Spending the days riding alone in Mongolia is one of the best things I have done on the trip. I love this country and I love riding off-road in this country. Just me and this fantastic little bike I am so happy I could just sing, and that I did 🙂

Although quite chilly at night the sun has been and the skies have been blue all day and it’s just been fantastic. I would say that the northern route that I did in June is a better off-road route and I think I prefer it to the south but this southern route is still excellent. The funny thing I found is that although it is the main route to Ulaanbaatar more often used and more populated I did find it hard to get fuel and had to fill up with 80 octane as opposed to 92, when we did the northern route we had no such problems. On the first day back in Mongolia I stopped at a ger to ask about petrol and they sold me some which got me to the next petrol station where I bumped into Neil, Chris and Nacho. The petrol station had no petrol so I pushed on and left the guys as I wanted to travel alone. I pulled into a small ger village to ask for petrol again and was told no sorry nothing here. Hmm I was now getting a bit concerned and one guy then said ‘’follow me my car’’ I followed to his ger and he siphoned petrol out of his car and sold it to me J so nice. Now I felt safe as my bike was full so off I went to enjoy some Mongolian riding.

I still get very nervous camping alone so although I love riding alone in Mongolia at 4pm I was quite happy to pull into a small village and bump into David and Nacho. We decided to camp together for the night and also happened travel together the next day. We had a great day just taking it easy at our own pace and enjoying the off road riding, well Nacho didn’t like the sandy bits but then he is riding a heavy tenera and not a lovely light DR J

The day had gotten really chilly and overcast and not being on the main road but off-roading by 5pm we were tired and ready to call it a day. We also decided that after 3 nights wild camping we’d treat ourselves to a hot shower in a hotel. Just as we pulled into a petrol station to fill up and find out about a hotel Nacho sees that Richard is about an hour behind us. We all meet up and decide to stay in a hotel.

Richard is riding a Suzuki vstrom which is not at all sited to the Mongolian roads and has lost his bash plate twice and Nacho is having some serious front sprocket problems. The guys decide they are cold tired and want to save themselves and their bikes from the Mongolian weather (which has now turned cold and rainy) and roads so decide to put their bikes on a truck the last 750km to Ulaanbaatar. This was decided at breakfast after we woke up to find snow on our bikes.

I think wimpy boys some snow isn’t going to stop me so gear up and looking like a Michelin man head outside and get on my bike. Hmmm my bike is dead it simply will not start and no amount of begging pleasing coaxing threatening will get it going. We try to push start him, and jump start him, the battery is fine and the spark plug is fine but the mechanic deduces that the starter motor is completely dead.

DAMN HELL *&^%^^$#@ this is  NOT FAIR.

SO to cut a long depressing story short I put my bike on the back of the truck too, it leaves at 5pm, we hit the bar and drink a couple of vodkas and then its ‘early to bed as we need to drive to UB tomorrow.

Exiting China took some time and again it was great to have a Chinese speaking guide to get us through the formalities with the bikes.  We were told to be at the border at 11am when our exit paperwork would be ready. The customs office to check the bikes is about 15km from the border and although we were there at 10:30 by 1pm the process had still not been completed. Since the office closes from 1 to 4pm we left the bikes and went for another yummy Chinese meal. At 4:30 we finally got the bikes and proceeded to the border which only took about 30 minutes. The Mongolian side was quite easy but just very long. The Mongolians don’t hassle you as much as say the Russians but you need to see about 5 people and get 5 stamps on this little piece of paper to say each part of the process had been completed. By 7:45 we finally entered Mongolia.

What a great feeling the scenery as you cross the border is just as stunning as the rest of Mongolia and I just felt GOOD, it’s great to be back simple as that. We camped the night and the next day all went our separate ways with the plan to meet up in Ulaanbaatar. However since all roads lead to Ulaanbaatar we met up quite often along the way.

