Siberia and Mongolia 2010

Expedition Members

Lindsay Paul Read - ex Christchurch
Lance William Kerr - ex Christchurch
Jeffrey Michael Horne - ex Christchurch
James Turton Murdoch -ex Christchurch
Duncan Rex Storrier - ex Christchurch
Matthew Geoffrey Fallow -ex Sydney
Paul William Mullan - ex Sydney
Hugh Michael Neal - ex Wellington
John Alan Moodie - ex Christchurch
Ross Gerard Denton - ex Wellington
John Smitheram - ex Christchurch
Warren Donald - ex Christchurch
Wayne Peter Donald - ex Brisbane
Paul Wilkinson - ex Christchurch
David Watson - ex Christchurch
David Lionel Street - ex Christchurch
Giovanni Battista Giacomantowio - ex Brisbane
Paul David Tippet - ex Queenstown
Neville Kelly - ex Queenstown

Day 1-Friday 10th July

Giovanni Giacomantonio
1.30pm Brisbane to Auckland NZ136
6.30pm arrives Auckland

Hugh Neal, Ross Denton
6.00pm Wellington to Auckland arrives 7.00pm

Neville Kelly, Paul Tippet
Flight TBA Queenstown- AKL

John Moodie, Jeff Horne, James Murdoch, Duncan Storrier, David Watson, David Street., Lindsay Read, Lance Kerr. John Smitheram, Paul Wilkinson, Wayne Donald, Warren Donald, Neville Kelly,  Paul Tippet
3.45pm Departs Christchurch to Auckland arrives 5.05 NZ530

Accommodation
Airport Garden Inn. 9 twin and 1 single room includes Airport transfers

Day 2 -11th July

Paul Mullan and Mathew Fallow.
7.55am depart Sydney on Korean Airlines KE122
5.40pm Arrive Incheon International Airport, Seoul Korea
Main Group-
9.10am Depart Auckland Korean Air KE130
6.05pm Arrives Incheon International Airport, Seoul Korea Flight time 11.55 hours
7.10pm Depart Incheon International Airport KE867
9.10pm Arrive Buyant Uhaa Airport Ulaanbaatar Mongolia Flight time 3.30 hours

Arrive Mongolia and meet Chinzo
Accommodation
Hotel Mongolia

Tel: 976-11-323762
Fax: 976-11-325861
Cell: 976-99092224
Website: www.hotel-mongolia.com

In 9 stone Gers on River bank in Capital
Ulaanbaatar
http://www.hotel-mongolia.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=21&Itemid=63

Day 3-12th July

Collect hired 4WDs,  Fit Tow Bars, purchase supplies, clear customs and unpack container.
4pm Tour of Tiger Brewery’s
Accommodation:  
Hotel Mongolia

Tel: 976-11-323762
Fax: 976-11-325861
Cell: 976-99092224
Website: www.hotel-mongolia.com

In 9 stone Gers on River bank in Capital
Ulaanbaatar
http://www.hotel-mongolia.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=21&Itemid=63

Day 4-13th July

Visit the Naadam festival
Visit the Hunting Museum Ondor Gegeen Zanabazaryn Gudamji.
Later afternoon drive or boat upstream into the Gorkhi-tereli nature Reserve and back  
Hotel Gers on River bank in Capital
http://www.hotel-mongolia.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=21&Itemid=63

Day 5-14th July through to Day 9-18th July

Early start boating down the Tuul Gol River from camp and boating initially to Lun. Basically over the next 6 days we will make our way down stream toward the Russian boarder. There are a number of other rivers join the Tuul and how many of these we can venture up will depend on the daily progress. The Tuul river then joins the Orkhon and onto the Selenga.We will need to rotate 5 volunteers to drive trucks and meet up at respective river camps daily.
Accommodation
Local Ger or our own tents

Day 9-18th July

Early Am boarder crossing into Russia at Suhbaatar, then onto the Selenga River boating on to Ulan Ude
Accommodation Ulan-Udu

Day 10-19th July

Launch Selenginsk and boat down the Selenga River into the Delta of Lake Baykal
Camp in Bay near Istomino

Day 11-20th July

Boat across Baikal and up the Angara to Irkutsk
Accommodation-Irkutsk

Day 12-21st July

Repairs and clean up
Accommodation-Irkutsk

Day 13-22nd July to Day 17-26th July.

