Cycle Tour - Ugii to Tsenkher - Mongolia - Day 1 (First Stage)

 Boortsog for breakfast. Deep fried sweet butter bread, with honey and sugar. Yum, yum, yum.

I am fascinated by the amount of vegetables that we get with our meals.  They are a garnish, not a serving.

Today we are riding from Ugii Lake to the Tsenkher Hot Springs, a distance of 109 km. Should take all day.  The vans  are all packed up and ready to go.

Before leaving on a journey to any distant destination, Sunn tsatsal - a milk sprinkling ceremony must be performed while facing in the direction one is to travel.

Milk sprinkling (suun tsatsal) 

Ritual milk sprinkling is practiced each morning. Harnessing the numerological power of the number 9, the supplicant, using a tsatsal—a long, wooden, spoon-like device having 9 indentations at the end to hold milk—spreads the life-giving liquid in the air 9 times. 

Joseph (Switz), Willy (Spain)  Eric (France), Tyler (USA), Sandy (USA), Batbayer (Mongolia), Pete (NZ), Emilian (France), Erik, Greg (USA). 

The track meandered around the lake edge.

Once we left Lake Ugii, the grasslands swept to the horizon, full of horses, goats, sheep, and birdlife. We came across this dwelling. 

Every now and then we would see groups of gers, cattle herds and birds. 

The sense of space surrounds you.

A flock of cranes.

Plenty of birds of prey as well.  Not sure if this is a Black Kite or a Falcon.

The trail just goes on and on to the horizon.

The obstacles are usually animal.

Crane in flight

As I am not cycling, I am travelling in the vans.  These support the riders, and carry all the water, snacks, and gear. We stopped to wait for the cyclists to get ahead, so they are not bothered by the vehicle noise. The drivers did maintenance while they waited.

Ger camp with animal shelters.

This fly species was interesting, it wouldn't come in the vehicle, just flew around outside, and rested on the metal parts.

You just had to experience the spaciousness.

White swans, a novelty for a New Zealander, where our swans are Black.

I could hear a clicking noise in the grasses and bushes, when I disturbed them, these red locusts flew by.

The bridge over the Orkhon river is not completed / under repair, so we have to cross through the water.

Willy didn't really seem to care if the radio got wet.

The first van got stuck on the stones, fortunately there was a Toyota Landcruiser available nearby to help pull it across the Orkhon river.

The riders had to tip out the water from their shoes, and check their gear.  There is a small settlement Ugiinuur in the distance. We will get fuel for the van there.

The Toyota pulling the first van across.

Our van's turn, and we got stuck too, and the Toyota couldn't pull us out, we needed the big boys toy.

The local Mongolians showed us how it was done. 

Toyota Prius appears to be the vehicle of choice, replacing the horse.

Not sure if this is a purple dandelion, or maybe some type of cornflower.

The township of Ugii nuur wasn't very large, we got fuel for the vans, and carried on.

CYM, pronouched Sum, is the word for town.

The emptiness of the landscape, the huge blue sky, and the never ending hills and plains, are beautiful.

Pink flowers on the trail

Ugii Nuur.

Lots of small butterflies.  Hard to photo, as they move fast.

It was about here that the sheer vastness of the Mongolian Steppes sunk in -- there wasn't a single building anywhere to be seen, and the grassland went off to the horizon in every direction.

More wildflowers.

Looking back where we had travelled. There are a couple of riders being tiny ants in the distance.

Snack and drink stop.  End of the first stage.

We are riding from Ugii Lake to the Tsenkher Hot Springs, a distance of 109 km. This will at take about  seven and a half hours, and climb just over a thousand metres.