Choyr to Nalaikh

That's it the Gobi has been crossed! Too easy! Nah that was actually pretty enduring and we probably did the easier of all possible routes you could take.

Choyr had provided a nice place to restock provisions (including bacon!) before completing the last of the three sections across the Gobi we were riding. It also, funnily enough, was the first place we got to converse with some people in English. Firstly, we met a bunch of Malaysians that were driving to Germany for a Volkswagen convention who were staying at the same Hotel, and then an American from the Peace Corp. who was teaching English to local students. Great to have some good old chin wags again and get a little bit of local knowledge.

Ready to leave from Choyr. The Malaysian VW gang in the background after a night fixing one of their broken down vehicles.

From Choyr we were off in a blaze of glory or at least mild winds that made the first morning of riding rather pleasant. After that it was back to the typical calm at night and head winds during the day. Classic Gobi. The road had also deteriorated a fair bit with large pot holes and slumps scattered across the road, the shoulder removed and slowly increasing amounts of traffic.

It wasn'the all bad though. Our anticipated 4 day crossing only ended up being 3 days so that was a real bonus, we got to enjoy more camping in the desert, keep developing our sun tanned panda eyes and met many over excited children who would run or bike alongside us through towns and gather around when we pulled over to check out the weird riding people.

Upon approaching Nalaikh, the endless expanse of the desert started to fold into hills and mountains. It was a pleasant change of scenery which at times shelterd us from winds but mostly gave us descents to enjoy - even if we had to pedal a little to comabt the wind resistance!

Just over 'dem hills are some more hills.

Reaching Nalaikh brought much relief and joy of being able to have a bed in a peaceful room, a warm shower and a feast on local cuizine.  MEAT!!!!!! and pretty good salads. Unfortunately, no hot water again. This time we were happy to hold out until Ulaanbaatar - surely there will be hot water there! Right?

Get in my belly! Delicious beef ribs.

We spent an extra day in Nalaikh and visited the Chinggis Khan Statue. It was big. Guinness World Record for the biggest Horseman Statue (not to be too specific). There was also the world's biggest traditional boot (Asian size 7006 or something) and a very big traditional Mongolian horse whip not sure of its record status though. It also had a great information museum about the rule of all the Khans over the centuries and the progression of the Mongolian Empire. It was a massive Empire!

Big Foot's lost boot