Even though our trip through China has changed twice from the original Tibet route to a through Xingjian route and now missing out Xingjian and riding in Mongolia I really don’t mind because it means riding in Mongolia 🙂

One of the strangest riding idiosyncrasies in China is filling up with petrol. Some (very few) stations will not serve motorbikes at all and some (even fewer) will fill the bike up directly. The normal practice is to park the bike on the side of the station and use a petrol can, mostly a very very large tea pot with a bit of hose pipe on the spout, to fill the bike up. The biggest tea posts take 7l and most bikes take 22l so we are talking at least 3 trips and guessing on the 3^rd one just how many litres you need in the final pot. Now imagine (usually the stations only have one and in rare cases two pots) doing this for 8 bikes, DAMN it’s slow, what a crazy system.

The other funny thing is the toll roads, which are free for motorbikes yippee. The funny thing is that you can’t cross the barriers, you need to ride around the toll gate on little slip roads or the parking lot some of which are closed off and someone needs to come and open them. On some it is hard to see which option there is for bikes. So sometimes we’ve just ridden straight through the little gaps to the right of the barrier. This causes mayhem in China and the toll both attendants go NUTS, why I am not sure and we cannot figure if we are breaking the law or not but from the reactions I guess we are.

On one such occasion Richard and I could not see where the bikes needed to go so just followed a car though and as Richard passed the barrier (the one and only barrier we came to in China that was as long as the road and had no gap on the right hand side) it came down almost on his head. The handlebars were on one side and Richard was on the other so he could not move. The attended went ballistic at him and told him to reverse and go around where the bikes must go. However not only were the cars behind us, so hmm no way could we push the bikes back but Richard was stuck. It took what felt like an eternity for another attended to get this attendant to come out of his booth and help Richard. All he did was lift the bar and push it aside (Richard had tried to lift it but not realised that it could move sideways and every time he touched it the attendant got more angry, and we were worried he’d have a coronary so just left the barrier) Once he had moved the barrier we carried on, quite simple and easy but still very confused as to why crossing the barriers on a bike causes such an outcry.

BEST thing about china so far the food..say no more yum

I’ve just bought a bagel that could be used to commit some serious bodily harm. No wonder the street vendor was so surprised when I wanted to buy one. I think they usually sell them by the truck load to build houses, but this thing is sure not edible.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again I think China will surpass the west in far fewer years than it took the west to develop into the superpowers they are today. The first difference I notice din China between now and when I was here about 10 years ago is the fact that for every car on the street there are 5 scooters. However the scooters are all electric. The problem with them is they function in stealth mode and you cannot hear the little buggers creeping up behind you. They may be good for reducing noise and air pollution but they are not good for my heart, crossing the road and also driving in china is SCARY.

Riding a bike in China is certainly a new experience. Drivers seem to have no concept that motorbikes are vehicles on the road. They overtake so close to you that if your elbows were slightly pushed out they would probably be taken right off.  Drivers also live on their hooters driving here is quite a noisy experience. My worst experience of road rage has been in china.

I was overtaking a huge truck and a driver in a new fancy SUV drove up behind me so close I could almost feel him breathing down my neck and was literally quite nervous that he was going to hit my back tire. He put his hand on his horn and just sat there blasting me. I waved my arm in the air indicating the universal “where the hell must I go, I’m busy overtaking you freaking idiot” signal, and at that moment passed the truck and pulled over. Well this guy almost side swiped me trying to push me off the road. He would down his window and went nuts at me (I may not be a good rider but I was completely in the right) so I gave him the universal “you’re a tosser now piss off and leave me alone” signal (the first signal being just an innocent wave of the hand, the second being a little rude). OUCH this just made him mad. So he turned in towards my bike again and I just slammed on breaks, he pulled in front of me and started slowing down trying to get me off the road. My heart just started beating really fast because then I realised this guy meant business and had every intention of getting me off the road at all costs. DAVID to the Rescue 🙂 fortunately our 4×4 was close behind me at this point and had seen what was happening. David rushed in and pulled in beside me and which point I dropped behind him. He got in close behind the black SUV and just sat there. The guy in the SUV pulled (we are on a double lane highway) to the left road and right road trying to shake David or get David to pas shim. But that was not going to happen and David just sat on his tail, with me behind him sweating bullets and shaking. Eventually the guy slowed down to almost a stop but perhaps at that point saw that there were 3 people in David’s car, or realised that I was with David and he was not leaving me alone, and they SUV driver just sped off.

