The A16: The main Northern Route Mongolia
Rocks and more rocks!
C-YA Andrew and Jeff
The deep water crossing :Mongolia
C-YA’s view of the deep water crossing in Mongolia
We made it!
C-YA Andrew and Jeff
Wachkan Valley Tajikistan
TAJIKISTAN
Leaving the Panj River and Afghanistan behind and climbing up to the Pamir Highway
C-YA Andrew and Jeff
Gobi Desert
The view from C-YA crossing the Gobi desert! No trees for hundreds of kilometres.
C-YA Andrew and Jeff
The Finish Line!!
Ulaanbataar finish line:Today C-YA, carrying Andrew and Jeff crossed the official finish line! It was great to share this moment with our travelling partners, Team Quokkastan, Peter Le Souef and Mark Edwards in the Quokkavan! We made it!!!!!
It was a feeling of triumph but also sadness, because our adventure is over and also we have said goodbye to our faithful Toyota Hilux, C-YA!
We arrived early in the morning at the GoHelp office in UB central business district. At the office we added our marks to the finishers on the chart, the 12th to finish. The official paperwork was completed to hand over C-YA to the charity.
KOA also drew in the Charity Rally book, putting our feelings and emotions into colours!
It was a short drive to the finish line where there was lots of shouting, shaking hands, high fives and presentation of our trophies! A few minutes after us the Swiss Charity Rally team drove through as well. It was terrific to share their triumph as well!
We were then taken to see the Book Bus, one of the projects run by the charity to bring books and knowledge to the children of Mongolia!
Tonight we meet with two other Charity Rally teams at a local Irish Pub (Yes, they are everywhere!) to celebrate the finish.
Tomorrow morning, Andrew and Jeff jump on planes to return home!
The adventure is over but the memories will linger. To have 4 friends spend over 7 weeks together, to be in close contact, the gut disturbances, the rough roads, the incredible scenery, the long days of driving, the basic accommodation and still look forward to the next experience and share it together is an incredible feat. We all feel very privileged to have done this together. It has created a special bond between us.
To anyone contemplating such a journey, do it !. We did not have one moment of personal danger. Everyone we have met has been friendly and helpful. In fact, most went above and beyond the expected. The Kazak cafe owner who brought out samples of all the food he had, so we could choose, the Russian cafe staff who used google translate to explain what the various dishes were, the Mongol herders who came from no-where to welcome us, the home-stay families who made us feel amongst friends instantly, it makes you feel humble that these complete strangers are so welcoming.
To Peter and Mark who travelled with us, thank you. It was great to have you there. The nightly banter, the walkie-talkie chat, the help with the river crossings, Mark’s culinary skills, Pete’s ability to find beer anywhere, we do not think we could have had better travelling companions.
And finally Andrew and Jeff. Over 7 weeks 30 cms apart, hours everyday. Still friends, a lot of respect for each other’s abilities! Magic!!!!
Thanks to our sponsors also. Travel Directors, for all the visas and bookings of accommodation. It was a huge amount of work. Also a big thanks to Scarboro Toyota. C-YA did not miss a beat. Not even a flat tire! What a great car!
Lastly, to all our blog and facebook followers. We have read all your comments! We hope you have enjoyed sharing this with us!
C-YA Andrew and Jeff
Andrew Bochenek
www.khanonaussie.com
Mongolia Charity Rally 2015
Check-in/OK message from SPOT khanonaussie
khanonaussie
Latitude:47.80681
Longitude:107.53066
GPS location Date/Time:08/25/2015 10:36:35 AWST
Message:C-YA has arrived at this location. Oh what a feeling!
Click the link below to see where I am located.
http://fms.ws/Q7xI3/47.80681N/107.53066E
If the above link does not work, try this link:
khanonaussie
You have received this message because khanonaussie has added you to their SPOT contact list.
Ready for Adventure
FindMeSPOT.com
Gobi Desert to Ulaanbataar
Our stay overnight at Arvaikheer was a memorable one. The “Time” hotel was the highly rated one in Lonely Planet in this Gobi border town that is on the main southern route across Western Mongolia.
