The modern wild west.

By Steven Shoppman in

October 21, 2007 – 1:03 am

On October 7th we left Ulaanbaatar for Western Mongolia. With a Lonely Planet guide and a China/Mongolia map our confidence was high that we should not have to many problems making our way to the Russian border. The last night before we left Chinzorig gave us a quite helpful piece of advice. He told us, "Don’t follow the road, follow the bearing." He was referring to the bearing on the compass. When we braved the Gobi from China before our confidence led us to believe that the trip west could not be much more difficult. To put it simply…We were wrong.

PA070115The initial calculations of the time it would take to get to Russia had us pegged at a total of 7 days. This total would put us into Russia allowing 3-4 days for some "excursions" on our way.  According to the many that we talked to, driving long days would allow us to get to the border in 3 days. With our new shocks and recent days of maintenance on the trucks, there could be no way that we would not be able to make it to the border in under 7 days. Then came the first day.

Since Steve B and Brandon had already gone west once before for the wedding, we had a little intel on the first part of the drive. With smiles on our faces for the impending adventure, we were off. The first 4-5 hours provided for smooth sailing on newly paved roads and well traveled tracks. My excitement grew when passing the biggest most burly trucks in the world. About an hour later, my excitement turned to frustration as Bouey came rallying up next to Brandon and I trying to get us to stop.  Moments later we were struck by the fact that we may no longer be on the main road. Steve B could not say for sure, but he did not think this was the road as the bearing was starting to veer farther and farther from West.

PA070117

We found out 20 km later that we were in fact on the wrong road.  The diversion did lead us to a small village where we were able to brighten the villagers day with an appearance from the crew.  They helped us get much needed water from the well in town.  As soon as we arrived the 2-3 people at the well grew to about 10-15.  Everyone was giving us advice on things ranging from which direction to go for the main road to invitations to eat at the local restaurant (or building where they serve food). One man so kindly gave me some hand signals indicating that if I drink the water something not so pleasant will come out the other end. A half hour later we were heading back on the road we came in on trying to figure out where we went wrong.

PA100137  Like the many confusing times getting lost that would follow, a simple statement sums up getting back on the right path…"How could we have missed the main road?" In Western Mongolia especially, there are so few drivers that there really is not a main road.  Sometimes the paths will have more traffic or be smother than one another, but still do not qualify as proper roads. The only thing that you can really know for sure is that you need to go around a certain number of kilometers in a certain direction.  Eventually you are supposed to hit a town or somewhere that should have gas. Most of the time the town does not come soon enough or the track you are on veers the wrong way, and thoughts of running out of gas, water and food flood your mind. With the temperature consistently below zero, these fears put a real damper on your spirits. It was so cold that we had to keep water and liquids inside our sleeping bags at night so they would not be frozen in the morning. In the end it seems only proper to clarify that in Mongolia there is a "way" to get from one place to another, but one thing will be guaranteed…this way will be an adventure packed full of twists and turns.

To keep a long story short, this scenario continued for the next week.  We barely made it out of Mongolia driving seven full days in a row. Countless families living in gers were disturbed by two huge trucks with westerners asking directions. I am convinced that we were the only foreigners that many of these nomads had ever seen. These kind hearted people never PA120141 thought twice about helping us in our quest for the Russian border. Although the only help many of them could give us was pointing in the direction we should drive (sometimes in a direction that would lead across a field with no tracks at all), often they would even ride horses or camels to lead us back to the main road.  One time an excited old man gathered up his friends to help him push start his motorcycle so that he could lead us the right way. The generosity and kindness of these wonderful people not only helped us find our way, but is some circumstances saved our lives.

This experience is something that I will never forget. For seven days we never really knew where we were going or where we were. It is a scary feeling to rely on nothing more than a compass and odometer to find your way. Without a doubt I have never been so lost in my life. Some days we would not pass another person the entire day. Driving ten hours without seeing another soul makes you second guess any path you choose, but in this area of the planet it is something you just have to get used to. We braved the wild west with no guides and some of the worst maps I have every used. I do not know if we will encounter such raw and challenging travel again, but road signs and pavement have certainly raised their level of importance in my book.

