One thing we forgot to mention in yesterday’s update is the fact that the camp was set up not far from the railway line and that trains would pass by somewhat frequently and noisily. We managed, however, to get a few hours’ sleep. In the morning over a cup of coffe made on our little stove we discussed with each other the roar of trains as they would approach the camp and the impression we both had about imaging them going straight through the middle of our camp. Then, as the noise faded it would gradually be replaced by the snoring of a few of our neighbours.
Breakfast was a rushed affair on unispiring plate of eggs. As we were loading our car we did one last check under the car, since the daily maintenance had been done the evening before almost in total darkness which resulted in the discovery that both our rear modern shock absorbers (supplementing the old ones) had come right off their mountings during some of the rough ride of the previous day. One had actually snapped in half. Luckily the original lever arm shock absorbers were intact and would do the job going forward. Definitely not a good start of the day! We rapidly removed them and abandoned them in the campsite. Notwithstanding the last minute issues we managed to start in time and ride very smoothly on some very nice soft tracks, pushing speeds of almost 65 Kmh with hardly any vibration.
Unfortunately the terrain got worse later in the day and, despite slowing substantially down, we had to stop to put our full spare wheel on the cover of the back seats to avoid its weight to worsen the cracks that were developing in the front left fender.
But that was not all…….later a support of the front bumper broke and we stopped again to tied it up with some straps. Lastly our steering became very “loose” with a lot of play, and we had to stop once more to try to adjust it. Not an easy operation for us, with some drawbacks. Basically what we did made things only worse, same play, but harder to turn the wheel. As we drove into town with our wounded car we were happy thinking that tomorrow would be a rest day and give us some time to sort things out. Actually as we arrived in Ulaan Baatar we decided to take the car immediately to a “recommended” Mercedes garage, that was going to stay open for 24hrs to sort problems out. Relieved of our move we turned in for the night and actually had a decent meal.