It was a really crazy and scary moment and I hate to think what they guy would have done if I had stopped or if he had succeeded in pushing me right off the road. I am not a violent person but I really wished I was on a superbike and I would have kicked that guys door in and then just taken off at break necks speed. I’ve never wanted to key someones car so badly.

It’s really great to finally be on the road again and after leaving Bishkek and slowly heading down to the border we make a short stop at Tash-rabat. This is one of the most stunning places I’ve seen in Kyrgyzstan and make me realise I need to come back to see more of this amazing country.

Since the roads are quite bad we decided to get as close to the border as possible the night before our crossing. So we stopped about 15km in a small Kyrgyz settlement where you can rent rooms in caravans for the night. The only option for the five of us was to share a room or for half of us to share a second room with some truck drivers, but after one started making eyes at young Chris we decided we’d stick together. (Lynn and David slept in their car and the other 3 stayed in Tash-rabat and decided to rather do a very early morning run to the border) Now when I say share a room I’m kind of stretching the truth a little since I actually meant share a bed, a large pallet which covers 3/4s of the small caravan room. Well I decided I would be more comfortable on the floor and since hot air rises I also got to avoid the many smells emanating from my other inmates, especially after Nacho feasted on a whole heap of chilli the night before.

The actually border crossing was far less stressful than anticipated. We were quite apprehensive about crossing the Chinese border but when you have a Chinese speaking guide waiting for you to help you deal with the paperwork it all goes pretty smoothly.

In total there are 11 of us travelling together, Benny the Chinese guide will be travelling in a 4×4 with Lynn and David from Australia. The 8 bikers are Neil from the UK and the man behind the scenes :). Neil posted on horizons unlimited and got the group together to do this trip. Nacho from Argentina, Richard from Australia, Chris, Robin and Keely from the UK and me.

So Dozer now has a homemade luggage system (that will get me as far as it gets me and then I’ll make another plan) a new tank, some spare parts and a kind of spare wheel. I pack this little lot up on the poor old man and boy he now looks like a pack horse or true adventure bike (depending on how you look at it) and head off towards Nyarn to meet the group before we cross the china border.
Arriving in Nyarn and FINALLY finding the hotel we discover it’s an absolute dive…ah well it’s cheap so no probs anyway and hey I’ve slept in some real flea bag places on this trip, all part of the experience. The real shocker was when I discovered that not only did the room have no toilet or shower (not a problem I can do hostels and shared bathrooms) but the hotel has no shared bathrooms at all. In order to shower if you are unlucky enough not to have a rooms with a shower (They ran out en-suite rooms before I checked in) you have to go to the communal showers a few blocks away. Hmm ok whatever.
Then Richard tells me that the guys have a shower in their room….cool I’ll go use theirs. So I knock on room 17 and it’s the wrong room but it belongs to a very nice polish couple who I met in the street who gave me directions to the hotel. They invite me in and let me use their shower 🙂
We all had a laugh at what a strange thing it was to shower in a strangers room while on holiday in Kyrgystan 🙂

