Last day in the van

Position: Altay foot hills, 3 km south of Altai city

Mongolians have a very broad definition of what constitutes a road. After spending nearly 2 hours in a ditch (our driver had to jack the car up 3 times to get out of the salt flat mud) and almost flipping the van, I was glad when we pulled into Altai.

Once in Altai we had to check off a list of errands: we required 70 L of water, air for our buggy tires, some last rations for the road, and finally some petrol for our MSR stove. The 70 L of water was the most difficult to locate. Quite early on we had eliminated the possibility of buying bottled water, partly because of the cost and more so, what would we do with 70 bottles? The remaining option was to locate a well, which our driver found for us in the center of a small ger suburb on the edge of Altai. The water source was operated by an elderly woman who continually smiled as she operated the valves that controlled the flow of water coming out of a large black tube. While we filled up our water carrying bags, locals periodically arrived on motorcycle carrying immense vessels to be filled with water, and carted it back to their gers.

After all was done, we drove out into the steep, about 3km from town, in an attempt to avoid the various power lines that sprawl outward from the city. Generally power lines will be a nuisance and not a threat, forcing us to land our kites and haul our buggies until we are clear of the cables. If the wind cooperates and the lines are high enough we may be able to kite under them, although this risky business has Curtis worried.

For the rest of the evening, we huddled the tent with our driver over a bottle of vodka and some chocolate, learning some key Mongolian phrases. Apparently an important one is "nokhoigoo" which is somewhat like a greeting, but literally means "call off the dogs".

Eric