people we met

Mongolian roads

KT and I brought a tent with us, but after driving all day it's nice to have a shower and a hot meal.  All across the country they have ger sites where you can rent a tent and get a meal and shower, we tried to plan our days by ending at these camp sites.  They cost about $25  night and they a bed with a stove is just what you want after riding all day.  This one was inside of an old run down Russian factory town, it was crazy to see these abandoned buildings no longer in use, but people still living humble lives in tents all around them.  It makes you realize what a person really needs to get by when all else fails.

that bike had a man, his wife and a three year old kid on it.  We rode together for 15 kilometers, but KT and I couldn't keep up.

This family helped us across a river.  KT rode horseback with our gear while I drove as hard as I could till the engine took in so much water I stalled out and tipped over just before reaching the bank.  The lady in the striped shirt helped me drag the bike up the bank, then we lifted up the front end and dumped as much water as we could out of the bike.  The sun had set so we had dinner and drinks with them and pitched our tent for the night.  The next morning we took apart the carb and I found out my air filter was a plastic casing filled with hay.  The bike started up, but the gear shift was so stripped it would rattle off after a few hundred yards.  I thought we were done, but one guy took a shoelace, tied it to the gearshift and tied the other end to the bike.  This way if it shook off I wouldn't have to turn around to get it.  Genius!

I see these roads in my dreams

Mongolian travel shrine.  The story behind these stone piles date back to when Mongolian warriors left to conquer Japan.  Each soldier left a stone before getting onto the boat, when they returned each soldier picked up a stone and took it with him, the piles that were left were represented the men who never returned home.

yep

this was our main goal, to reach this waterfall in four days, that would give us four days to get back to the capital and our flight home.

Mapquest

These are garages in the capital city.  KT's brother Johnny had one of these where he worked on his Ural.  Henry might still be there now.

One of the many bridges we crossed.  Before going on the trip we watched The Long Way Round, we actually crossed the bridge at 4:10.  Thanks go out to Charlie and Ewan for preparing us for our trip.

Pavement feels great, but I'll take some of the other roads any day.

One of the first ger camps we stayed in. I'll post an interior shot in a bit.  

I don't this truck is delivering Fiji water.

A temple along the way.  These are some of the only long standing structures.

A large milemarker

every night had a sunset like this.

We hit this camp on our third day, and then returned four nights later.  We were greeted like heros, everyone was excited to see us and they even gave us a ger with  a private bathroom!  The honeymoon suite.

mini gobi desert

after our first day on the road and dealing with dirt like this KT and I decided to just keep our duckling yellow rain suits on even if it was sunny.  Kept the dust off our clothes.

wheeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!

The infamous "red bike"

This is Henry, He's Russian, but not an Ural.  KT named him Henry because of the HHH on the gas tank, I still have no idea what make or year this bike is.   It couldn't be larger than 350cc's, and the fastest we got it with our gear and two people was 60 km going down a long hill.  Still, Henry was the weapon of choice for the Mongolian people.  One family we came across even wanted to buy him off of us.  We still had hundreds of miles in our vision so we didn't sell.  In the end we gave him to our Brothers inlaws, after all we never would have been there if it weren't for the wedding (pictures from that will be up here in a minute).

Not our Henry, but one we saw along the way.  Looking good and used.

Fork overhaul in what once was the capital of Genghis Khan's empire.  This picture is not on the outskirts of town, but dead in the middle.  Nothing is left of that tent city.

We were given all kinds of advice on fuel options through the trip.  Some people swore on mixing motor oil with the gasoline, others thought against it.  We never figured it out, but he always kicked over!

We didn't carry  any spare parts with us, flat tire number two.  drove on it for 15 kilometers till the next ger (mongolian tent).  Someone there knew somebody with  a red bike, 1 hour and $35 later we swapped tires and ciggs, we were off again.

One of those spots where if we had broken down it would have been rough.  30 kilometers from the nearest name on a map, praying we have enough gas.

Mongolian teens at the waterfall.  These kids took a day trip out to one of Mongolia's scenic wonders, an amazing waterfall in the middle of nowhere (it's right behind them where the green shrubs are).  

Last night in Mongolia, had BBQ with  Johnny and Soren  and gave them Henry as a thank you for the great trip.  This is the last time KT and I saw Henry, the newlyweds riding him off, no helmets, setting of car alarms!  I'm sure he's still getting use out there.

Buying our bike from the motorcycle district in Ulannbaatar

$850.00 US

These three champs were homelessman drunk at noon and had nothing to do with the bike we were buying, but you couldn't keep them away from all the action.  Everyone in Mongolia wants to help out.  Drunk or sober, everybody we met was pretty good at getting shit done.  I miss these guys so much whenever the methadone crew up the block from me tries giving me advice on my Triumph.  One guy even asked me if he could buy it off me on a payment plan.  I didn't even know how to respond to that one.  

Swapping out the front brake for a "new" one.  45 minutes later, same difference, my first lesson on drum brakes.

roll the dice.  We were lucky enough to have a translator, but in the end it didn't matter much.  Just buy the red Russian kind, it's the bike everybody has in the countryside and parts are pretty easy to come across.  We had two flat tires, and our forks blow out on us and we were never held up longer than half a day.  We are also extremely lucky.