In the morning of July 21 we said good-bye to the guys from Krasnoyarsk who stayed for a bit longer to replace a wheel and headed to Bayan Khongor to meet the guys from Khabarovsk. Soon after Altai the asphalt ended and we drove the terrace prepared for it because the workers were lazy and didn't prohibit this. But the terrace ended as well and we had to go to the steppe. It was all trenched by numerous dry brooks, so driving there was nothing but jumping up and down, and it was pretty annoying.
Nevertheless, it could not distract us from the landscapes...
There were also some faunal forms (the latter was caught near Altai, and the guys from Krasnoyarsk made some more detailed pictures of it).
There was only one big river crossing the road, so we decided to stop there for a while to make the dishes, but I forgot the name of the river... We had lots of dirty dishes because there were no water sources near Altai. We also washed ourselves in Khara-Us-Nuur last time because with the weather we had at Durgen Nuur it would be a real challenge... So, we approached the river, washed our hair and whatever whoever wanted as well as made the dishes. Then we had some guests. They are not all on the pictures, but there was a whole flock followed by a lazy shepherd.
Some local people driving along the bridge caught me at some early stage of changing clothes near my car, and I could see from the noises from their car that it really made their day %)
Not far from Bayan Khongor, there are several yurts next to the road that sell food and other useful staff on a bank of a small river. We wanted buuz, so we approached the central yurt and ordered. Then we've been waiting for about half an hour, and after that the woman just said she had no buuz. Another family tried to take care of us, and we first decided that they have ready buuz for us; however, when they asked what would we like to eat, we realized it might take another half an hour and then result into a refusal again. So, we got back to the car and left the place. It was getting late.
Sergey and Marina called us from Bayan Khongor and said that they stayed in the best hotel, booked a room for us and that the hotels' restaurant was wonderful and food and beer were great... However, we arrived after 10 pm, and the restaurant closes at 10. We tried to find an open restaurant in the city, but only found a night club. Therefore, we just took some food from our car and had a dinner in Marina and Sergey's room.
On July 22 morning we took a shower, had a great breakfast in the restaurant for something like 10 rubles (25 eurocents) for 4 people and checked out. First we tried to see the city, i.e. visited a part in the center.
After that, we went to buy food and drinks for Gobi and found out that you cannot buy any alcohol in Bayan Khongor on Mondays. No. Not at all. No one could explain well enough why, but they didn't sell it on Mondays. Nevertheless, Mikha managed to charm a saleswoman in one of the smaller shops and we took probably all their beer. Then Sergey said he needed to exchange money and got lost. We were waiting beside our cars in the city center and attracting attention. Even a policeman who spoke Russian very well approached us and strictly checked all our documents (except for Sergey’s which were with Sergey indeed). He was strict enough to stay for another half an hour with us to wait for Sergey, but step by step he started talking pretty friendly and then left not having seen Sergey at all. In the conversation, he said that he studied in Sankt-Petersburg and brought a Russian wife from there. We were a bit afraid to imagine how she lives in Bayan Khongor after Sankt-Petersburg...
Sooner or later Sergey appeared. He said it was pretty hard to exchange money this time. And as it was lunch time already, we entered the nearest restaurant which was Korean and had almost Korean lunch, which was funny. After lunch, we eventually started towards Jinst, after which Gobi starts... We filled the fuel tanks in Jinst for the last time before Khermen-Tsav and stayed overnight not far from the village.
I'm not completely sure, but I think Gobi starts after the pass through the mountains that we drove up to on July 23. Before it, we saw some beautiful eagles sitting very close to the road. They flew up lazily when we came very close to them, but unfortunately this is the "best" picture.
We wanted to get out at the pass to look at Gobi laying in front of us. There was some strong spice in the air, and me and Marina were smelling all the grass types around to find which one it was, but did not find anything. So, we started to Gobi. There were mountains on the horizon, and the thick warm air around them looked like water. The mountains looked as if they were in a lake or even in a sea, and the imagination easily added palms and birds around them. So, we've seen fata morgana. And we've also seen a lonely tree in the desert (not a mirage). People put banknotes and coins and other "alms" into the chaps of its body. We looked at the banknotes, and almost all of them were Mongolian. Mikha saved the coordinates of the tree.
Our final destination for today was Khermen-Tsav canyon, but there were other similar objects there in the desert, though their density was not that high.
