Almost Snowbogged in Bayankhongor

Altai was a two-night stopover where the free day was plummet into dark gloomy clouds of rains surrounding Altai but surprisingly barely a drizzle fell. We decided in the morning that it would be a bad idea to continue the journey and stayed another night just chilling at coffee shops and cafes.

There was not much to do anyway in Altai but taking the journey slow was not too bad in itself. The next day we pushed off late in the morning nearly lunch time and headed for Butsaagan a little village 200km away.

On the road from Altenteel to Altai

Charming Graffiti in Altai Downtown

Restock on Food in Altai Mini Mart

Carolyn which we meet at Altanteel whom pushed on during our lazy free day gave us some intel on lodgings in Butsaagan so the constant worry trying to decide with limited information if to hit the road going the crazy distance of 400km to Bayankhongor directly or to have a break in the journey at Butsaagan was sorted out once we knew there was a hotel to break the journey at Butsaagan, making the riding more manageable.

The ride was chilly cold the whole way and the barren open landscape started to become routine and a bore that daydreaming seams to slog in whenever I lost focus on admiring the scenery. 

Altai to Butsaagan

Some Historic Rock Monuments in the middle of nowhere 

Butsaagan Village 

Riding was on auto-mode mostly. Butsaagan hotel was a quaint little place that had super hard planked bed and outside pit toilets. 60000 tugrik so one of the cheapest stay we had in Mongolia.

From Butsaagan we started early this time round heading for Bayankhongor. It was a good thing too for the short journey of 180km was quickly finished by 3pm. 

Along the way we stopped at some kind of roadside rest stop to get some breakfast but the cafe had no eggs and Aishish somehow manage to buy eggs from the mini market and requested the owner to borrow her kitchen for us to cook up our own meal.

Butsaagan Horse Monument

Random Stop - House in Mongolia

Aishish casually cooking eggs for breakfast in another person's home

The old lady was so sweet and kind that I just had to go back outside to pick out the squirrel toy I bought in Belokurikha Russia and gave it to her as a present. She showed me where the toy would go in her home and seem like it would be displayed alongside her family photo.

By the time we reach Bayankhongor and just barely checked into Sayombo Hotel, dark clouds started rolling in and by evening, a few drops of rain quickly turned into snow. It snowed the whole night and by morning a good six inch of snow had piled up everywhere all around the city.

Roads were slushed with snow and ice the next morning and large snowflakes were still falling with no signs of it stopping. I might say that we choose to stay another night in Bayankhongor but in reality we were really forced to stay another night since there was no way to ride on in the blizzard.

Bike Covered with Snow in Bayankhongor

Slush Snow everywhere at Bayankhongor

Me & Aishish Exploring in the Snow looking for cafe

Whole day was spent just chilling at a nice little cafe on the third floor looking out the window seeing a snow-white covered city. It snowed the whole day and temperature went to negative with forecast for the next day morning to be -10 degrees. We seriously doubt we can even depart the next day if the snow persists.

We woke up on the third day in Bayankhongor with bright sun blazing in the blue sky and I thought this was a chance or a window to get out of what is becoming winter. Aishish was still in yesterday plan mindset which was to sleep in and just chill for two days in a row since based on the weather report today was supposed to be -10 degrees in the morning and would be cold the whole day.

The Next Day when the Snow melted

I checked the weather report and it was updated to -8 degrees in the morning. The blazing sun would help us and the roads seams doable despite being slushy. To be honest I was a little worried that winter would come early and I would be bogged down stuck in Bayankhongor with no way to reach the China border.

It was a chance and a small window, and we decided to try at least. Packed up slowly giving more time for the sun to do its work, we had to first clear the bike of snow then slowly load up and pray before starting the bike slowly steaming away the residual coldness. Aishish went for a test ride without luggage and reported that its doable.

Bike loaded up and checked out of the hotel, we decided to get lunch first before hitting the road. It was back to our favourite restaurant getting food and from the third floor we could see the snow slush further melting always to reveal pure roads with no ice.

Escape from Bayankhongor Snow

It was time to hit the cold road, and we were riding in cold freezing negative temperature for sure. The danger was ice on road, but it was lucky for us that while the surrounding area was blanketed with snow, at 1330pm the roads were fully cleared of snow and ice and some parts were even steaming away to be fully dry.

I picked up the pace then and ride as fast as possible towards Arvaikheer. After nearly 100km away from Bayankhongor going through a small mountain pass, we came down to lower altitude and the snow-covered landscape receded away giving way to barren landscape with tinge of snow here and there lingering.

