Zamiin Uud - Saynshand

We had it all; 23 litres of water, six nights of food, 12 awesomely decorated hardboiled eggs - coincidentally done on Easter Monday - both handlebar bags containing secretly bought chocolate treats we planned to surprise the other with later on, everything we've lugged around China for this exact moment - tent, mats, sleeping bags, cooker. This was it. Day one into the Gobi desert. I know, The Gobi Desert. This was the adventurous part of our journey. The Unknown. The exciting. The intrepid! 

Supplies

After one kilometre of sand and corrugated back roads, we hit the new sealed road that was planned for building in 2010. We had tried to find out if it had been paved yet or not, and all but one account said that the sealing had not yet eventuated. However, there it was in front of us. And with that sealed road came the sealed fate of our journey. Gone were the images of pushing the laden bikes through sandpits. Gone was the mental challenge of 'another day riding through sand'. Gone was all the enthusiasm I had mustered for this 'adventure of a lifetime'. We were on a sealed road. One of better quality than the many great roads of China, and we were going to follow it with the same rhythmic pedal strokes that had proceeded the month before.

Outside, I laughed and reflected on the disappointment felt when reality doesn't meet expectations.

Inside, I was just disappointed.

On our way!

But, like many things, there was the silver lining to this cloud. The road was sealed! Our journey to the capital, Ulaanbaatar, would be relatively quick, and we would get more time to explore the other spoils of Mongolia. And challenges would still present themselves. The desert is still harsh.

We pitched our tent that night learning our first rule of Gobi camping; although the rocks may provide much needed shelter from the wind, you cannot drive a tent peg into them. So on to lower land we pitched, set up camp, scoffed some delicious food and settled in for an expectedly windy nights sleep. And windy it was. First there was the flash of lightening, the crack of thunder, and I foolishly asked what we do in an electrical storm. "Nothing". Then the rustle of the tent was quietened by the pitter patter of rainfall which died away quickly - phew, flash flood overted. Midnight to 7am provided much stronger winds and another bout of heavy rain, but with the sunrise came a sigh of relief that we had made it through our first night.

Brilliantly decorated eggs

Day 2 brought all that the wind forecast had promised - though for some reason we had both assumed high winds meant we would get a sandstorm. No storm has presented at present, but with winds too high to ride in we are confined to the tent for the day in the sweltering heat of the desert sun, keeping everything closed off to keep the sand at bay, and fighting our boredom.

Cancel that, the sandstorm came!

The next day we took off in light headwinds. About 30km into our day, feeling cold and tired, we were beckoned over to a ger by a man. It took us a while to realise that we were being waved over and he wasn't just doing arm exercises. Inside the ger was his son, who dutifully lit the central fire with a blowtorch, and his wife, who was cleaning and preparing a huge metal bowl of innards. We were poured cups of milky tea (a bitter preparation) and with my best miming I asked if the carcass hanging behind Calvin was a sheep. No, in fact it was a dog. And with that we were offered dog liver wrapped in dog fat and cooked directly in the flames of the fire using a pair of metal tongs. We both agreed to drink our tea as quickly as possible and politely make an escape before it was too late and we had to eat dog. However, curiosity got the better of us and we had a go. Yum, just yum! Despite the fact that it was cut up in a bowl that had previously contained the dogs raw blood. It was so good and hot on that cold day. So we had seconds. Soon we were off back outside into the wind, and another 30km later we found a site to camp for the night near a quarry.

Calvin's new friends

The next day had us up at the crack of dawn to try and make it the final 50km to Saynshand. It started well with a slight tail wind. This turned in to a slight side wind and then a strong side/head wind. Before we knew it we were being thrown off the road by gusts of wind, dismounting our bikes before trucks passed us to avoid being sucked under their trailers, and then we were just in a full blown sandstorm. It was hard riding to say the least.

Finally, after what was a shattering ride, we made it to Saynshand. We found a hotel and checked the wind, all fingers and toes crossed that tomorrow would be a crap day and we could rest up for a day in Saynshand. Alas, the next day was great riding conditions. So after a marathon laundry effort, including some miscommunication about getting a sink plug causing the hotel to get in a plumber, we hit the local food stores to restock supplies, grabbed a quick bite to eat, repacked our bags and hit the sack ready to start it all again the next day.