Mongolia welcomes me with a big smile :-)

So I am now in Ulaanbaatar Mongolia or UB for short.

So heres the story of how after 9,000 miles I arrived in this fantastic city.

After leaving Irkuts with a working back brake and a slighty lowered bike I was glad to be back on the road, the oil leak continued and I have to check and top up daily, not a lot of oil, I reckon about a teaspoon a day.....I have now started to think of it as a constant oil change !

Dazzer and Leigh decided they wanted an early start, I was happy to take my time to Ulan Ude where I would meet up with the Gobi Girls Belle and Nadine, they had travelled on Chinese copy Honda C90. I had previously met them on "The scooters in the Sahara" trip to Bansang Hospital in Gambia and couldnt wait to see them again :-)

The Gobi Girls

Riding along, having rode some very tough sections of road where they were digging up the old road and replacing it with a new one (they lay a temporary one of rocks, gravel and mud). I hit disaster or should I say I hit the road or rather slid down the road!  I had hit a diesel spill. The front end start to slide and weave and just as I thought I had everything under control the back end jumped out. This resulted in a tank slapper and I knew I wasnt going to recover from this.

So I low sided the bike and let go! I bounced and slid for about 50 metres watching the bike slide away in front of me! my bike came to a stop just on the edge of a 10 foot drop. As soon as I wriggled my hands and feet I was up and heading to the bike. Some kind Russian road workers helped me get the bike up and much to my surprise it started .

Of course my screen was gone as well as my right mirror and massive scratches down my pannier cases but all in all I think I came off quite well despite the fact that I was travelling at 55mph!

I am ok, a little bruised!

The new streamlined version lol

This car had came off at the same section of road

Russian workers who helped get my bike on the road

Unfortunately I was wearing my gortex waterproofs at the time

Gaffer tape fix needed lol

So after a wee delay I was off and soon to meet up with the girls ( I had last seen them in Turkey, which seemed like a lifetime ago).

The next day after a lazy start and some sight seeing in Ulan Ude we set off for the Mongolian border. We couldnt have timed it better because we got there just before the border shut for the night so they rushed us straight thru.

We stayed at the border place in a very rustic hotel with no shower but at £4 for all 3 of us we were not complaining.

The next day we set off to see the monastery and a wild camp, However my leg was in such pain due to the accident I couldnt even stand up on the pegs. Even getting on and off the bike was a struggle, so I decided to head straight for the capital UB.

I stayed in the Ghengis Chan hotel but at nearly £100 per night that was way over my budget, So I used Hotel Booking.com to find a cheaper one. So I am now staying at the Kaiser hotel just off Peace avenue right in the centre of the city.

Mongolia is so different to Russia, the people are so much more friendlier, though this may be that more people speak English, in fact, on my drive in to UB the traffic system is a nightmare as theres only one main road thru the city. The lanes are marked as a dual carriage way but often you see 4 lanes of traffic.... its defiantly No Prisoners lol. Anyway back to the point, many people shouted out of the car windows "Welcome to Mongolia" or the would toot and wave madly!

Well I have some more pics to post of the city but that can wait till tomorrow because now its time for a read  and bedtime :-)