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The next day we got another break as we hitched a ride from Khuvsgul Lake to Murun. Since we had already ridden that route, it made little sense to ride down the same road we had already climbed. We looked to hitch a ride from the camp. Jaga (the cook and the helpful person running the camp) was helped arrange transportation for us and our bikes. He first went and asked a few commercial vehicles which carry supplies to the lake. But that didn’t work, so he then went and changed into clean clothes and walked down to the main road to hail a passing car. It was a family of three in a small SUV, they were kind enough not just to stop and hear us out but helped us load our bikes on the carrier on the SUV and then drove us down from the lake to Murun.
It was a small Mitsubishi Pajero, a very rugged vehicle and comfortable as well. A heart in the mouth ride for us as we were worried about damage to the bikes as we drove through the dirt trails with our bikes bouncing around on the roof on top! Fortunately we reached Murun, without a scratch on the bikes. We had an interesting journey with the family who had come for a vacation to the lake. It was fun communicating with them, since they didn’t speak English and we were mostly communicating with hand gestures and eventually resorted to explaining what we did through our facebook profiles!
On this occasion we were not willing to stay in the same guesthouse in Murun. So we went into the centre of town and checked out the guesthouses there, but we didn’t get a room so we crossed the road and checked into a hotel which was marginally more expensive. As far as we were concerned we were in the lap of luxury, since we got running water and a hot shower! After a quick wash we went to town looking for a bite to eat, and as we walked around the town, we realized how small the place actually was! Some of the colonies of the metros of India would be bigger than this town!
As we were strolling through the city we met a biker from South Korea who was riding from his country all the way to Portugal. A mammoth ride indeed. The best part was that he was riding a relatively small capacity motorcycle- a Honda CBR 250. His ride would have taken about 6 months. He was relatively young and inexperienced, a college student. It does take a lot of guts to do a ride like that. Hats off to him! A bit foolhardy as well, since he didn’t seem to know much about motorcycles, he didn’t know what grade of oil was required for his bike, and he had a couple of small crashes while riding off tarmac. He also didn’t look very adept at handling his motorcycle, though that could have just been plain fatigue of having ridden the entire day. It was good to meet him though.
We didn’t find a place to eat, but we did find tons of supermarkets, hypermarkets and beauty salons! Cheap food was hard to find, so we went to the supermarket and bought bread and tinned meat for a healthy meal!
The next day we were scheduled to leave from Murun, but due to incessant rains we were stuck in the town. As predicted by Mountain-forecast.com, it rained heavily for the entire day, as such we couldn’t ride out of Murun and were stuck in our hotel room for an extra day. It was quite depressing to be cooped up in a small room for 36 hours, immediately after enjoying the wild expanse of the countryside of Mongolia. The change in fortunes was too dramatic to be digested easily! The incessant rain throughout the day wouldn’t allow us to ride in such inclement weather. So we stayed put. I was introduced to Japanese animated movies by Prakash, since we had absolutely nothing else to do. I ended up watching four movies, with each movie being around 2 hours long. So 8 hours I was lying on my bed watching movies on the tiny screen of my phone. After all that lolling about, in the evening we got some physical activity in which we attempted to play Table Tennis, I say attempted, because I mostly missed the table and was mostly playing tennis! The highlight of our day was visiting the supermarket thrice! That’s how interesting our day was 😀
The bikes loaded on the car
The family who helped us out
Food was good everywhere!This was the day we started riding again after a break of 3 days, some of it was planned the rest was thanks to the weather.
We left Murun and I had expected around 15 km of tarmac before the start of the trails, but the dirt road started just a kilometre out of town. From there it was bumpy tracks, bouncing around, and it was all good fun as we climbed out of town. The initial kilometres were mostly climbs and the first pass of the day was pretty difficult. It took quite a bit of energy to cover two passes in one day. We completed around 70 km that day.
We couldn’t make it to the next town which was Shine Ider which was around 120 km from Murun. That was nigh impossible to do in a day on a cycle on dirt, undulating paths with 25 kg of luggage. We rode till 8PM, where we found a suitable place to pitch our tent and had a dry camp.