After 3 lovely days riding around the lake with Richard and really getting to know Dozer I headed back to Bishkek to pick up the bigger tank. This was on one of Chris’s other bikes currently being hired by an America guy from Denver Colorado, Karst. Karst was great and we spent two days together swapping tanks, spare parts and stores. Karst kept me company when I went to find a wheel and get some electrical work done on Dozer. It was great to meet another adventure biker and I gained some valuable knowledge from him.
We were both staying at Talant guest house which is more like a home stay than a guest house and something I really enjoyed. Talent was away but his wife Gulnara made us feel very welcome and feed us very well from breakfast and dinner. Talants family are Kyrgyz but all speak really good German, and no English. I had no idea that my German would come in handy in Kyrgyzstan so cool 🙂
So poor old Dozer now has a white petrol tank and blue seat and the rest of him is black, as if he wasn’t ugly enough. Unfortunately one cannot find motorbike wheels in Bishkek at all. Dozer takes a 17’ back wheel and of course I had a perfectly new 18’ tire in Almaty waiting for Dizzy, which I had left there for my return trip. DAMN what bad luck. The tire on Dozer will possibly get me 2000km but I not only have about 12000 to do but have 4000 to Ulaanbaatar where I am hoping to get one sent. SO I am stuck and had to settle for a well worn second hand tire for usd20 and it’s not a knobbly either. I’m hoping between the one I have and this one I’ll get to UB.
Ah hang on I haven’t mentioned the luggage system I cannot possibly forget this part of the story. Before heading to lake Issyk-Kul with Richard I went search for some sort of luggage system for Dozer since I had to leave my aluminium panniers on Dizzy in Russia (sadly I could not take them on the plane) I started off going to see Ali the mechanic Chris had recommended. He does not speak English so called his friend Sergei who is also a biker, 26 and speaks perfect English. Sergei took me to the only two places in Bishkek that sell bike parts and neither had anything remotely like a pannier system. He later called me and told me the only option he found was to buy them from Almaty and have them sent express to Bishkek, and this would all cost hundred even close to usd1000. WOW no can do Man, I do not have that kind of budget.
At this time I was with Lynn and David having tea with their couch surfing host Dav an Indian lecturer and the Bishkek university. So Dav picks up the phone and calls his friend Artur, explaining to me the Artur is a biker who has travelled India and Asia on both a motorbike and bicycle twice. His last trip was at the age of 63 (he is now close on 70) and was 5 months through Russia, the stans and china. So Artur arrives at Davs read to help. He tells me to sit tight and he’ll be back. I head off and pick up two messenger bags to use as luggage and Artur arrives back with half a pannier system off a Chinese scooter.
Now this is the difference between an affluent 26 year old whose only option is spend usd1000 and get a proper system from Almaty and an old Russian guy who thinks outside the box.  Artur takes me, Dozer and the Chinese luggage system to Igor his friend to look at. WOW what a priceless experience. I spent 4 hours with the two wonderful wonderful old guys who argued like crazy on how to cut, weld and bolt the system to Dozer, laughed and chatted and listened to some awesome old tunes.
Both Artur and Igor (best friend for the past 22 yrs) are in the music industry specifically the theatre. Artur composes, sings and plans a number of instruments, drums, flute etc Igor plays the guitar and is a sound engineer. It was a great evening and at 9pm we decided to call it a night and finish Dozer off the nest day. So the next day we spent another 3 hours with Igor. All in all I estimate about 3 hours work was done on Dozer in total. Between the arguments, chats, laughs, cups of coffee and songs like cocaine, sugar man, and all sorts of iggy pop and jimi Hendrix etc songs. One thing I just loved about Igor was that when he wanted to say something he would more often than not quote the lyrics from a song, it was just so cute.
Neither Artur or Igor would accept a penny for their help (although I did manage to trick Artur into taking something when I gave him 2000soms to get bolts and refused the change, but 1000soms is only about usd20 so nothing for the amount of work he put in) So what I did is buy them both a relay good bottle of Vodka each. But was told on giving it to him “sorry Lorraine we don’t drink, we are really healthy, we eat well, we do yoga and just smoke weed” I just laughed, I should have guessed. I will always remember Artur and Igor.  I also learned a valuable lesson, if you want to meet interesting people and learn about a different way of life and culture, go find the older generation it’ll open your eyes 🙂

After finally arriving in Almaty in Kahazakstan I spent a week trying to find a suitable and very inexpensive bike. My friend Richard hooked me up with a local guy Anton who was yet another Russian angle. He was a great help and really nice guy. He arranged for me to see 3 bikes two of which were really great in absolutely mint condition but there was no way I was comfortable on either of them with regards taking them off-road. They were a Suzuki Freewind and a Kawasaki KLE, nice bikes if I was travelling 100% on tarmac, but just too heavy and cumbersome for off-road. The 3^rd bike a Suzuki DR650 was perfect I liked riding it a lot BUT it was in bad condition and expensive at usd3800. I had a really bad gut feeling about this bike with regards the fact that this guy did not look after it so I wondered just what condition the engine was in on the inside, and decided against the bike.

