Mongolia - Fly Drive
- Thread starter Glenboy
- Start date
Thanks, Gerry. Glad you enjoyed it.
Loved the report it looks like you all thoroughly enjoyed the trip.
May as well have the film star treatment too
Andy, that's absolutely hilarious!
As one who can just about manage to get the photos up on the site, I'm very impressed with your obvious talent.
Off to the fridge now for a cold one!
Everything went well until the last report. Those are surely Transalp 600s and not Africa Twins! 
.
On a more serious note, I absolutely loved that ride report. Thank you for sharing. Looks like you had a great time too.
. On a more serious note, I absolutely loved that ride report. Thank you for sharing. Looks like you had a great time too.
Everything went well until the last report. Those are surely Transalp 600s and not Africa Twins!
On a more serious note, I absolutely loved that ride report. Thank you for sharing. Looks like you had a great time too.
Aha! Well spotted. I stand corrected - many thanks.
Glad you enjoyed it.
Final Thoughts ...
Well, it was a great trip and it certainly confirmed my belief that the fly-drive approach is a very viable way to experience biking in a far flung destination. As I said at the start, I fully get the appeal of going places on your own bike and I have enjoyed some great trips around Europe on mine but sometimes life can put obstacles in the way of taking a prolonged break for a big trip.
From a value for money point of view it was excellent. The flights came in at €711 return each. Hire of the bikes was €13 per day and fuel was in the range of €0.60 – €0.70 per litre and with the bikes being quite frugal our fuel spend was very low. Wild camping is free but we only did this twice at the beginning because when we discovered how good the option of staying in privately owned gers or ger camps was, we were hooked. Our most expensive overnight was about €28 each which included a bed in a heated ger, breakfast, evening meal and hot showers, our cheapest one was about €7 which was quite basic but did include a heated ger and breakfast. We always opted for the local beers which were universally excellent and ranged in price from about €2.50 in a snazzy place in UB to about €0.75 in a rural spot. Each day we bought water and food to have on the way. This tended to be bread rolls and cheese, biscuits, crisps, etc. ATMs were generally available in the towns and the only issue with the local currency (Tugrik) was the amounts we ended up carrying as a result of the exchange rate (about 3,000 MNT to €1). I reckon the total cost of the trip, including flights, visas, bike hire, fuel, food and drink, accommodation, money spent in Beijing both going and coming back, etc. was in the region of €1,800/€1,900.
I must admit that I had expected long days without much variety and it certainly wasn’t like this. I was amazed at how varied the countryside was and it was never boring. There was a terrific mix of off-road terrain, sometimes quite challenging and other times quite easy. Our overall distance travelled was in the region of 2,100 – 2,200 km. Being able to ride for hours on end without meeting a fence, gate or other barrier was amazing. The people we met were warm and friendly with none of the pushiness you can sometimes get. We saw very few police and any we did, didn’t bother us at all.
We only had third party insurance with the bikes and no medical insurance. I had bought one of the Garmin Inreach trackers before the trip and had signed up separately for the Medivac service at a cost of US$ 200. This guarantees that if you need medical assistance, you press the SOS button, your GPS co-ords will be transmitted to a base in the USA, a search and rescue operation will be undertaken and you will be brought to a hospital in country to be stabilised and then when you’re able to travel will be medivacced to a hospital of your choice anywhere in the world. Medical treatment costs are not covered. The two lads thought I was bonkers but it did give some peace of mind both to myself and to those at home.
What about the bikes? Well, at the start of the trip we thought they were pretty crappy to be honest. But as the days passed and we crossed varying types of terrain we came to realise that they are actually very capable little machines. Over the first couple of days I kept waiting for bits to fall off or for the thing to collapse under me but my confidence in it grew and I realised that I could ride into, over and through almost anything to the point where I relaxed and let the bike do what it wanted to do. “Hmmm, that track through this sandy bit looks like the best one to take – Eh, no says the bike, we’re actually going to take this one” – and the bike was always right! The only major issue I had with it was that being a small bike the handlebars were very low. This meant that any time I stood up on the pegs I couldn’t see out ahead of me as my line of sight was blocked by my helmet. I could stand up for an instant to navigate a deep rut or hole but couldn’t remain standing which meant that I absorbed a lot of the bumps and jolts.
I have mentioned this already I think but the food we had was actually ok - not fantastic for sure but nowhere nearly as bad as people had led us to believe. Of course if you can't eat mutton you might have a problem. The only thing we couldn't take was coffee that we ordered in a roadside cafe and which came with fermented yak's milk already in it - it was absolutely foul. We stuck to the green tea after that with one or two exceptions where we were sure of what we were getting.
The trip was meant to do nothing more than give us a taste of motorbiking in Mongolia and it certainly delivered on that and I’d heartily recommend it.