PA120142

Even the animals want to help with directions.

_DSC0218

Brrrr. We woke up to snow at least half of the mornings.

_DSC0241

Drive across the field, around the camel, and their might be a road on the other side.

_DSC0252

Our fearless guides for about a half an hour. We met them in the middle of this field.

By Steven Shoppman | Posted in Mongolia, Road Conditions | Comments (0)

From Russia with Love

By Steve Bouey in

October 14, 2007 – 10:58 pm

Hello everyone! I just wanted to post a quick update to let everyone know that we are all fine and well here at The World by Road. We have successfully made it across western Mongolia and have crossed the remote mountain-top border at Tashanta into Russia. It was one of the most exhausting weeks in my life. Driving over 1,600 kilometers across one of the most remote places on earth with hardly any roads to speak of can scare you a little bit, especially when you get lost… which seemed to happen at least once a day. It was really slow going as well. Try driving from Denver to California on rugged dirt roads at an average speed of 25 mph while constantly keeping your eyes on the compass to see if you are actually on a road or just a trail that leads to an abandoned ger (yurt).

We are now currently in the Russian Siberian city of Barnaul. It is actually really nice here and reminds me a lot of Colorado. We made a clean entry into Russia, although I can hardly say that about the Toyotas and ourselves. We got pulled over by a Russian cop because he could not see our license plates and the smell emerging out of the trucks and off of our bodies after 8 days in the middle of nowhere was enough to make the cute Russian girls at the hotel cringe. I am happy to say that we are now showered and are working on eliminating the smells inside of the Thundra and Little Pepe.

We are still on the move though and are leaving for the Kazakh border tomorrow morning. Once we get to Almaty, Kazakhstan on the 18th, we will have some time to update everybody on all of our adventures, encounters and future happenings. There is a lot to talk about.

Dasvidanya for now…

By Steve Bouey | Posted in Expedition Updates, Russia | Comments (1)

Ha Ha Ha, even the roads are hard for us.

By Steven Shoppman in

October 10, 2007 – 10:29 am

This blog has posted today, but was written nearly a week ago:)

Tonight we ate our final dinner in Ulaanbaatar before we head west through Mongolia to Russia tomorrow morning. Chinzorig of Drive Mongolia and his wife joined us and we discussed the best routes to take west. No matter who you talk to, Mongolian or not, it seems that many conversations tend to lead back to the roads here. These talks are not concerning the condition of the roads, but more likely some other interesting info like where they lead to or how many days [not hours] it will take to get from point A to B. Due to the fact that normal day trip distances at home could take weeks here, roads are a major concern of most tasks.

The idea of where a road leads is somewhat different here.  As Chinzorig brought up this evening and we learned while we were in the Gobi, one road may end up at your destination, one may lead to a mine, the other may lead to a Ger camp, while all the rest of the roads lead to nowhere.  The problem is that all these roads tend to look the same.  The advice from our seasoned Mongolian driver…follow your compass. It was the same in the Gobi. Each time we would try to follow a track that seemed right, we would end up driving miles out of the way and look to the trusty compass to get back on track.

Our learned behavior tends to steer us to the most trodden path, but here sometimes that path is the same one that everyone else made the same mistake on.  The only reason it looks so used is because so many people were fooled by it. Chinzorig even admitted this evening that he gets lost from time to time as well. It does not exactly promote confidence when most Mongolians you meet even admit that the roads are difficult. On Bouey’s trip out the wedding, even the locals heading out to the same camp they had been to before led the group down some wrong roads on the way.

We are confident, we have our supplies, our new shocks, some traditional Mongolian overcoats and even down jackets from Marmot. Our camping gear is state of the art and our sleeping bags should do a fine job of keeping us warm in the below freezing temperatures. However, it is still hard to convince your self that heading out into the middle of nowhere is a good idea when snow is dusting the ground and there are no real towns, no real roads and even the locals laughing at the difficulty of the task. For the next week we will be meandering around the Mongolian countryside with our binoculars and compasses trying to find our way to Russia. So if you find yourself asking where the blogs are in a week from now, it probably means that we got our bearings wrong and are still wandering amongst the Gers.

