Wild wild east

Mongolia is amazing! And the nature is simply unbelievable here. I have never seen so many different animals in my life! No matter where you look you can spot a creature you have only seen on National Geographic so far. And most of them are pretty unimpressed by your presence. I love it!

Good news is, we got our visas! And we left Ulaanbaatar a few minutes after getting the last one. There are people who like this city, but we definitely don't belong to this group and were really happy to leave at last. We knew we won't get far that day since it takes hours to drive out of the city, but we just wanted to get away and find a nice camping location just for us, away from the noise, dust and pollution we had to deal with the last few days. And we did find a lovely place, surrounded by rocks, a perfect camping spot! We were preparing our supper when we got the first visitors. A group of horses simply came along to see what's going on. Animals, even the domestic ones usually run free in this country, no lines or fences keep them in place, so we get the chance to see them quite often. It's a great feeling when you wake up in the middle of nowhere and suddenly notice you're surrounded by some funny creatures. You look through the window and see a huge horse head looking back at you or you are woken up by 300 goats, making some impolite noises. It's makes camping in Mongolia even better then it already is. The second visitors came a bit later and then we really were surprised. There, in the middle of nowhere you suddenly get 2 people starting to speak German with you. We were shocked, but pleased. They turned out to be 2 students from east Germany. The girl, originally coming from Mongolia, knew our camping place to be a perfect spot to take pictures, so that was why they decided to stop there and were also surprise to find a German car parked in the middle of it. Once again we found out how small this world is, especially that we met them again 2 days later.

We decided to make Kharkhorin our first goal and I have to say I liked it a lot. It must have looked quite impressive once. Mongolia is not really known for its architecture, so we enjoy the few things the country has to offer. Especially the temples, full of blue scarves and funny looking monuments. The one in Tsetserleg was my favourite so far. Next to a huge rock, with a tall Buddha monument it really was a very nice place. And so was the city itself. Based among rocks, with roofs in all different colours it made much better impression than Ulaanbaatar, so we decided to stay overnight. Especially that we met Gerrit again and found a very nice guesthouse at Fairfield Cafe with flush toilet (it's not a common thing here), hot shower and an awesome breakfast. So we stayed. And shortly after we made this fantastic decision we run into Heidi and Wolfgang (http://heidwolfonbiketour.de/), a German couple we met in Oasis Hostel in Ulaanbaatar, who are on their big motorbike journey for a few years now. We all spend a lovely evening testing Asian beer at the only pub we managed to find.

I have to say this country really is a camping paradise! Lakes with crystal clear water, green spaces wherever you look and often no people around as far as you can see. The only minus point is the weather. Normally it's changing the whole time, so if you are going for a longer walk you should take a sun cream, an umbrella and a really warm jacket, cause the temperatures can change by 20 degrees in no time. I could get used to that, however the changing machine seems to get a bit old and at least this month it very often gets stuck in one position “totally wet and freezing”. The locals say it wasn't raining so heavily for years here, but now they really get a lot of water. And while Mongolian farmers are pretty happy about it, we are hoping for a bit more sun. It doesn't matter that much when you're in a city, but when you're staying at a beautiful lake it is a bit nasty. We have reached Terkhiin Tsagaan Nuur (the White Lake) an amazing camping location, but unfortunately it was ice cold and raining the whole time. That is why we gave up our swimming plans and decided to stay in a camp. It feels really great to seat in a ger with a proper fire place and listen to the raindrops outside, spending a nice lazy day, reading, cooking and enjoying the warmth. I can tell you we loved every minute of it. But we were still happy to get a bit of sunshine at last which allowed us to enjoy the surroundings. It was amazing!

First pictures from Mongolia

Mongolia 8 August 2012

The ugliest city in the world and the coolest hostel ever

We're in Mongolia! We still can't believe it but we are :) And we love it! No doubts about it. We needed about 10 minutes to fall in love with this country and something tells me it will stay this way.

I also decided to stop reading any information about custom regulations and border crossing as they all seem useless. All they do is make you worry about things you would never worry about otherwise. And in 99% of the cases you find out there was nothing to worry about. I have no idea where they all get their information from, but according to those guys everything is much more complicated than it actually is. We read some funny parts about having to register your car before entering Mongolia or leaving a deposit at the border which you may never be able to get back... Strange enough no one in Mongolia ever heard about it and all they wanted from us was to show the registration document for our car (the international ones were not required, only the German ones). We also read that Russian officers will ask us for the hotel registrations and that we should be able to tell where we were on particular days. Well, no one asked us about anything. All went smoothly and without any extra questions or issues.

We decided to drive directly to Ulaanbaatar to meet up with Gerrit and I loved every minute of this ride. The landscapes were amazing, all green and absolutely beautiful. And there were animals running freely all over the place. The first hour after the borders I already saw all the animals I wanted to spot here, camels, yak, those beautiful Mongolian horses and million of cows and sheep in every color and shape. This country is like one huge safari. The whole picture seemed too good to be true and I really can't wait to explore the rest.