On the climb to the first pass, the gradients were a good 12%, making it impossible for us to ride it up. Eventually we had to get off our bikes and push uphill for the last 3 km. Those 3 km of pushing up our bikes took us an hour. Once we reached the top we saw a small eatery on the other side, which was very welcome as we got some much needed grub. As we were waiting for our lunch to be prepared, we met an Italian couple who were travelling on a rented motorcycle. They had rented a 150cc Chinese motorcycle in UB and were making steady progress. Rent for the motorcycle was 10 dollars a day, cheaper than the rent for our bicycles! Though they struggled as well on that steep climb up the pass!
After that the road was undulating through the grasslands, till we had to climb the second pass of the day. The second one was also pretty steep but the climb lasted only a kilometre or so. As we were pushing our bikes up the slope, one drunk local passed us on his motorcycle, he then proceeded to the top where he parked his bike and walked back to help Prakash push his bike up the slope. The descent from that pass was so steep that Prakash walked his bike down, as it was an extremely tricky downhill with rocks and gravel and sharp bends. Soon after the second pass, we got off the main trail and found a suitable spot for pitching our tents, it was close enough to the main trail that we wouldn’t have to ride too much the next day to catch it, but far enough that the few vehicles that were on that road wouldn’t spot us.
The start of the dirt and real adventure!
The tents we pitched in the middle of absolutely nowhere!The previous day we had camped in the middle of nowhere, some 60km before Shine Ider. It was time to break camp and ride on…
It was pretty cold at night and I woke up frozen, it was only after the sun shone with some strength, that my tent inside was warm enough for me to get some sleep. We finally got out of our tents, packed and made our way once again in the direction of Shine Ider. After having crossed a couple of passes, we saw the third, which looked monstrous in comparison to the previous two! Just Looking at it from a distance tired me out!
On our right we saw a lake Zuun Nuur. Nuur means lake in Mongolian. We stood at the fork with 25 km to go to Shine Ider contemplating which direction to take. If we headed to Shine Ider, we would have to climb the steep slope, if we went to the lake and didn’t find accommodation there, then we would be badly stuck as we wouldn’t have had any energy to return and make that climb. After standing there for a good 15 minutes we decided to go towards Zuun Nuur and try our luck with the camp there!
On our way to the lake an old man on an even older looking motorcycle stopped and told us that there was indeed a campsite near the lake. Unfortunately the campsite was on the other side of the lake. So more pedalling! He also told us that there was another route towards Shine Ider from the lake itself, so we wouldn’t have to backtrack the next day.
We reached the lake shore and chucked our bikes and just sat and enjoyed the beauty and peace of the area. One shepherd came there on horseback and pointed out the Ger camp on the other side of the lake. He had his monocular with him, which he used to keep an eye on his herd, we used that to see the camp on the other side. As we sat with the shepherd a SUV rolled up with a bunch of Italian tourists who didn’t speak English. Fortunately they had a guide with them who did speak English and she was able to give us precise information.
Since that was not a very touristy lake, the camp was relatively cheap, even though it was bang on the lake shore, thus giving us a wonderful view. We also got a hot shower, clean toilets and good food, which was welcome after the previous night of camping in the open. There were a bunch of children who really took to Prakash and stuck to him. They did eventually run off, but returned with a bowl full of berries, which were not as sour as what we had tasted earlier, though it was the same in appearance.
Three van full of tourists reached there who were loud, but fortunately didn’t disturb the peaceful atmosphere of the place. Prakash had an interesting conversation with the local guide who was accompanying the Italians, she had travelled a bit in the world and therefore could give us some interesting insights into the local culture and traditions of Mongolia. Even though I was standing quite far away from the point of conversation, I could hear them clearly. Indians are loud and Italians are not far behind apparently!
It was 15th of August. Independence Day in India. But for the last 15 days it had been complete freedom and independence from the daily grind for us. We had our bikes and freely roamed the countryside of Mongolia, with not a worry in mind.
We left from Zuun Nuur a little later than planned and we left the lake with a heavy heart as we started climbing immediately for the first pass. Fortunately the climb was not as steep as what we had seen the previous day, so we were thankful for that. Once we climbed the top, the other side was extremely steep, with a lot of pebbles and rocks. So instead of risking a crash riding down, we walked our bikes down! With that much luggage it would have been a recipe for disaster, it was easier to swallow our ego and walk!
