It is August 15 and I am not sure what day it is.  This is what happens on the road:  the loss of time and space...where am I?

At Last!  On august 10th all documents are completed for the motorcycle to pass through the Chinese border, but the Mongolian customs requires that we have a guide to meet us at the border.  So our Chinese friends perform their magic one more time and one will appear when needed. 

So 10:00 AM the next morning, we are packed, and being led back to the Chinese border by Mr. Guo, Mr. She and Candy our magicians.  We are all elated to realize that all obstacles have been mounted:  the customs documents for the bike, the guide are all in place and in order.

We arrive at the Chinese border to meet the same guard as our previous attempt to cross.  But we are armed with all the ammunition and he is much more amiable while discussing the situation with Candy.  Once he sees the documents, he makes a call and Mr. She drives through the gate and returns with our signal to follow him through the gate...Ah! one step closer to Mongolia.

We are taken into the customs check where there are literally hundreds of people trying to get clearance.  Our magicians speak with an agent and we are taken to the front of the crowd into our own line.  Tamara is checked and cleared through.  Jack is checked and cleared through.  There I am still waiting for clearance, because they cannot find the stamp that shows that I had returned to China on my last departure.  It was a bit tense, because I could see me being deported back to Changchun, but again Candy scanned the passport one more time and found the stamp.  Within a few minutes I was out of China and on my way to Mongolia.

We then needed to say goodbye to our friends and proceed to the Mongolian border on our own.  We were greeted by smiles and pleasant faces not those stoics of the Chinese.  The border gal knew what was needed and hopped onto Tam's bike and led us to the customs office.  There we were greeted by our guides: a man and his wife and a third person, a young fellow.  Since the man could speak some English, he stayed with us while the wife and young man obtained all the documents needed for us to complete and then had them processed.  This whole process took a surprisingly short period of time and cost us nothing, having been arranged by our friends.  On an interesting note:  the man was a veterinarian who deals with exotic animals, such as camels, ibex.  

We needed to hurry our departure, once we received the final customs document, which was a yellow "flin" with a red stamp and signature with the date...this showed that all of our motorcycle gear had been checked and cleared..not.  But we were in Mongolia.  OOPS!  The gates were closed for lunch, so all traffic stopped going and coming.  At 1:15PM  the agents returned from lunch, took our flin document and we were on our way.  Riding into Mongolia and you could certainly see the difference in the structures and the roads.  The lack of government money was evident compared to the monies that China spends on their roads.

So here we are on our actual adventure riding in Mongolia.  We pass through a border town, but never really look back, because our eyes are focused on the wilds of Mongolia where the trails are not labeled and there are many to choose from for travel. 

The bikes are skimming along and we are all just enjoying the sights, sounds and smells of the open country.  We see a train passing by and see many bones of the less fortunate camels that have died of thirst.  There is nothing as far as the eye can see but power lines, scrub brush and rolling hills off on the horizon.  We do see small villages, even a tourist area with Ger's (yurts) setup.  We cross through a small farm and a dog chases for a short time, but then gives up.  The air is warm, but we are elated.  We stop to replenish our water and to make a pit stop.  We think that we should be able to ride for several more hours.

We did encounter some trails with soft sand that bogs down the bikes, and we have to dig ourselves out.  All in the line of adventure riding.  At this point we have not seen or heard another vehicle come our way.  We question the route we are taking, but the GPS is mapping the route and we are on the right course.  So we proceed, finding ourselves bogged down one more time in soft sand.  This time it is more difficult to find higher and harder ground, so we are about to unload everything from both bikes when we hear the sound of an engine and there at the crest of the road is a truck, which is coming to our rescue, but maybe not.  They continue on the trail and our faces and hopes drop, but they stop just at the next crest.  What a welcome sight, having two strong men come to help.  Within 15 minutes both bikes were free for our continued ride...what joy!

We were only able to ride for a couple more hours, because Jack's bike had been experiencing some additional problems (I sound like a broken record)...it was a toss up between the transmission and the clutch, but has been diagnosed as the clutch.

Tamara had to tow Jack to a flat area off the road and setup camp.  Within three hours we setup camp, ate and bedded down for the night.  But my sleep was quite restless:  train whistles, concern about our plight the next day, little water between us and only one working bike.  I was not in Jack's head, but I know that he had a sleepless night, because it was on him to come up with the plan for our rescue.