These 4 days will be spent in the Kitoy valley area Jet boating fishing and camping with some local contacts as well and a day Heli rafting

Day 18-27th July

Travel back to Ulaanbaatar

Day 19-28th July

Motor Bike riding- With Bikes hired from Chinzo. There are 12 bikes available for those that wish to do 2 days riding.

Day 20-29th July

Motor Bike riding- With Bikes hired from Chinzo –
Accommodation
Kempinski Hotel Khan Palace Ulaanbaatar
East Cross Road, Peace Avenue
Ulaanbaatar
PH +97611463463
Fax +97611463464
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Day 21-30th July

Finish packing and look around City
Accommodation
Kempinski Hotel Khan Palace Ulaanbaatar
East Cross Road, Peace Avenue
Ulaanbaatar
PH +97611463463
Fax +97611463464
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Day 20 -31th July

11.10pm Depart Buyant Uhaa Airport. Ulaanbaatar. Mongolia KE868
3.10am (Sunday 1st August) arrive Incheon International Airport. Flight time 3.00 hours
Complimentary Accommodation at Airport Hotel with Transfers

Day 21 -1st August

Free Day in Soul
Paul Mullan and Mathew Fallow
7.05pm Depart Incheon International Airport KE121
6.20am Arrives Sydney (2nd August)
Main Group
5.10pm Depart Incheon International Airport KE129
7.30am (Monday 2nd August) arrive Auckland. Flight time 11.20 hours

Day 22 2nd August

Christchurch  and Queenstown Group 11.00am Auckland to Christchurch NZ525 arrives 12.20.
Wellington Group 10.30am Auckland to Wellington arrives 11.30am
Brisbane Group 9.45am Auckland to Brisbane arrives 11.25am

Well it was a bit more like a reunion than the start of an expedition when we all met up in Auckland last night with two arriving from Brisbane, two out of Wellington and three separate groups coming in from Christchurch. One of the team was a little late after had having a couple of matters to deal with in Christchurch. This being shifting in to a new house and proposing, all in the 24 hours before departure. Congratulations Jane from the 18 of us!!!!

It’s been a testing week for the excellent travel agent at World Travelers with the New Zeeland passports arriving back 2 days before departure and the Brisbane guys having to fly to Sydney Friday to unsure they had them. All these hold ups were due to the Russian embassy and we strong suspect this could be our first taste of the bureaucratic issues that will that could test us while in Russia.

So it was a safe departure from Auckland Sunday morning on Korean Airlines for Soul, a one hour stop over and then we will be on to Ulaanbaatar the capital of Mongolia and www.hotel-mongolia.com

After an unfortunate nine hour delay in Soul due to thunderstorms we boarded at 2am and arrived together as a tied but complete group in Ulaanbaatar at 4.30am to be met by Chinzo our local contact who has supplied the trucks for the next 3 weeks.

So off we went in our right hand drive 80 series Toyota Land cruisers in a country were you drive on the right hand side, Challenging!!!. We choose to go directly from the Airport to the storage yard were our container is held in. The container was shipped from New Zealand 3 months ago to Beijing and trained through to Mongolia then was customs cleared ready for our arrival. The tow vehicles and tow-bars have been one of our bigger challenges on previous  expeditions so for this trip a great deal of effort was put into having Tow-safe Tow bars in Christchurch build for us 5 tow bars that fitted up perfectly. So within 2 hours of arriving in UB we had quality tow bars secured onto 5 trucks, the container unloaded, the boats lifted off using our own “Kiwi” build crane that attaches to the side of the container and were on our way to the Mongolian Hotel on the bank of the Tuul to check into our traditional Mongolian Gers. (a Type of tent the Nomads use)

The rest of our first day in Mongolia was spent visiting the annual Nadam festival, a bizarre event were the country shows off its national sports of Wresting, Archery and horse racing. So there we sit, at an event that is more like an A & P show, and watch one thousand grown men wrestling each other  to the ground until there is a champion, all in front of a massive crowd that all cheer for their regional hero. Then the call goes out at 1.30 “Mr Duncan we must leave now last horse race 3.00pm” and just like you see on the TV once clear of the city we race in our 4WDs along with many others across the vast open plans into the country side without roads. After an hour of bouncing across the grassy planes we come onto a massive valley probably 10km wide and 30km long full of tents and tribes of horseman all there to show off their Mongolian horses.