From there it was downhill all the way to Shine Ider, as the town was at the bottom of the valley. In the town we got internet on our phones after a couple of days and we also found a tyre shop where we filled air in the tyre which had been running low for quite some time. We also bought water and grub before we headed out. We decided not to eat lunch there, since breakfast had been but a couple of hours prior. It was a bad decision. A few kilometers into the climb out of the town we were both ravenously hungry.
The first 13 km took us around 3 hours, we really struggled on those roads with our hungry bellies growling in anger. The last 3 km was real steep and we pushed our bikes to the top. At the top there was a shrine and some rocks placed in a significant manner, the story goes that a lama had jumped off that cliff for reasons I couldn’t figure out!
At the top of the pass we could see the clouds rolling in from the opposite valley, dark grey clouds pregnant with rain. We wore our rain gear and tried riding. But the wind was so strong that we could barely walk, let alone ride downhill. The wind and rain lashed our shivering bodies, though our rain gear kept our bodies dry, our hands and feet were soaked. We somehow slipped and slid our way down from the pass towards the nearest Ger in sight. As we approached the Ger, a dog there started barking at us in a menacing manner, we stood in the rain hoping that someone inside would take notice and come out. After a few minutes wait, which felt like an eternity, an old lady stepped out, saw us and tied the dog, indicating for us to go over. She then invited us inside and gave us hot milk and cheese to eat along with some cream while we sat by the fireside warming our frozen limbs. The cheese that was offered was something like dehydrated paneer, it was hard as rock, very tasty but almost impossible to eat. I downed my piece in around half an hour. Prakash took a small piece of that cheese and two hours later still hadn’t been able to eat it!
The Ger had the old lady and three young girls inside, not for a moment were they afraid of two strange men harming them in any manner. Women are extremely safe in entire Mongolia and it shows in the confidence they have while interacting. As the rain subsided, we left the sweet family to continue along our way.
On the way we were so hungry that we downed a chunk of 4 day old stale bread. Normally we would throw something like that out, but out there even that stale bread made for a delicious meal. Never again will I complain about food…
The road to Jargalant was more or less downhill and we made good progress, there was one pass to overcome but it was relatively easy and we were helped by a tailwind. On the way we met a couple of tourists on bikes who informed us that the road was completely downhill from where we stood. From that interaction I learnt that biker judgement is not to be trusted regarding inclines and declines. With a slight twist of the throttle, it overcomes all, that nothing is actually noticed. While on a cycle every tiny incline is obvious!
As we approached Jargalant a light drizzle started and made our search for accommodation that much more urgent. Fortunately a local on a cycle saw our plight and led us to the only hotel there, where we managed to get rooms for cheap. Little did we know at that time how lucky we were to find a dry warm place to bunk.
Saying goodbye to Zuun Nuur
We walked our bikes down this steep rocky slope
Cresting the Pass
At the top of the pass
Clouds threatened us with rain the entire day and gave us the shivers briefly as well!
The day after Independence day was also the day we lost our freedom. From the freedom of wide landscapes of the countryside we were jailed in a tiny 10x6ft room, with absolutely nothing to do, but to stare out of the window and watch the rain fall. Another session of Japanese anime movies started for the both of us. Fortunately on the evening of the first day a van full of European tourists had come to stay the night. They told us that the pass we had crossed the previous day was all snowed out and they were wearing all the thermals they had and were surprised to see us sitting in shorts and light jackets!
They were good company and we had a nice evening of revelry. The second day we tried hitching a ride to the White Lake from Jargalant thanks to the inclement weather. We tried for the first half of the day, but with no luck we gave up and headed back to our room and more Japanese anime! In those two days I sat and watched about 10 movies, which can leave you mentally deranged, because those movies are psychedelic for lack of a better term!
I also tried my hand at chopping wood there with the hotel guy, I sucked terribly at it. I hammered away with the axe, and that was probably what I was doing wrong! So to make amends I jumped onto his motorcycle and went with him to go buy water. Water is precious in Mongolia and people have to buy water for their daily needs. It is absurd and amazing. Prakash with our limited language skills and google translate tried to explain the concept of rainwater harvesting to the hotel owners, but the only person excited with the idea was Prakash himself!
