September 21

We woke up fairly early and it was Tunga's youngest son's 5th birthday.  He posed for a few photos for us in his best Ferrari jacket.  Tunga speaks excellent English, she went to Michigan State University on exchange for a year organised by some seppos she had met.  We started the day pushing into a solid wind which would stick around until the end of the day.  The first 13km was a terrible road of gravel, potholes and rocks which made the going extremely slow. Stunning views across Tsagaan Nuur (the lake) with mountains rising up on each side.  The whole way along the lake it felt like we were travelling uphill even though common sense said it was flat.  Stopping for noodles near a nomad camp to block the wind, they then offered their house to sleep.  We rode on a little further to the the very small town of Tsagaanuur and found a shop where we finally got the old duck to cook up some soup.  After a few more hours riding we decided to camp behind a shop in a tiny community of gers.  Very friendly people, we were offered milk, biscuits and other unidentifiable food.  While we cooked dinner the herders were still out working until it was quite dark.  It was a tiring day and we were asleep not long after dinner.

Poser

First and only flat tyre

Camping with some excited locals