In Mongolia the minimum age for a Jockey is 6years and they are considered past if at the age of 10, The racers can be up to 30km long and finishing is the first milestone.

Last night we were joined by Al Sime and his business partner Mike Gorman. Al runs Jet Boat tours on the Waimak river back in NZ and spends the NZ winter up in Mongolia establishing a Jet boat tour business on the Tuul. Mike’s based in Japan and sends Fish from Independent Fishery's into Mongolia, nice to meet up with these guys and especially when the owner of Independent back in NZ has been a great supporter of our expeditions.

Tomorrow we will arrange fuel, food and supplies then at 3pm we will boat up river with the many expats that have helped us for a thank you BBQ and an early night.

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Today was the last day of the Naadam Holiday season and the hot Sunny weather brought massive crowds down to the river swimming and barbequing. The Tuul River is 2 foot lower than normal which has made it marginal for running River Boats. We planned a short run upstream along with the many expats that have assisted. This included Peter Allport the Honorary Consulate of Mongolia who only a week earlier from his office in New Zealand issued our Visas.

The first couple of Boat loads of people to run up river were greeted by massive crowds of happy young ones and families enjoying the spectacle of our unusual craft passing up river and enjoyed splashing us and cheering. Unfortunately Mongolia has an major alcoholism problem amongst the older male population and couple of these guys choose to throw rocks, one hitting a boat driver in the head. The trips upstream where abandoned and we set up BBQ on the river out front of the Hotel.

Today was the start of our ascent down the Tuul in very low river conditions initial through Ulaanbaatar and continuing on down stream toward the north.

The truck drivers stayed in town to arrange some further supplies that will be needed for our entry into Russia. This was an adventure in itself, on the second attempt we managed to find a black market number plate manufacture that for a small fee made 4 plates in under 5 minutes with numbers that matched the serial number of the boats and our Carnet for entry into Russia, next stop was for trailer lights that comply with Russian regulation.

Meantime the boats proceeded on down stream. Today's boat drivers are Jeff, James, John S and Neville. Modern technology allow us to track the boats initial progress (which was very slow) by receiving text GPS co-ordinates transmitted from the Spot track and grid referencing them to the maps. This worked fine until we lost phone coverage.

The boats met a very skinny river passing through Ulaanbaatar with the river splitting many times making progress slow through the old industrial area of communist Mongolia. The biggest obstacle being an old steel girder bridge which blocked the river. The boats were run aground and pushed around the bridge ends, a large digger working nearby, also helped us drag the boats down river to deeper water. The river soon opened up a little and provided some braided challenges, a few large pushes in the rain resulted. We pushed on for many more hours through the skinny, dodging as many horses as shingle/sand bars. After numerous cooling issues, a dead starter motor and the sun setting at 8pm we eventually had to make camp on the river bank some 260km from our launching spot. It was a tough night as gale force winds and rain destroyed the camp with most spending the night in the trucks, Hugh sleeping on top of the spare engine due to space shortages!

Most were up early after very little sleep as the bed was a Toyota for 5. We gather up what was left of the camp site destroyed in he storm and headed downstream closer to the Russian border. We only traveled a few km and the white boat suffered overheating problems, worse than experienced the day before. Investigation revealed a blown head gasket and all the boats were trailered. Heading 10 hours down stream to give us a breather to work on the motor. This was a adventure in itself as we spent 8 hours driving through the plains of Mongolia by GPS climbing over large hills and plains 30km across, driving along tire tracks or fields only. At this stage the white boat Discovery is out of action until we can repair the head, although we are attempting to get parts out of Russia. Enjoying a great campsite tonight before boating our second river which should take us to the border.

After overnight in the middle of nowhere we launched the 3 boats in the Tuul river again boating about 6-8 km down stream until the Orhon river joined. The extra water from the Orhon made the boating much easier. The river weaved across the valley floor through some truly beautiful country side. The first stop was to met a local family living in their Ger on the river bank after taking the family for a Boat ride the family generously welcomed us into their humble home, the traditional Ger.

Moving on down river to the first bridge and or first meeting point with the truck and extra fuel. While we waited the locals gathered, we saw snakes in the grass but the classic moment was meeting up the with the family with their horses all penned up under the bridge, we took the chief horse milker for a ride and then Hugh helped milk a horse and drunk the milk, a strong Mongolian tradition amongst the herder families.

