A little detained (by a man with a gun) on a wonderful winter walk

It was a mild day, but with a cutting 10km wind dropping the -19C to around -30C. That said after walking through the park over the 'waste' ground and up the road to the river we turned into the wind and headed east for the first time. It was fun, there were a bunch of kids playing what we used to be call 'murder ball' on the ice. A kind of no rules rugby, they were having fun but it looked  both tough and cold.
We passed groups of men pruning/coppicing trees at the side of the river - probably collecting the sticks for something, but for what I have no idea. Further down the river the ice was regularly lying on the surface in glistening chunks, far prettier than the glistening vodka bottles that will replace them in the summer.

Now that's what I call an ice 'cube'

The stroll was pleasant despite the wind in the face. It was interesting to see the tracks cut into the snow both on the actual river and on the hillside to the south. Clearly the weather does not effect our Mongolian hosts as they continue to walk, play, ride and drive just about anywhere.

I wonder if the ice cracked before after or while the cars were using it...

The walk home was warmer and with the wind at our backs positively pleasant. However as we cut across the waste ground and back into the park we heard a shout from behind us and were eventually caught by a young man in uniform. He chirped away in Mongolian and was not for letting us go on our way. A quick phone call to a Mongolian speaker, and we handed over Sarah's phone and there was a lot more chirping. Then his tubby little mate turned up sporting a much more assured air and a holster containing something, might have been a pistol or he might just have been pleased to see us.  There was more chirping over Sarah's phone and we were marched back to the road. Our ID's were photographed, our bags searched and after yet more phone calls and translations we were sent on our way down the road. Apparently we had entered the land 'inappropriately' and had crossed protected land. The fact that I had been doing this at least twice a week since August and that we were quite literally walking in the footprints of  many many others seems to have escaped this particular 'guard'. At one point in our proxy communication it seems our translator threatened to have him reported to the human rights commission for detaining and searching us for no good reason. It was at this point that he said he would apologise for the inconvenience caused if we apologised for...well... being there.  Another expat was watching all this from across the road with a smile on his face and a beagle at his feet. Apparently this particular guard seems to like rousting expats and had 'detained' him  previously. Apparently the waste land is protected land and despite the fact it is scheduled to become part of the park within the next 10 years, it is at present under the protection of the military and this particular member of the military takes his 'protection' duties very seriously. It is after all his job so why not, I take my job seriously. Oh well it's all experience.  Personally I think our detention may have been something to do with a show of power to the largest group I have ever seen walking up the road - at least 30 young ladies were strolling at the side of the road and I think maybe these two young soldiers just wanted to be noticed. Sadly for our new soldier friends the girls had gone by the time they got us back to their hut at the roadside.

UB Drifting

That's the river that is!

The pictures say it all.

So in 2 days I've run on the frozen river, dog sledded on the frozen river and watched as some blokes played in cars on the river, haven't seen the guys playing skittles but I'm told there is a tournament tomorrow.
These frozen rivers seem to be pretty social places. I bet they miss them when the water is flowing.
Silly me - when the river is flowing they sit, chat, picnic and drink - why would they miss the ice - unless you have a high performance car you like to send sideways?

Walking on Water

Or in my case running on water. Ok so it's water that has been kept at a temperature of -10c or below for around 3 months so it's had a pretty good time to harden up.

It was beautiful on the river today, sun was shining, people were out playing, folk were walking, and the occasional car was out for a drive, all on the river, not the river banks, on the actual river.

 A small brass square, with the edges rounded off and with 4 steel pins in the corners is hurled down the ice, a bit like skimming stones, as it spins it makes a great noise. The purpose as far as I can tell is to take out the 'big' wooden barrel in middle. I think he said it was worth 5 points with decreasing value the further away from the centre you get. Some one shouts out the scores as they happen, another sits on a large polystyrene block and keeps score, while several others just get boots in the way of the spinning pieces to stop them going for miles. So what with the noise of the piece skimming along the ice, the shouting of scores, the cheers of encouragement and the sound of quite a heavy brass shape thudding into the felt soles of step boots, it's not a peaceful pastime. I must learn some Mongolian, enough at least to exchange pleasantries and hopefully find out more. We have seen it played on strips no more than 25m long, this one was at least 40m.

