By Nico & Marijke
The road along the pipeline
The alarm went off at 7.15am. After breakfast and shopping, pack the Land Rover. Oko had spoken to someone from the village last night, who would lead us to the dirt road we had to drive. Here in Mongolia there are no road signs. And several roads were not easily passable. Therefore, getting information from the locals is very important. It is the most normal thing in the world here to stop cars, trucks and motorcycles to ask for the correct route and the
condition of the roads. Oko kept in touch with the “cow man”; he transported cows in his small truck. He kept an eye on us to make sure we were going in the right direction.
Finally we arrived at the “main road”. It was an uneven sandy road. We had to follow the pipeline.
During one of our stops we met a man in Mongolian clothing on a motorcycle. There was also a herd of camels with young ones walking there. Dirk and the man started singing “Father’s song”. Oko sang along.
We made several additional stops during the ride. The engine of the Model-T became too hot and a fan was installed. And once the top part of the windshield had to be removed because of the rattling noise.
We drove along the long sandy and bumpy road along the pipeline at a speed of 30-40 km/h. We kept an eye on the Model-T via the side mirrors.
Along the way we regularly saw dead animals along the road. The cause of this was the very harsh winter of last year.
We also saw wagtails, falcons, crows and herds of camels.
We couldn’t make it to the next village with our speed. We decided to stop late in the afternoon and set up camp a little way off the road.
Our first night in the desert became a fact. After an impromptu evening meal we enjoyed the sunset.
