Four Bags and a Bicycle: Moron to Ulaangom

Sunday, September 4, 2011

Moron to Ulaangom

Flying solo again

Arrgh!!!

I set out from Moron on my own once again and really started going west. It felt good to be my own boss lady again even though it was nice cycling with company for awhile. Once I left Moron things were becoming more desolate if that's even possible in Mongolia and the navigating became a bit more challenging. There were definitely times when I really did not know if I was on the right track or not. I usually was able to determine if I was on one of two roads heading to different towns so that only makes me unsure of my location not lost, because I would never get lost. It just unfortunate when I realized I chose the wrong and in order to get back where I think I should involves pushing your bike through a sandy desert that is full of sand spurs. There's no worse feeling then looking down and see your tires covered in spurs and as you remove them you hear "ssssss" as air comes out of your tire. So yeah no big deal I will just replace the inner tube and everything bike wise will be fine ha. Then you begin to pump up your new inner tube and it rips at the valve, I blamed China at this point. Luckily I had one more spare inner tube and it has so far done the job. So after a long break of mending tires and no sign of any human movement I continued wandering and eventually found what I hoped was the right track. I judged the rightness by telling myself this just feels like the right the way. Its funny when you are really unsure of where you are and just want some confirmation from a local horses, cows, and sheep begin to look human off in the distance. Eventually I came across a ger and I road out to greet the people and attempt to find out if my feeling was right. As I rode up to the ger the small children came out to greet me then immediately started crying. I peeked inside and the father was inside watching horse racing on his satellite TV and he promptly invited me to join him for some TV and tea in the middle of nowhere. After tea we got down to business of giving me directions in Mongolian with no gestures or map drawing in the sand. He got out his binoculars and tried to show me the road the distance, I never actually saw it just trusted that this man did not want to see perish away slowly in the desert. It turns out his directions or what I understood of them were spot on and I eventually ended up where I wanted to end up.

I let him ride my bike after schooling him in horse.

Since I have been riding west the invites into people's homes have been increasing and the kindness of people has shown through. I try to repay when I can. For instance at one stop the kid needed help repairing his basketball. He had a patch but no rubber cement, so I helped him out then we played a few friendly games of horse using a tire rim attached to the house. I am pretty sure it was not up to regulation standards, but afterwards I gave him a quick lesson on how to dribble between his legs. I am sure his parents are grateful because the rugged terrain of his court makes dribbling quite the challenge so I am sure he will spend hours trying to master it.
Only a short time left in Mongolia before entering big, scary Russia where winter is fast approaching as everyone keeps reminding me. But as winter nears I have the safety of my mother's words: "Jenna you do not have to sleep in the snow, I can pay for a hotel for you is you cannot afford it." Thanks mom, I will be sure to check into five star accommodation in Moscow