Lots of camping, lots of being outdoors, getting lots of exercise.
I have a massive challenge to go and prepare for and then do.
This is a really, really beautiful place to camp.
It looks really alien and foreign and brilliant and gorgeous.
During the night I heard wolves howling.
It's a lot of time spent just pedaling basically.
It's going to become monotonous quite soon
if things don't change in a particularly significant way.
Definitely ready for a day off.
We decided this morning that we would try and get the 70 kilometres finished to Murran.
And it's been pretty tough going. Tom's got cold as well.
So he's sort of suffering with that but basically pushing on through.
Good night's sleep, some good food and some beer and that sort of thing.
Just basically relax and chill out and get our minds back.
I can't believe I just said get our minds back. What the fuck am I on about?
Let me just say that again. We're going to go to Murran and we're going to chill out, have a rest
and eat some good food, get some good night's sleep.
It's been a very long two weeks to get here.
That's for sure. Time always seems to go a lot slower when you're doing this kind of trip.
We're staying in a guest house. It's called Beigel's Guest House.
There's a couple of girls here and we're staying in a girl which is the girl in the corner.
It's very simple, very basic but the owner is very lovely and puts a lot of effort into running this guest house.
Hi Beigel. So this is Beigel and she's our host.
And really looking after us at the moment which is great.
Making us some lovely food and we're having a very comfortable stay.
Thank you. So thank you very much.
Basically I love these places. I think they're incredible little constructions.
It's incredibly simple but when you come into it it doesn't feel like a tent or something.
It feels like a physical dwelling actually.
If you're outside in the middle of the day it's really hot.
If you come into the girl it's sort of a moderate temperature. It's really nice.
In the centre there's usually a stove just here for cooking.
The chimney goes up and goes through the cartwheel in the top for an opening.
This can be adjusted so you can take out panels to let more light in and let more air in.
It's a cultural dwelling which is worked for Mongolian people.
And it's still in use and it's still the same design but it's still the same sort of basic design.
And it's a little wonder really because you come into it and it's lovely and cosy.
It's got this really nice feel to it.
Something about it being round is really nice.
I don't know what it is. Maybe it's because there's no corners to hide in or whatever.
I don't know. It's just a sort of circular shape.
It's got some rabbits in here. Some little albino rabbits.
There obviously not being enough to eat yet but at the moment they look quite sweet, quite cute.
Do you think they're meant for eating?
I think they're for the dog.
Thank you for the wrap.
It was unfortunate that I caught this cold.
I guess it must be the one that Andy turned up with three weeks ago when I first met him.
He's since recovered but I've now come down with it and so we're having a few days off for me to basically recuperate.
It's not been what I expected in Mongolia.
I expected it to be much more traditional in terms of the way of life.
And what I guess I really mean is I had a romantic idea of what it was going to be like.
It's been interesting to see the way that people approach us.
It's been very different to anywhere else I've travelled.
I've travelled in about 30, more than 30 countries by bike now.
And here it's very, very different.
People will come up to us and get off their motorbike or out of their car and just wander around our bikes,
prodding bits, checking bits, squeezing the tyres.
That's an old favourite.
And then ask what we're doing, where we're going, spend a few more minutes,
just contemplating our existence without really saying anything.
And it's not like they're waiting for us to speak either, it's very kind of...
We would call it an uncomfortable silence but for them it's just silence.
It's normal.
So that's taken a bit of getting used to.
Quite a social event at the top of a hailing Mongolia actually, you'd be surprised.
The weather's been quite surprised, the unsettled nature of the weather has really taken us by surprise.
That might go through past us but you'd have to give me the camera and say it's going to piss us down.
And the kit that we're using, the bikes that we're using, they're really being put to their full use now
and that's a really nice feeling to know that we don't have overbuilt bikes for the terrain.
This is basically what we originally built the bikes to do, to tackle this kind of stuff.
It's really good to put them through their paces.
Pretty much every single Mongolian we've met on the road between Burgana and Murom has said,
Hovskull, are you going to Hovskull?
That is actually ridiculous, isn't it?
That's incredible. I've never seen anything like that in my life.
It was definitely worth the push, that's for sure.
This is basically what we were trying to do, make it more interesting.
This is basically where no vehicle can come.
No!
So close.
Yet so far.
When you find a place like this, it really is kind of like a kind of gulp of fresh air.
It's like, oh thank God, or thank whatever, there is still a place like this existing in the world
which hasn't been overrun by tourist resorts or logging companies or fisheries or mining corporations
or what have you.
In a world where so many places like this have actually been kind of abused in those kinds of ways.
So, that's where we are, that's where we are.
That's where we are.
That's where we are.