When we checked in, we found we were the only guests apart from a late expected arrival of a motorcyclist. There was no wifi, some rooms had no working showers, and no english was spoken. However, it was clean, it looked like rain overnight, so this was it for the night.
After unloading our gear from the cars we were approached by Frank. He was a retired hospitality person from Germany who had volunteered to travel toMongolia and teach the basics of the hospitality industry to Mongolians. He just happened to be at our Time hotel at the moment and offered to look after us during our stay as he acknowledged that the local staff, although well meaning, had nothing prepared for guests.
He asked us what we would like for dinner and said to give he and the staff 90 minutes and they would have things ready for us.How lucky were we!
A cold beer was available and we sat down to refresh and plan the next day’s drive.
At 8pm, it all arrived in the little white table-cloth restaurant! A fantastic vegetable soup with ingredients bought just an hour before, followed by a chicken and onion casserole with stacks of butter roasted potatoes and a salad. They even found some wine. There were 2 bottles of red wine in the hotel. A German Rottwein. We had them both! Initially they brought out thimble sherry glasses for the wine but Farnk taught them the art of being a sommellier whilst we were there.
Whilst eating, our motorcyclist guest arrived, an Austrian called Wolfgang, who was taking 4 weeks off from his tourist company in the Philippines to travel around Mongolia on a rented 600cc Yamaha off-road bike. He shared our wine as we exchanged experiences.
Repleat, we retired to our rooms for the night after Frank had planned our breakfast for the morning.
After a morning feast of eggs, cheese, fried bread (no toaster), and lots of chai, we said goodbye to Frank, Wolfgang and the lovely people at the Time hotel and set off for the Gobi!
As we headed south, the roads became dustier, the tracks became more subtle and difficult to find, but the views did not fail to impress. This part of the Gobi is so flat, with absolutely no trees, not even a bush more than a few cms high. Just the very occasional tuft of grass and the odd waterhole or small lake where gers, animals and their herders can be found.
The usual Ovoos can be seen at the top of small hills, again both for navigation and for spiritual reasons. Andrew ran around one 3 times for luck as is traditional. We might need it to find our way out of the Gobi.
We got to the small town of Saikhan-Ovoo, where we had to cross a small stream to get into town. No bridges here!
After another hour we stopped for lunch. The sun had some bite and there was a warm wind blowing, so we set up a tarp for shade between the two vehicles and had a great meal in the cool.
It was interesting to look at the sump guard of C-YA. She has good ground clearance but there were some good dents in it!
We still had 60 or so kms we wanted to do before dusk as we wanted to get closer to the main road to Ulaanbataar for the next day.
The tracks continued to be confusing, winding, diverging, sometimes leading us in the wrong direction before we corrected by setting off cross country again using our GPS to find the correct track!
We went past the occasional well where we found herders using buckets to draw water into a trough for the animals.
Finally, it was time to bed down for the night. We set off 1 km off the road looking for a ridge to shelter us from the warm wind. Pete found a great spot and we began to set up camp miles from anywhere, or so we thought!
We had only just begun to put up our tents when we heard the engine of a motorbike coming over the ridge. It was a local herder who had spotted us and was coming over to check us out. This area of the Gobi is not tourist territory so we were a curiosity.
It was the usual, no english on his side, no Mongolian on ours, but we greeted, smiled, gestured to our map to explain what we were doing and he then watched us set up camp, curious as to all we were doing.
We offered him some soft drink which he gratefully accepted. Then he watched us cook dinner and we prepared a meal and shared this and a beer with him! It was a special treat to return some Mongolian hospitality.
He then bid us “thank you and goodbye”, the only words of english he knew and set off for his ger just before sunset!
We had a great night’s sleep in the quiet of the Gobi. A few large drops of rain began to fall overnight but they did not last and we awoke to a beautiful sunrise with everything dried out by the warm wind!
At breakfast we saw our herder friend again on a hilltop using his binoculars to check out the countryside and he then drove down to see us. We shared a chai with him and, as this was our last night camping, we gave him a frypan, plastic containers and a whole bag of coffee that had not been used, as well as some toys for his children! He was so happy. He shook our hands, stuffed it all under his tunic and rode away waving!
Another 50 kms of sandy winding roads beckoned and we hit the town of Mandalgovi and the sealed road to Ulaanbataar.