The Thundra looks cold, brrrrr.

_DSC0108

By Steven Shoppman | Posted in Mongolia, Road Conditions, Trip Thoughts | Comments (3)

"Boom-baatar"

By Steve Bouey in

October 9, 2007 – 10:40 pm

I have to admit, when I first arrived in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia a few weeks ago, what I encountered was far from what I expected. Honestly, I do not really know what I expected Ulaanbaatar to be like. I did not know much about the city, it’s history, or what the future held in store for it. I guess I expected Ulaanbaatar to be similar to the Mongolia we experienced in the Gobi – wild, untamed and still stuck somewhere in history. What I found was quite the opposite – a booming city, ripe with economic development, modern buildings, cosmopolitan cafes and an energetic nightlife.

Mongolia’s history, apart from the days of Chinggis Khan and the ever expanding empire, is actually quite interesting. For the better part of the last 200 years, Mongolia has been stuck in between the sometimes conflicting power struggles of two of the world’s superpowers: Russia and China. From the 17th through the 19th centuries, the Mongolians suffered under the oppressive rule and occupation of the Manchus and the Qing Dynasty until its collapse in 1911. Even after the fall of the Qing Dynasty, the Mongolians still suffered at the hands of the Chinese. Fed up with their situation, the Mongolians approached western powers in Europe and the United States for assistance in expelling the Chinese, however, such assistance was refused. A few years later in 1917, the October Revolution in Russia swept Vladimir Lenin and the Bolsheviks into power. Seeing a new opportunity to help them with the Chinese, the Mongolians approached the Bolsheviks who helped them to finally expel the Chinese in 1921. After that, Mongolia became the second communist country in the world, and continued to receive a significant amount of economic and financial support, in addition to political influence, from its northern neighbors until the fall of the Soviet Union in 1989. The fall of the Soviet Union plunged Mongolia into uncertainty and left to fend for themselves, a newly independent Mongolia struggled economically and politically throughout most of the 1990’s.

I guess this is the Ulaanbaatar (which actually means Red Hero) I expected to find… a relic of the Soviet Empire struggling to find its own independent identity and means of prosperity. However, the discovery of rich mineral and other natural resource deposits at the turn of the century has given Mongolia a giant economic shot in the arm. Huge sums of foreign investment as a result of mining and mineral speculation are pouring in and that, coupled with money that educated Mongolians working in Japan, Korea and abroad are sending home, has helped to change the face of Ulaanbaatar in a very short period of time. The rate of economic growth is stifling… enough so that other economic superpowers have warned that Mongolia might be developing too fast. But do not tell Mongolians that… they view it as their time and their brief experience with capitalism has fueled a desire and a demand for high-end luxury items such as expensive clothes, cars and homes, examples of which are becoming much more frequent sights in the city.

_DSC0098

I wonder if Sukhbaatar could have envisioned what modern Ulaanbaatar would look like after he drove out the Chinese in 1921

_DSC0105

Ironic? – Lenin’s statue is flanked by signs of a booming capitalist economy

There are, of course, some consequences of this economic explosion. Mongolia is still technically a fledgling democracy and I do not think it is much of coincidence that the majority of the richest individuals in the country are also members of parliament. There is a very large gap between the rich and the poor, and most of the actual infrastructure projects such as roads and transportation hubs are still funded by foreign governments and investors with the domestically spared public works finances going well, you can probably guess. In any regard, signs of development are everywhere and the city skyline is growing taller and taller. In fact, the city is growing so fast that we have found guidebooks published within the last year or two to be essentially obsolete. However, not far outside of the city limits, Mongolians still lead a traditional existance, content to maintain their nomadic herding lifestyle in a way that is almost defiant of what is going on in their nation’s capital. One thing is for sure, I definitely would like to return to Ulaanbaatar in a few years to see what has changed, if the development has been sustainable and how much of the Mongolian countryside still exudes a romantic sense of being in times past.