I know that Jack was up at about 5AM, and he had made plans the night before to ride Tam's bike back to the border town.  At 6AM he was on his way with no water and his determination to solve this problem.  In the meantime, I had drifted off to sleep only to be awakened by a truck driving into our camp.  Jack managed to rent a truck in the border town and the driver had the fore thought to bring along two thick wooden planks.

Within 45 minutes we broke down the camp and the four of us were stripping the bike to lighten the load.  It took some maneuvering of the planks, the bike, and our men and women power to get the bike on the truck.  Jack had to heft the end of the sidecar on his back.  Unfortunately, I missed the photo op...surprised and concerned about him.  But at his age of 64, he is still quite strong.  Once all the gear was stored in the truck, we were off, leaving the wilds of Mongolia behind.  Trucking toward the border that we had crossed the day before.  We seem to go 2 steps forward and 2 steps backward...this time not to Erlian.  We were in Mongolia, so we made some progress.

I did have the opportunity to see a white, baby camel that was on a farm not far from our campsite.

We were driven to the train station parking lot, where Tam and her bike would depart the next day.  Tam befriended a girl from Ulaan Baatar that was traveling to Beijing, but she could not proceed without her passport.  She was able to speak English and helped us a great deal in the next couple of days.  When we are in Ulaan Baatar, we will call Onko and visit with her.  Through her we were able to find a hotel with all the services: restaurant, stores, showers (no hot water, but at least towels) and a lock up for the bikes  The remainder of the day we moved into the hotel, found a laundry and the Internet at the post office.  What more could we ask for:.. the hotel was clean; the food was good and convenient.  Not knowing at the time that this would be our home for several more days.  Unfortunately, the express train only runs on Wednesday, Friday and Sunday at 10PM, so hopefully, all will be resolved so we catch the Friday train.

Our original thought was that this vacation would have no deadlines to cause stress and strain.  Well, we now have several deadlines:  we must pass through Russia by September 13, and be in Istanbul a couple of days before Jack's departure to Changchun on September 26.  For no deadlines to muck up our plans we have two rigid ones for the next month.

Jack assessed the damage to the bike and dismantled the transmission and the clutch, which is the broken part.  We are waiting for a new clutch being sent from Beijing.  While jack was dismantling the bike, I was off with Tamara to find out the process of putting her bike on the train.  It turned out to be quite a process, because they had no facility to hoist a vehicle onto the freight train...so it was hoisted up by 8 or more men onto the loading dock.  The bike was weighed in at 490 Kilograms, which was about 390 Kilograms too much, so clearance had to come from another department.  Then Tamara had to sign off on their having no responsibility for the bike's unloading in Ulaan Baatar.  The bike's fuel had to be drained and then loaded onto the train.  The transport fee was 45,000 tugruks (about $50) and 20,000 tugruks for the leader and his train crew.  We would have to go through the same process on our departure.

On my way back from the train station, I saw a few children in their underwear getting an afternoon bath, or at least this is what I thought...wrong!  They were being bathed and sun dried in horse’s milk that is supposed to be good for their skin and health.  Why not?  We spend thousands of dollars on skin products.  Maybe we need just to take horse milk baths...certainly much cheaper.

Our day ended with cold drinks with Tamara and Onka before Tam's departure for Ulaan Baatar.  She would arrive the next morning.  Of course, I was a bit jealous, because I had to stay in this border town, Zam in Uud, for I do not know how many days.  So here Jack and I sit only a few kilometers from the Mongolian border with no solution in sight.  What else can we do, but go about our day, but boredom sets in.  He has cleaned out the bike, we had lunch.  He rests while I write.  The day passes without a current solution to our plight, but we wait to hear some news about the new clutch being sent.

I am sitting at the computer trying to be positive about the next few days.  Until we receive the new clutch, we are not able to take the train to Ulaan Baatar.  Our options for travel are diminishing:  we have some set places to be and the time is drawing near.  I know that our trip is about riding the motorcycle, which has been very little, but I have to remember that most of my focus will be on the people that we meet.  So far as in any place, I have met very friendly people and others that have too many things on their minds to bother.  Jack and I have had fun with some of the local people, especially the servers and cooking staff at the hotel where we are staying.  Most have been pleasant and quite fun.  The scenery on a trip is delightful to see and photograph, but the people make the trip more enjoyable.

I am going to say bye for now.  I am disappointed that we can't seem to get pictures attached to our journal, but some how I will rectify this, because pictures certainly are worth more than words.

Have a pleasant day and send out those positive thoughts our way.

Thanks

Janet