If you like your running flat it is a great place to go, beautiful in the sun, and with the right gear good fun. Even with my Yaktrax runner spikes/springs system there were times when grip was hard to come by. You certainly had to keep your centre of gravity right over your feet, so lots of small steps. There were also some unnerving cracking noises occasionally, and with hot water from leaking pipes finding it's way into the river in a few places, you had to pay attention. For the most part I was running on hard packed snow, on top of an awful lot of ice. In places the whole river was smooth and packed down, in others I ran on the 'road', at least I would be safe on the road, even I don't weigh as much as a car.

one of the 'slip roads' and my way off the motorway

The road just keeps going.

 Maybe next time I'll see just how far you can go!

"Great steaming drains Batman, it's cold"

With the heating and hot water (not that we'd know much about hot water) being provided centrally there is a great network of pipes running throughout the city. Some are underground, some above it and most of them leak, so steam rises out of the ground and some rivers/streams continue to run, at least for a little way. Of course once the steam has risen - it freezes again creating some interesting snow/ice sculptures.

More steam rising from the next manhole a bit further up the road. (Those of you in the UK may not recognise the big yellow shiny thing to the left of the picture, it's called the sun, you may have forgotten what it looks like.)

Our walk continued as it often does out to the river and along the embankment. The river is unsurprisingly frozen over completely now,  and is now in use as a thoroughfare. There is a well worn 'road', many other car tracks, and a number of 'footpaths' all clearly visible on what was at one point a flowing river. Sadly the low sun meant the photos did not come out, but as I'm planning on making the river a bit of a run sometime in the next couple of weeks I'll try and get some pictures then.

One of the 'riverside' gers was inhabited and the stove was on, burning cheap coal (rather than tyres) by the smell. Just to emphasize how well suited to this environment those dwellings are, despite the stove belching out smoke and the inside undoubtedly warm and cosy as a result, there was still a layer of snow and ice on the roof, that showed no signs of melting. Now that's insulation.

It was a beautiful day. The track was easy walking, and ... umm...driving - they will drive anywhere, sticking to the roads is simply not part of the psyche.

The riverside embankment/dyke, if it's wide enough for a car and this section is, it gets driven on.

It was a lovely walk but it was cold, the ski pants and all the gear worked well, though we could both have done with jackets that came a little lower and covered a bit more of us and as ever there was the constant battle with visibility, steamed up/frozen up glasses and a frost nipped nose.

You can't cover your nose and wear glasses, they steam up instantly, then the steam freezes, and cleaning them, even with a proper cloth scratches the lens. Also if you do cover your nose, eventually what ever you are using freezes making it hard to breath. So it's a real dance to maximise breathing, see where you are going without going snow blind, and ensuring your nose doesn't turn black on the end. Then without the glasses the moisture from your breath catches on your eyelashes giving you an entertaining white mascara effect.

...and apparently it was 'only' -18C (positively warm ;-)

It's good to be home!

An early winter walk

We got nicely rugged up and went out this afternoon, through the park and out to the river. Along the river bank, back through a housing complex. It was only -10/-12C, but the air quite literally sparkled, it was like there was fine glitter falling, all the moisture in the air was turning to ice around us, it was quite magical.

The park looks very different white.

even the new trees get rugged up

Now what left those tracks?

The river is just about frozen

 And in some places it is already frozen enough for the men to be out playing a kind of bowls, kind of curling, kind of skittles, kind of non of the above.

 Still a building site, might look a little better white but the entire place is still one big building site.

Labourers accommodation.