By Steve Bouey | Posted in History, Mongolia, Trip Thoughts, World News | Comments (0)

Did you Know – Symbols of Social Status

By Steve Bouey in

October 8, 2007 – 10:14 pm

Depending on what country or culture you live in, certain people associate certain attributes with their status in society. Symbols of one’s social status have evolved through time and are largely based upon what that society values. In a culture that values bravery, social status may be determined and identified by things such as scars from battle. In a society where food is not readily available, being fat is considered a status symbol and in other cultures, males growing out their fingernails as a sign that they do not perform manual labor signifies their status. For you sociology buffs, in western societies, social position is often determined as a result of achieved status. For example, the type of job someone has, how much money they make and in many cases, what type of possessions (cars, homes, etc.) they have… all things people believe are a reflection of the type of skills they have and thus their position in society.

A few days ago, I wrote about how some things were pretty random here in Mongolia and it just so happens that how some people establish their social status here is also pretty random. I went to a mobile phone shop to get a SIM card so we could have a Mongolian phone number while we are here. To my amazement, there was a fairly long line of customers waiting to get in. After standing in line for a while, I gave up. Another guy who we met here in Ulaanbaatar, Dave, was also trying to get a SIM card and went back to the shop only to end up waiting in line for 3 hours to get one. I later learned that in Mongolia, one sign of social status is your mobile phone number. I have not yet determined just how this works… whether higher, lower or a certain sequence of numbers is better, but one thing is for sure, Mongolians are constantly changing their cell phone numbers and wait in line for hours to do so.

I did go back a few days later and managed to get a SIM card in under an hour, but people were still haggling over what number they wanted assigned to their account. When it came time for me to select a number, the girl helping me out had quite a confused look on her face when I told her I did not care what number was assigned to me. Lets just hope that when I try and call some people here in town they don’t hang up because of the number that pops up in their caller ID.

By Steve Bouey | Posted in Did you know?, Mongolia | Comments (0)

While Bouey was hurting his butt.

By Steven Shoppman in

October 7, 2007 – 12:35 am

For those of you regular blog readers, you have recently been made aware of the trials and tribulations of Bouey’s recent Mongolian horse riding experiences.  The truth is that my jealousy abounds over this painful experience.  Instead of having wild experiences at a wedding in western Mongolia, I had the opportunity to fly home to meet with sponsors and collect some much needed supplies for the upcoming months through the remote stretches through West Mongolia, Siberia, and the Stans.

This journey home was packed full of so many meetings my head is still spinning.  I have been back in Ulaanbaatar for 3 days now, and it is quite apparent now that my home is on the road and Denver was a "vacation" for a week.  Although it was a lot of work, seeing friends, family, my dog and my house was a great reminder of all the wonderful things I have to come back to when I return.  So what did the week do for TWBR?

Toyteccoilover8One of the meetings was with new sponsor ToyTec Lifts.  They helped poor Thundra and Little Pepe in a time of need.  After the roads of Cambodia, Laos, China, the Australian Outback and the Gobi, the shocks on both trucks had pretty much seen their last tour of duty. In fact the shocks responsiveness ratings were already noted as a little lower than passing when we had a required safety test for China requirements done on Little Pepe back in Thailand.  The trip through the Gobi nearly led Steve B. to roll one of the trucks on our rally north, clearly it was time for some replacements. We started talking with ToyTec and in a little less than a month Doug at ToyTec agreed to sponsorship (light speed in the world of sponsorship).  The agreement came just in time to pick up the lifts and new shocks in Denver.

Mongolian Mechanics Over the last two days I spent the majority of my time working with our two favorite Mongolian mechanics Davoo and Coche. These two great guys were introduced to us by a generous man named Chenzorig Chulaanbaatar. He runs a company here named Drive Mongolia.  They specialize in off road tours of the Mongolian countryside. Since returning Chenzorig has spent nearly all of his time the last two days helping us.  With nothing to gain other than simply feeling good about assisting a couple of needy Americans, he has been a true asset and friend to us recently.  We could not have accomplished everything we needed for our journey west without him.

