Day 37

Distance Covered: 111miles

Total Distance Covered: 7755miles

Woke early again after a turbulent night due to the cold and the fact that I (joe) had apparently woke the others with my cries of ‘Fucking Parsley’ during the night. After another breakfast of muesli and apple Set out to the next town, Olgi but after only a short distance we managed to pop both back tyres within 15 minutes of each other. Luckily we have two spares so this was only a minor set back. On arriving in Olgi we were immediately approached by a somewhat overly enthusiastic local man asking if we needed anything, after hearing about our tyre predicament he immediately started gesticulating (which we interpreted to mean he was either a mechanic or knew one) and instructed us to follow him. Arriving at his house we came to the conclusion he wasn’t a mechanic at all but was merely out to make some hard currency! We demonstrated that we needed two spare tyres putting on the old rims and after haggling the price down from $30 to $15 (he informed us we wouldn’t be able to go elsewhere as it was Sunday and the garages were all closed) he and Hugh disappeared. A while later they returned with the two tyres fitted and inflated. It turns out that the garages weren’t closed at all, he just wanted to make a cut. Ahh well fair play to him, we both got what we wanted in the end. Had a swift lunch and shop in Olgi then were on the road again. A couple of hours out we spotted two snowy peaks ahead, on of which Jeremy managed to persuade us (didn’t take much) we should climb the following day. After going off-piste to get as close to the foot of the mountain as we could we came over the brow of a hill to find a small Ger camp where we had intended to camp, pulling up we headed over to ask if it was alright to camp there for the night. Before we had even managed to say hello even we were ushered inside and treated to endless cups of tea and various dairy based Mongolian delicacies, most of which were pretty tasty, with the exception of the dried yaks milk in block form which was very salty and a bit odd. Non the less we thoroughly enjoyed it despite the awkwardness and ended up leaving the Ger feeling very full indeed. The family seemed pretty interested in the ambulance and shortly came over, after giving them the tour we ended up having an energetic Frisbee session with them, none of whom I suspect had ever seen a Frisbee before. Later on that evening while we were rustling up some sort of spicy risotto dish, the father came over and we thought to return the favour of food by inviting him in for some of ours. As we tucked in we noticed the poor guy seemed to be struggling and eating very slowly, it was only when he started sweating that it occurred to us he may not have been used to eating spicy food (and this was exceptionally spicy) so after miming that we found it very hot in the hope of making him feel less awkward we finished our meal. After trying to inform the chap we intended to walk up the mountain the next day some awkward confusion ensued which we interpreted as an invitation back to the Ger. As we walked to his Ger a miming marathon occurred and we eventually realised that he had never actually invited us back to the Ger and thus thought we were planning on climbing the mountain at night. After explaining to us it was hard to see at night we conceded defeat and made our way back, feeling rather stupid, and went to bed.