Northwest Mongolia

Published on September 9 2014

So now I continue here with a bit of a delay as internet in Mongolia and Russia was scarce and/or so slow that uploading images was not an option....

When entering Mongolia in the far Northwest corner in the Altai mountains we actually did not get very far, just about 40 km from the border and found nice spot to stay on top of a hill. A typical way to find a spot with a view here...: "ah that mountain looks nice... lets just drive straight up....vroooom :-)"

On top of this first one I thought to have a perfect spot to repair a tire that was pierced by a 10mm bolt. Fixing the tire was relatively easy but as it deflated it came off the rim and I could not get it inflated anymore.... Full change of a wheel...with 130 kg a bit of hard work but as I "smartly" chose a cool day with 30 to 35 kn winds I did not waste a drop of sweat...

welcome on the dirt roads....

The culprit and the hole

the wheel had to come down

Luckily I was fed well for strength :-)

some time for a hike, the views were nice!

After a short stay to get the wheel fixed (with good tips from the Unimog forum guys:-) in the next town "Ugly" mmm...Olgii we headed even further West to the lakes in the Mongolian Altai. One does need a special permit here as the area is close to the Chinese and Russian borders but it was easy to obtain in Ugly.

first driving along a beautiful river valley one finally arrives at the lakes.... unfortunately the lakeshore was infested with bugs so we camped higher up