After re-fueling the boats we continued on to what was to be our next meeting point. The trucks were unable to get to the take out point due to a washed out road. Low on fuel the boats continued on looking for a small tributary river to turn into and meet the trailers. Seemed we missed this turn and finished up continuing to Orhon and the trucks arrived to collect us. By the end of the day it was another 260km.

We back tracked by road to Darkhan the second largest city plan to use Saturday to catch up on Maintenance and prepared the equipment for the Russian boarder.

We have had excellent weather but every day we seem to get a very nasty Thunderstorm. Yesterday the rain was bouncing off the river surfaces making the boat navigation very difficult.

P.S We are hearing stories of extreme cold and frost in NZ. Sorry to say its 30 degrees plus today!!!!!!

Today we have started with re wiring the trailers and truck plugs in order to have lights for Russian in order to avoid the corrupt place, We have found a machine shop that have been able to machine some changes to a drive block and this should enable us to fit a replacing engine in the Discovery boat. The old engine has been lifted out by (by hand) and hopefully this afternoon we will have 4 boats boating again.

Today we have a birthday in the team “Happy Birthday David”! It seems like David’s lucky day is Saturday as the day the Bars are closed!!!!!

Everyone is well, we have done 500km of boating so far. There have been no major safety concerns and the team enjoying the mix of Camping and the odd Hotel as well as sharing the Boat rides with some time in the truck on the road.

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The drive to the Border.

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After an attempt to cross the border last night we lined up again at 6.45 this morning, only to be greeted by dozens of locals who had stayed the night in the Queue. Reams of paper work and official documents meant we crossed into Siberia after 7 long hours and
traveling just a few hundred meters. All trucks and boats undergoing a full X-Ray, the spare engine in the back of the land cruiser attracting some attention.

Just kilometers into Siberia the country side went from grass mountains and valleys to wooded lands with the temperature an unexpected 38 c. One tow vehicle suffered a radiator issue and over heated, it was nursed into town over a few hours.

Our budget of US$50 per night has not exceeded US$6 however this is reflected in the room quality! The radiator is out for repair and we are preparing a BBQ dinner tonight. All are well and tomorrow we will try to boat to Lake Baikal.

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Welcome to Russia where everyone drives Lada's, drink a bottle of Vodka each day (before lunch) and things move at a much different pace. The trip progress has slowed a little in the last 48 hours as we find ourselves dealing with the Russian ways! Half way through the border crossing the guard processing our carnet takes lunch, just when you get to the front of the queue at the bank the counter shuts and on it goes.

On the drive from the border we had over heating problems with a truck and as a consequence arrive in Ulaan-Ude later than planned but to a truly priceless Russian Guest House. The owner promptly opened his garage, called the neighbours and put on a show that would make New Zealand's most professional radiator repair centre look pitiful, the front of the truck was dismantled, the radiator removed, stripped and the car dip stick pushed through the blocked core tubes. The customary way to show appreciation apparently is to drink vodka with them while they work, it was a long night!

By daylight the 5 well presented Toyota Land Cruisers supplied by www.drivemongolia.com are back on the road. First stop was a boat run through the city of Ulaan-Ude taking with us the guest house owners family and overnight helpers.

Yesterday's delays and the unexpected size of the Selenga River have meant a bit of a rearranged of the itinerary and are spending this afternoon driving to Irkutsk were we will meet Roman. Roman is a local we meet via the web and has been building his own jet unit and very keen to see how our craft work. We will head further west with him to his home valley and the Kitoy river. The Kitoy is known as the pearl of the Sayan Mountains.

The Russian Police are well known for trying to export money, fortunately we have only been stopped the once so far and had no issues. The only other police check point we approached turned out to be a cardboard cut out so no issues for us.

The Russian landscape is certainly a huge contrast to that of Mongolia. We spent days in Mongolia driving across vast plans never seeing a tree. Today we are driving through scenic mountains cover in Silver birch around the edge of Lake Baikal, the largest and deepest fresh water lake in the world.