Escape from winter achieved, we could slow down the pace and relax a little knowing that we would reach Arvaikheer today with high probability success. Today was only a 200km distance but we started late at 1330 pm arriving Arvaikheer nearly five hours later at 1830pm. 

It was still cold weather in Arvaikheer being Zero degrees but relatively better improvement from the negative temperature in Bayankhongor and devoid of snow.

Travelled on: Sep 2024

Camping Near Altanteel – Mongolia

Khovd to Altanteel was a rather boring ride actually but still a unbelievable landscape of barren land. We saw camels and some herded animals but there was no settlement at all. At Altanteel which was a small settlement barely 50 buildings clustered together there was at least one big hotel & cafe.

Initially we asked permission to camp in the hotel gardens, and the manager said it was ok and free. Later in the evening when we were about to set camp once the sun had set and all the children had left the gardens, another guy claimed that he was the real manager and we are not allowed to camp in the park.

Wild Camels in Mongolia 

Altanteel - Mongolia 

Stubborn and resisting the force hotel stay, I suggested to go out into the steppe and just camp there since it was good weather and not that cold. We both agreed in the morning that it was the correct choice for if we did not camp, there would probably be no other opportunity in Mongolia. 

We went back to the same hotel restaurant for breakfast unashamed to use their good toilets and cafe heating.

Camping in Altanteel - Mongolia 

From Altanteel, it was a 300km ride to Altai where most of the journey was just fighting really crazy crosswinds which slowed me down all the way to 2nd gear going 20km/hr. The rest was vast barren landscape that while beautiful, quickly became stale.

Travelled on: Sep 2024

So Much for Altai. Khovd, It Is

It was due time to leave Oglii after four nights. Fairly productive time in Oglii if I think about it, but now it was really time to hit the road and cross Mongolia. Aishish & me decided to try going to the Altai National Park for the night doing a two-day detour.

Just short 2km out of Oglii and the asphalt road totally disappeared to be replaced by corrugated dirt tracks. It was also going through a slight mountain pass and by 25km into the track, I gave up. It was going to be like Wahkan Corridor in Tajikistan all over again and I was not ready to brave the pain for hours just to see landscape if I could help it.

Leaving Olgii for Altai National Park

Me & Aishish - Abandoning the plan for Altai National Park and turning around 

It was a detour anyway and not a forced route that I have to forcefully go through, so I stopped the bike and had a discussion with Aishish which concur with me and that was the end of the expedition to Altai Tavon Bogd National Park. We immediately double back to Oglii and hit the main Asian highway No.4 towards Khovd.

220km to Khovd from Oglii and the road and ride was just amazing. The new spark plugs were working fine, and I was pushing the bike nice and fast around 110km/hr but 80km before Khovd, I could feel that something was wrong again and power was loss from the engine. The new spark plugs had probably fouled.

Wild Camels - Mongolia 

Altai Region - Mongolia 

Altai Region - Mongolia 

From Olgii to Khovd - Bayan Enger Pass

I limped with Bragge all the way to Khovd having lose power and after scouting and hunting for hotels, we finally checked into a local motel for 40000 tugrik each. That night itself I opened the spark plugs again for a check and sure enough, one of the new spark plugs was defective. This time I had to use back spark plugs which was the stock original plugs that was replaced in Dushanbe Tajikistan.

I carried them around forever and nearly forgotten about them and luckily, they still worked. Old plugs but better than faulty ones. Next day I did a quick hunt around Khovd trying to find additional spare spark plugs but had no luck even after finding the bike market. I would have to really pray that the old plugs would last till Ulaanbaatar which hopefully they would have the proper spark plugs replacement.

Travelled on: Sep 2024

Olgii Layover: Cash, SIM Cards, Insurance, a Bad Spark Plug, and an Eagle Festival

I stayed in Oglii for a total of four nights. It was really not planned to be that way but that’s how it became sometimes. I reach Oglii late evening after crossing the border from Russia and found the Traveler Guesthouse after towing some locals back to town and checked into a cozy Yurt dormitory for 40000 Tugrik.

There were quite a few travellers at the guesthouse which we had some very interesting and intense topic conversation but the next day everyone checked out of the hostel, and I was alone in the guesthouse. I spend the day doing chores like any other times getting into a new country for the first time.

A slow walk into downtown Oglii and first up was getting money from the ATM and then after a Sim-card and finally finding the money changer to change the remaining Russian Rubble to Mongolian Tugrik. 