We did not stop until the oasis. We found Dzulganai Lake without any problem, but spent about half an hour driving around and looking for a way to it. More exactly, there was one way which ran down, but then ended in the close grass taller than a man and that was all. But we wanted to get to the lake. So, when we decided there were no other ways, Mikha determinately started going through the grass flourishing his arms and hands, and I followed him step by step. There were invisible tussocks under the grass, so I sometimes could not drive from the first attempt, but sooner or later I was almost on the coast of the lake. I only needed to cross a small, but sticky stream, and there we were. Sergey did not follow us and left his car above. They came down here no foot.
We were swimming happily, making the dishes and just enjoying the life. It is certainly cool to be in a lake in the middle of a desert when it's really hot around and drink a beer. I didn't try it though. I don't drink while driving even if I'm driving the only car in the desert.
Soon we found out that there are locals in the oasis, and they got very happy that we were there. These were some type of blood sucking flies that attacked us and forced to get away. Then we found out that though it was easy for my car to cross the stream from the hill, but the way back up the hill was much harder with the rear wheel drive. And as I said before, the transfer gear did not work. So, we had to spend some time in the stream. Luckily we had Sergey, so we avoided repairs of the transfer gear right in the stream: we just waited for him to get down and pull us a bit.
Then we had a short run through the desert...
And here was the beginning of Khermen-Tsav...
And it was incredibly beautiful. Even though I've been to several USA national parks in Rocky Mountains, Khermen-Tsav really impressed me.
The walls look like some ancient ruins as if we came to an ancient city almost demolished and covered up with sand.
If we were not mistaken, this was the famous sphinx head.
We followed the canyon one way and then back and found a good place for a camp. Apparently it was selected by many groups before. In the nearby tree there was a hiding with lots of memos including one from Altay Offroad who had been here a year or two before. We spent about an hour trying to repair the transfer gear: Mikha was playing with its motor under the car and I was watching the LEDs inside. It helped for a while, but then it stopped working without any reasons. We were eating and drinking beer by the table, and the transfer gear just used to stop working several times. All we could do was to forget about it and stay with the rear wheel drive.
There was a "desert" shower in the night. Everything that was left outside got completely wet. I managed to get out of the car before the dawn to pull the chairs under the car, but they were already soaking wet. We had one food container closed not tightly, so there were about 5 cm of a "soup" made of sugar, cereals, pasta and something else. And I must say that what woke us up in the morning of July 24 was not the rain, but an engine noise. A Mongolian UAZ has brought some tourists. There were a couple from Belgium, but they almost didn't speak any language other than French which I almost don't speak in turn. So, we hardly could talk, they didn't want to look at wet Khermen-Tsav and therefore left the place before we got out of the car.
Everything was wet, the spirits were quite low. Me and Marina absolutely wanted to drive from here as soon as possible, but Sergey wanted to take more pictures and therefore temporized. He managed to do this almost until lunch time, and it started to clear up. It didn't get sunny, but the light became quite nice for taking pictures. So, Sergey went to the mountains, and I followed him, and we spent some time there taking pictures. It was pretty strange to be alone in such a place (and the sand can become quick at any moment, especially after the rain) and only to see two smallish cars far away.
Well, after the photo session we headed to Gurvantes. The roads sometimes were washed out by the night shower, some sand hills were not easy for a rear wheel drive. It was really amazing how quickly coulees turned into real streams. And the landscapes were still picturesque and diverse.
Some attempts to come close to take pictures resulted into problems.
Therefore, I had to mostly take pictures from afar.
We also managed to go amiss with the other car. We almost found each other on the radio, but soon after that the other car has disappeared completely. It was probably to the best because when we met in Gurvantes Sergey said that they were following the touristic UAZ that visited us in the morning and have found some nice places that we have never heard about. For this reason, I use a couple of Sergey's pictures here as I don't have my own these.
We had a dinner of frozen buuz in some cafe in Gurvantes (it was the day when they didn't sell alcohol in Gurvantes, but Mikha again managed to get some) and headed to Khongoryn Els sand dunes also known as Singing Sands. Our fat chance to stay overnight at Tesiyn Nuur fell short. First, we lost Marina and Sergey again. They followed their Navitel directions and took another road while we were driving directly to the lake and checking the coast. Then, there were some buildings and people on the lake, and when we tried to get further into quite nice dunes on the coast, they were rather quick, so we had to leave this lake. It was pretty late and dark, so we stopped where we got absolutely tired, in the middle of nowhere. Soon after that we could hear Marina and Sergey on the radio and then they approached us from some other road. We found out that we stopped very close to a village, but it was too late to move somewhere else, so we just fell asleep.
Read the 3rd part.
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