The mechanics did not speak English and my complete lack of everything but hello and thank you in Mongolian provided an interesting couple of days as we worked together on the installation of everything.  Somehow, even with some cutting of different bolts and work that needed to be done on the installation, around 35 hours of work with little more than a mini jack and a bag full of tools had the trucks ready for some more Mongolian non-roads.  If you add to the mix a little rain and cold temperatures the experience becomes that much more authentically Mongolian.

On that note Bouey should give a special thanks to all of them.  His butt will have time to rest with some comfortable new suspension and the plush seats of the trucks.

 

The cutting of the bolts…note the excited mechanic when I gave him permission to use his saw.

The view from the mechanics work yard…downtown Ulaanbaatar in the background.

 PA040083

The work yard.

PA040085

Much needed installation of new shocks

PA040072

The yard dog.  He was a crazy little bugger.

PA040064 

The tools

PA040074 PA040075

The jacks

PA040082

Safety First.

PA050107

3" Lifts…Thanks Toytec!!!

PA050099

By Steven Shoppman | Posted in Expedition Sponsors, Mongolia, The Toyotas | Comments (0)

I’m Not Good Enough for Chinggis

By Steve Bouey in

October 6, 2007 – 6:04 am

Chinggis Khan (many of us in the west know him as Genghis) was pretty much a bad ass. Chinggis was a powerful and successful warlord that was not only responsible for unifying most of the Mongolian tribes, but also striking fear in the hearts and minds of his enemies… many of which commanded much larger armies than his own. In a time when horses were the main mode of transportation and conquest, Chinggis managed to spread the Mongolian empire and conquer lands as far away as Central Europe and South East Asia. As a result of his organizational skills, the Mongolian empire continued to expand under his sons well after his death in 1227.

_DSC0095

Riding on a horse for extremely long distances and being ready to fight is no easy task especially if you were riding for Chinggis. Here in Mongolia, I have had the opportunity to ride Mongolian horses a few times. Riding in Mongolia is quite different than any other horseback ridding I have done, due in large part to the construction and configuration of the Mongolian saddle. Basically, a Mongolian saddle is a simple device made out of wood, leather and cloth. However, compared to it’s western or even an English counterparts, the Mongolian saddle is damn hard… I mean real hard.  Ridding for any period of time in a Mongolian saddle is probably one of the most painful things I have ever done in my life. Even a week after my equine encounters, my backside is still raw and bruised.

As it turns out, the Mongolian saddle has not evolved much since the days of old Chinggis. This got me to thinking: "If Chinggis Khan was this great leader, organizer and military mastermind, why did he not come up with a more comfortable means of spreading the empire for his soldiers?" In fact, Chinggis was thinking of his troops and their configuration atop their mounts when it came to saddles. The design of the traditional and contemporary Mongolian saddle – rigid, hard and with very short stirrups – was put into use by the Khan to force his soldiers to ride in a more upright and in many cases, standing position. This made it easier for soldiers to push their horses farther and faster all while being ready to access their weapons to commence an attack or defend themselves against one.

_DSC0096

Ready for battle

_DSC0060

Still riddin’ tall

Soldiers in Chinggis Khan’s armies must have been pretty tough hombres. Having to stand on a moving horse for prolonged periods of time to fighting distant armies and then basically sitting on a hard, cold knob of a saddle when they were not is definitely part of the reason, in my mind at least, why these soldiers were so successful in their campaigns. I do not know how they did it. After 20 minutes of riding, my legs were stiff and sore from trying to give my already battered butt a rest and I did not even have a heavy suit of armor to add to the strain. Good thing I was not a conscript in Chinggis Khan’s army otherwise I would have probably been thrown to the wolves. Toughen up or get checked out… I guess I have gotten pretty soft sitting in the nice comfortable captain chairs of the Thundra and Little Pepe.