At the same time I was posting to the Horizons Unlimited forum about these bikes and received an email from Chris Smaborski. Saying that he has a 1997 Suzuki DR650SE in Bishkek that I could buy and that he’d buy back from me if/when I got to Singapore. FRACKING HELL what a guy, so we chatted and have subsequently become friends one I will certainly make an effort to see in Poland. I bought the bike and am now in Bishkek with it, and I love it and have called him Dozer. 

Now it’s just a matter of getting a luggage system for the bike and bigger tank (it only has 13l tank) her again Chris came to the rescue. He has another DR6540 in Kyrgyzstan which his friend is riding. I can take the tank, luggage system and all spare parts from this bike as soon as Karst arrives in Bishkek on the 23^rd. WOW things are looking up.

Tomorrow Richard arrives in Bishkek and on Tuesday we’ll travel around the biggest most beautiful lake in Kyrgyzstan, and then get back to Bishkek to meet Karst. On the 26^th we meet the rest of the china group and head to china, Mongolia back through china and finally Laos. Where I’ll leave the group and head off alone.

So just a couple more days of mucking around with bikes and I’ll finally be on the road again and hopefully posting some more interesting blogs 🙂

One thing I did while in Almaty was had my first couch surfing experience. I stayed with a Russian lady Yulia and we had a great time together. I so enjoyed couch surfing that I am doing it again in Bishkek and staying with a German lady who is teaching English here. This is a great way to meet people living in the city either foreigners or locals and I highly recommend it.

So after spending a painstaking day at the airport, thank goodness they had wifi, and remember this is not Heathrow, but a tiny airport with only 3 gates. So finally we get to board the plane, and I notice it’s not the same one which had duct taped their seats together, phew. I also notice (like the other plane) this is a tiny plane 3 seats each side, no leg room or anything remotely comfortable and we have a 6 hour flight ahead of us. My knees touch the seats in front of me I cannot image how painful this must be for very tall people. BUT we’re on we’re ready to go.

Next minute we hear this screaming and shouting from business class, 3 rows in front of me and separated by a small curtain. We see tow uniformed police men guns and all arguing with some woman. the man next to me explains that this plane  has 120 seats the last had 160, they have found seats for everyone since the last plane was not full but there is one passenger with no seat. The lady got to her seat first and the police man says it’s his seat.

Then we find out it’s not police but 2 government couriers who are going crazy at the lady because they are carrying government  documents and must get to Moscow so need the seat. She is in the right and not budging. But as the man next to me says it’s a citizen against   a uniform who do you think will win. The airline staff are trying to sort things out. The pilot not once comes out to help the poor air hostess’s. The bottom line is the uniforms are not budging and the lady must voluntarily get off the flight and she is not budging either. Things escalate when the uniform tries to physically move her and she kicks screams and goes ballistic. The real police arrive and tell the uniform to back off but not to leave the plane they now join in trying to get the lady off.

She jumps up and runs to the economy side and stands in an emergency exit. I  WISH I could understand Russian to know why she did that and everything else going on. The guy next to me in broken English is keeping me up to date. This  has now wasted an hour of our time so the other passengers are staring top go nuts at her to. One woman climbs into her and hits her over the head, they start having  a cat fight in the emergency exit row half on top of ht e3 passengers sitting there who now start shouting too. The police pull the tow woman apart. People are filming this so I am sure it’s on you tube somewhere.

THE old lady at the end of our row tells the air hostess if the airline flies her business class tomorrow she will get off. They are agree and we all clap for her and she gets off the plane. OH no the government uniforms are not happy. They say the lady filmed them and they want her off the plane and they want her mobile. She is on the phone to her lawyer by now.

I turn to the guy next to me and say how crazy is this and he says ‘Its Russia’ (I restrain myself from punching him, he is a nice man and in fact when we get dinner on the flight gives me his chocolate and says form Russia with love)

The lady finally after 1hr and 45min I kid you not I was watching the time like a hawk, decides that the passengers all 120 of us are going to lynch her and gets off the plane voluntarily. I hope she sues the airline and WINS BIG, but this is Russia not America so probably no chance. NEVER fight a uniform.

