Day 37: Enter Mongolia — Fleetwood Yak

Miles driven: 248

Time in Car: 6.5

Borders crossed: 1

Day 37, seven weeks since we set out from Oxford on our maiden voyage, we entered Mongolia. The push to the finish line. Only in between us now are a thousand miles, one more border crossing into Russia, some off-roading, river fording, and long driving days before reaching the finish line at Ulan Ude. Our time in Turkmenistan seems ages ago, Western Europe seems inconceivable. Our trusty Stevie has conquered all terrain thrown at her thus far. Apart from cosmetic injuries to the sump, roof rack, exhaust chassis frame, I have full confidence that Stevie can tackle whatever Mongolia has to offer.

Our day driving into Mongolia was ho-hum. We awoke early at our Altai wild camping spot to a cold, heavily dew-laden morning. After breaking down camp, we set off in a hurry. It was about three hours to the Mongolian border and the 9 am to 6 pm border crossing was known for taking a long time to get through. We arrived around 10:30 am and set-up in the queue that seemed unmoving based on the number of passengers lingering outside around their vehicles. To our surprise, the Norwegian team we had convoyed with in the Pamirs and on that dreadful Murghab day was a few cars ahead of us in line. We exchanged stories about the past few countries we’d been in. We seemed to have fared better than the friendly Norwegian team. The Nordes caught Hell in Kazakhstan with daily breakdowns on the terrible roads to go along with a bout of “Tajikistan Two-step” that had been following them since the Pamirs. While Kazakhstan is known to take a beating to most cars, our suspension is still in good shape, we think. We chatted with a few other rally teams in line and took advantage of the good cell reception to clear up logistics about our travel home, a haunting thought.

After a few hours, we were through the Russian exit border and entered a 20km stretch of no-man’s land to the Mongolian entry point. At the Mongolian checkpoint, we queued in another line - it seemed like the Mongolian border control were still on their lunch break. In line, we made one of the dumber mistakes of the rally. A cash exchanger was offering to change Kazakh tenge for Mongolian currency. We still had loads of Kazakh cash and given that we were only going further from that country, the prospect of getting rid of worthless money for Mongolian currency seemed ideal. We had no cell service and had no idea the exchange rate but in every other border crossing, especially in Central Asia, unofficial money changers had been spot on with their rates. Big Mistake. That guy took us hook, line, and sinker for about a profit of $100. Once we realized what fools we were, he was already speeding off on his motorbike with his killing. Oh well - shit happens I guess. We hadn’t had to bribe any official police or guards yet so we chalked this faux pas up to having too clean of a record thus far.

Finally, after 5 hours, we were through into Mongolia - our 20th country and the namesake destination of our entire road trip. After 3 years of planning and 45+ days of driving, we were finally here. It was already late afternoon and we had formed a three team convoy with other cars that were in line around us. We all decided to stock up on cash and supplies in the nearby city of Ölgii, the capital city of the state Bayan-Ulgii, before entering the vast, barren territory that is the Great Mongolian Steppe. After stocking up with food, beer, and cash, our convoy of 2 hours already decided to split. The two other teams wanted to press on to the night as they were trying to get to the 8/31 ending party in Ulan Ude. We had time and being ahead of schedule, chose to camp at a nearby lake, cook pasta, and enjoy sunset. Driving out of Ölgii, the scenery was as advertised. Valleys of huge, dry, and yellow grassy plains stretched for miles and were lined with mountains following the natural curves of the Steppe. White yurts speckled the grasslands. Herds of cattle and goats as well as wild packs of camels (two humped), horses, and yaks were the only signs of life on the landscape. We chose a wild camping spot that was close to the shoreline of Tolbo Nuur, a giant lake in the middle of nowhere. It was a crystal clear lake with a rocky bottom surrounded by mountains on either side that had no inhabitants except for the small distant village of yurts that belonged to the herders that shepherded the land. We ate a huge meal of pasta (thanks, Joe) and beers. The sun set and the chill of night came quickly revealing again a incredible night sky with a perfect view of the Milky Way. Tomorrow we’ll do the same thing - drive until we find a cool place to camp. -FWY