A Kazamidori takes to the streets of UB

About to embark on an urban adventure

Riding in UB not quite like riding in Kobe. But I set off into the urban jungle last weekend, proudly wearing my Kobe Kazamidori jersey. Sorry Clunes Calosi and Ecurie Neep - your time will come!
The pollution stings the back of your throat and the elevation (only about 4300ft) makes the air a little thinner than I'd like. The cars are used to the idea that if there is more than 1 lane and you pull out slowly, then what happens is you get a loud horn blast and the  oncoming cars swerve round you. Consequently they do not actually look at all, they kind of creep out of junctions braced for impact. All well and good when surrounded by several tonnes of metal, not so good when some mad foreigner is plowing down the road at 30kph mounted on a few kg of titanium and surrounded by the rather grey air.
There is also absolutely no lane law so very little in the way of gaps to play with, the 'gutter' is inevitably full of construction debris and the curbs are tall concrete slabs with very few on/off ramps, even at pedestrian crossings. This this makes the switch from sidewalk to road and back again harder to negotiate something that was a frequent answer to traffic in Kobe (sorry Junior). It does make for entertaining rollerball style riding though, it's definitely not for the feint-hearted.  The roads themselves provide more than enough to concentrate on without the traffic. Tarmac switches to concrete slabs with little or nothing in the join, great sections of surface suddenly disappear and the front end of the bike needs lifting as you launch off the road surface into the pot hole for a section of 'offroading' on the concrete rubble hardcore base revealed by freezing temperatures followed by a really wet summer and an inexplicable number of trucks and SUV's. I've never bottomed out 100mm of front suspension on a road before, but here it happens every few minutes.

I was looking for a particular shop, but missed the turn and so thought I'd just work my way back to it rather than turn around and retrace my steps, um, no! There is no grid system, so roads just end, usually in construction sites, new apartment complexes or small ger communities. Yep there in the heart of the 21st century, concrete construction jungle there are still small fenced communities of people living in Gers. After a few miles of exploring looking for the way back, I did eventually give up and turn round to retrace my steps, only to find the road to the shop closed off with large chunks of concrete blocking the way. The road was being resurfaced. I stopped and stared at the shiny black tarmac with disbelief. A road, that looked...well... a lot like a road...a first for me in Mongolia.

 So eventually after 50 mins of 'playing with the traffic' I made it to the bike shop - the first of it's kind in  Mongolia- its a Trek shop, complete with high end carbon time trial machines and 'Wiliers' road machines priced in the millions of tugrig. Who's buying these things, and where in God's name are they riding them?

"2 inner tubes please" I said, and after a little rummaging the lad proudly produced 2 Bontrager boxed inner tubes. So far so good. At least he spoke a little English.
"How much?"
"20,000" (£10/$15)
Pricey I thought but ok for 2, I guess.
"each" he added
I laughed out loud
"Genuine Bontrager" he said
"Where are the cheap ones?" I asked with a smile.
A little rummaging in the cupboard and 2 Bwin tubes came out for 16000 the pair. (£4 each)
"That's more like it. Thank you"

I rode home along the river side having had enough of the traffic and enjoyed the trails riding the flood dyke that separated the apartment complexes from the dirt trails on the river side below. I dropped down onto the dirt trails and found myself riding towards some stacks of tyres about 6 feet tall covered in a Jackson Pollockesque layer of paint. I slowed...then from behind the shack at the end of the trail, 3 figures wearing combat fatigues, knee pads and body armour, complete with helmet and visor, strode purposefully forward and took cover behind separate stacks of tyres. I was turning the bike around rather quickly when I noticed another figure crouched some distance away from the others, with a gun...then it all kicked off...there was movement, shouting, running, diving and coloured balls being launched. Paint ball...who'd of thought, in the flood plain of the Tuul river there is a small paint ball  centre.
 I quickly (well as quickly as the surface, my untrained legs and aching lungs would allow) rode out of there, and back onto the concrete dyke until the trail ended, unsurprisingly in a construction site.  I was forced into dodging earth movers the size of small buildings and weaving around men in hard hats, non of whom seemed to care that I was there, I guess I was wearing a hard hat of sorts. The site soon spat me back out onto concrete road just south of the school, at the golf driving range.

Yep, main roads with potholes that would swallow a mini; dodging dodgy traffic; breathing air with more than its fair share of carbon monoxide and particulates; a visit to a couple of partially completed apartment complexes; a cheery encounter with a young cell phone carrying girl outside a ger community,(which had more than one ger sporting a solar panel and a satellite dish); a Trek shop looking just like every other trek shop you've been in, anywhere in the world; newly laid tarmac; closed roads; trails; men in army fatigues firing paint at each other; monster trucks; hard hats and a golf driving range.

All in one 90 minute ride, surreal no, not at all surreal for life in this most unusual of cities.

So glad I've got my bike, now the exploring really begins.

Ok lets roll