Ulaan Baatar, Mongolia

Hallo allir saman.  Tha erum vid loksins komnir til Ulaan Baatar, hofudborgar Mongoliu.  Sidustu 5 dagar hafa verid mestu aevintyradagar sem eg hef upplifad !  Mikil ogrun og tekid baedi a likamlega og andlega.  Thegar vid komum inn i Mongoliu, eftir 3ja tima skrifraedi a landamaerunum, tok vid landslag og umhverfi sem kom okkur braedrum verulega a ovart.  Vegirnir herna eru eins og a sprengisandi fyrir 20 arum, malarvegir og sumstadar ekki einu sinni vegir, heldur bara slodar, og thetta var thjodvegur nr. 1 hja theim !  En vid vorum gladir, thvi vid erum vanir svona vegum og slodum og fundum okkur vel.  Svisslendingurinn sem vid hittum um daginn og rakumst a nokkrum sinnum, hafdi farid inn i Mongoliu tveimur dogum fyrr en vid.  Thegar vid vorum a landamaerunum, hittum vid hann aftur og var hann tha a leidinni heim, buinn ad gefast upp.  Hann var vanur hjolamadur og buinn ad hjola i 40 ar, en thetta var honum ofvida !  Draumaferdin hans var a enda.  Svona getur upplifunin verid misjofn.  Vid gladir, en hann full.  En vid hjoludum i agaetu vedri fram eftir degi, og komum ad einu af 5 thorpum sem vid attum eftir ad fara i gegnum a leid okkar til hofudborgarinnar.  Thar voktum vid mikla athygli eins og vidast hvar, og var skritid ad hjola tharna i gegn.  Flest hus eru lagreist og gerd ur einhversskonar leir sem oft sidan maladur hvitur, og i kringum husin gjarnan reistur hladinn veggur ur grjoti.  Tharna stoppadi okkur madur uti a midri gotu og sagdist vera med gistingu handa okkur og bilskur fyrir hjolin, vaeri med hotel.  Eg akvad ad skoda thad og eltum vid hann a Lodunni hans, og fruin og barnid i aftursaetinu.  Hotelid reyndist vera husid hans, eitt af thessum lagreistu littlu husum, og thegar vid komum thangad, hopadist ad okkur oll aettin hans !!  Fullt af folki.  Eg bad hann ad syna mer herbergid og bilskurinn og kom tha i ljos ad hann aetladi ad geyma motorhjolin inni i eldhusi og vid attum ad sofa i stofunni hja allri fjolskyldunni.  Hann var rosalega stoltur af thessu og atti eg erfitt med ad vera alvarlegur.  En thetta var mikil alvara hja honum.  Eftir sma umhugsun, tha haettum vid vid thetta og akvadum ad halda afram og vera bara i tjaldinu.  Og thad yrdi tha i fyrsta skiptid i ferdinni.  Eftir ad hafa tekid bensin, heldum vid afram og a endanum fundum vid gamlan yfirgefin leirkofa uppi i hlid og akvadum ad gista i honum.  Thetta hefur verid heimili hirdingjanna og nybuid af yfirgefa thad.  Tharna vorum vid i 2300 metra haed og var mjog kalt um nottina, abyggilega um frostmark.  Okkur var frekar kalt, thvi thad verdur ad segjast eins og er, vid erum ekki bunir undir svona kulda.  En nottin leid og vid heldum af stad naesta dag.  Nu hjoludum vid i gegnum fjollin, upp og nidur og serstaklega skemmtilegt, en smam saman breyttist landslagid og vid forum ut a hasletturnar, thar sem vegirnir eru eins og adur, bara slodar, og eru i um 1500 til 2000 metra haed.  Tharna gat verid baedi kalt og mjog heitt til skiptis.   Svona heldum vid afram naestu daga og erum vid bunir ad vera i tjaldinu sidustu 3 naetur.  I fyrrinott voknudum vid upp um midja nott, med oll vit full af sandi, og tjaldbotninn inni hja okkur, var eins og sandkassi !  Nu geysadi einhver sandstormur, og thegar honum lauk brast a urhellisrigning !  Tjaldi hristist og skalf og nu for ad fara verulega um okkur tharna !!  Einir, einhversstadar ut i midri eydimork, skitkalt og leist ekki of vel a thetta.  Myndi thetta standa i klukkutima eda kanski heila viku !!   En ad lokum stytti upp og vedrid smalagadist.  En thetta var mikil og spennuthrungin upplifun !  Svo var haldid af stad og enn einn skemmtilegur dagur framundan.  Primusinn sem vid Einar tokum med okkur, virkadi ekki, thad er, vid tokum vitlausan brusa fyrir eldsneyti, og thvi enginn primus.  En Einar snillingur, fann tvaer blikkdosir, og eftir sma pud med Leatherman tha stod hann hrodugur upp, og syndi mer thennan frabaera brennara fyrir bensin, sem hefur nu verid notadur 3 sinnum.  I gaer um 5 leytid, eftir enn einn frabaeran avintyradag, og enga sturtu i 6 daga, tha forum vid ad svipast um eftir nattstad.  En tha skall a nordan hvass vindur, og hitastigid for nidur i 3 gradur.  Enga gistingu var ad fa, og ekki var haegt ad tjalda i svona vedri, thannig ad okkur var bara einn kostur naudugur,  klaeda okkur i oll thau fot sem vid erum med okkur of hjola af stad til hofudborgarinnar.  Thad var ad skella a myrkur og hafdi eg sett sem prinsip, ad hjola ekki i myrkri.  Thad kom lika a daginn ad that er storhaettulegt, thvi ad tvisvar sinnum hljop hundur ut a veginn og einu sinni litid barn, sem eg veit ekki hvadan kom.  En vid gatum ekkert annad.  Tharna vorum vid um 300 km fra Ulaan Baatar og vegirnir ordnir betri, malbik a storum kafla.  En um 10  leytid breyttist vegurinn skyndilega i sloda aftur og vid saum ekki neitt, ordnir hundthreyttir, skiturgir, svangir og einbeitingin ad hverfa.  Sem sagt storhaettuleg.  En um sama leyti laegdi vindinn og akvadum ad stoppa og sofa i tjaldinu thott kalt vaeri.  Vid fundum gamlan kindastiu og thar hafdi verid einhvern tima Mongolskt tjald, thessi storu kringlottu, og thvi slett og gott fyrir okkur ad tjalda.  Tharna var ordid blanka logn, en hitastigid um 3 gradur, og kveiktum vid thvi vardeld ur greinum sem vid tyndum saman, og hitudum vatn a primusnum goda og fengum okkur nudlur og braud.  Dyrindismatur og kraesingar, thegar madur er svangur.  I morgun hjoludum vid svo til Ulaan Baatar og komum thangad um hadegi.  Thar tok a moti okkur, Thor Danielsson, sem yfir madur Rauda krossins her, og adstodadi hann okkur vid ad finna hotel og aetlar ad adstoda okkur a morgun thegar vid forum i russneska sendiradid til ad saekja um Visa aritun aftur inn i  Russland.  Thad gaeti tekid allt ad 4 dogum.  En thad kemur i ljos.  Thad er mjog oraunveruleg tilfinning ad vera her, og ser i lagi a motorhjoli sem eg lagdi af stad ad heiman fra mer !!!   Eg held eg se ekki alveg buinn ad fatta thetta enntha.  Her er gott vedur og folkid er gott og einn og einn talar ensku her.  Vid erum a finu hoteli herna nuna, Hotel Ulaan Baatar, en veit ekki hvort vid verdum her lengi vegna thess ad her ekki god geymsla fyrir hjolin.  En i lokin vil eg minna a, ad tho ad eg geti ekki bloggad alltaf, eru alltaf orstuttar frettir og stadsetning a www.rtw.is .   Hjolin standa sig vel, ekkert bilad,  adeins losnad ein suda a varadekksgrindinni hja Einari.  En vid fundum gamlan sudumann i littlu fjallathorpi sem leysti thetta fyrir okkur a metttima.  Dekkin endast og endast og erum vid ekki enn bunir ad setja kubbadekkin undir.  Otrulegt en satt.    Kilometrateljarinn er nalaegt 12500 km.  En bless i bili.