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We finally made it to Irkutsk about 9.30pm after a long afternoon driving around Lake Baikal. We were met on the road into town by Roman and his brother. Roman kindly helped us through the city to a Hotel on the centre square of town. The boats were all locked up in the compound, which we later found out was charged by the hour, welcome to the city! After much bragging over the last 2 weeks about saving the group money with $3.00 per night hotels and camping the budget blew out and we checked into a very flash looking hotel, complete with a casino and London Pub!! We thought we were in for a real night of luxury, however once we checked in and went up to the rooms we found the rooms to be not much better the $3 or $4 hotels previously stayed in!

Roman joined us for dinner and enthusiastically shared with us some info on his area. A plan was hatched.

Wednesday morning we gathered some supplies, fuel etc and then waited!!!! Apparently it is law in Russia to register with immigration within 72 hours of entering the country. We had already spent one night in Russia unregistered so the hotel held all our passports and slowly (Russian style!!!) registered us. We finally got on the road for the 40km drive to Roman's fathers house arriving at 3.30pm.

What followed over the next 6 or 8 hours was the most truly Russian example of traditional hospitality one could imagine. Romans mother and mother in-law had spent the whole day preparing a spread of traditional dishes that were all laid out in a small out building that we all squeezed into. The ladies left about 6pm followed by Roman producing the 2 x 3litres and 1 x 2litres of Russia's best Vodka that he had been keeping in the freezer. He insisted on a number of toasts and nights mood lightened. After the meal it was into the banya, the traditional Russian sauna. This is were about a dozen grown, mostly over weight men sit together lightly hitting each other with Silver Beech leaves until one passes out and then dash regally to the ice cold pool set up outside!

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We launched the Boats next to Roman's fathers house, 5 jet boats including Roman's. His boat and jet unit have been entirely hand made by himself with information he has read and collected from the web. For Roman, an enthusiast of water jet propulsion (and in a country were the concept is not common) this was a big day, to have a bunch of Kiwis turn up in his town with Hamilton boats and Jet Units. There were so many questions and things he wanted to understand and learn more about.

There was some speculation amongst our crew that Roman's boat may be slow and could hinder the trips progress, others had been around Jet Boats long enough to know when to say nothing. It started off with us needing deeper water than him to get started, and once we were all underway the smiling Russian accelerated away from us and for the rest of the day lead us up river at a faster pace then we had been traveling at.

Romans boat is power with a Toyota Lexus complete with the car dash and even a GPS Speedo. The bottom in flat steel with tin sides and a cabin big enough to sleep 4.

We proceeded upstream stopping about 120km to meet Romans friend in his Russian van. Sergay had ferried our fuel up to the end of the road and the site for our over night camp. After refueling we continued upstream another 40km into the scenic gorge of the Kitoy valley through some grade 3 rapids then returning to set up camp. On the way down stream stopping to catch fish and view the wild life, Warren stayed with the Russians returning to camp just before dark. Sergay is a local trap hunter so for the guys in our crew keen on hunting stories were shared.

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An early start saw the camp packed up and off down stream back to the trailers, after loading up we returned to Romans to discuss jet units and an exchange of thank yous before getting on the road again doing about 200km back to Irkutsk then on around the lake to over night camp beside the lake. This turned out to be another example of salubrious Russian accommodation. A type of summer camp covering 50 acres with a huge gathering of run down out buildings, lawns 4 foot high, 21 of us share 3 cabins and still managed to get robbed !!!!. All the medical gear, one full bag of gear and various wallets gone.

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An 8am on time departure from our taste of summer camp Russian style a bit lighter on gear and off to the Selenga River, here we meet with some of Chinzo's ("Sand Shoes" as easier to pronounce!) friends and John Smitheram took them for a spin around the launching area, then we loaded all the boats with 5 people and headed of down river through the many meandering channels of the Selenga Baikal Delta that lead their way towards the river mouth, Duncan lead in his boat with Tipper driving John Smitheram's boat followed by Neville with Jeff being tail end charlie, Nev had a small over heating problem but with help from Lance and Jeff it was soon fixed and we were cris crossing our way towards the lake.

