Route : Altay, Mongolia >>> A grassland a dozen kms from Dzag, Mongolia
Approx Distance : 230km
As we left the Gobi and delved into the mountains, Yaks everywhere...
Well…we didn’t want to hang around for too long in a city like Altay…it was the poorest looking among the few cities we had passed through and the guy at the bar last night who did not want us to drink on the streets didn’t add to the charm of the place. Besides, the Swedish guys from yesterday parked one of their cars with all the stuff inside at the police station after paying a small fee because its “Safer”…apparently theft is quite common here. Hmmm…we fixed the flats, welded the exhaust in place, searched very briefly for a net center (found it, but the internet was down), tanked up and set off…
Our original plan was to make to Bayan Konghor…which is the more traditional route…it even had a Mongol Rally drop off point. But thanks to some tips from the french guys, we decided to make for Tserserleg instead. Its a route to the north and promised to be much much more scenic than the one to the south as it passes through a national park among other things. The french apparently did this route a few years back in a landcruiser…and they claimed that the road from Tserserleg to Ulaanbataar was so good that they made it in 6 hours. Thats pretty darn good for 500kms. Its just the bit to Tserserleg which was a bit shady…we decided to go for it…to get out of the Gobi and back into the mountains was not such a hard decision.
A shaman post with the traditional blue cloth tied to it...this also happens to be a major junction of mongolian highways...erm...yes.
We set off and made very good speed…we covered 70kms in one hour and hit this town after which the road became a bit unclear…we spied a lake beyond this town and a local pointed us somewhere in that direction..ahhh…ok. Then, very suddenly, the road disappeared. Those darn stone shrubs were all over the place…there were a couple of smallish narrow tire tracks leading the way…the Suzuki made it through ok…but the Peugeot was too low to clear those shrubs. We had to skirt around/on those shrubs and it was not pleasant….after a bit, we made it to the lake…it was quite a good view and the water was brilliant blue. Quite picturesque i should say…anyway, we took a couple of pictures, warily noted the skull and bones of a cow closeby and went ahead.
Raja was driving now..the Suzuki went ahead. It was quite sandy track now…and we saw Kristie jump out of the car ahead to setup the video cam to capture our approach. We get close and Raja proceeds at normal speed…didn’t slow down much…and turned. He lost control of the car completely and careened head on right at Kristie!! There were also some jagged rocks between us and Kristie and me at the back was literally holding my breath bracing for some kind of impact…luckily, Kristie managed to jump out of the way and Raja managed to brake in time to avoid any damage to the car. That video would be worth a watch i tell you…thats for sure! 
Anyway, Rajesh took over the driving for now…
Erm...needs explanation??
We proceeded in the rough direction and it became increasingly clear that this was not really even a Mongolian road…it was not even a dirt track…it was plain and wild nature! We seriously needed the compass now…Rajesh didn’t manage to find his compass, we still had the GPS system to use as a compass…so we were not complaining. Not a soul in sight and the only solace was seeing some livestock now and then…a sign that there must be some nomads closeby…anyway, this went on for quite a while…the track was still manageable as it was predominantly grass and sand with the occasional shrub/rock combination which we could avoid easily. It became clear that we were heading into a hilly region…more and more hills…and with that, the danger of sliding and flipping the car increased. We were rounding a bend on the mountain…unlike roads back home where the road itself is level, here the road is as inclined as the hill…and of course, Rajesh took it at speeds a little bit too high for the Peugeot and suddenly we found ourselves bouncing up and down and heading into the hill at a good clip!! The car twisted and came to rest at a precarious angle with its rear wheels on the road and its front wheels on the hill and a sheer incline behind us…it was too close for comfort….really. No one moved for a couple of seconds…then i decided to get out…Raja followed suit…and we had enough sense to hold the car in place as Rajesh slowly backed onto the road. Man…these close shaves are getting a bit too close for comfort…that was the second time we lost control…and this time, there was serious danger of the car flipping. It should have flipped for sure judging by the 30 degree angle it was resting at…we then realised that the sand was so dense and deep that the tires got stuck in it and held the car in place inspite of its weight and momentum…phew…thank god for the double edged sword called sand…man…
A lake among the rocky wasteland...
I took over the driving from now…and we kept on. With the hills, the camels disappeared…and the yaks appeared. That was the one big change in the fauna along with the scenery which was breath taking at most places! We made a good pace and soon seemed to hit a road…one can judge the road’s importance by looking at how big and how well maintained the electricity/telephone poles are next to it. Of course, the bit we did till now didn’t even have those…so we were quite glad to see some signs of civilisation. We pretty much kept on till the end of the day…nothing major happened apart from passing through a smallish town and asking directions a couple of times…and more and more yaks. The yaks seemed to have their fur sheared off…makes sense for the summer (apart from the money it would have fetched the owners). Anyway, we pretty much went as far as we could and stopped at a grassland next to some Gers.
What almost killed our rally within a few seconds...narrow escape i should say.
Rajesh did try his luck at trying to ask them for some firewood…didn’t really work. The nomads were least bothered about us and pretty much ignored us. And it got frighteningly cold…we got the stove going and had our heartiest meal of the trip i would say…tons of pasta, Raja’s special Peas Masala and some Palak Paneer and bread washed down with beer cooled off in a small stream closeby! Ahhhh…felt really good inspite of the lack of a campfire. We did arrange the cars in such a way as to shield us from the wind…as much as it can…but we didn’t really shield the insides of the tent from a leaky water bottle…oops…all wet. My towel came in to drain the water out and we crashed in a slightly dampish tent and in the shivering cold….brrrr….good day it was. No flats…no problems with the exhaust…and some adventure to boot!
