We arrived at Ulaanbaatar this afternoon. I took a shower but a persistent smell was still following me until I did the laundry !

It was an extraordinary ride, Chinzo was the perfect companion for this ride, and the sidecar was phenomenal !

I feel exhausted, but I am happy, I go to rest for the night, thanks for all your good words.

Yuruul

Just out of Lake Baïkal, it was a surreal experience way above what I had imagined. We crossed the lake a second time to a different village on the Est side, get lost in a maze of ice craks several times, could not find a landing, slept on the middle of the lake, went north to a different island and we are back on earth ! - I wonder if google earth show the ice maze of the lake ?

Many photos to come but what an experience it was, the sidecar managed phenomenaly, even if we got stuck in the ice crossing so many ice cracks filed of snow.

We think to be back to Ulaanbaatar Wednesday night .

We crossed Lake Baïkal from the delta of the river Selenge - coming from Mongolia - at the village of Ranjurov where we slept last nitht, to the village of Buduldeika on the the West side of the lake. We drove north to the island of Okhlon where we are sleeping tonight.

The delta was complex to get out of it, the crossing was magnificient but the landing was quite difficult.

The sidecar was purring very nicely doing an excellent job on the 2WD.

For one time, I really would like to transgress my own desire by crossing the Lake Baîkal "Horizontally" and definitely not "Vertically" if you see what i mean !

By now, we know that there are no such a thing as a "Traced road" anywhere to cross the lake, there are many traces made by the fishermen but you are on your own. There are many things that can happen in the middle of the lake like cracks and thin ice, so we are still investigating from Ulan Ude where we will have our passeport registered from the emigration office today. Tomorrow we will go to fishing villages and see from there.

PS: Not only Chinzo is fluent in English but I discovered since we are on the road together that he is also fluent in Russian, you have no idear how it change my life to be able to have informations instantly !

2 good days of riding, we passed the Russian border this morning, and we are sleeping in Ulan Ude, no more than 50 miles from Lake Baïkal. Riding with Chinzo is pleasant, he has a great attitude. He adjusted his clothing a little bit, the sleeping bag that he is sitting on behind me a lot, burned his left leg pants on the gaz exhaust, but he is adjusting quite nicely.

We are investigating from here the best way to cross the lake without being trapped by the cracks on the ice, but as soon as we feel comfortable, we will go on the lake.

8:00am: Vroom Vroom to Lake Baïkal !!!

Chinzo got his Russian visa, tomorrow morning, 8:00 am, we go together on my sidecar to Russia to cross the frozen Lake Baïkal. At the first week of March, the ice is supposed to be crystal clear.

It should take us 3 days to get there, a few days to fool around on it and came back to Ulaanbaatar

Vroom Vroom !!!

Zud: when an animal die by the extreme cold weather and malnutrition, Mongols peel their skin that they can sell but will abandon the carcasse for cultural and test reason. When Mongols kill an animal, they drain immeditaly the blood from it's body, the meat is white and not red. If the meat is red, Mongol would never eat it, because they don't like the test of it and it would be impure to eat such meat.

In the same maner, the fire is sacred. Mongol don't burn waste like paper, plastic ect...

Markas wrote: "Don't you have a group lined up to make the trip across the Lake with you?"

All the Australians are busy at work in the mining business and getting married. Chinzo who still want to come on my sidecar with me did not took care of his Russian visa. We met yesterday, discussed the programe and what is needed but I don't know if he will be able to have a Russina visa in a couple of days.

Frank wrote me this email about "Feeding the birds":

"I am unsure if I should have made that statement about not overfeeding the birds. I fear that because this is an international audience, too many will not understand what I was trying to say.

I was trying to say not to make a career of sitting at another mans table, only accept his invitation, nourish yourself and learn from his wisdom. At some point one should endeavor to emulate his teacher and go forth on his own.

That is true not only in the business world, but in life and adventure as well .

When you go "Missing" from the Blog for a few days, some of us get a little apprehensive, that is to be expected. You are right, a good cure for us is to get on our own bikes and create an adventure and introduce ourselves to our own abilities. Frank"

Frank you don't have to worry about a thing, all you need to do is to be honest in your telling. You or I or anybody can never please everybody and should not worry about that, no more that we should worry that everybody will understand what we really mean. I have been making jokes all my life that even my own daughter does not always understand, but I am still repeating some of them because they make me laugh !

Thank you, Frank and everybody else, for writting your soul.

About some comments from the guestbook and from emails I reveived:

I am not a reporter, an educator, a teacher, or a guide, I am just a simple traveller.

My stories are the reflect of my personal limited experience. They never pretend to be fully analysed or to be fair and balanced, they are just the miror of my personal understanding and how I felt when meeting with people or places that I have the privilege to visit.