The size of the lake was hard to describe away off in the distance we could see the other side and could not see either end of it. Hugh stripped off and jumped into the lake for a wash as showers have been few and far between. We then followed Duncan back towards the entrance to the river and he lead us all through a large patch of weed, with the help of James who stripped of and cleared all our grills we were soon heading back up stream following our GPS to ensure we did not get lost. Once back on the trailers we headed for Ulaan-ede, the road trip saw us having to slowly drive past a serious road crash reminding us of just how careful we need to be on the roads with the amazing style of driving. It seems that the rules are stay on the wrong side as long as you can, our vehicles are right hand drive and they drive on the right side of the road putting the passenger in the chicken seat. We arrived at 9pm to a Motel very wary and tired after some very long days.

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A very early start and on the road back to the Russian Mongolian border, in the early hours of the morning traffic was light and we made good time arriving 9.30am. After 3 hours walking between about 8 different offices getting all sorts a bits paper stamped we processed. The Border cross wasn't made easier when the chief paper stamper was drunk 10.00am), another guy writes on a piece of paper USD20, when I pass him a 20 he prompt puts it in his pocket and stamps my truck documents, seems from sharing stories afterward the fee was a little less for some others. While waiting at the boarder our head chef Warren Donald and his 2IC Paul Tippet knocked up another great feed. I don't think some of the "city folk" on the trip have seen meals so fine prepared in the bush as our 2 rural lads have.

We said our good byes to Russia and were welcomed back into Mongolia by the friendly Mongolian's. The first example being pulling in to the fuel stop and the friendly young girl smiling and filling up all the trucks, an absolute contrast to the most frustrating refueling in Russia. A complete fill of all the trucks, boats and cans is around 1000 litres and in one situation it had to be prepaid in 80 litre lots, so its normal for an hour and a half to fill in Russia and 15min in Mongolia.

Tomorrow we have another special event. Chinzo will celebrate his birthday. Chinzorig Chuluunbaatar started assisting us 8-10 months ago with planning this trip, he is a Mongolian local and part owner of Golden Square company and www.drivemongolia.com. Chinzo and his large team run a fleet of rental cars, 4 wheel drives and motor bikes. They provide everything from a rental, a guided tour through to complete logistics support for foreign expeditions. We hired 5 of Chinzo trucks to fit our tow bars to and he has joined us for the entire trip along with one of his staff. Over the 3 weeks travelling the way we have patients and temperaments are tested and each of us would have to say that Chinzo's tireless efforts and assistance have kept this expedition rolling smoothly.

We were lucky that Duncan had made contact with Eznis Air who offered to use us as guinea pigs for a new scenic flight around Mongolia based out of Ulaanbaatar, all 19 off us plus a few from Drive Mongolia arrived and checked in at around 10.30 in the morning after a few got lost on the way to the airport. The flight took us north to Tegrel National Park and then down towards the Gobie desert in a 38 seater Saab. John Moodie managed to spot 12 fish from 3000 metres with his good hunting eyes, Paul Mullan and Jeff were lucky enough to sit in the jump seat and get some good video and photos from the cockpit. The flight was scheduled for 1 hour but ran out to an hour and half and gave us all a different perspective on the country.

Once we got off the plane Jeff lead us back into town were we meet up with Tony and Kelly (two ex pat Kiwis working in the mining industry) and headed off to the army training grounds, again a few trucks temporarily lost but we all re-grouped and found ourselves being offered the option to shoot a big variety of rifles, machine guns, pistols and an RPG! Paul Mullan, Mathew Fallow and Paul Tippett all hitting the target (an old car) with the RPG - the sounds, the blast of air, and buzz were amazing. Next saw most people shooting the AK47's and a variety of other guns and pistols, the top gun was Warren Donald. We then drove down to an army barracks and our guide put his head through the wooden fence and ordered an army tank, a 1937 T55 for some of us to drive and shoot at targets, Paul Mullan, Ross, Willy, Johnny Jack, Duncan, Wayne and Mathew Fallow drove the tank some 4 kilometres over rough ground to the firing range while the rest travelled in the Landcruisers. Johnny Jack and James fired a 150mm round at a target and the blast blew the windows out of the third floor observation building some of us were in.

After this we went to the officer's barracks for a meal which was bits of either old sheep or goat including teeth, necks etc.
We then headed back to UB (Ulanbataar) with all still on a high from a great day. Most were in bed early ready for our next day's adventures.

