A little bit of Speyside in Ulaanbaatar

With a Japanese twist!

How could I resist.

Blended on Speyside for the Mongolian market and named for the Mongols currently dominating Sumo in Japan.

Full story in the archives of Mongolia Expat

Just rummage around - it's in the 'Jeep issue' well worth a read in itself and for the record yes I do want one of those Russian jeeps or their people carrier big brothers.

Winter training

Now some of you know I do like a plan, a training plan that is, and a goal, generally something a little excessive, something that might just instill enough fear of failure in me to keep me motivated enough to go out and train rather than rely on my natural ability to 'just keep going'.

So here it is.

Mongolian Sunrise to Sunset

Only to stand any chance of completing a 100km run with 3365m of cumulative elevation gain I need to start running again now - winter base training.

I do love a bit of winter base training. Never planned one that lasted for 5 months before though, with some of the longer runs either serious hiking undertakings or on a treadmill in a gym.

Any road, it started today and we are testing equipment to let us run in this up coming winter.

Turns out it was a little excessive for the relatively mild temperatures we encountered, but we've found a good, largely traffic free route from the apartment that forms our 5km loop. It was nice to be running again. Now where's that gym?

and so it grows

The building that is!

A couple of weeks ago the dug the foundations, and filled it full of water to level it, then marked the level with string, drained it and poured the concrete. Simple but effective I guess.

Then they began the rebar and wooden frame building.

This last week I've been trapped in the flat with the nastiest case of sinusitis so had plenty of time to watch the developments.

First empty the ice out of the water tank (that's it on the ground on the right) then fill the tank.

Check all the rebar stitching and polystyrene is in place and build a pipe line from the cement pump to the pour area.

Take a lunch time nap on the polystyrene in the sun.

Cover the entire area with a tarp framework and move in the heaters.

Seal it all up, turn on the heaters and bring in the cement trucks, now why they don't mix this on site I don't know, they mix some of the cement here.

What a great job, watching cement pour.

Then walk away and leave it. 

They needed the covers and the heaters.

It snowed, the first snow that settled at our level.

 Brrrr!

And then pull off all the wooden holding plates to reveal a solid concrete structure poured in one go!

That's got to meet UK building regs right?

Winter is coming...

No kidding, the temperature dropped like a stone over the last couple of days, it's been cold in the morning and at night -10C or a bit lower but rising to +15C in the afternoons, except not any more. Yesterday the high was 1C and today similar, with snow flurries yesterday and overnight. The mountains are white.

But today was the day we chose to take our mini, Young Adventures Club up the mountain, its not a long hike but the oldest of these nippers is 10 and it was cold.

We started out going through the ger camp, it was sunny with a little snow on the ground.

A little higher the snow was thicker and made a pleasant crunching sound, it was cold but fun in the sun.

 We went to the stream to look at the ice.

and had a brief chat about ice safety, how you tell which ice is thick, which is not, and why the ice was not forming on the water but a couple of inches above it. All interesting but we became aware of the fact that it was cold in the shade especially when stood still. We also learned that the larch needles on the snow added a little traction and made it easier to walk. Though we all fell at least once, some a lot more than others.

 Only 5 of the possible 19 showed up and by the lunch break they were wearing every spare bit of clothing Sarah, Pam (another accompanying teacher) and I had been carrying. We'd wrapped them in a survival blanket, made them put on everything they had brought with them and cooked them a couple of pots of spicy noodle soup to eat and still they shivered. (I'll update with those photos when I can get them from Pam.)

come on now - sort yourself out.

 It wasn't long after we set off down though that they warmed up again.

Once they had warmed up a bit and dropped down a few hundred feet we could begin to take off some of the layers. Though the little guy did not want to give up "Big Orange".

Posing in the sun much further down, near some Khadak

They were fun, really good company, they were for the most part interested and interesting. Apparently you must not wear two hats in Mongolia - do not even consider putting a cap on over your woolly bonnet - it means you will have 2 wives (or husbands) and is considered very wrong, as is stealing another persons hat. 

We were all pleased to make it back to the bus after 'nearly freezing to death' near the top.

The school runs 3 'Young Adventurers  Clubs' The senior YAC's (15-18 year olds) were camping out elsewhere and are working towards a John Muir Trust Award, the Junior YAC's (11-15 year olds) were camping with them and were working on an environmental project. Our Mini YAC's (8-10) climbed the Bogh Khan range towards White Circle and were given many compliments for being 'strong' by local hikers.

These kids know about how to put the 'Adventure' into Young Adventurers Club.

It's a Black Market

Well in fact it's kind of colourful and it's not a black market as in black economy, it's just known as the  black market or Naran Tuul.

"Naran Tuul Market, east of the centre, is also known as the Black Market (Khar Zakh), but it's not the sort of place where you go to change money illegally and smuggle goods - though this certainly happens.

The market is huge, one of the biggest in Asia and in summer up to 60,000 people a day squeeze inside."

Read more: http://www.lonelyplanet.com/mongolia/ulaanbaatar/shopping/market/naran-tuul-market#ixzz28aRFvChC

We went mostly because we have become a bit tired of washing the 2 plates we had and everywhere else wanted either silly money or only had seriously flowery crockery.

I also needed a deel, a traditional coat, so I had something to wear on Mongolian day in a couple of weeks. I ended up not buying one of the long traditional coats - though I may yet - they look damned warm and instead bought a suede jacket. 

We also bought the plates bowls and a carpet all for under £40.

It is a fascinating place to wander around but we have a rule, in early and out before 1:00pm. It gets really busy in the afternoons. That's when the pick pockets and bag slashers are reported to have a field day. It also means that almost everyone is sobber - something that again reportedly is not the case for later in the day.

There are outdoor sections and indoor sections - you can buy just about anything here.

Traditional wooden saddle anyone? You can buy them in just about any state of manufacture from the rough cut bare wood to finished with leather and silver buckles.

Then on the way out we stumbled across an outdoor pool hall where the police played alongside the men in cowboy hats 

Ok now for the Chinese Market.

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

And as promised it's on...

...the heating that is.
Our stair door may not shut, but the radiators on the stairs themselves are warm to the touch, the hot water is still intermittent, however the heating is definitely on. I'm still trying to understand how that works, hot radiators but no hot water.
They tested the heat in the carpark a couple of weeks ago and opened the gates to the underground heated parking, though few have paid to use it yet.
It's not that cold - a little frost in the mornings, a nip in the air when the sun goes down, but still the heating is on. We did find the taps to turn the radiators off - no thermostat control here. On or off, those are the options. For the moment the radiators remain off, but still the apartment still has a warm glow to it - hot pipes travelling through the walls no doubt. It does make it a little uncomfortable with the windows closed.
It's an interesting proposition - sit around in a warm, slightly stuffy room, in shorts and t shirt with the windows closed, but have it relatively quiet or open the windows let in the 'fresh' air and put up with construction noise, dust and an ever increasing number of wasp like creatures.
We are working on finding a compromise - but that often depends on what is happening on the building site.