Goodbye Mongolia!

Turtle Rock™️

Sadly our time in Mongolia was coming to an end as our visa was running out.




Before heading north to Russia we did a short trip to the east of UB.
In the mountainous forest we did a quick stop at the turtle rock (quite the tourist trap) and then headed further into the wilderness.

Around Ulaanbaatar

After our venture in the south we turned around to Ulan Bator as our time was closing. We stayed in the lovely River Point run by René from Austria. He arrived in Mongolia 25 years ago and has witnessed the growth of its capital with all its problems, more on that later.
As a perfect host he has always time for his guests and a story up its sleeve. Also worth mentioning are his perfect Wiener Schnitzel! We couldn't believe it when we laid eyes on them on the menu and nagged René until he himself manned the stove for us!

🤤🤤🤤

Through the dunes

Following the route further south we soon encountered the mighty Khongoryn Els. This giant strip of dunes is an amazing sight! One moment there are bushes and even green patches along the tiny stream and then the sand rises to huge dunes!

Tiny-Planet 🌏

The strip runs east to west for almost 100 km and can reach heights up to 80m!
There is only one small kind of pass/saddle where you can cross the 6 to 12 km of sand to get to the south. But before crossing over we followed it for a while looking for a nice place to camp.


Fun Fact: If there are green patches amidst a huge swat of sand it is always used for grazing. Which in turn means its usually full of goat shit 💩🤣

On the way to the Gobi desert

We stocked up on supplies in Bayankhongor and drove further south.

Excited Martin standing on his car, don't know why 🤷‍♂️😂

After a lovely night in the middle of nowhere we soon encountered more and more camels. Somebody was really excited 🤣

The landscape gradually changed and it became more and more deserted, haha.
We also managed to loose track of each other, quite a feat in such an open and flat environment. But due to the dust which gets kicked up we usually did not follow each other close. The moment the tracks branch out its just guess work which is the "right" one and if the car in the lead made the same decision😂

The valley of the Khan

After our windy night we continued East and spent the night on the coast of lake Terkhiin Tsagaan were we met our friends from Zürich again. The trio now complete again we climbed the volcanic crater the next day and then drove on. Cruising on the paved! road we made good progress all the way to Kharkhorin. Founded by Genghis Khan as the capital Karakorum of it's mighty empire, not much remains standing nowadays. It is said the location was chosen as the gigantic Orkhon valley was the only place Genghis could assemble and sustain his army before going to war.
Following the Orkhon river we decided to take the scenic route through the mountains instead of driving around it on the freeway to Bayankhongor. In hindsight one of the best decision we made as this turned out to be one of the highlights in Mongolia! 🤩

Typical Mongolian Family : Ger & Prius

Through sand and storm

Leaving the peninsula guess who we encountered? Our friends in their Defender 😆, together we drove further south east towards the Gobi desert.

First stop was at Muhartin Gol, a mighty dune where a spring emerges right at the edge of the desert.

To lake Khyargas

Shortly after leaving Ölgii we encountered a massiv thunderstorm, the sky turned black in mere minutes and it started to pour and hail as if there was no tomorrow. Pedal to the metal we raced on and could leave the worst of it behind us. The group of cyclists we met shortly before weren't as lucky. But I guess thats why you go by bike 🤷‍♂️

Not much later the sun was out again and everything was peaceful...

Western Mongolia

Mongolia didn't disappoint on its first morning. We were greeted by rolling hills under blue skies, dotted with some white yurts and the occasional sheep and yak herd. 😍

In the Altai mountains and into Mongolia

Our third time entering Russia went uneventful, knowing by now which forms to fill in and how the procedure works 😆