Unsurprisingly, in hindsight, leaving my favourite of all our Mongolian campsites led to another staggeringly beautiful ride – up another valley gently, a few more trees around, lush pasture for the herds of animals dotted around between corresponding ger camps.
A fair example of being spoilt for choice of smooth dirt tracks.
Animals, pens, gers, an occasional more permanent structure, small vehicles, water flowing through a green-grassed and tree-lined valley – about sums up riding through this area. Lush.
Ninety or so minutes in and starting to wonder which route we’d take out of this valley and into the next, we paused near a collection of buildings and gers. From far up on a hillside the farmer in this spot came down to meet us. Through the language barrier, we thought he was inviting us in to meet his family and see his ger – thankfully, that is what was going on. For over an hour we were plied with tasty food made from, mostly yak, milk – yoghurt, milk tea, clotted cream on bread (the best!) and some sweet curly treats (which I find far too moreish than is acceptable). All the while we tried to communicate, mostly through translation apps, and share details about each others’ lives – with limited success. Very enjoyable, and filling, hospitality – but we had a big day to get to Khangai, but an hour easily spared as the days were long.
Part of our discussions centred on our way out of the valley; as the valley split into multiple heads we turned right and were pleasantly surrounded by trees as things steepened and the day warmed. To our surprise the climb included a switchback! Certainly made the ascent slightly easier than just going straight up the hill.
Always much to look at.
Quite the marker at the top.
Walking around the ovoo keeping an eye on the approaching storm clouds.
The steep part of the descent was unusually rough, which would account for the strange lack of Priuses on this stretch. It wasn’t long before the rain caught up with us, so there are few photos of the next long flat stretch. However, it did stop raining for a nice lunch break with entertainment provided by a large group of horses coming to drink at the water below us.
We briefly rode along a much larger valley and headed for the sealed highway to cross the river at a bridge. Thankfully we soon left the busy road for another quiet dirt road. We’d now joined the bikepacking.com Khangai Mountains Traverse route, near the end but planning to ride it in reverse. Thirty kilometres of flat riding to town was done in passing showers and into a bit of wind.
Getting closer…
Welcome to Khangai?
Still enjoying the colourful buildings.
Our usual methods struggled to find anywhere to sleep inside, one amusing tentative encounter did provide an option – but it was a dive with few facilities, so camping out of town seemed a better idea. Serendipitously, the son of the owner at our dinner restaurant was home helping his mother for a bit. Having lived for some time in Australia, he now normally resided in Ulaan Baatar, he spoke English well and was very helpful. Between them, it was worked out that a friend had a spare ger we could stay in – score!
But first, dinner was most welcome – as was not cooking over a dirty petrol stove! And more of those sweet curly treats.
Chasing the motorbike through town to find our night’s accommodation.
A chance to dry things out in the evening sun. This seemed to be a new build section on the edge of town, an unusually tall fence.
Out the front gate – certainly the edge of town.
The family was building a new house, only slightly bigger than what I’ll finally get around to building this year – so I was interested.
Polystyrene insulation.
A little more insulation in the cladding over timber boards.