WOW I am stunned but we take off and the flight is thereafter uneventful until we get to Moscow and I have to deal with my transfer…

Absolutely exhausted I arrive in Moscow collect my baggage and go to the transfer desk to find out about the connecting flight I have now obviously missed. They tell me to go to Ural airlines desk. They tell me ‘”not our problem the connecting flight is with  a different airline””. I go to Transaro desk, they say not our problem you missed yr flight go to Ural air desk. I go back sad very politely say “When I was in Irkutsk I went to the Ural air desk and booked a flight to Almaty the only flight I could get before my visa runs out was this one via Moscow. I did not know it was a differ airline or choose to take a different airline but I book at the Ural desk” Sorry not our problem you can get a  official stamp stating the flight was delayed and then go back to Transaro, but you must go to the information desk to get this which I do. I do this the lady at Transaro says no, but I tell you what if you get an official letter emailed to us then I will book you on another flight but this as a favour I should not do it as it’s not our policy. Ok I’m about to loose it I know a number of impatient people with bad tempers that would have gone postal by now. However I know that going postal will not help me so I take a deep breath..the problem with being sleep deprived is that you start feeling really nauseous and get a headache, so ready to upchuck with  pounding head I return to the Ural air desk. I look this guy in the eye and say “Please sir, Please can you help me, I need a letter emailed to Transaro and then they will book a new flight” hmmm perhaps it was the red rage starting to boil behind my eyeballs, or the green I’m going to upchuck look on my face, but he says “ok give ma 15 minutes and you can come to my office and get the letter” 45 minutes later we’re in his office he writes a letter and prints it for me. I ask if he can email it… I can see where this will go if I turn up with  a printed letter  ” NO absolutely not I cannot do that now get out my office” wow ok no need to be rude.

I return to the Transaro desk, we need it electronically on email.. OK please PLEASE the man was very angry he will not email me the letter here it is all office on company paper with a stamp PLEEEEEAAASE .. hmm OK just this once… OMG give me strength I get my ticket holly molly I’m a happy lady.

Best bit of luck is that they check me in give me my boarding pass and let me check in my extremely heavy (30kms of bike stuff helmet, boots, jacket, tools, spare parts, camping equipment) AND did not charge me excess baggage like Ural air did. I like Transaro and am now even more happy. I just need a hotel and need to sleep it has now been 27 hours since I slept (I cannot ever sleep on a plane) I am shattered ready to pass out and / or upchuck. When I hit the hotel bed I fell asleep in an instant and slept for 6 hours straight not stirring once (a record for me) I woke up feeling great,  it’s a new dawn a new day and I’m feeeeeling guuuud 🙂

Hmm did I mention in my last post that I will fly to Almaty today… Well I’m now sitting in Irkutsk airport. I got up at 4am to get to the airport and fly at 7. The flight was then delayed until 9. Then on that flight half way down the runway the plane hit something, not serious just a bump and slam on breaks so not scary – we’re in Siberia so maybe a bear or knowing the Russian roads probably a pothole.
We were then towed back to the terminal and told we can get a flight in 2 hours. That was 3 hours ago and we’ve just been told the flight will be at 17:00. If this actually takes off I’d have spent 12 hours in this airport, to fly 6 hours to Moscow and 3 hours back to almaty, which is actually a 3.5 hour flight from Irkutsk, but I can’t get on that flight until the 16th Aug, so had to take the via Moscow route. If I wasn’t so tired I’m be laughing this is comical I just cannot seem to get out of Russia 🙂

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Travelling gotta love it, I have now been at the airport since 05:00 and it is now 16:30 and the new flight time is 19:30 I am losing my mind but at least my sense of humour has come back, I think just because I am on the move again 🙂

I was trying to ask another passenger about the flight and did she know what happened and she just said “this is Russia” if one more person says that to me I might just punch them.  I nearly lost it when no one could tell me what will happen to my connecting flight since it’s with a different airline. The one woman sort of mimed / said different airline not our problem buy another ticket  erm hello NO! So I took a deep breath and just laughed it off and thought wow this surreal. So have chilled and will sort out connecting flight in Moscow

So the trials and tribulations of travel continue at least there are always far more good things than bad things and he bad can be notched up as experience / adventure / one of those things / this is Russia

I will get to Almaty eventually and I will get back on the road but at least I am kind of on the move 🙂