Day 0
Mongolia was always on the “to-do” list but the time needed to travel there, tour around and travel back was never available. Shipping an 1150 GSA there and back didn’t seem like a viable alternative either. Then, a couple of years ago along with Pat and John (“Trick” and “Jaws100” of this parish) we went to Morocco on a fly-drive for a week which turned out to be a really great experience.
So Pat and I began to talk about doing something similar for Mongolia. John wasn’t interested in this trip so we are joined by Frank (“frankie boy” on here) - Frank has a wealth of experience, having ridden the Americas from Prudhoe Bay to Ushuaia and a significant chunk of Africa.
There are several providers of rental bikes and guided tours in Mongolia but after lots of research we decided to go with renting bikes from Cheke Tours in Ulaan Bataar and doing our own trip. The big international brands like BMW, KTM, Honda, Yamaha are available to rent but if you experience an issue with one of these outside UB you could be looking at significant downtime while waiting for a part and local mechanics are not very familiar with them. Cost is also a factor with these bikes costing from about €125 per day to rent.
Cheke rents Shineray Mustangs which are basic Chinese made bikes and which are very popular with the locals and are being used by an ever increasing number of the nomadic herdsmen instead of the traditional horse. They are only 150cc but having read many reports and blogs where they have been used before we reckon that they will suit our needs. One advantage is that they can be repaired anywhere and by any village mechanic. The other big advantage is the cost, €13 per day.
So we booked our flights, traveling with Hainan Airways from Dublin to Beijing and onward to Ulaan Bataar with Mongolian Airlines (MIAT). We could have gone via Moscow with Aeroflot but the preference was for China even though this meant longer flight times. MIAT also run a number of flights between Frankfurt and Berlin to Ulaan Bataar during June, July and August. I had been to Beijing before but the lads hadn’t so we decided to spend an overnight there, see the Great Wall, Tianamen Square, etc.
We got visas for a double entry to China (€60) in Dublin but subsequently discover that if you are transiting through Beijing and have possession of an onward connection you can be admitted for up to 144 hours without a visa. Damn!
We wanted to make the most of our day in Beijing so had booked a local guide (who was excellent) through Airbnb - he picked us up in a very plush Buick six-seater and about 2 hours later we arrive at the Great Wall at Huanghuacheng.
After building up an appetite climbing and walking on some very steep sections we have a very nice lunch in a local restaurant.
Then it’s back to the city to see Tianamen Square and do a tour of the Forbidden City.
We were feeling a bit peckish after that so we got a taxi to the Sanlitun area for something to eat and a few beers before heading back to the hotel for a good night’s sleep. Frank had booked this and it was excellent, it was near the airport and included a shuttle to the terminals, perfect for our early departure the next morning for Ulaan Bataar.
Mongolia was always on the “to-do” list but the time needed to travel there, tour around and travel back was never available. Shipping an 1150 GSA there and back didn’t seem like a viable alternative either. Then, a couple of years ago along with Pat and John (“Trick” and “Jaws100” of this parish) we went to Morocco on a fly-drive for a week which turned out to be a really great experience.
So Pat and I began to talk about doing something similar for Mongolia. John wasn’t interested in this trip so we are joined by Frank (“frankie boy” on here) - Frank has a wealth of experience, having ridden the Americas from Prudhoe Bay to Ushuaia and a significant chunk of Africa.
There are several providers of rental bikes and guided tours in Mongolia but after lots of research we decided to go with renting bikes from Cheke Tours in Ulaan Bataar and doing our own trip. The big international brands like BMW, KTM, Honda, Yamaha are available to rent but if you experience an issue with one of these outside UB you could be looking at significant downtime while waiting for a part and local mechanics are not very familiar with them. Cost is also a factor with these bikes costing from about €125 per day to rent.
Cheke rents Shineray Mustangs which are basic Chinese made bikes and which are very popular with the locals and are being used by an ever increasing number of the nomadic herdsmen instead of the traditional horse. They are only 150cc but having read many reports and blogs where they have been used before we reckon that they will suit our needs. One advantage is that they can be repaired anywhere and by any village mechanic. The other big advantage is the cost, €13 per day.
So we booked our flights, traveling with Hainan Airways from Dublin to Beijing and onward to Ulaan Bataar with Mongolian Airlines (MIAT). We could have gone via Moscow with Aeroflot but the preference was for China even though this meant longer flight times. MIAT also run a number of flights between Frankfurt and Berlin to Ulaan Bataar during June, July and August. I had been to Beijing before but the lads hadn’t so we decided to spend an overnight there, see the Great Wall, Tianamen Square, etc.
We got visas for a double entry to China (€60) in Dublin but subsequently discover that if you are transiting through Beijing and have possession of an onward connection you can be admitted for up to 144 hours without a visa. Damn!
We wanted to make the most of our day in Beijing so had booked a local guide (who was excellent) through Airbnb - he picked us up in a very plush Buick six-seater and about 2 hours later we arrive at the Great Wall at Huanghuacheng.
After building up an appetite climbing and walking on some very steep sections we have a very nice lunch in a local restaurant.
Then it’s back to the city to see Tianamen Square and do a tour of the Forbidden City.
We were feeling a bit peckish after that so we got a taxi to the Sanlitun area for something to eat and a few beers before heading back to the hotel for a good night’s sleep. Frank had booked this and it was excellent, it was near the airport and included a shuttle to the terminals, perfect for our early departure the next morning for Ulaan Bataar.