одоо баяртай
Well, it was a great trip and it certainly confirmed my belief that the fly-drive approach is a very viable way to experience biking in a far flung destination. As I said at the start, I fully get the appeal of going places on your own bike and I have enjoyed some great trips around Europe on mine but sometimes life can put obstacles in the way of taking a prolonged break for a big trip.
From a value for money point of view it was excellent. The flights came in at €711 return each. Hire of the bikes was €13 per day and fuel was in the range of €0.60 – €0.70 per litre and with the bikes being quite frugal our fuel spend was very low. Wild camping is free but we only did this twice at the beginning because when we discovered how good the option of staying in privately owned gers or ger camps was, we were hooked. Our most expensive overnight was about €28 each which included a bed in a heated ger, breakfast, evening meal and hot showers, our cheapest one was about €7 which was quite basic but did include a heated ger and breakfast. We always opted for the local beers which were universally excellent and ranged in price from about €2.50 in a snazzy place in UB to about €0.75 in a rural spot. Each day we bought water and food to have on the way. This tended to be bread rolls and cheese, biscuits, crisps, etc. ATMs were generally available in the towns and the only issue with the local currency (Tugrik) was the amounts we ended up carrying as a result of the exchange rate (about 3,000 MNT to €1). I reckon the total cost of the trip, including flights, visas, bike hire, fuel, food and drink, accommodation, money spent in Beijing both going and coming back, etc. was in the region of €1,800/€1,900.
I must admit that I had expected long days without much variety and it certainly wasn’t like this. I was amazed at how varied the countryside was and it was never boring. There was a terrific mix of off-road terrain, sometimes quite challenging and other times quite easy. Our overall distance travelled was in the region of 2,100 – 2,200 km. Being able to ride for hours on end without meeting a fence, gate or other barrier was amazing. The people we met were warm and friendly with none of the pushiness you can sometimes get. We saw very few police and any we did, didn’t bother us at all.
We only had third party insurance with the bikes and no medical insurance. I had bought one of the Garmin Inreach trackers before the trip and had signed up separately for the Medivac service at a cost of US$ 200. This guarantees that if you need medical assistance, you press the SOS button, your GPS co-ords will be transmitted to a base in the USA, a search and rescue operation will be undertaken and you will be brought to a hospital in country to be stabilised and then when you’re able to travel will be medivacced to a hospital of your choice anywhere in the world. Medical treatment costs are not covered. The two lads thought I was bonkers but it did give some peace of mind both to myself and to those at home.
What about the bikes? Well, at the start of the trip we thought they were pretty crappy to be honest. But as the days passed and we crossed varying types of terrain we came to realise that they are actually very capable little machines. Over the first couple of days I kept waiting for bits to fall off or for the thing to collapse under me but my confidence in it grew and I realised that I could ride into, over and through almost anything to the point where I relaxed and let the bike do what it wanted to do. “Hmmm, that track through this sandy bit looks like the best one to take – Eh, no says the bike, we’re actually going to take this one” – and the bike was always right! The only major issue I had with it was that being a small bike the handlebars were very low. This meant that any time I stood up on the pegs I couldn’t see out ahead of me as my line of sight was blocked by my helmet. I could stand up for an instant to navigate a deep rut or hole but couldn’t remain standing which meant that I absorbed a lot of the bumps and jolts.
I have mentioned this already I think but the food we had was actually ok - not fantastic for sure but nowhere nearly as bad as people had led us to believe. Of course if you can't eat mutton you might have a problem. The only thing we couldn't take was coffee that we ordered in a roadside cafe and which came with fermented yak's milk already in it - it was absolutely foul. We stuck to the green tea after that with one or two exceptions where we were sure of what we were getting.
The trip was meant to do nothing more than give us a taste of motorbiking in Mongolia and it certainly delivered on that and I’d heartily recommend it.
одоо баяртай
Feargal,
Really enjoyed reading that!
Чи залуу шүү !
See ya in Leenane!
LB
Really enjoyed reading that!
Чи залуу шүү !
See ya in Leenane!
LB
Thanks Laurence. Yes, looking forward to Leenane, it's getting close now. The brown bread keeps pulling me back
Thanks for taking the time so we could all enjoy your travels from the comfort of an armchair.
frankie boy
Registered user
Thanks Fergal for giving your time and effort into writing up a brilliant report on our trip i know its a very time consuming task .I also know how helpful these reports can be for anyone contemplating a trip like this i can only echo what Fergal has said, yes it would be great to ride your own bike out to Mongolia but the time involved does not suit everyone and this was a great way to get a taste for Mongolia its friendly people the amazingly varied scenery and very importantly it was a great adventure .thanks again Fergal
Thanks gents, my pleasure
Fantastic write up Feargal. Enjoyed every word. Sorry I only found out about it at Leenane and missed the opportunity to spend some time with you and the lads to talk about it. Next time make time for an interested ear.
I'm so glad you found decent ish food
I'm sure we'll end up back there at some stage so that's encouragingReally enjoyed that and what a great idea to fly drive and hire local bikes.
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