Benny the Bean Bear - MongoliaMongolia is beautiful so vast and sparsely populated, we would spend hours driving without seeing another soul. We did see the odd group of camels and Mongolian ponies so pretty. Although we were not actually travelling in a group with the bikers we did still sort of stick together since we were travelling in the same direction. It's a little chilly here but only at night or when David opens the door and the wind blows in, but the sun is shining and I feel good. I am also enjoying wild camping in Mongolia maybe just because the country feels so good to me. We’ve been camping with the bikers but Ian travelling mostly alone and just meeting them at odd spots along the way. I like it this way it makes me feel more independent.

My best day was when we lost the main road and spent the day completely off road on these small trails. It was so much fun bumping along and riding through the thick sand this is what a range rover is meant to do J

We spent most of the day travelling with Lorraine, Richard and Nacho which was a good thing for Nacho since he dropped his bike a few times in the thick sand and David had to help him pick it up, but he was not hurt. We completely lost Richard which was not good as we had his tent in the car so by the time we stopped to camp were quite worried about him, but there was not much we could do. The four of us has a lovely quiet night and headed off the next morning towards Bayan and at five o’clock decided we were tired and cold and in desperate need of a hot shower and hotel bed after 3 nights wild camping. Richard caught up with us and stayed in the same hotel which only had 2 rooms available. Since Richard snores like a chain saw we decided that he needs a room on his own and we all shared the other room.

The next mooring we woke up to two surprises, it was raining IN the room and it was snowing outside. I kid you not the ceiling was leaking and there was water pouring down inside our room. Richard and Nacho decided it was too cold to ride to Ulaanbaatar and would put their bikes on a truck. Lorraine wanted to ride so dressed up warmly to brave the snow and looked like a Michelin man hee hee. However once she got on her bike and tried to start it she discovered it was dead. They tried everything to get it going again but in vain and she had to put it on the truck to Ulaanbaatar along with the other two bikes.

Benny the Bean Bear – Four in the car

So there I was travelling through Mongolia with David, I missed Lynn like crazy but David and I were having a great time of it together. NOW I had to share the car with three smelly bikers and I was not happy my tranquil days with David were clearly over :(

David put me in the front seat with some strange lady (okay with Lorraine) who has no idea how to treat toy bears and kept sitting on my head, very uncomfortable. Fortunately the knitting needles inside my body stabbed her a couple of times and that taught her. She then moved me to a nice comfy place on the other side of the seat but promptly opened the door and I went flying face first in the dirt, really how humiliating. At that point I had to have a few harsh words with her, and after that things were a lot better and at one point she even sat me on her lap so I could see better.

We even had a few laughs and the journey turned out to be quite fun. David even left Richard drive most of the way which surprised me but he seemed to do a good enough job and it gave David a rest.

We arrived in Ulaanbaatar a lot quicker than expected and hit the most unbelievable bad traffic. The roads in UB are in horrible condition and drivers here really drive badly I found myself closing my eyes more than once but we finally made it safely to the Oasis.Well, that secretary didn't last long, what did I do to scare her off? Now I'm looking for another temp, preferably one that doesn't sit on me, not that I'm complaining mind, if I had to get sat on by someone then Lorraine's bottom was far better that most.