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Tuesday 27th

An early start of 8am was organized but you soon learn that Mongolian time is up to plus 4 hours. Johnny Jack, Two Donald Ducks, Hugh, James, David Street, Paul Wilkinson, Mathew Fallow and Lindsay (the fastest) plus their guide rode Motorbikes through UB and then on a very scenic cross country tour past some luxurious 7 star plus lodges in the Tegrel National Park then contrasted with abandoned towns with a dozen 4 storey blocks of "flats" that appeared to be occupied by squatters, "lifestyle blocks" and then on to our accommodation. James, Hugh and Johnny Jack all had spills off the bike but with no injuries.

The balance of the people driven by Jeff, Duncan, Neville and John Smitheram followed Al Syme (from Darfield New Zealand who operates a jet boat tour business in UB) up the Tuul River. This soon turned out to be a very challenging trip with the first 30 kms taking 3 hours. The river split numerous times and Nev managed to throw two of his passengers out when he tried some wet stone boating. Duncan after making many comments about others boating skills, was soon in need of a tow back into boatable water by Jeff. Only to shortly later see Duncan towing both Jeff and Nev back into the water. Our passengers did quite a bit of walking between the shallow areas where only one person could stay in the boat.

After some time we came to an old wooden bridge under repair with a low wire across the river. This needed lifting so we could get past - we later found out it was a three phase feed for the workers tools! After many lengthy discussions as to where we were on the river we found our selves at our destination and meet up with those who had ridden motor bikes. Again the buzz was high as we had boated some amazing low rivers today and the bikes had crossed some impressive country some 180 plus kilometers. Some then headed further up river for even more challenging boating, Tippet took Duncan's boat but didn't get far before it got a cooling system blocked and over heated, after temporary repairs it returned to our base for the night, Hugh drove good old faithful Duncan's white boat and was on such a high when he parked it he was some 70 metres from the water on dry land, Jeff after helping Tippett with his heating problems took off and found he had limited right hand steering this saw some grazing boating to get back to base. All in all today was what jet boating is all about with all helping push or repair when needed.

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Last evening saw us "camp" at Khan Jims in very good Ger's compared to some of the minus 3 star accommodation we have had, we enjoyed a quiet drink or two with the locals and then Jeff had a crack at ordering dinner, which was great until we found out he had ordered enough food for 40 people not 19, all in all it was better that being left hungry.
We had sent "Reebok" one of our guides helpers back to town with Al Syme to get a trailer (he forgot to get it and drove a truck only back) for Duncan's boat, which had earlier cooked an alternator, and later over heated melting the throttle cable, leaving Tippy steering, Johnny Jack holding the bilge switch on and James operating the throttle at the carb to get it back to the camp, meanwhile whilst Jeff and Lance were helping they got a stone stuck in the steering and had full lock left but only a quarter lock right which made for entertaining boating down the many skinny tree covered channels.
Hugh was on a high after boating up river in Discovery and when got back to the camp he beached it some 70 metres from the rivers edge.

The next morning saw our usual 8am start and the standard hunting for keys to trucks and vehicles and the jump starting of vehicles, we then headed off for our group photo at an amazing statue of Ghengis Khan some 35 metres high and made of polished stainless steel sitting in a unpopulated area which has been the scene for many a movie over the years.
After this the two Donalds, Doc, John Moodie, Dave Watson, Lindsay, Tippy, Paul Mullins and John Jack headed off on the motor bikes back to UB and all commented on the great scenery and vastness of the country they rode through.

David Street had a reaction to the food Jeff ordered the night before and started the day a bit under the weather so rode back with Mathew in a truck to UB. Duncan and Sand Shoes took a truck and followed the river in case the trip down for the jet boats was as hard as the day before.

Jeff, John and Nev drove a boat each and had a few small pushes until about half way down didn't make it through a skinny tree lined area, but as luck would have it Duncan just appeared out of nowhere and towed the boat back into the river at "speed" from here on down the river split many times making for some great boating, similar to the Ashburton or Ashley in low flow.

With all boats safely back at UB and on trailers we had a great lunch at Hotel Mongolia and headed in to town for our accommodation and to wait for the bike riders to come back with their stories, Wayne had been pushing his bike hard and had a wee spill, but suffered little or no injury.

The hour meter on Jeff's boat indicated some 27.5 engine hours of boating whilst the gps indicated some 48 hours on the rivers and some 1300 kilometers traveled, which was a great result given the unknown rivers and roads we had to travel.

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Cleaning, cleaning, cleaning, cleaning and packing!