MONGOLIA (28/03/2007 - 14/04/2007)

Hello, today is the Susi last stand.
Probably tomorrow we’ll leave by train on our way to Beijing.
As we said, at Ulan Ude we had the Mongolian Visa and we moved to the south.
On the road to the border we met a German traveller, cycling since 2002, on the way to west, because he finished the money to stay around the world more.
He knows Mongolian roads very well, and so he suggested that it would been better to sell our car in Ulan Baator, before driving on those terrifying tracks. We would risk to damage it seriously, and to trash it instead to sell. We did not follow his suggestion, with some consequences.
We spent the night on the frontier. A drunk Russian enlivened the evening with drinks and some punches-up with the others.
In the morning they opened the gates, we were fourth in the queue, but people in the first positions allowed us to pass for first, we well know the hospitality of these regions.
The guy we told about tried to hid his vodka and beer cases everywhere in the car, using paper and rests of clothes.
We saw the officers checking his car in every parts. Poor guy, his career of smuggler was already ended.
The Russian custom officers kept us there for more than one hour. They suspected about the truthfulness of our passports, maybe because one of the two (Claudio’s) got 48 pages instead the other got 32 pages only. Also they were perplexed about our Immigration Cards and called an expert, or a superior, in the person of a very fat and ugly woman in a mimetic wear. Fortunately she ascertained that everything was ok.
Once in the Mongolian side of the frontier again we had to spend a lot of time. They made difficulties because of a missing stamp on some document, causing we had to enter and exit from an office to another, to another, to another…
When everything was ok and they were doing the last procedure the woman at the pc said a "Oooh…" … the machine had a black out.
I laughed, exasperated! She smiled and allowed us to go on.
The landscape in Mongolia is various: steppes, deserts, pastures and you see few trees.
The road to Ulan Baatar is well enough asphalted and somewhere you have to stop and to pay a little toll.
The police stopped us and forced to clean glasses, mirrors and plates before entering the Capital city.
Once we reach it we understood the reason of that strange request.
There every cars are clean and almost new! All of them come from Japan and the oldest ones are ten years old. They tempt the people to trash their old cars with high taxations on more then 10 years old vehicles.
Our muddy 22 years old Suzuki was a star!
Yes…but it will be difficult to sell, as we would do before entering China.
In the city we got our three months Visa for China and we spent some days in a guest house. Also the owner, a very pleasant person, suggested to try to sell it before driving on Mongolian roads, but once again we answered that we have a super car…
We spent the first night away from Ulan Baatar lost somewhere in the steppe.
The day after we had to drive back for 70 km to get the right road.
Mongolian roads are tracks on the plateaus, developing among yurts, camels, wild horses and ships.
We drove at 20-30 km/h because of the condition of the roads. The garnishing of the doors are damaged and so the wind blows the sand into the inside.
We got Bulgan, it was the second day. We slept into the car and we cooked with our fuel stove.
Going on the road became worse. The shaking caused the luggage rack was damaging the top.
We met few cars, two or three per day, but a lot of shepherds riding horses (and someone of them riding Chinese motorbikes). In villages, out of the shops you could see tied up horses instead parked cars.
The Mongolian is very difficult for us. We can read the Cirillic but we can’t pronounce the words as they do, so the communication with locals is poor and we are sorry for it.
There are a lot of eagles, and a lot of marmots run fast and careful to be not their victims.
On the highest plateau there are herds of yaks, impressive buffalos, agile and fast like dogs.
We drove slowly among the herds of ships, we worried to disperse them. One time a few days old ship, not able to follow the herd, decided to follow us. I stopped and walked back to bring it to the herd, but probably she decided that I was its new mom. Fortunately the shepherds saw the scene, and once he reached me, he kept the puppy until I disappeared.
We wrong the road (again) to get Moron. Fortunately there are fuel stations in half, they are old barracks with modern Chinese pumps.
Probably some years ago to reach fuel was a problem, at least somewhere… at least if you lost yourself in an immense steppe…
Once got Moron, we found a carpenter who soldered the damaged luggage rack. They said the truth… Mongolian roads are tremendous.
We needed a shower, we’re covered of sand, but the inns were expensive, and so we decided to wait for the next town, at 100 km away only.
We left the city, enjoying to reach the lake on our way, but our car got a problem.
