Well after 3.5 weeks im about to leave mongolia. Had a great time here, learnt to eat mutton and mutton fat for 3 meals a day, learnt to love flat, warm beer, ride motorbikes over rough roads with no signpostings, and learnt that rivers are not just for racing boats down but riding motorbikes across! Sounds like fun eh! It is fantastic!

We have helped mongolians that have run out of fuel, helped change wheel bearings on their cars on the side of the road, repaired radiators and fetched water to fill them, and fixed water pumps on buses. We have entertained them as they see amongst them who can do the biggest jump on the bike or just start riding it without stalling it. really though they have given me far more than i could give them in return. The higlights have been the friendliness of the people and their hospitality, and the beauty of their land. I feel that i have learned something from them in the last 3.5 weeks or so. If you can give something or help someone in some way then you shall, and when you need something, or are caught out in some way then things will surely turn around for you too.

There has been so much that has happened but some of the highlights i will briefly mention.

Nadaam was fantastic. We stopped to help a broken down bus full of mongolians heading home from UB to Monhayrahan for the festival. The radiator fan had gone through the radiator and smashed much of it and they had lost all of their water. Tim and ben went off to get water, tim spent the rest of the day fixing his flat tyres, ben returning about1.5 hrs later with 20 l of water and 2 extra people on the back of his bike. I stayed behind and helped to tear out one of the cells of the radiator and plug some leaks with my quicksteel epoxy. This amazed the men and they then called it James bond glue! Remade a radiator fan out of a plastic bottle filled her up and off they went. It took about half a day and we ran out of water and missed lunch. Just afterwards though tim had another flat. We didnt get to the nearest town till 6pm and bumped into the bus driver who had the water pump in his hand! we drank to help the dehydration styarting to hit us and helped repair it. We got directions to their hometown and said we'd meet them there for nadaam. Sure enough we rolled up 2 days later, after getting lost in the mountains and were treated as royalty. The village elders welcomed us, we were fed and taken care of. It began snowing so once back at the town we were taken to the National parks office where we stayed. All the follwoing day while watching the archery and wrestling we were approached by passengers and relatives of passengers who thanked us and fed and watered us. What a fantastic couple of days it was, a real shame to have to leave.

The following day though things turned bad as I ended up in a brawl over the literage that a kazakh man was trying to charge us for fuel. He was doubling the amount we actaully received and after he bagan bringing a bunch of the locals in on his side we gave in and paid ridiculous amounts for the fuel. This is not before he tried (unsucessfully) to insite me on whacking him by whipping me with a syphon hose and headbutting me. Didnt cause anyharm to me cause he was only about 5 ft tall and i had all my riding gear on. Was a bit worried about weapons though so i think we made a good call in backing down and paying their asking price. Either way Ben and kate didnt fuel up and we all made it safely to the next town without running out. This was only a small incident though of nastyness and overall the people have been fantastic. i guess you always get bad eggs every now and then.

Recent repairs on the bike include quicksteel of the engine casing after a good hit from a boulder. The bash plate has taken a beating and is now quite bent, good thing it is there. new number plate, hand painted, a few samll adjustments to loose bolts and general wear and tear. Otherwise things are going well and looking forward to being back in russia where we can get fruit and maybe just maybe a shower. Its funny how after a couple of weeks you dont seem to smell anymore...