Oglii Central Square 

Getting a Sim-Card in Oglii

Getting Insurance for the Bike in Oglii

I tracked down the insurance company but one of them had closed doors and the other seems to be non-existence when I asked around the building even though I could see the signboard outside.

The rest of the day was spend doing maintenance on Bragge. Oil change, filter cleaning, chain lube and tuning and I even tried to find a way to tune the idle rev since it was somehow low and kept dying out. I did not manage to fix it even with a phone call the next day back to Malaysia consulting the mechanic.

Apparently, there was no tuner for this fuel injection model but there was a way to increase the fuel intake permanently that is independent from the throttle line but getting to the screw head was impossible.

The third day in Oglii and I decided I would stay another night waiting for Aishish to arrive instead of moving on to Khovd. I first met Aishish in Dushanbe hostel, and he ping me up while I was in Russia going through the Altai region not knowing that he was just a few days behind my tail. It was understood without saying that once we meet up, most likely we would do Trans-Mongolia together all the way to Ulaanbaatar.

So a second free day in Oglii and in the morning Tim from Germany arrived, checked into the hostel and tagged along with me to town for lunch. After lunch we split ways and I had a feeling that the day before at the insurance place was probably wrong. I went back and this time went up to the second floor spotting the actual office for the insurance company.

Insurance obtained for Bragge, I then took a walk around Oglii visiting the black market which was actually a haphazard junk of single-story buildings built like a maze selling a variety of daily or other types of useful household goods. I did keep an eye out for bike parts and managed to get more spare bolts.

Bazaar Market in Olgii

Bazaar market in Olgii

That night Aishish arrived late, and we exchange plans over dinner which sure enough, we would travel together piecing the route as we go along day-by-day however it seems that the main trunk route along the southern corridor would be our best option with the cold weather creeping quickly around.

Day four in Oglii and I offered to piggyback Tim out to the Golden Eagle Festival which was 40km away from Oglii. Initially I thought that Bragge was struggling due to the super extra weight of a pillion but after 20km into the journey, Tim managed to flag down a car to hitch hike the balance 20km and I continue on with still nearly half power lost. 

Leaking something from the Engine Block 

Upon closer inspection, I notice some liquid leaking from the right exhaust mounting from the engine block. This was not a good sign, but the bike was still running, and engine light was not really turned on or rather it did turn on, and I immediately stop but it goes off after a few minutes of rest. 

I made my way slowly to the eagle festival joining back up with Tim which I told him that he would probably need to hitch-hike back to Oglii once it was over.

The eagle festival was not planned and just so happen that there was one while I was in Oglii. We saw many eagles but no hunting practice or competition. There was however horseback riding competition in the nomadic style. Picking up coloured sacks while galloping the horse at full speed and tug of war was the two event that we watched.

Eagle Festival in Olgii

Tug of War - Mongolian Style

Kid on Horse

Hunting Eagle in Mongolia

The Girls in Tribal Dress - Eagle Festival Olgii

Nomadic tug of war involved a headless carcass of a sheep where two horse riders would pick up the carcass, each holding on to two of its legs and with the signal of the referee they would begin to try and pull away the carcass from each other until one emerge the victor out of the tug of war. 

This was all on horseback, so it was interesting to see how they strategize by clinging on to the carcass while making the horse run the other way trying to force a pull.

A few hours were spent at the festival watching the games and walking around looking at the booth set up selling souvenirs for the tourist. After that I bid Tim farewell while he hitch-hikes back to the hostel and I made my way back slowly on struggling engine. 

Immediately upon reaching the hostel, I opened up the spark plugs and sure enough the right-side plugs were faulty and partially broken off.

The faulty Plug on the right

Luckily I carried spares and changed both plugs then went for a test ride. Power was now back to normal and idle rpm was also back to the normal stable mode. The liquid leaking from the exhaust mounting from the engine block could have been petrol or even petrol with engine oil but there was no way to know for sure. 

I could only hope that with the faulty plugs replace, there won’t be any more pressure built up and the seals will continue to work preventing further leaks.

Travelled on: Sep 2024

Border Crossing from Tashanta (Russia) to Tsagaannuur (Mongolia) with a Malaysian Passport & Motorcycle

I departed from Kosh-Agash the nearest proper settlement just before the border town of Tashanta on the Russian side. My Russian transit visa was on Day 9 out of 10 days. Around 50km journey to the border post and I departed late morning waiting for the sun to fully rise up so that the weather would not be so cold riding and lesser chance of ice on the road.