IMG_3794

Striking absolutely no fear into anyone or anything… an no, I have not grown, Mongolian horses are just smaller

By Steve Bouey | Posted in For some laughs, Mongolia | Comments (1)

Ticket to Ride… or Run

By Steve Bouey in

October 5, 2007 – 5:10 am

So, after a long and seemingly endless trail of crimson, soviet-style red tape, I finally got my visa for the Russian Federation. Sometimes, I question my own sanity when I wait weeks and cough up serious dollars to spend a very limited period of time in a county. In the case of Russia, getting a visa cost me personally nearly $300, countless trips to the Embassy here in Ulaanbaatar and a good amount of my time in order to spend less than a week on Russian soil. Many of the travel forums such as Boots N All, Lonely Planet’s Thorn Tree and even the LP Mongolia guidebook itself warn about the headaches involved in trying to obtain a Russian visa here in Ulaanbaatar, but given our route and timeframe, we did not really have much choice. Besides, the Russian Embassy in Beijing reportedly no longer issues visas to foreigners at that particular location and trying to obtain a visa before we entered China would have been pointless considering we did not really know when they were going to let us in. 

In order to try and avoid some of the headaches of the Russian visa process here in Mongolia, Steve and I applied online for a double entry business visa. The business visa would allow us some more flexibility in case we needed to change our route heading west towards Europe. Obtaining a Russian visa requires obtaining an invitation letter, but this is a formality and mostly just a scheme for people to make money… more on this later. Steve and I paid $90 a piece for the visa invitation letter which took about two weeks to process. The company told us ahead of time that some Russian Embassies and consulates only accept original copies of the invitation letter when processing a visa, but since we were on the move in China, we did not really have a place for the agency to send the originals. We asked if the agency could mail or fax the invitation letter directly to the embassy in Ulaanbaatar, but apparently, the embassy tends to loose such documents so they would not send them there.  As a result, we told the agency to send us electronic copies of the invitation letter and we would try our luck at the embassy… if that did not work, they could send the letters to our guesthouse.

We arrived in Ulaanbaatar and of course, the Russian Embassy did not accept copies, so we had to have the originals sent somewhere. Steve was heading to the states shortly to take care of some TWBR business and we determined that it was best for him to try and get his visa processed there. Steve spent another couple hundred bucks to get his visa rush processed in the US and has his visa in a few days. I on the other hand, was staying behind in Mongolia so had the letter sent to me. It cost $75 to ship the letter via UPS express service which I needed to do… 5 business days for the letter to arrive here and another 7 for the embassy to "rush" process the application – normal processing time at the embassy was 12-15 days. (By the way, the amount of time needed for the Russians to process a visa here is total b.s., because they typically do not perform any type of background checks on visa applicants and in our experience, processing can usually be completed next-day for a higher price. This was the case with China, and even here in Ulaanbataar, we obtained Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan visas in 24 hours without paying extra, but apparently no can do with the Russians.)

I waited for a weeks, however,  according to UPS parcel tracking, my invitation letter was somewhere in the Philippines and had been so for about 5 days. Maybe someone had dropped the letter and it got kicked under a desk, but whatever the case, it definitely was not here in Ulaanbaatar. Time was starting to become an issue so I was forced to abandon my quest for a business visa and instead start the process of obtaining a tourist visa.  The only place to get a tourist visa application and the required invitation letter in Ulaanbaatar is a place called Legend Tour. I had read a few threads on forums about the hassle involved with going through Legend Tour, but everyone here in town said it was a piece of cake and that Tatiana is very helpful.

The process of obtaining a visa at Legend Tour was pretty straight forward: pay $120, copy the application form they provide substituting your personal information when necessary and come back in 9 days. If everything had worked out with the business visa, it would have cost me $120 to get the actual visa at the embassy anyway, so I wasn’t too bummed about having to fork over another $120 and Tatiana was indeed very nice.

