We only travelled a bit over 100Ks from Ulaanbaatar before we set up camp as Ben needed to go back in to UB to get his replacement credit card on the Monday. We found a nice spot in the steppes and set up camp. We could see some Gers a fare way off so expected a visit. That visit came Monday morning while Ben was getting ready to head into UB, a horseman in his twenties arrived and after some attempted conversation we thought we had worked out which Ger he had come from and that he was inviting us up to see his family. After Ben had left Julie and I took refuge in our tent as the wind had picked up and was quite unbearable, but after lunch we decided to brave the wind and make the trek to the horseman's Ger. We did have the correct Ger and when we arrived he invited us in to meet his wife and two children. As we entered their Ger there was the usual cooking stove/heater in the middle, there were some clothes hanging from the roof immediately to the left of the door and just around from them there was a bed with a young boy of about three asleep, his dad tried to wake him, but had no luck. Around further from the bed was a branding iron hanging up and a saddle for the boy on the floor, continuing around there was a cabinet like a wardrobe and then there was a cabinet much like a TV cabinet with cupboards underneath and a small flat screen TV that turned out to be broken, still further around was another cupboard and then another bed with a young girl asleep on it, she was around twelve months old and this time dad managed to wake her up by picking her up and offering us the bed to sit on, then finally there was a cabinet with food and crockery in it. Next to the heater there was a low table and a baby goat asleep. His wife offered us some bread and Mongolian tea. The Mongolian tea is a very weak tea made with milk and a lot of salt, not too many westerners like the taste or can finish a full cup due to the salt. We ate some of the bread and drank some of the tea, while trying to get the TV to work, unfortunately it appeared to be beyond repair. We left after about an hour when the baby girl needed a feed. Julie and I then made our way back to camp thankful that the wind had died off a bit. Ben didn't make his return until late which gave us some concern, but all was good when he arrived and he had brought Julie a cake and Coke for her Birthday, she was most pleased. We camped out one more night before arriving in Bulgan. We hadn't planned on staying there but it had started to rain on our way in and the roads had become slippery. We found a rather old and Soviet styled hotel, but it was warm and dry so we stayed there. The next morning while we were packing to leave we met a cook from a local cafe who suggested we stop by for breakfast, and what a breakfast it was, probably the best we had had in Mongolia. From Bulgan we headed to Moron and on the way we stopped at another place to camp, this time though there were lots of pine trees, grass and a lovely little creek, it was ideal and we ended up staying for two nights, it was just too good to leave. The day we lady had us riding through plains again but with some creek crossing, the second one was a bit buddy and slippery and unfortunately I dropped the bike when the front wheel slipped. Fortunately for Julie she had got off the bike to guide me through the boggy section, so it was only me that got wet and muddy. Ben didn't see what happened and rode blissfully off into the distance while
Julie and I took three attempts to pick the bike up out of the water. No halm done we were back on the road when Ben came back to see what had happened to us. We finally reached Bulgan as it started to rain, this time though it was clearing so after having some dinner we rode out of town to camp. When we were packing up in the morning I found a snake next to the front wheel of the bike when I went to pump up the tyre. The snake didn't want to leave so I poked at it with the pump which it struck at leaving venom on the pump, eventually we had to flick it away with our tent poles. I figured he must have been a BMW fan and didn't want to leave the bike. After arriving at lake Hosvgol we headed around the eastern side to find a camp site. The road was probably the worst we had been on and progress was slow, so when it started to rain again we made camp under some trees rather than by the lake, the rain didn't last and we had a lovely night. We decided to head back into Hatgal, the town at the southern end of the lake for some supplies, lunch and a shower. We had lunch and a shower at a place called Garage 24. An old truck garage from the Soviet era that had been restored and turned into a camp. After lunch we picked up supplies and waited for the rain to clear again before heading to the western side of the lake to find a place to camp. We finished up staying at Nature's Door, a Ger camp owned by the same ladie that owned Garage 24. I'll tell you about Nature's Door in another blog. After staying for two nights we went back to Moron and on the way passed a Korean cyclist. We had seen him before on Bulgan and had been told by other people that he too was traveling up to lake Hovsgol, so we were not too surprised to see him, but we were surprised to see him heading back. He caught up with us not too far down the road when we had stopped and set up a shelter from the rain that had started again. What was it with the rain every time we rode? When we talked to our new Korean friend we found out he had ridden from UB and was now heading back and that he usually did around sixty kilometres a day, made our 100 to 200 look pretty lame we thought. After the rain had stopped we said our goodbyes and continues on to Moron, a hot shower and a nice meal. The next morning when we were leaving we met our Korean friend again, this time he tells us he had camped about ten Ks out of town and had ridden in to by food and was riding back to camp, very keen! We only made it just over a 100Ks out of Moron when it started raining again so we set up camp hopping the rain would have stopped by morning, but no it is still raining, so I am sitting here listing to the rain on the tent writing our blog. Can't complain too much, the other rain was light, or we were able to sit it out, this is the first real rain we have had since the rain on the M60 in Russia.