage I explain that I need petrol and ask if he would sell me his spare supply. He’s happy with this and indicates the price using the method we have become familiar with – two flashes of ten fingers indicating a price of 20,000 Tugriks (MNT), a shade under €7. I’m happy with this and top my bike up with half of it. Frank says he’s ok so I put the other half into Pat’s tank.
We continue on our way but haven’t gone far when Frank discovers that he has got a puncture in his rear tyre. The tools are out in a flash and Frank has the wheel off and the tube out of the tyre in no time. The tiny hole is found and prepared for the adhesive only to discover that the adhesive is hard. Not to worry, we had bought a new tube following the previous puncture after we had used the one we got from Cheke. Turns out the tube itself was the right size but the valve stem was way too big to go through the hole in the rim. We toyed with the idea of trimming the valve stem to fit but decided not to in case it compromised the valve. As far as we can see there are only two possible solutions – get a new puncture repair kit or at least some adhesive or get the hole in the rim drilled out. So we put the wheel onto the back of my bike and as we had passed a shop about a half an hour ago I set off in the direction we have just come from
Unfortunately the shop hasn’t any puncture kits but the lady calls her husband who is working on a trailer out back and I explain my problem. He gets it straight away and goes to get his drill. He drills out the hole in the rim and the valve stem is now fitting perfectly.
His wife had told him that I was looking for a puncture kit so he calls a friend who arrives and offers me a good kit for 5k MNT. Yes, please! I give the husband a few bob too and he’s delighted.
The lads are busy when I return
Everything is reassembled and we are on our way again. They say things happen in threes and sure enough we’ve only gone another little bit when Pat has a fall and snaps off the clutch lever. He exchanges the brake lever for the stump of the clutch lever and reckons he’ll make it to the next town with just a back brake. He’ll be OK, the brakes aren’t much use anyway!
Another half hour sees us to the next town and Pat finds a place that has bike parts. He has the new lever fitted as a brake lever in no time. Lucky we’re not on KTMs or BMWs!
Our objective today is to reach Kharkorin, a large town and capital of the Ovorkhangai province. The modern town lies beside the ruins of the ancient capital of the Mongol Empire, Karakorum. The petrol, puncture and clutch lever have delayed us but we would still like to make Kharakorin today so we continue in a broadly easterly/northeasterly direction. Again, the going is quite varied and our progress is erratic. We find ourselves going in the wrong direction a couple of times and retrace our steps. Kharkorin lies in the eastern foothills of the Khangai mountains and part of the Orkhon Valley Cultural Landscape as designated by UNESCO. These mountains are very scenic and we pass through a section where the surface is grassy with huge rocks appearing to have been placed randomly. Light is beginning to fade as the evening is closing in but we reckon that we are only about an hour away from Kharkorin and decide to press on. We realise that it’s not wise to drive offroad in failing light but Kharkorin is pulling us onward.
After about another half hour or so we crest a ridge and see the brightly lit town laid out below us. By now it is quite dark and we make our way carefully down the track and eventually arrive at tarmac on the edge of the town. We pull up beside a shop which is still open and check to see if we have 4G. We have, so I look up Booking.com and see accommodation offered in a ger which is not too far away. I phone the owner and am discussing the deal when we notice that a lady driving a car has pulled in beside us, has hopped out and is waiting to talk to us. It turns out that she has accommodation also. I would normally be sceptical of this kind of approach but she has very good English and mentions that she has had bikers stay with her before. She shows us the brochure for her accommodation and she even knows about Cheke in Ulan Bataar. She offers to show us the way to her place which is about 10 mins away. This sounds great so I phone back the Booking.com lady and cancel. Very soon after we are unpacking the bikes in a lovely place that has about 10 gers, a garage for the bikes, hot showers, a meal being prepared and a fire on in the ger. What could be finer?
She has a large, well appointed ger for dining in and after changing we head for a tasty meal and some good beers. There are two Russian couples and two young French guys there too. They have guitars and we join in the sing song which features a lot of Beatles songs.
It's been a long and tiring day and we gladly fall into our cosy beds and are asleep within minutes.