Pine Forest with Snowcap Mountain View on the way to Tashanta Border

There were not much traffic or people crossing the border when I arrive and within 5 minutes, we were let into the immigration & customs compound. Customs processed me first asking for passport, vehicle ownership certificate (VOC) and customs papers which I gave the customs papers issued in Kazakhstan-Shymkent Border nearly two months ago.

So, it was true that the ex-soviet countries shared a custom union to a certain extent. The Russian Customs officer spend quite some time to key in all the information into the system and even made copies of all my document and finally stamp the Kazakhstan customs papers to indicate that I have legally exited Bragge from the union. To my surprised, she gave me the stamped customs papers for keeping.

Exiting the Tashanta Border of Russia 

The Road in Between Borders - Tashanta to Tsagaanuur

After that was basically immigration to stamp out of Russia and then a simple check on baggage before proceeding onward to Mongolia. I was still in Russian territory actually and the roads leads a near 30km before reaching a final check-post with fence to demarcate Russia & Mongolia border. I stopped at the first “Welcome to Mongolia signboard for a picture” then pushed on another 20km to Mongolia border check point.

I was super nervous to be honest. A few months back I had gotten report from the China Tour agency that a few Malaysian overlanders got into trouble when they crossed the China-Mongolia Border in Erenhot. Even the Facebook overlander group had a few people making noise about Mongolia giving trouble to overlander that were not part of the Vienna Convention of international traffic regulation.

First Welcome to Mongolia at the Country Boundary Line 

Long story short, it was the police that gave these guys trouble. As Mongolia was part of the Vienna Convention on Road Traffic (1968) but Malaysia was still on the old Geneva Convention (1949). All this means was our International Driving License was on a different type of global agreement compared to Mongolia and the Police was making used of this loophole to stop vehicles and not allowing foreigners to drive.

Its total bullshit in my opinion as Mongolian Customs still issued the temporary import permit for the vehicle so they should not make a differentiation between police and customs causing confusion. Few months back this really gave me so much restless night unable to sleep while contemplating how I was going to enter Mongolia safely and if I would run into trouble.

At Tsagaannuur Border - Immigration & Customs 

One month before making a decision to go or not to go to Mongolia, another group of Malaysian entered Mongolia with the vehicle from the north Khyagt border and had no issues. I figured I was safe attempting to enter through an even more remote border in the west. In addition, I realized that all of Central Asia country was also Vienna Convention members, but they never had any issue with non-member traversing their country.

Anyway, Mongolian Border Checkpoint and first up was a vehicle post registration which some guy asked for money which I gave 50 rubbles. I read online it was the disinfection fee or something and the token sum was just that. Next up was immigration which was simple enough standing in line and waiting for the officer to punch me in.

The officer asked me if I had a Mongolian Visa and I said No. They don’t get many Malaysians crossing this border but they systematically checked the list and I was stamp in without much question. Next up was customs but it was a lunch break, and I had to hang around for an hour before they resume work. Customs took my passport and VOC almost immediately started keying into their system with no questions asked.

The customs officer that was processing my vehicle entry midway got up and left the room and for some reason never came back even after nearly an hour long, leaving my passport and papers on the table. I gave my saddest and pity face every time another custom officer looks my way and finally one took pity picking it up and got it sorted in less than a minute.

Means of Transportation Temporarily Admitted into Custom Territory of Mongolia 

He passed me a paper which says, “Endorsement Sheet for Means of Transportation Temporarily Admitted into Customs Territory of Mongolia”. I had something now on papers for Bragge, so quickly left the border outpost and was so happy to finally have entered Mongolia.

I could not see the insurance building after the border but a guy wave me down asking if I needed to change money. I knew this was going to be bad rates anyway but change a little token loose sum of like $30 worth into local currency. Always good to have some local currency immediately after crossing the border.

Informal Money Changer at the Border 

This was the Money Changer Building

I then rode to Oglii the largest city on the west side of Mongolia and was very careful and praying hard that the police checkpoint at Tsagaannuur was not manned. It was not manned and I rode past quickly. 

Finally, the full Welcome to Mongolia Signboard 

Trans-Mongolian Highway

City of Oglii with Snow-capped Mountain backdrop

Along the way to Oglii I saw two locals pushing their bike. I decided to see if I could help them but turns out it was a complicated engine jammed problem which was beyond simple fix.

I offered to tow them instead and they were all smiles as I slowly tow them nearly 40km to Oglli going into downtown and navigating heavy traffic till they reached their destination. After that it was a quick round turn to the nearest hostel for the night.

Towing some locals back to Oglii

Yurt Hostel in Oglii

Travelled on: Sep 2024