Our start time had been brought forward from 9.37 to 7am but when we appeared at 7 most people had left. So we drove as fast as we decently could to the border. We had been warned of a convoy of heavy lorries that we had to beat to the border to get in front of them in the queue. We arrived at the border to find a long queue of rally cars only.The border was still shut, despite rumours that someone had been incentivised to open it early.
Exiting China was relatively easy. There were queues but people and cars we were processed efficiently and about an hour after the border was opened we had all got through. We thought the hard work was done.
Little did we know of the difficulties of getting into Mongolia.
Even queuing is a non trivial task. Queue jumping is the Mongolian National sport and with their weapon of choice Russian WW2 ex army jeeps, they had, as they say in the boxing ring, a height and weight advantage. We fought our place valiantly but even we had to give way to seven or eight vehicles. One particularly aggressive queue jumper got a dose of his own medicine when a rally car driven reversed into him. The Rally car had clearly strengthened its rear end and this version of ‘Paris parking’ left a hole in the Mongolian vehicle.
We joined the queue at 9.30 and finally got through about 12.30. By then the rally schedule was a mess further hampered by a lake that was meant to be dry having flooded last week.
There was a proper road at the border but it lasted a few hundred metres before disappearing, with an 18 inch drop to the new base. Then about 10k looking out for orange flags put out by ERA, the rally organisers, leading us on dirt tracks to the next proper road. Which lasted 220 k to the desert. last town before the desert was a real frontier town with 12 petrol stations and lots of recent development.
Then the rally proper.
Driving in the desert is a real thrill. It’s a complicated calculation getting the right balance between concern for the longevity of your car and the need to make progress. I was probably too protective of the car. Mike, with many years of experience driving on unmade up roads in Zambia, Botswana, Sabah and other emerging economies, seemed to get it right. Though time will tell….
Navigation is an art. We worked out that there were various inconsistencies between the route book and what was preloaded on the GPS. The latter turned out to be more use.
Eventually we found a sea of wigwams like a vision out of a cowboy film. Though the Wild West image was spoiled by the petrol tankers with three Jerry cans of 20 litres each for each car. And latrines. And a beer tent. And a restaurant. And mechanics with welding equipment. And even an engine hoist. But the guards were on horseback….
Nomads, who have set up the camp, are clearly a very professional organisation. Their kit, like so much in Mongolia, looks to have been bought from the Soviet military as Cold War surplus. And none the worse for that. Things tend to be over engineered and are bigger and stronger than they need to be. But that’s quite reassuring in the middle of a desert.
Mike has investigated camping in a serious way. And put together really high tech equipment that is the envy of everyone else. A three room tent with separate bedrooms! An air mattress. Fabulous duck feather lined sleeping bags. Silk liners. Hanging torches to provide interior lighting. He even thoughtfully provided me with a second pillow. It was much more luxurious than our Erenhot hotel the previous night. And no knocks in the middle of the night to tell us our start time has been advanced! Our Italian friends said ‘not a tent, an apartment’
We have the relatively gentle start time of 11.13, so plenty of time to work on the car in the morning.
One parting thought. As we departed China, the immigration people came out to take pics. One charming lady who spoke a little English asked where we came from. When we said London she said ‘ I dream that one day I can visit London’. Those of us who are a bit blasé about living there should just remember that for some, just a few days in London would be a dream come true. I hope it does for her….