Life in UB
25AugWe had to return to the Suzuki on the 25th to sort out our belongings and write a list of bits and pieces to donate. We can’t carry much so all of our tents, cooking equipment, tools, ropes, air compressor and jerry cans were all donated to charity. The rally has been tough on the equipment, from vibration and from dirt, and most of our stuff was pretty wrecked. We’d only been at the car for about 10 minutes when a massive storm appeared from nowhere. The temperature dropped, there was a howling wind, and it started to rain. It wasn’t pleasant, and it was kind of a fitting end to the Suzuki. In the end it took us to a lot of places, but it sure did complain about it.
This was the last time we’d be at the compound, so I said goodbye to Dobson the horse. He refuses to be separated from the Suzuki. When we put him on, we didn’t think he’d last past the Ukraine, but obviously we underestimated the quality of Ikea products.
Some shots of the vehicle compound:
Amanda the Panda and the Team Yorkshire SJ whom we camped with in Kazakhstan. Both cars look pristine:
UB is a rather easy place for us to hang out. I’ve read stories about poverty and homeless children living under the streets. However, you won’t see that in the centre of UB, it’s undergoing a massive financial boom. There are banks on every corner, and chic café’s and restaurants all over. You can eat all sorts of European and Asian cuisine and drink good coffee, and it is all rather cheap. There are loads of shops, some over priced, but others quite reasonable. Hopefully UB doesn’t go the same way as Almaty.
Our days as we recuperate have kicked off with an English breakfast and a cappuccino. The evenings have been spent with a nice dinner, and then a couple of beers at Dave’s bar, whilst chatting to other ex-ralliers.
Unlike other Central Asian cities we visited, this one has a defined centre, being Sukhbaatar Square. It has a big palace on one side. the centre of the palace is a big statue of Genghis Khan, King of the Mongols. He is sitting on his throne. In the centre of the square is Sukhbaatar himself, on his horse. Damdin Sukhbataar proclaimed Mongolia’s final independence from the Chinese in 1921 and was the hero of their revolution.
Stephen found time to visit the Llama Museums
Gandan Khiid Monastry is the biggest working Buddhist Monastry in Mongolia. It has a 26m Buddha made of copper with gild gold covering. It contains 27 tonnes of medicinal herbs, 334 sutras, 2 million bundles of mantras and an entire ger with furniture! It costs another $5US to take a picture of the Buddha so we gave it a miss.
Tom from Mongol Rally tells me they are about to open a goldmine in Western Mongolia that potentially will multiply the countries current GDP by ten. This country has immense mineral wealth and won’t remain as it is for much longer. I feel privileged to have seen it during this rally.
Today is the 28th, and tonight Stephen will fly to Sydney via Seoul. I’ve spent the last 3 days sorting my onward travel. I have to wait in UB until Tuesday when I’ll catch the Trans-Siberian railway to Moscow. The train goes twice a week but I need to wait for a Russian Transit visa before I can depart. The journey time is 5 days.
Team Taxistan emerged today. This was the team who got stuck in Russian no-mans land for 5 days.
I’ve managed to track down some information on two of the strange things we consumed whilst in Mongolia.
The hard cheesy substance we ate is either Byaslag or Eeezgii. I think it’s the former. It’s made of sheep or cow’s milk, which is sliced and then dried. It’s supposed to be highly nutritious and a food of respect. Apparently you eat it soaked in tea or milk, or you just gnaw at it like us tourists. There is a small chance it wasn’t Byaslag at all, and that it was actually Eeezgii. This is milk boiled dry and then dried until it’s hardened. Very good for diseases of the liver I hear.
The fermented horse milk we drank is known as Airag. This is not to be confused with Khoormog, which is fermented milk of the Camel variety. Airag is traditionally made from milk from a white mare. It’s very good for you, treating diseases of the stomach and liver, as well as helping the heart and lowering blood pressure. It’s also an antidote against radioactive poisoning. According to the sutra of traditional medicine it will make you 10 years younger, recovering all the diseases and restoring strength. Airag is also known as the ‘King Drink’, as once you drink this you’ll not want to drink anything else. It’s okay to drink up to 20L a day! Funnily enough I haven’t craved it at all since my lips puckered up last time. The bacteria they use to ferment this milk, and some yoghurts is traditionally stored from one season to the next. I read that the village family who had the best batch of milk last year provide the bacteria for the new season.
Stephen and I made the trip to the finish line ourselves today, with the Samurai badges that we tore off the Suzuki. As you can see the Airag we drank has made me lose 10 years for sure.
Yak to the Future borrowed 3 tyres off of another Citroen 2CV and drove their car to the finish line. They have now left on the Trans-Siberian en-route to Moscow, St Petersburg and then Scandinavia.
I’m not sure whether Tim ever posted the end of his tale on this blog. I’ve spoken to him only briefly, so my story may not be entirely accurate. The Australian Consulate in Almaty had closed down, so Tim’s best bet was to travel to the Australian Consulate in Moscow and get a replacement passport. He was able to get a temporary passport from the British Consulate in Almaty, as a part of the Commonwealth. However it was only valid for 14 days, and Russian authorities won’t let you enter unless you have minimum 60 days validity. It seems fairly absurd to apply this to someone traveling to Moscow to get a new passport. The next option was to travel to London for a passport, but the temporary British Passport was not valid for travel to the UK, only to Moscow or Australia. Never mind, the Canadian consulate could help Tim get to London, but when they tried to issue a temporary passport they were advised against it by the Australian Consulate in Moscow, as there was already paperwork in progress. There was then some talk that Tim would be given diplomatic immunity to visit Moscow. In the end though the minimum time to issue a passport in Moscow was 10 days, and by that time the rally would be finished. After the long struggle Tim obtained an exit visa for Kazakhstan (another 5 day wait or something!) and flew back to Australia.
Beware Australian travelers, the new style of printing the photo and personal details on passports is about as water proof as your home inkjet printer. English passports still have a proper laminated photo, and are far more resilient.
This will be the last post on the Team Mongolmania website. To those who donated, both cash and inkind, we promised you we’d give adventure our best shot, and would try our hardest to involve you through this blog and regular updates on our position. I hope you feel we’ve fulfilled these obligations, and have enjoyed reading our posts. We’ve tried to provide an objective view on the rally, so that you feel the highs and lows that we have felt. Apologies for the spelling errors and any inaccuracies in the information provided. Hopefully you may have even learnt a little from some of the posts. Apologies we did the last 400 miles on the back of the truck. We did cover 8542 miles before I crashed, which is 13670km. We arrived in UB 37 days after we left Hyde Park.
From our perspective the rally has been unbelievable. Even during the times when it was really tough, it was still amazing to be involved in. We’ve met so many generous people along the way and for the record at no stage in any of these countries did we feel threatened or unsafe. Some of the scenery we have seen, and flavours I have tasted, will remain etched in my memory forever.
If you’ve enjoyed our blog and haven’t made a donation, our website will remain open for donations until September 19th. Please don’t feel the need to donate for a second time.
A couple of products deserve special mention for their performance on the rally. A combination of Kumho Tyres and Shieldwell Puncture Protection meant we were puncture free, despite some horrendous surfaces. Our Spot Tracker (findmespot.com) transmitted our location successfully on every occasion except one (this was when we were in the Pamirs and had high mountains surrounding us on 3 sides), and the option of transmitting a 911 message was great peace of mind.
Thanks to the provider of our Brackley workshop for his continued support, to Peter Hawthorn for the Wimbledon workshop, to Joyce Carey for her bag of toys, and to Herb and Jenny Gale of Bohena Olives for their major financial support.
Cheers,
Derek