Well, I am happy to say that today, on the 9th day, I got my tourist visa for the Russian Federation as promised. As for my business visa application letter, UPS still indicates it being in the Philippines nearly two weeks after it shipped via express service from Moscow. I contacted the company who issued the letter about my lack thereof and they said they would look into it… that was five days ago and I do not really expect to hear back from them nor receive any sort of refund.

_DSC0102

My Passport is starting to fill up at the expense of my sanity

In the end, I probably should have just paid for a tourist visa here in Mongolia and saved myself $165. However, after finding out a little more about the Russian visa process here in Mongolia, I learned that it can change at a moments notice and is far from reliable. Rumor has it that amidst budget problems back home in mother Russia, the Foreign Ministry stopped or reduced the pay embassy staff in Mongolia and other countries received for processing visas. Because they were not getting paid, staff turned visa applicants to tour companies like Legend who in many cases charge 2-3 times the "normal" price of the visa, but the cost is really for the letter. After issuing a visa invitation letter, the tour company would then send the applications back to the embassy along with a chunk of the fee they had collected in effect, covering the diminished portion of the embassy worker’s paycheck. Depending on how things are going, the tour company’s fee and the cut sent to the embassy can fluctuate quite a bit, so the cost of a letter/visa one day is not necessarily the same the next. Rumor also has it that many of these tour company operators are somehow "connected" to embassy staff or diplomats. Many people here in town frequently speculate about just what type of connections Tatiana has. Thankfully for me, I seem to have come on a good day.

Situations such as this  that make you take a step back as say wow… if this is what it is like dealing with Russian officials on the outside, maybe all of the rumors of corrupt cops, disgruntled border guards, curious ex-KGB mafia thugs and general disorganization are true. At any rate, with my Russian visa in hand, I guess I will all find out about that other stuff in a weeks time. 

By Steve Bouey | Posted in Borders, Visas and Paperwork, Russia | Comments (1)

If It Isn’t One Thing…

By Steve Bouey in

October 3, 2007 – 10:35 pm

I am sure all of you are pretty sick of Steve and I telling you how crazy, bad, rough, or whatever negative adjective you choose, some of the roads are that we have encountered on the expedition. There are obviously plenty of other things to write about so this will be the last one for a while, although I am sure the roads will yield plenty of more interesting stories in the future.

Overall, both the Sequoia and the Tundra have held up extremely well and we have actually been able to make really good time compared to our own estimates and those of locals in the know given what we were told to expect. However, from time to time, things to tend to break and that is the nature of the beast. The funny thing is, when one problem pops up, it typically leads to the identification of another. For the last several weeks, we have been living with a slow leak in the rear driver’s side tire of Little Pepe. In order to give our portable air compressor a break from having to fill up the tire every 4 or 5 days, I finally got around to getting the leak fixed here in Ulaanbaatar. 

IMG_1682

When the guy fixing the tire was removing the wheel from the car, he noticed that one of the lug nuts holding the wheel onto the hub was "soft." Given the language barrier that existed between us, I didn’t really know what he was talking about until he was able to pull the wheel off. Once the wheel was off, it was apparent that he was trying to tell me one of the six bolts holding the wheel onto the car had actually sheered off into the lug nut. There could be several causes for this and I started to wonder if the guys who had helped us rotate the tires in Malaysia had gotten a little trigger happy with their air impact wrench and over-tightened the lug nut, compromising the bolt.

IMG_1687

After conversing with our Toyota support team back in the states, they were confident that an air impact wrench would not cause such a fracture in the bolt, even if the lug nut was put on too tightly. Basically, they said that the cause for the fracture was most likely a result of the strain and stress put onto the bolts and wheel over time from the roads we had been driving on. Fortunately, the problem is "easy" enough to fix… we just need to pull the hub off the axle, pound out the broken bolt and replace it with a new one that should be here in a day or so.

