RTW East to West: Road to Tsetserleg...

The ride out of UB pretty much sucked. Even though we left after "rush hour" at around 10:30am the streets were still clogged with cars trying to run us over. I don't know why they even bother painting lines on the road because people here just put their cars into any space they think it will fit into. On two lane roads cars can be 4 across. Mongolians are good friendly people when you meet them on the street, in the shops, etc. - but are downright evil once they get in cars. Even the bus drivers wanted to run us over. Add the smog and dust to the traffic and we were happy to get to the edge of town and into the countryside and be able to breathe. It took about 1.5 hours just to get out of the city.

The road was generally good once outside UB with the exception of the every so often and sometimes everywhere monster size potholes. Hitting one of the bigger ones would certainly be trip ending - it was for at least two cars we passed along the route. One we passed had been abandoned with one of the front wheels snapped off. The other I actually witnessed as I was about 50 feet behind him when he hit the lane wide deep hole. I remember thinking when it passed me at warp speed - how did a Prius survive these roads all the way out tp here? There had just been several constructions with some rough rock and dirt sections. Just then it hit the hole, popped up in the air sideways and the front end came crashing down hard on the pavement. As I passed I saw the front tires were sitting on the wheel wells - the whole front end suspension assembly had been destroyed.

We grabbed lunch at a small spot along the road. The sign outside had pictures of the four items they offered. We ordered one of each to split and all ended up being pretty good. We find it's best to order one each of unfamiliar items and share so someone or all of us don't get stuck with a "chicken feet" scenario. Luckily all four were quite good.

It looked like rain when we were getting within about 100 km of Tsetserleg - but we were spared and made it into town just before dusk. We had run hard all day and had been on the road about 10 hours to cover the 460 km distance. Getting into town at 8:30pm proved a bit difficult as the guesthouse we wanted to stay in was sold out. We found another next door and got checked in, but then ran into problems finding dinner. Apparently most restaurants close at 9pmor earlier on Fridays. This is because the town of Tsetserleg has an ordinance of no alcohol sales on Fridays and I suppose restaurants assume no one wants to eat out at a later hour without a cocktail.

After wandering around in the pitch black streets for about an hour trying to find som food we found a place open and went inside. We were struggling with the language on the menu when a young Mongolian girl, Michelle, came over an said in perfect English - I can help you guys with ordering. Not only were they still serving food but we also found ot from our new friend that they would serve us beer "on the down low" if you promised to keep it quiet. We ordered up a feast and everything was delicious. Everyone had been telling us that the Mongolian food was no good, but so far we have enjoyed everything we have tried.

Tomorrow the road disappears and we will be riding dirt for several days - we hope it stays dry or the progress will be slow and difficult. We would like to be back in Russia in a week.

Lunch spot. We had one of each to share.