After a couple of days of lying around in our hotel room watching Japanese anime, it was finally time to ride as the weather had cleared considerably.
We started from Jargalant towards the White Lake. None of the maps we had at our disposal showed accurate distances, but we made a rough estimate of around 60km. We put away all camera equipment and wore our rain gear as the skies were a threatening grey. Fortunately we didn’t get heavy rain, just a light drizzle in a few places.
What we did get was a lot of slush thanks to the rain of the previous two days and not a spot of sunlight. But the biggest challenge for us were the water crossings, thanks to the rain all the streams were swollen and had left cars stranded on either bank, unable to cross. We had to wade across these streams, one had a small wooden bridge for two wheelers, but for the rest we needed to take of our shoes and step in the ice cold water and wade across. By the time we reached the other side, we were shivering like wet cats. It was a difficult day as we had to cross two passes again.
One pass was in the middle of a thick pine forest which was beautiful, though we were struggling to push our bikes up! It would have been more beautiful if the sun was shining bright, but it was a dreary day and we saw the sun for the first time at 8pm. Not something that you would expect to happen in India!
At the top of the pass we saw a board which said tourist camp, we expected to find the camp somewhere close by. But that was a cruel joke as we rode on and found absolutely nothing. We rode on the road which was mostly downhill till we hit a fork, with the left road going to the White Lake while the right went straight to the town of Tariat. So we headed in the direction of the lake. What we didn’t realize was that we were on a wild goose chase. We got slowed down by a few passes and general fatigue. We were still a few kilometres from the white lake according to our odometer and we had a stream to cross with the sun setting fast, we had no option but to pitch camp where we stood.
So that is exactly what we did, since we didn’t want to be pitching our tents after dark. We had half a loaf of dry bread for dinner as that is all we had and a few apricots. The day was full of adventure as we were not sure how far we were from anywhere!
The next morning we realized that we had camped near the white lake, but on the wrong side of the lake!The road circumnavigated the White Lake before going back to the town of Tariat which we could have gone straight the previous day. This was a BIG detour. We ended up crossing another 5 streams that day. At every stream we would get off our bikes, take off the luggage and carry everything individually to the other side.
Fortunately the water wasn’t as cold as the previous day because the sun was shining bright. After having gone round the lake, we stopped at a pretty expensive camp for a bite to eat. We ended up paying 300 INR for the lunch. Quite expensive!
As we left the lake we immediately climbed a small pass and on the other side of the pass was an extinct volcano – Khorgo. The volcano was surrounded by lava rocks, a pretty sight to see those rocks strewn all over the place. We reached a campsite in the wake of the volcano and we bargained to get a Ger for pretty cheap. What we didn’t realize was that the money we saved on the Ger was more than made up by the expensive meals we had there. 600 INR per person for dinner was the cost, fortunately we ate first and asked the price only the next morning! Else we wouldn’t have been able to swallow the food. Though I must add the food was extremely tasty, and I got to taste Yak meat as well there!
On a side note, we had been pushing our bikes uphill so many times, that i wasn’t sure whether we were doing a cycle trip or a hiking trip 😀
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Prakash’s favourite, beer and lollypops!</p>
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On the first day which was very wet. This is the only photo because it was a very wet day!</p>
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The first view of the White Lake</p>
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Climbing one of the many rocky passes</p>
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A wolf skin in the restaurant. Just to help you with your appetite</p>
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A fish head in the same restaurant</p>
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Prakash posing with the Lava rocks, which are not so obvious in the background!</p>The next day we started from Khorgo the extinct volcano, about 7 km after the white lake. A couple of 100 metres out of the camp we had to cross our first stream of the day. Fortunately it was the only stream of the day!
Post that we climbed towards the volcano where we crossed towards the other side where the town of Tariat lay. There was a field of lava rocks which was quite a sight. There we resupplied and rode towards Tsetserleg. 10 km beyond Tariat we got tarmac and from then the going was good, even though there were a few climbs, it was mostly downhill which made life easy for us.
After having ridden in the dirt for so many days, tarmac was a breeze. And after a few kilometres extremely boring as well!
