The road to Ulaanbaatar

Leaving Ulaangom was a highly anticipated event for us. There were several occasions when we had wondered if we were ever going to be able to leave. The day finally came and we woke to a grey sky and fairly heavy snow. Not ideal. However, there was no point waiting for better weather, the winter is on its way and it’s not like that snow is likely to melt anytime soon. The car was packed, both fuel tanks full and most importantly, a working gearbox! Maggie had been off the road for the longest time in her life and after a month stationary I bet she was itching to get going too. Off we went over the mountain, the grey sky and snow making it hard to tell where the ground finished and the sky started. Underneath the snow and ice we could just make out a tarmac road and soon enough around another bend the sky was clear, the snow had stopped and the landscape was a glistening white. The road was clear and made of new tarmac, even labelled the A18, you could say the conditions were ideal. We were enjoying cruising along, when a huge lake appeared on our right. It was a spectacular sight except for the fact that according to our map there should be no lake to the south of us, but still the lovely tarmac continued along with the A18 signs. Figuring that a huge natural feature such as a lake is not going to have moved, we concluded that it had to be the road that had moved. It was also our belief that the lovely new road had to lead somewhere. Excellent theory. Then the road stops. We detour off road, staying close to the ‘main road’, it was still there, they just hadn’t got around to finishing it yet and it was full of dirt piles being used as road blocks. With the sun set to disappear soon, we went further off road to find somewhere to camp, hoping that the road will lead us somewhere in the morning. It was cold evening and we were very thankful that we had spent some time in Ulaangom cutting and sewing the tent so that we could put the stove inside for warmth. And by golly did we need it! Temperatures dropped to around -15 during the night. It was a shame really, the night sky was lit up with with a blanket of stars that were only briefly enjoyed when we ducked outside of the tent for the very quickest of toilet breaks! We were warm and cosy sleeping in Maggie, although that being said, I have never slept wearing a beanie before! The wind howled around us and we snuggled in and drifted off to sleep. We woke to a crystal clear sky and ice in the inside of the windscreen! We set about packing away as quickly as possible before we lost all feeling in our fingers and toes. It was a pleasant surprise to have Maggie start straight away in such cold conditions, it was a good thing Hayden had wired glow plugs during our extended stay in Ulaangom. Despite this good start, things got a bit worrying when we began driving. Maggie seemed to have virtually no power whatsoever. Hayden persisted with his foot down, but we weren’t picking up power. Slowly we continued in the hope that she might just need a little more warming up. After about 30 km we drove into a town and decided that we should actually find out exactly where we were, seeing that we were still holding onto the belief that the road must lead somewhere. We pulled over by an official looking building and I ran inside to make some enquiries. Armed with the knowledge that we were in Songino (much further south than our intended route, but nothing that a little re-plan wouldn’t fix), I came out to find Hayden with the bonnet up and, as usual, surrounded by locals. Hayden had figured out Maggie’s lack of power situation. Frozen fuel. The fuel regulating filter was full of teeny tiny icicles. One of the locals decided to help out by waving his lighter around in attempt to warm things up. With some map pointing and sign language we were confident of our location as well as curing Maggie’s cold, we carried on with a feeling great relief. No lovely tarmac at all today, just wide open spaces and nine dirt tracks to choose from. We weaved in and out of tracks, Hayden doing his best to take the ‘road best traveled’ but it is impossible to look that far ahead, missing one large bump may lead to hitting three more! It was tough going, and strange to know that this is one of Mongolia’s main highways. It was so easy to forget, but surprisingly frequent traffic in both directions reminded us (as well as keeping our confidence up that we were heading in the right direction). Finally after driving about 200 kilometres in about six hours we drove up and over a mountain to the town of Tsontsengel. We had decided that camping conditions were ‘less than ideal’ and agreed that it would be indoor accommodation from now on. We found three ‘hotels’ in town. I use that term loosely as none of them had toilets or showers. The toilet was a hole in the ground out the back (understandable in this part of the world) and we made our choice by the fact that one had a room with a ‘sink’. Another loose term. It actually had a reservoir that you first had to fill with water, then you would be able to to release the nozzle to let the water flow. Fortunately the bucket underneath never filled up on our watch or we would have been responsible for carrying it down the outside stairs to empty it somewhere! Nevertheless, we were warm and didn’t have to worry about packing away a tent with numb fingers in the morning. We were able to get away early with the plan to drive to Tsetserleg. It was such a lovely drive day! The very best of both worlds, no traffic, no people but lovely tarmac. Well, that was until we came across a nomadic family moving their herds, their gers, their TV satellites, the lot! The kind men on horseback motioned for us to carry on and toot the horn. It was like Moses parting the sea with the small risk of running over a baby goat! (Video to come, watch this space). We made it to Tsetserleg by mid afternoon and were grateful for the hot showers! My long shower was not just due to enjoyment but to the fact that it took about 10 minutes to defrost my shampoo and conditioner enough so I could use them! We enjoyed the afternoon sun and took a walk up the hill to the monastry and to take in the view, the road to Ulaanbaatar snaking away in the distance. We made the plan to get up and leave early and make the rest of the way all in one day, a plan that should be fairly straightforward on tarmac roads. After real coffees and bagels at our guest house we were on the road by 9am and enjoyed another day of minimal traffic, although it was clear we were getting closer to the big city as the amount of cars was on the increase. We sped past tourist ger camps, through small towns that looked like the Wild West, scores of Eagles perched on the side of the road and of course the occasional animal herd. Driving in to Ulaanbaatar we were thankful that we had already been and therefore had a warning of the state of the traffic. Fortunately, Hayden is a fantastic diver and people take one look at Maggie armed with her steel bumper and decide that nudging in front of us is not so much of a good idea. It took almost an hour to drive the few kilometres into the city (even on a Sunday) and by 4pm we had parked the car safely in our hostel, dumped our bags and headed out for a much needed pizza and beer. We had made it.