Unfortunately we are stuck in the capital for a few days, since we have to sort out our visas for the next country borders. I won't lie to you, Ulaanbaatar isn't pretty. To be really honest it's the ugliest city I have ever seen and I have seen a few in my life. It's a total mess! For a start they hardly have asphalt on the streets and when they do, the wholes in it are bigger than the cars. And the whole city is covered with dust, so that after 10 minutes walk your feet are totally black and you are struggling for breath. And the drivers... I thought we have seen it all in Russia, but I was clearly mistaken. It's the first place where we decided to leave the car on guarded parking and use taxis instead. It just wasn't worth the stress. Not to mention risking our beloved Karossi on those gigantic holes. Don't get me wrong, there are a few nice places in the city, it's just that if you consider you'd have to get to the center to see them, you immediately loose your interest. We at least have our visas that keep us going there, doing some sightseeing on the way, cause most people we met here have never really seen the city center at all. And I can't blame them! We have so far seen a very nice palace of the Bogd Khan (right next to Kazakh embassy) and a great performance of traditional Mongolian music and dance styles in the national theater (near to the Russian embassy we had to visit as well). And we couldn't miss the ridiculously huge statue of the Chinggis Khaan outside the city. But well, let's hope our visas will go quickly and we'll be able to leave this chaos as soon as possible. I really can't wait to see the nicer regions as this city has really not much to offer!

But there is one good thing about it. We got stuck in the coolest hostel we have seen so far. Small camping site with a little garden that makes you forget how the city outside the fence looks like. Oasis Guesthouse is a place where all the overland travelers meet to exchange their stories and experiences and it's a great place with a wonderful familiar atmosphere! Good food and even better company, so that many people actually find it hard to leave. We could do the washing, check the car again, get some tips for the further journey and we enjoy each minute of our stay, since we keep meeting incredible people with even more incredible stories and plans.

And it seems that we will have a little change of plans. We were planning to visit Kazakhstan and then go directly to Uzbekistan, but more and more people were telling us how beautiful Kyrgyzstan was and that we simply can't miss it if we're already here anyway. We were still not convinced, as we are on a pretty tight schedule and we knew the visa was a bit costly. But then a nice surprise came, it turned out that starting August 2012 we no longer need any visa for this country. We decided we can't miss such opportunity and are planning to add Kyrgyzstan to our route. Hope it works!

But first we're planning to do some off-road driving to the western part of Mongolia. I'm sure it will be awesome and hope our Karossi will survive the Mongolian roads...

Last part of Russian photos

Russia August 2012

The magical Baikal

We were still a bit dizzy from the birthday party when we were leaving Irkutsk the next day, but the goal was set, we're going to swim in lake Baikal today. We decided to do it in the first possible place to reduce the amount of driving to the absolute minimum. And we decided to continue our journey with Gerrit, as after few weeks of driving alone we could really do with some nice company. The roads were so bumpy and curvy that it was hard not to get seasick, but already the first glimpse at Baikal made us forget all the inconveniences. Impressive is definitely the best word to describe it. Followed by amazing and magnificent. The first beach we found turned out to be a perfect location, so we didn't need to spend more time searching for a good camping spot. We could just grab the towels and go for a swim. And we did. And no, it wasn't cold, it was simply freezing. But it felt great anyway.

The weather in this area is changing quite quickly, jumping from burning sun to rain before you can even notice. But we didn't mind. After 4 weeks of driving a few hundreds kilometer a day we simply enjoyed the fact that we can stay at one spot and finally get some rest. And there's no better place for it than Baikal. So the plan for the next few days was set. Little driving and lot of camping, always along the water. And I can tell you it was a brilliant plan!

We spent the next day in Tunka Valley, which really offered us many wonderful views. I made 150 photos that day and loved every minute of our ride. I was just a bit disappointed with the village that awaited us at the end. Arshan seems to be more touristic than anything I saw in my entire life. And it's this awful type of tourism, meaning plastic souvenirs and popcorn on every corner, all the way to the famous waterfalls. But we did our best to concentrate on the nature, ignoring the people and the plastic surroundings. And it worked quite well, but still we decided to spend a night outside of the place, along the river. And we found a perfect location. Clean, warm water, enough wood for fire and some fantastic views. And when I thought it can't get any better than that Gerrit came up with an idea to bake a bread. It really was a perfect day.

And we got a message from Emma that they found a perfect camping spot on Baikal and are staying there for a day or two, so we decided to join then the next day. And the place was lovely indeed. Private green space with view on the lake and again some nice fire place. Before I came here I was wondering why there aren't any real camping places in Russia. But who needs a professional camping place if you can simply stop your car anywhere on Baikal? No one will bother you, you can make fire when you wish to and instead of an old rusty shower you can take a swim in the world's deepest lake. I wouldn't change it for anything.

And once again we could experience the famous Russian hospitality. There are not that many shopping opportunities in the small Baikal villages, so we didn't have that much food to share. We were even a bit worried if we all will have enough for a nice supper. But then Anton turned up with his family. They were camping next to us and heard us speaking in some funny languages, so they decided to come and visit, bringing along some Russian cookies and home made lecho. Suddenly our supper turned into a real feast! And it got even better when we admitted we haven't tried a local fish yet. Anton's wife, Evgenia came back with 3 of them. We were full before our grilled meat and potatoes were ready at all :) And it really was the best food I got in Russia so far! And once again my limited Russian skilled proved to be enough to spend a lovely evening talking about all important issues. I guess it only needs a good will and some creativity on both sides and then no words are needed. We definitely had fun! And full belly!