Hello everybody.  Then we have finally arrived in Ulaan Baator, the capital of Mongolia.  The past 5 days have been the most adventuredays I have ever lived !  A huge challenge and difficult both physically and mentally.  After 3 hours on the Mongolian border we arrived in a different landscape.  The roads here are like on Sprengisandur some 20 years ago.  And somewere you cant talk about roads, because partly the roads is imore like paths and this is main road nr. 1 !  But we were glad because roads like these are well known to us.  On the border we met the Swiss who we had met two times before.  He had give up on Mongolia, the second time.  He is an experienced motorcyclemen, have been riding for 40 years but now his dream are finished.  We full of happyness but he was sad. Things can go this way. But in that day we rode in a nice weather through one of the five village we would visit on our way to the capital.  Our precense made attention in those villages and people were curious about us and it was a little strange to ride through those villages.  Most of the houses are small and low and made from somekind of clay which is often been painted white and around those houses are walls from stones which has been loaded.  There one man stopped us on the middle of the road.  He said he had place to stay for the night, a hotel and space for the bikes.  We decided to follow him and his wife and child in his Lada to his house.  When we came to the "hotel" it was his house, one of the small white houses, which were full of his relatives who came out to us and when I asked him were we should sleep he told me that he would put the bikes in the kitchen and we could sleep in the livingroom with his relatives.  He was very proud of this and it was a little bit difficult for me not to smile.  After a little time thinking we decided to sleep this night in the tent because that would have been for the first time in the trip. We got some petrol and kept on going and in the end of the day we found an old deserted clayhut in a hillside and decided to sleep there.  This has been a home to the nomads and obviously recently been left.  There we were in a 2300 m.high and it was very cold that night, probably around freezing point.  We felt rather cold and I have to admit that I wasnt prepared for this cold.  But after the night we woke up and kept on going.  Now we rode into the mountains, up and down and that was very amusing.  But then the landscape changed and we rode to the lowlands were the roads are like said before only paths and in 1500-2000 m.high.  There can be hot and cold by turns.  Like this we kept on going the next days and have been staying in the tent the last 3 nights. The night before last night we wake up in the middle of the night, all our faces full of sand and the bottom of our tent was getting pretty full with sand !  It was a great sandstorm and it wasnt looking good and when the storm slowed down a heavy rain started !  The tent was shaking and shivering and we started to be a little nervous, alone in the middle of the desert and beeing cold.  Would this last for one hour of maybe whole week !! But thankfully the weather started to change and got better.  But this was a great exciting experience !  But then we rode on and one amusing and exciting day ahead.  The primus wich me and Einar took with us didnt work, we had take for mistake a wrong fuel for the primus !  But Einar, the genius found two tin and after a little time work with the Leatherman he showed me proud this great burner for petrol which have now been used three times  Yesterday around five oclock after a great day and no shower for 6 days we started to look for a place for the night  But then we got a strong wind from the north and the tempature went down to 3 gr.c.  We couldnt find a place to stay and couldnt put up the tent in this weather. -So we only had one choise, to put on all the clothes we hade and ride on to the capital.  It was getting dark and it was a princip matter with me not to ride in the dark.  It was surely true because twice a dog ran into us on the road and once a little child who I dont know were it came from.  But we couldn do anything else.  There we were 300 km from Ulaan Baatar and the roads were starting to be better, asphalt mainly.  But around ten oclock the road changed suddenly again into paths and we couldn see anything.  Exhausted, dirty, hungry and loosing our concentration.  So to say..extremely dangerous.  But at that moment the wind slowed down and we decided to stop and try to sleep in the tent even though it was very cold.  We found an old sheep"place" were once had been a Mongolian tent, those big one and rounded so it was easy to put our tent on the spot. Now it was a quiet wind and 3gr c. so I started a campfire and heated a water on our good primus and there we ate noodles and bread.  Very good food when you are hungry. This morning we rode to Ulaan Baatar and arrived here at lunchtime.  There we met Thor Danielsson which is the main superior over the Redcross in Mongolia.  He helped us finding a hotel and has offer his help tomorrow when we have to seek a visa so we can go again into Russia.  It could take up to 4 days.  But finally it is indescribable to be here on a motorcycle which I have been riding from my home in Iceland !  Here is a nice weather right now, the people are frindely and one and one speak english.  We are staying in a Hotel, Ulaan Baator which is very nice and problably we will stay here until we go again.  The motorbikes are doing fine and nothing serious has happened, only a little thing wich we have been able to fix or get some help like an old boiling man helped Einar to fix his secondtireframe.  The tires are still on and we havent changed into the new ruffer one..unbelievable but true.  The km counter are now in 12500 km.  But until next time.

