hi friends,

some things have happened.  first, we went to mongolia with our bicycles.  we got off the airplane in Ulaanbaatar and found a place to sleep.  we saw a statue of genghis kahn, ate scrambled eggs, and said hello to the European backpackers singing reggae in our hostel.  

Next, we rode a bus for 26 hours over to a town called Altai.  We put our bikes on top of the bus because there was no room inside; the bus had 34 seats and 46 passengers.  Ben had to fight an old lady with a big bottom for his seat, and everytime Bull fell asleep he would whack his head on a pole.  There were lots of babies crying and the bus kept breaking down.  It was fun.  We named the bus "Vaca Once" because it was a terrible, terrible experience.  

In Altai we put our bikes together and bought things from the store.  We bought pasta, chicken broth, dried apricots, snickers bars, and cookies.  There was nothing else to buy.  Then we put all that stuff on our bikes and started to ride north.  

The road is very bumpy in Mongolia. It can make your bottom hurt. There are not that many cars and there are not that many places to get water and the sun shines down all day.  You can get a sunburn if you are not careful (Mama, I am being very careful.  Thank you for the sunburn cream).  In the afternoon rain clouds sweep down the valley and you can see rain and sunshine intermixed with lots of beautiful mountains in the background. It's like a hotter, dustier, drier version of that scene in Lion King whem Simba's dad gets pushed into the stampede of wildabeast (wildabeasts?).  The scenery sort of looks like the drive from Hardin to Billings if you squint your eyes and pretend you are on Mars.  

There is lots of mutton in Mongolia and not much else. Sometimes you drink mares milk tea.  Sometimes all you have to eat for dinner is pasta boiled in chicken broth, and you drink the pasta water because you are very thirsty. Sometimes the road is so bumpy and full of rocks that you become frustrated, but then sometimes there is pavement and you are happy and you say, "I am so glad this part of the road is not bumpy." All-the-time (not sometimes) people stop you on the road and ask to ride your bicycle and make you ride their horse or motorcycle. Then you drink vodka together and say sain, which means good. Big scary dogs chase you everytime you ride past a ger.  

that's really about it.  we'll post some more photos when we get to Olgii.  hope you all are super duper.  sending you all our love and affection.

love,

ben and matt

Ghengis Kahn presided over the greatest empire in history.  Mongolians basically worship him.  So does Bull. 

Bicycles on the roof of the bus. 

Wrestlers at the Naddam festival in Darvi.  They try to bodyslam each other.  Exciting!

Making friends. 

First day riding

Bull points north from a temple in Altai.

Wrestlers waiting to get body slammed in the dirt!

Sunrise on the Vaca Once.  We ate Oreos and watched the sun come up, happy to still be alive. 

Ben's obligatory semi-surprised self-portrait.  At the time, he had no idea how much his bottom was going to hurt in the days to come.