A few hours later, there we were, UB in the distance.
Ulaanbaatar, literally “Red Hero”, is the capital and the largest city of Mongolia. An independent municipality, the city is not part of any province, and its population as of 2014 was over 1.3 million.
Located in north central Mongolia, the city lies at an elevation of about 1,310 metres (4,300 ft) in a valley on the Tuul River. It is the cultural, industrial, and financial heart of the country. It is the centre of Mongolia’s road network, and is connected by rail to both the Trans-Siberian Railway in Russia and the Chinese railway system.
The city was founded in 1639 as a movable (nomadic) Buddhist monastic centre. In 1778, it settled permanently at its present location, the junction of the Tuul and Selbe rivers. Before that, it changed location twenty-eight times, with each location being chosen ceremonially. In the twentieth century, Ulaanbaatar grew into a major manufacturing centre.
It was strange to see a bustling, high rise, traffic jammed city again. We found our hotel, the Kempinski, and settled in for a few days of luxury. We needed to clean and prepare C-YA for handover to the charity. But first it was a bath for us, wonderful!
Andrew washed some of his clothes in the bathtub and the water was a muddy brown afterwards! The Gobi is a dry dusty place.
A celebratory dinner at the “California”restaurant, a trendy UB place, was enjoyed by all, and back at the hotel a vodka toast followed to acknowledge the end of our journey (although Pete and his wife Sue, who arrives on Tuesday, will travel on to Vladivostok!)
Andrew Bochenek
www.khanonaussie.com
Mongolia Charity Rally 2015
August 20th to 22nd Mongolia
We woke up beside Khyar-Gas Nuur (“Nuur “means lake in Mongolia) after a very peaceful night’s sleep. Dead quiet, balmy night, cool but not cold in the morning. 
Our solitary tire tracks show how remote this shore of the lake was.
We continued for another 60kms or so along a wonderful Chinese sponsored paved road before it suddenly ran out and roadworks continued for the next few hundred kilometres. We drove alongside the road works on sandy desert roads that were the typical Mongolian Multi-lane roads. i.e.: pick a track, any track and hope it is OK.
After several hours of relatively high speed driving on soft sand tracks trying hard to miss the washaways and potholes, we stopped for lunch beside a curious roadside shrine.
Finally the surroundings “greened-up” and more animals and gers were seen. Curious how horses all congregate in a group standing in a pool of water. Heads inwards, backsides outwards!
More small colourful villages were passed through and more dust and open plains beckoned. Sheep and goat roadblocks were commonplace. Camels appeared again, roaming free.
We finally arrived in the town of Tosonchengal, and old forestry town in Western Mongolia.
It was late at night and rainclouds were around. It was not a night for camping, so we sought a hotel. The Lonely Planet guide recommended hotel had closed, and we had only seen one other hotel in town. We drove up and checked it out.
No english, a restaurant that you wouldn’t dare eat in, but it had 4 very basic rooms. No running water, drop and squat loos, but it was all there was and they let us park our cars securely around the back near the drop loos! The smell would keep the thieves at bay.
We cooked up dinner ourselves in the washroom next to our rooms. i.e.: A sink with a bucket of water above it.
Bed was rock hard but it was clean enough and the rain poured overnight so we were grateful. Nothing worse that a sodden campsite in the morning!
As no breakfast was on offer in this hotel (thank goodness), we set off after dawn and crossed the town weir and headed south-east towards the town of Tsetserleg, a route recommended ny the NZ guide, Greg!
We entered dense green forest, a wonderful surprise, and stopped by the side of the road for breakfast.
For the nest hour or so we weaved along tracks through the mountain forests and green rolling plains, until we came onto a flat plain and our first serious water crossings. The rain overnight had raised the levels and the streams were higher and flowing fast. A couple on a motorcycle had been waiting by the side of the river and indicated the water was well above the level of the fuel tank of their motorbike. They turned back. On the other side of the river we saw a couple of guys in a truck wading and checking the river. Finally they decided to give it a go. What made this crossing complicated was that the river had broken into 4 fast flowing streams, each different and some shallower, others deeper.
