a bike was drowned, the riding was
immediately challenging especially
for those who had never been off-road
before! The scenery however was the
stuff of legends with impossibly green
steppe landscape dotted with brilliant
white yurts, with nomadic families
eking out an existence in this wild
landscape. Mobs of wild horses gal-
loped by while nervous sheep & yaks
roamed the green endless pastures,
devoid of fences and other such con-
straints, it was epic Mongolia.
Immediately our itinerary was
changed due to a bridge being washed
away with no possible way to cross
what was a raging torrent, a town of
6000 people were utterly isolated!
Sun had returned as we rode north-
west toward the Russian border to one
of only a handful of monasteries that
was spared destruction during the
Stalinist purges of 1937 where thou-
sands of monks were executed, and
most temples in Mongolia destroyed.
Crossing two creeks occupied by
horses cooling off, we reached Am-
arsbayagalant Monastery that lay at
the confluence of three valleys. The
monastery was beautiful, its bright
colours in sharp contrast to the sur-
rounding landscape. We were for-
tunate enough to witness Buddhist
chanting, horn playing and prayer
time, there was something ethereal
TRAVERSE 79
about witnessing something so tra-
ditional in such a remote silent envi-
ronment. The visit was an incredible
insight into the monks’ way of life.
Our stay was shortened due to some of
the blackest clouds any of us had even
seen as a mighty storm approached,
we raced across a green empty land-
scape, as day turned to night, to our
first yurt camp, arriving just as the
heavens opened up.
The yurt stays provided us with a
unique opportunity to experience the
time-honoured nomadic way of life
of the Mongolian people, although I
think we had it a lot better than most
nomads’ yurts, with hot showers,
restaurant and bar all laid on for the
guests. At night a log fire inside the
yurt was lit ensuring a toasty warm
yurt before bed.
Our ride west was slowed as we
came across a wonderful, traditional
Mongolian country fair, the highlight
being a 14 kilometre long horse race
with over 100 horses racing along an
undefined course with a plethora of
vehicles following behind the horses,
some of which were riderless as they
crossed the finishing line? Locals had
turned out in the best finery and horse
trainers wiped the sweat off their hors-
es with wooden paddles, you couldn’t
pay for this truly local experience.
Arriving at the “jewel in the Mon-