30km beyond Tariat we passed a ravine on our side, the rugged beauty of the place was fantastic. To be honest I didn’t have the courage to go to the edge to look down. We moved on from there and stopped en route to have lunch where we were served massive food portions. We downed it and immediately felt drowsy after copious quantities of rice.
We met a couple of French cyclists who were riding from China and Mongolia, there were carrying a lot more luggage than us.
We continued towards Tsetserleg, but since the distance was a good 170km from our starting point, it was impossible that we could cover that distance in a day, so we rode till nightfall before pitching our tents a couple of hundred metres from the highway. We had covered 120km for the day with only having climbed the one pass.
The Lava Rock field in front of us
The Ravine
The best picture i have probably clicked in my life! Please say nice things about it, even if you don’t mean it 
Our campsite for the night
The sky at 11 PM!The next morning we rode from our campsite which was about 50km before Tsetserleg to Tsetserleg which was our destination for the day and also where we planned to stop riding and get transportation to UB. Effectively ending the cycle torture fest for us
We left our campsite at about 9AM. The intitial few kilometres was all tarmac, but as we approached the pass it turned to dust. The pass wouldn’t have been much trouble to climb on tarmac, but the presence of sand and rock slowed things down considerably. This didn’t make a lot of sense as the other side was tarred as well, with only the pass being left to fend for itself!
With about 14km to go to Tsetserleg we were happy that we were making good time and expected to reach our destination within the next hour. But our happiness came to a sudden end along with the tarmac!
The road gave way to a trail accompanied with a steep climb to the top of a pass just before the city. We struggled up, pushing our bikes for the majority of the way. With many vehicles passing us kicking up dust and dirt, it was absolutely no fun.
When the wind blew we struggled to ride, when it didn’t flies would stick to our sweat drenched clothes and there was naught that we could do to get rid of those infernal creatures.
The 5km to the top took us an hour and even from the top we couldn’t see the town. We descended down the sandy trail and suddenly hidden behind the corner was the entirety of the town. It was pretty big by Mongolian standards but positioned in such a manner that it cannot be seen till you are bang above it. Finding a hotel there was quite difficult and finally we found a hotel which was rather expensive.
After exploring the city and getting some grub it was time to hit the sack. But the Mongols had different ideas, the town square bang in front of our hotel room was lit up for a music concert and we were treated to live music with disco lights penetrating our room windows, ensuring that we stayed up and partied even in our dreams! It was a perfect way to end the cycling, hearing western music from the 80s being sung with a Mongolian accent
THE END
Errr….
…. Or Maybe not…
A host of Epilogues coming up after this 😀
Birds of a feather flock together…or maybe not!
The last picture of the trip!Day 25 We had to stay an extra day in Tsetserleg, since we couldn’t get the morning bus to UB. Since the capital is 500 km from Tsetserleg, we couldn’t possibly think of riding there in time for our flight back. So we stayed put in the city buying bus tickets for the next day, not knowing whether we would be allowed to carry our bikes on the bus! We went around the town looking for lunch and it was a very weird town. It is small and deserted and gives you the creeps as if it were a ghost town. Most of the restaurants were shut, and finally we found something to eat and I got horse meat to eat which made me very happy. The first time in my life i was eating horse, it was a momentous occasion of my life!
Another day of doing nothing meant that I sat and watched more Japanese anime. And if you were wondering why i would rather watch movies on my phone instead of going for a walk in the town, well the town was rather small and well weird! And there was no question of going for a small ride on the bike, because hell, we had been in the saddle for many days and were just happy to do absolutely nothing and laze around like a bunch of useless sods!
Day 26 23rd August. We woke at 530AM, the first time in the entire trip that we woke up that early. We packed our bags loaded them onto our bikes and rode to the bus stop. We reached the bus stop and it was completely deserted. Half an hour later the bus drove in and a few other passenger vans also queued up. Slowly people started trickling in. The bus driver showed us the available luggage space and told us that the bike wouldn’t fit in there and that posed a massive problem for us.
The luggage space was limited and Mongols tend to travel with lots of luggage! So there was no chance of us carrying our bikes in the bus. A van guy told us that we should keep our cycles on the van and he will drop it at the same bus stop where we would get off in UB. This was not the best plan we had heard, travelling separately without our bikes didn’t inspire a lot of confidence in us. But when in Mongolia do as the Mongols, and that means trusting people to be by and large honest!