We watched the truck come through. They then stopped on our side and by gestures we asked them how deep the water was, and whether we could get through. They walked around and studied our cars, indicating the water levels on our mudguards. They then gave us the thumbs-up. Go for it.
Pete again waded in and checked the depths and searched for obstacles. The Quokkavan went first as it has much more clearance than C-YA the Hilux. We thought that if C-YA got stuck, they could pull us out.
As a precaution to flooding the engine bay, Andrew lashed a tarp across the front of C-YA to stop the water rushing in and hoping the bow wave would be deflected away from the engine and air-intake.
Happliy, all worked well, without drama, although C-YA took a minute or two to drain all the water out from under the body!
To add to the wonders of the day, the next stage involved crossing a high mountain pass, the Solongetyn Davaa. At 2500 metres what did we find? Snow!
Mongolia is truly a country of wonders!
Again the rolling green plains beckoned and we finally arrived at the town of Tsetserleg, our destination for the night.
We wanted a shower and comforts after the no-star hovel the night before. We found a great little hotel and also a cafe-bakery run by an Australian married to a Mongolian lady. We had Aussie burgers and chips and coleslaw followed by tea and carrot cake. Bliss!
We returned in the morning to this same cafe for a full English breakfast. Pure heaven!
Our goal for the day was to head firstly SE to Kharakhorin, once the ancient capitol of the Mongol empire and then cut south to the edge of the Gobi desert.
Kharakhorin was established in the 13th century by Chinggis Khan as a supply base. Later his son Ogedei ordered the construction of a proper capital, a decree that attracted traders, dignitaries and skilled workers from both the East and the West.
Unfortunately, the good times lasted only about 40 years until Kublai Khan decided to move the capital to Khanbalik ( now called Beijing). Following the collapse of the Mongol empire, Kharakhorin was abandoned and later destroyed by vengeful manchurian soldiers in 1388.
Eventually in the 16th century, what was left of Kharakhorin was used to build the Erdene Zuu Khild monastery
In it’s heyday it had between 80 to 100 temples, about 300 gers and up to 1000 monks in residence.
The Stalinist purges of 1937 put the monastery out of business and all but 3 of the temples were destroyed. An unknown number of monks were either killed or sent to Siberian gulags.
As we arrived at this now active monastery, considered by many to be the most important buddhist monastery in Mongolia, we were impressed by the beautiful encircling walls with their wonderful white domes around the walls.
Inside we encountered monks praying and chanting and turning their prayer wheels. The 3 remaining temples are very decorated and dedicated to the 3 stages of Buddha’s life, childhood, adolescence and adulthood.
We continuued southwards, at first on a paved road but this quickly reverted to the typical multi-lane tracks across the steppes!
We arrived at Arvaikheer, on the edge of the Gobi. Tomorrow we enter and hope to camp in the Gobi overnight before travelling on to our final destination, Ulaanbataar!
C-YA Andrew and Jeff
Andrew Bochenek
www.khanonaussie.com
Mongolia Charity Rally 2015
Andrew Bochenek
www.khanonaussie.com
Mongolia Charity Rally 2015
andrew bochenek
jalaboch
Check-in/OK message from SPOT khanonaussie
khanonaussie
Latitude:47.91921
Longitude:106.94366
GPS location Date/Time:08/24/2015 14:33:44 AWST
Message:C-YA has arrived at this location. Oh what a feeling!
Click the link below to see where I am located.
http://fms.ws/Q6VBj/47.91921N/106.94366E
If the above link does not work, try this link:
khanonaussie
You have received this message because khanonaussie has added you to their SPOT contact list.
Ready for Adventure
FindMeSPOT.com
Check-in/OK message from SPOT khanonaussie
khanonaussie
Latitude:45.90193
Longitude:105.59303
GPS location Date/Time:08/23/2015 19:25:05 AWST
Message:C-YA has arrived at this location. Oh what a feeling!
Click the link below to see where I am located.
http://fms.ws/Q5A6_/45.90193N/105.59303E
If the above link does not work, try this link:
khanonaussie
You have received this message because khanonaussie has added you to their SPOT contact list.
Ready for Adventure
FindMeSPOT.com
Khan On Aussie Mongolia Charity Rally 