Mongolia > Slipping on the muddy road

Today we split up. The motorcyclists ride in the direction of Ulaanbaatar, look for a small hotel halfway, and continue on one bike to the monastery in Kharkhorin. This way Milko’s bike gets some relief, as the sprocket on his rear wheel is badly worn. We take a back road, an unpaved track through Khujirt, to eventually also arrive in Kharkhorin. We plan to stay there overnight. It is still raining this morning. Judging by the sky, it doesn’t look like it will clear up anytime soon. A local man explains to us that it is the rainy season in Mongolia, but that the past few days have seen unusually heavy rain. A pity. As soon as we leave the main road and head onto the dirt track, we notice the excess water right away. Puddles everywhere along the cart tracks.

Mongolia - Sliding and slipping in the wet grass

In the grass next to the path we see fresh tracks. We follow these, as they give us the best grip. Still, we can’t avoid having to drive through mud and clay from time to time. The wheels slip in all directions. Especially when the front wheels lose grip, the rear wheels, pushed by the four-wheel drive, shove the car sideways. Steering is useless. Several times we end up facing the wrong way. Carefully we continue. We are surprised to encounter ordinary passenger cars on this muddy road as well. That it doesn’t always go well is soon clear: a car coming from the opposite direction is stuck in the mud. We put Brutus in front. A tow cable is quickly attached. We pull the stranded car up to the top of the hill. We have no idea whether it will manage the next bad stretch. We are warmly thanked. We decline both money and horse milk. We slip and slide on again. From Khujirt the road is good again. It took us nearly two and a half hours to cover barely forty kilometers. From there we continue towards Kharkhorin. Halfway lies the small monastery of Shankh Khiid. This monastery, founded in 1648, was destroyed during the communist period. Monks kept the monastery practices alive by continuing their activities in a ger. After the renovation in 1990, they moved back into the monastery.

Mongolia - The small monastery of Shankh Khiid

From the outside, the temple looks neglected, with even grass growing on the roof. Inside, however, the temple is colorfully decorated with Buddha images and a depiction of the Dalai Lama. Several Mongolians visit the monastery at the same time, each worshipping every painting and statue. I watch from a little distance. In Kharkhorin we try to withdraw money. It’s pouring with rain. None of the ATMs seem to have cash left, probably not refilled after the Naadam festival. What now? First, we look for a hotel. Using the GPS, we arrive at a cluster of ger camps. Dreamland sounds appealing, but spending a night in a luxury ger without shower or toilet for a hundred euros seems too expensive. We find a decent room with facilities for just under thirty euros in a nearby camp. Luckily, we can pay in dollars here. Because of the bad weather we decide not to visit the Erdene Zuu Monastery today, but tomorrow morning instead. Even though we are not sure if the weather will improve, it surely can’t be worse than now. We go explore the town of Kharkhorin. There isn’t much left to see of this ancient capital. Two stone-carved turtles mark the extent of the city in the time of Genghis Khan. The statues lie four kilometers apart. We also visit the monument on top of the hill where the deeds of Khaan are celebrated. The “Penis Rock” is a pilgrimage site for Buddhists who wish to have children. On the way back down the unpaved road, we feel how slippery it has become with the rain. Our car begins to slide—on all four wheels. We skid for at least eighty meters along the muddy track. Frightening. Just as we are about to look for a place to have a beer, we get a message from the motorcyclists. They have decided to come to Kharkhorin after all. Since our hotel no longer had any rooms available, they booked a luxury ger in Dreamland. In the evening we eat together in the restaurant there.