Vierde dag oppad na Ulaan Baatar

Pa het die elektriese goed getoets en gevind dat alles aankom sonder die 'by pass' en dit toe weggeneem. Net toe ons in die tou staan om te vertrek toe sny dit weer uit! Ek moes toe gou vorentoe hardloop om ons boek te laat stempel en hy moes gou die stuk draad konnekteer en toe is ons oppad. Alles het goed gegaan deur die eerste 'time trial' maar net daarna, voor 'n klein dorpie, is daar 'n groot 'clunk '- geluid en daar staan ons!!!

Die agterste wiel staan skeef - die regter 'half shaft' is mors af!

Nie te lank daarna kom eers die mediese 'back-up' en toe van die werktuigkundiges.

They were all very helpful but nothing much could be done at this stage.

Pete and Emma Wilkenson in a later model Chev truck stopped. He was sure he had a half shaft so after a lot of unpacking he found it. It looked as if it might fit but when ours was desembled, the spline was different.

They organized for a flatbed, which was picking up a Ford. A young Mongolian made himself helpful and then gave us to understand that someone in the village could weld it for us so off Robert went into the village and lo and behold, 90min later he was back with the welded half shaft but no bearing so we have to wait for the flatbed which might arrive even in in the middle of tihe night! Luckily we have an off day in Ulaan Baatar!

#92 Who tried very hard to help!

So we started our wait. We tried to phone Helge, who was in charge of the flatbeds but got no reply. We did this with our satelite phone only to find that every Mongolian who came by had a cell. Oour cells worked perfectly! Eventually we sms-ed our bearings through to Helge just to make sure he had them. And so we waited and waited. As we were right by the village we had some young men and even a youmg mother and child come to see us and the car and to take photos.the younger boys would come right up to the car window, leaan on the door, with Robert and me sitting inside, with not a smile - a bit disconcerting! We were warned to be very careful and not give them any opportunity to help themselves. They are actually very friendly but be careful!

We packed our boot out, repacked and waited. At least I got some time to write on my iPad! And then I crocheted - I do not go any where with out it and my kindle. And the gale continued although it was warm enough. It really wasn't fun getting out of the car.

Just before sunset we got ourselves ready for bed, snuggled up in our sleeping bags,seats as far back as possible ( better than cattleclass plane!). Note the warm scarf and hat made for me by Caitlin and Jacqui. ( Jacqui, I crocheted a tighter rim around the hat to fit it more snuggly around my ears).

At about 22:00 the truck arrived. There were 2 trucks, the one already had a Bentley and another P2P car on. The other truck had the ramps and a chain block and tackle to pull the cars up onto the truck. And so the fun started. Two Austrians in the Bentley were also there with a broken clutch/gearbox. We were then given the chance to catch the train to Ulaan Baatar instead of going with the car. The cars would only be arriving in UB at about 12 noon and with a 1st class ticket on the train we would get in at 8:00 and we can sleep! So armed with all our electronic devices, our necessities we were off to the station leaving Matildahalf way up the ramp with instructions to the truck driver to screw on the diff cover when the car was on. So much for flatbeds and electric winches in this country!

We got on the train, carraige #7, 2nd from front and found that the Nomads girl who was with the trucks and could speak English,had organised us a 4 berth compartment for just the two of us (the same for the Austrians). I think we probably paid for 2 berths each, but what a pleasure!

Waking up the next morning the terrain had changed! From 2 days of wavy flatness to quite hilly. Still only grass, grass, grass. The amount of 'trees' ( actually large shrubs) we have seen on both days, we can count on both hands. We must be going higher as we have seen our fist sighting of snow, on the hills and next to the railway line.

Just showing the hilly terrain.

For the first time we see trees, pine trees on the hills!

Robert has noticed that every pole along the side of the track, are clamped onto concrete posts. We are wondering why. Termites? But we see no anthills. We will try to find out.

I think we are approaching UB, judging by the activity of all around us.

What an adventure!!

Hoop net ons kry vir Matilda weer reg vandag sodat ons more weer kan saam ry. So much for sightseeing in UB!

 

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