The warning light of the alternator turned on. Fortunately we could repair the electrical damage by ourselves… We were lucky, we did not do anything else than disconnecting and connecting again some cables…
Sometimes the warning light appeared again, we have just to hit the alternator with a hammer.
Once close to the lake, passing on a dry river the Suzuki made a terrible noise and it lied down. A back spring broke and the axle moved.
To see Susi dieing was sad.
Going very slowly we could drive for the 4 km remaining to get the town on the lake.
We met a girl who suggested to rent a yurt of her own, but it was 22 km away from there…too much to be run on a destroyed car.
So she suggested to rent a yurt of his brother’s own (Buggy, he became notorious) and also she called some friends (mechanics, she said) able to fix our car. Once we saw them we found a story to not allow them to touch our poor Susi.
I (Claudio) spent a day trying to fix the car using nothing (because there was nothing for the chance) and once we were sure to have not choices than to abandon it there I had a good idea.
Using the ribbons of the "ITALTENDE Del Grande" I could straighten the axle, insert the spring on a hole in the chassis allowing it to work a little and especially use the ribbons as suspensions.
The poor beast was hanging on the left, but still alive. Our way back to Ulan Baatar was depending on ribbons.
We spent some day at the village, because of Patrizia’ sickness and the damages of the car.
The exhausting girl was always with us (except when we were having a shower) and devoting took care of Patrizia, hoping that once she felt better we could move at her house, for sure spending more money.
We did a plan to light the car, now approximately fixed, but fragile. We stripped down the luggage rack with the heavy case on it, we empted the emergency tanks into the car tank and we discarded something from the backpacks.
Doing it we lost 25-30 kg about.
In the morning we gave the whole stripped down things to the notorious girl. we told her that Patrizia was seriously sick, and we had to go at the hospital, and we couldn’t go at her house.
She took a lift on a motorbike and rode away bringing our gifts.
Finally we were alone.
Patrizia was feeling better, the car was ok for what concerning the chassis, but the alternator.
The warning light turned on when the engine run at low regimes.
We were however ready to get our coveted goal, the iced lake.
The woman brought us a paper… the bill?
We told her that we had already paid to her sister in law (Buggy was, or at least he had to be the husband of the yurt’s owner) and she said that she did not know nor the girl and Buggy.
We became very angry especially because we gave all that things to the fucking girl.
The woman was very sorry for the inconvenient. We paid the bill and we took our way to the lake.
The track was very damaged. We drove into the dry river for some kilometres. The spring well worked, but the alternator made us worrying, we had to hit it sometimes.
We drove for 1000 km to reach the lake, and now we were determined to exhaust the last energies of the car to drive for the last 20.
It could finish its trip killed by its last effort, abandoned where its cylinders made the latest explosion. Every travellers have the secret dream to be buried where they die.
We got the lake, a wonderful vision. A expanse of ice surrounded by pines.
But we got a better vision! The unfamous girl outside of a yurt, in the village on the lake shore.
We couldn’t have back our money but our things…
She was very scary…for sure she hadn’t our anymore (Buggy got it).
To be correct, we have to say that the boy scout soul of Patrizia was ready to forgiveness, while Claudio was ready to…
Never try to cheat a man from Genoa!
Forward we gave our things to another guy, a shepherd met some days before. He wanted to thank us allowing to ride some deer… we refused, worrying for the animals.
We took one day more to get Moron, just 100 km far away. Every five minutes we had to hit the alternator to allow it to work. Once we got the city we took a room and we brought the alternator into, we cleaned every contacts but once re-installed, it did not work so much better.
We found a workshop, they changed the brushes, the old ones were too much damaged to make the contacts.
In the afternoon we found a guy who helped us to dismount the spring. Then we found a welder that repaired it. The Suzuki came back to life.
The way back to Ulaan Baatar was easier, and it lasted 15 days.
We went to sleep at the same guest house where we staied for some days, where we were waiting the pack containing the spares from Italy.
The owner explained again how difficult is to sell an old car, so highly taxed.
We proposed to him to buy it for 200 dollars only. He accepted, He will found to corrupt some policeman, so he won’t pay any overtax.
Maybe just tomorrow morning we will take a train to Beijing.
The ditches-jumper ends its trip here.
Thanks for all, Susi.

Claudio and Patrizia