L

Athugasemdir

[Guðmundur (IP-tala skráð) 3.6.2007 kl. 13:43]

Æðislega gaman að fylgjast með ykkur hér á blogginu og maður gær daglega hvort eitthvað nytt hefur komið inn þó svo að maður viti að þið séuð fjarri tölvutæknini hverju sinni sem ekkert kemur inn á bloggið maður er bara svo spenntur.Það er kraftur í ykkur finnst þið fara hratt yfir miðað við áætlunina í upphafi og er það bara vel.Gangi allt vel og gaman að sjá hvað hjólin reynast vel enda margreynd hjól á ferð.

Kær kveðja

Guðmundur 

[Sverrir Þorsteinsson, 3.6.2007 kl. 23:18]

Saell Gudmundur, og takk fyrir thetta.  Ja thetta hefur gengid vel, en svo koma upp mal sem tefja.  Vid thurfum hugsanlega ad vera her i Ulaan Baatar i 4 daga vegna Visa aritunar til Russlands.  En svona er thetta bara og vid njotum lifsins i botn.  Kvedja

[Fanndís María (IP-tala skráð) 4.6.2007 kl. 14:45]

Halló pabbi minn, mig langaði svo til að þú vissir að ég fór í í skólann minn í dag í heimsókn, það var mjög gaman.  Kennarinn minn heitir Sif og bekkurinn 1-C og mig langaði ekki að fara heim.  Linda mátti koma með mér heim og við leikum okkur bara saman og það er gaman.  Takk fyrir dúkkuna ég er spennt að sjá hana pabbi.  Bless og farðu varlega og ég elska þig.