I worked out this morning that we have spent a seventh of the Mongol Rally in Khovd. We are about to get on the Plane to UB however although we are glad to be leaving we have had a much better week than we thought we would.

After realising that we would be here till friday as that was the first plane out we decided to ask if we could help out at Mercy Corps which had an office in the city. On Monday we went over to see them, they didn't speak any english but took us to the market which had been organised by Mercy Corps. There was a watermelon pip spitting contest, a relay for 5km with a watermelon and a fermented mares milk downing contest. We were introduced to Jason, the only member of the charity who spoke English. He told us that unfortunatly they had no work for us unfortunatly. Jason had been in Khovd for a year and when we asked him what he did he was at a loss, suggesting we just go down to the river for a walk. Spirits were low, on the way back we bumped into Tim, the swedish cyclist we had helped over the border, we went to a concert in the local theatre with him and a dutch couple from the hotel. Tim bought some vodka in to pass the time as we thought it might be a bit dull however we were pleasantly surprised and found it really impressive, there was lots of throat singing, a local tradition which sounds like a didgeridoo, really impressive.

The next day we said goodbye to Tim who set off on a four day stretch through the desert on his own. After spending most of the day on the internet we headed...[Read More]