Finally we left our bikes in charge with the van driver with a small prayer of hope! The bus journey from Tsetserleg to UB was surprisingly comfortable with more than adequate leg room in a Kia manufactured vehicle. In fact we got more leg room in that bus as compared to our Air China flight! The 500km journey was covered in around 8 hours. We finally reached Dragon Centre in UB and with the help of the bus driver we located our bikes, loaded it up with our luggage and rode in the direction of the bike shop which was 12 km away. We had paid 40000 Tugrik for the two bikes to be transported.
In UB we had got a room to stay through AirBnB, which is a system where people can rent out a bedroom in their apartments. We reached the place and called up the owners, unfortunately they weren’t at home and we had to wait for a bit before they showed us into the apartment and gave us a set of keys to the place. We left our luggage there and rode down to the bike shop to return our bikes. Joel the store owner, was happy to see us back safe and sound from our trip and sat and chatted with us asking us details about the route, as he planned to start guided tours for people who want to do a supported trip. He was very receptive to our many ideas and suggestions for planning such rides. After that we went to the town centre and hit Delhi Darbar, where Prakash once again ate tasty vegetarian food after a very long time. I stuck to the local food, though it turned out to be a Korean dish called Kimchi.
Day 27 The penultimate day of ours in UB. We spent the day visiting the bike shop to say hello and then walked down to the town square to buy some memorabilia and send postcards to various friends in India. After a good lunch we returned to the bike shop to meet Joel and discuss a few more cycling plans with him. There we met a couple of Belgian guys who were even madder than us.
They had just finished travelling Mongolia on horseback. They had been hit by bad luck, a horse of theirs had try to run away and in the process of catching it they had dropped a bag with all money, passports etc. And were running around to get all the necessary paperwork done before they left the country in a couple of days. We returned to the apartment and had dinner with our very gracious hosts, finally packing up for the long journey home.
One of the two Belgian guys had spent a month in Mongolia working at a horse ranch. He went through a portal called https://www.workaway.info/ You can work without being paid in a foreign country, in return they give you food and lodging, a good cheap way to travel and experience different cultures. In fact anyone who has the time should give it a try!
Day 28 The last morning in Mongolia. For the first time on our trip we made a plan! And that was to visit the Winter Museum to get a glimpse of a small part of Mongolian history. It was a good decision as it was a lovely place with many small stories painting a giant picture for us to see and appreciate.
After that I had my last supper in Mongolia, where I hogged as much of the awesome food as I could. Anybody watching would have thought that I was being sent to the gallows immediately after. Prakash on the other hand suffered through another tasteless vegetarian meal! After that we took our bags, walked down to the Bike Shop who called a cab for us and went back to Chinggis Khan International Airport. After all the unnecessary formalities created by political humans, we were on our way in the air. As I looked out of the aeroplane it was with a heavy heart that I bid farewell to this beautiful country and not for a moment looked forward to going home!
In fact that made me question the very concept of home. Was i really going home? What is home? For a month in Mongolia, home for me was the saddle of my bike, where i really lived. A far cry from the filthy, crowded uncivilised city i live in.
We landed at the Beijing Airport somewhere in the evening and our connecting flight to Delhi was 23 hours later. If it was more than 24 hours, then we could have gotten a temporary visa and gone and visited the great wall of China. We were short by an hour! So we had 23 long hours to sit and kill at the airport terminal. More movies, books and no Facebook, Twitter and Google. We walked around the massive terminal looking for empty comfortable places to chill and watched people come and go, waiting for out turn to board, instead of getting bored! I don’t think i have seen as many flight take off and land in my life as i saw in those twenty three hours!
One thing that i noticed was that the airport was spotlessly clean. Not in a single place did i see a mess, until we went to the gate where we had to board the flight to India. The one corner where Indians were sitting was littered with packets, empty cans, spilled food and drink and generally cringe worthy garbage. It was disheartening and exceptionally irritating to see the filth that we Indians leave wherever we go. It has gotten to a point where our reputation precedes us.
A non-event flight later we landed in Delhi 30 days after we had left. 15 minutes in the city and i choked up. No not with tears and emotions, but the bloody pollution of the damned city. Yes, welcome back it was!
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