Actually, the problem could not have popped up at a more opportune time because we will be installing new lifts and coils on the trucks in a few days so we need to pull everything off anyway. Additionally, the road headed west from UB and into Siberia is pretty bad so I feel a lot better fixing the bolt here than on the side of a dirt road in the middle of a dust storm in Central Mongolia. However, it just goes to show you that you never really know what to expect when it comes to vehicle maintenance on a road trip around the globe.

By Steve Bouey | Posted in Mongolia, Road Conditions, The Toyotas | Comments (0)

A Few Things Actually Do Make Me Cry

By Steve Bouey in

October 1, 2007 – 10:03 pm

Cry? What? Most people who know me must be thinking; what is it that would lead a hardened individual, molded and forged in the fires encountered while driving a couple Toyotas around the world to be driven to tears. Well, simply put, it is the simple gestures and words of encouragement from people we meet along our journey who move me in such a way that my only natural response is to cry a bit… although I try not to let them see it.

Most recently, we were invited to a traditional Mongolian wedding out in the countryside. We jumped at the opportunity to be a part of this truly unique cultural experience and without hesitation, hopped in the Thundra along with eight other Mongolians and a British ex-pat (that’s right, we had 11 people in and on the Tundra) and headed west. Obviously, the main focus of the wedding and the ensuing weeklong celebration was the wedding itself, but we also became the subject of attention after arriving in our strange machine.

We have been starting to get local’s to write words of encouragement on the roof rack of the Thundra and it did not take long to find someone who could write in the traditional Mongolian script, as opposed to the contemporary Russian-style Cyrillic alphabet, to add to the collection. In fact, after seeing the Chinese writing on the rack, the Mongolians were more than happy to add their own words directly above the Chinese characters. There is a degree of tension between Mongolians and the Chinese and the Mongolians are always looking for a way to one-up the Chinese even if it is simply writing their phrase above one from their neighbors to the southeast. Even though the blank space above the Chinese characters was limited, the Mongolians would not have it any other way.

_DSC0031

Anyway, the writing was cool, but it did not make me cry. At the wedding itself, there were some very well respected herders and local political bosses in attendance and the elders soon took a keen interest in what we were doing and made a point to wish us well with each round of Vodka that came our way. There was one particular gesture of good will though that sticks out above all others. On the night of the wedding, the father of the groom seemed to be especially proud that the presence of scruffy TWBR foreigners was making his son’s wedding an even more memorable occasion. As you know, we have been soliciting donations to help us out on our quest around the world and many of you have helped us out and for that we are truly thankful. However, that night we received the most significant and meaningful donation to date.

_DSC0079

After many hours of eating, drinking and celebrating, the father of the groom approached us and offered us a bowl of fermented mare’s milk. Ayrag is a very special drink in Mongolia and is offered as a sign of welcome and in particular flows in great volumes at special events and celebrations. Through an interpreter, the father wished us good luck on our journey and upon receipt of the bowl of ayrag, passed us 2,000 Togrog to help ensure that the expedition would be a success. 2,000 Togrog amounts to only about $2 but this is a large sum of money in Mongolia. In a country where the average monthly income is about $100 in Ulaanbaatar and even less in the countryside, this represented a significant personal contribution and an even greater gesture of encouragement and support.

_DSC0033

Maybe it was the combination of ayrag, vodka and homemade alcohol in my system that made me cry when this man passed me the worn and tattered bills. Maybe it was a sign of respect from one nomad to another… from the days of Chinggis Khan, Mongolians have been known for leading a nomadic lifestyle and this is a tradition that is still carried on today by the herders who carefully watch over their horses, sheep and goats. Ultimately, I think it was the fact that this complete stranger who welcomed me into his home and family and shared food and drink with me was willing to give me a gift on this very special occasion.Whatever the reason for his donation was, it was obvious that it was genuine and proved that I still have some soft spots left beneath my bearded exterior. Oh yeah… I have a beard now too for the first time in my life. I think it may be my attempt at portraying a tougher than usual appearance going into Siberia or it is possibly a sign of an impending mid-life crisis having recently turned 30.

By Steve Bouey | Posted in Mongolia, Trip Thoughts | Comments (2)