Mongolia, Day 1 - Collect the bikes at Ulaan Bataar and teething problems

I'm not convinced my posts to the blog are being received, so bear with me while I sort them out. For this post, I'm using a PC in the office of the hotel we're staying at so I'll make this entry brief.

We arrrived at 10am to a wet rainy Ulaan Bataar.  To the 'hotel', which is a "ger" (Mongolian word for a yurt), met the support team, had a large lunch, then onto the bikes; a mix of 650cc, 400cc and 250cc Hondas and 500cc and 540cc KTMs.  I'm assigned a 540cc KTM, but swap with Danny's 650cc Honda, as he prefers the higher bars on the KTM. The Honda's bars are a little on the low side for me too, but I'll manage. 

left to right, Christian, Matt and Chris compare their steads in the camp car park 

Charlie collects his KTM from 'Paradise'

A quick test ride in the dirt and potholed roads and we're set for tomorrow when we ride for real. We're given a provisional itinerary, which could change depending on the weather conditions (eg river levels). 

The tour itinerary 

We'll be staying in tents for the next two days, so showers and electricity will be a luxury. There's another hotel a few days away, when the blog should resume if there's wifi. Meanwhile my updates via sat to Facebook are working, so get the latest news from there if you have an account.

Before dinner I climb the hill above the ger camp and meet a group of Mongolian kids visiting for the day. Communication is limited, as is my Mongolian and their English - we stop at "Sainow", hello.  I take a photo of the group.

The ger camp on the right, our home for our first night

Mongolian kids on a day trip

Anyway, bye for now.

Biker Dom out.

PS thanks the the hotel staff for letting me borrow their office PC for the original posting :-)