Once in a while, I love to tell my "Kubrik" story:
When I decided to leave New York for my "Ten Years on the Road", I invited all the motorcycle people I knew - friends and professionals - in New York for a BBQ at my place to make the announcement. Not everybody came, but we were a lot. They all knew me as the "Crazy Sidecar-ist" and some like Jean-Louis liked to call me the "Kubrik" because on the road, they never know where I am, they may see me on their right mirror but in the blink of an eye, they can't see me anymore and they may find me anywhere around, on their left or right as well as on the rear or in front of them !
So I asked any one in the room who want to have a ride with me to lift their hands, and almost every body did it.
Then I said, OK, keep your hand up if you are ready to come with me for a 10 years ride, and there were only a few hands left up.
Then I said, OK, we start this February by the Arctic Circle in Canada, and gone were the hands, there were no more candidates to ride with me.
This is to answer to Frank who wrote in the guestbook "BUT, Hubert is smart enough not to "overfeed" the birds, that they might someday "fly" on their own"
If I am travelling alone it's because nobody except Jean Louis when he could do it came with me. I love when people wrote me, "because of you, I bought a motorcycle or a sidecar" or "if Hubert can do it, I can do it, I go on the road"
It does not matter what you ride, or where you go or for how long you go as long as you hit the road, you are looking good.
And that's the way it is !
Yuruul

PS: I had a great ride coming back to Ulaanbaatar, I stopped at Pourou's ger and Dondov's ger. I am preparing to go cross Lake Baikal in Russia next week.

Vroom-Vrooom ! I will go from ger to ger the coming days.

I spend a few outsanding days at the freezing Temujin Hotel. I arrived at the time of Tsangat Tsar, the Mongolian New Year. Everything was closed. I digged some of my survival food I keep in the sidecar. Mostly soups. I stayed enclosed in my bedroom most of the time, writting the Genghis Khan story, having naps when I felt like it. The first 2 days, I was alone in the hotel meaning there were no other human being in the building. Then people came back slowly from their celebrations in their families. I felt like when I passed the 3rd lock of the Panama Canal in the middle of the night, i was lying down on the bench of  the dining room on my tug boat. My eyes were closed the whole time, and I was visioning the manoeuvers of the tug boat with me inside like if I was on google earth, it was magic. I had the same feeling these last few days in my frozen room in the middle of the snowy steppes of Mongolia. I had nobody to talk to, and nobodty was talking to me, I was literally alone with nobody to respond or to be polite to.
I fully appreciate this life of simplicity.

After leaving Ulaanbaatar, I stopped at Dondov's ger and spend the night there. The riding in the snow was ok but very slow for the next couple of days. The 2WD is doing what it's suppose to do, it's getting me through, a 1WD sidecar like my BMW would not go through these snowy tracks at all ! I did just few mistake. The 3rd day, the wind was strong and the floating snow was covering the track. I goofed 3 times in the first 30 miles by getting out of the track without knowing it and getting stack in soft snow. There were no way I could make it on time for the Camel Festival. I decided to come back to the last big village I passed in the middle of the Gobi desert and wait there. I have been since in the only hotel open. The room is between 45ºF at night and goes up to 50ºF during the day. I started to put together the story "The History of Genghis Khan" that fascinate me so much.

I appreciate having this time for myself with nobody to talk to or to listen to.

I may need an other day or 2 to do the traduction for the French web site and I will go back on the road.

My hip is improving very slowly and I am still limping but it's improving so the problem will resolve by itself.

I am leaving Ulaanbaatar on my sidecar to go from ger to ger to a camel festival in the village of Bulgan in the heart of the Gobi desert.

No internet connection in these area, you know the drill, I do the riding, you do the worrying !!!

I spend these last few days resting on the coach of the guesthouse working on my videos. Last night I gave it a try to put the video
Blablabla, Miam. Miam.Miam & Vroom-Vroom-Vroom on Youtube. It means that now when you are on my web site and click on the small photo to view that video, the next page has the video - hosted on Youtube but you view it directly on the page of my web site. It should be more performing that it was on my general account server. I set up 2 sizes for the luckies who have a decent connection. Let me know if you have problem with this new set up and if it works I will always do that in the futur.

My hips problem is not going worst but improving very slowly.

I tried to rent a car to go to the camel festival this weekend but there are no Hertz around and nobody want to rent his car without a driver ! I will leave tomorrow morning on my sidecar and I will see how it goes. I packed all my bags this afternoon, went shopping Vodka and candies for gifts, printed the photo for Dondov and Pourou (the camel's ger) that i will visit on my way to the Govi desert, took a shower and did my laundry.

I might not find internet for a while so stay cool everybody and thank's for all your comments on the guestbook.

More about the same answering many question people ask me regularly:

In November 2004, the year Jessica was to complete her college education in Madison Wisconsin, I had dinner with my friend Jean-Louis at l'Orange Bleu in Manhattan. At the end of that dinner, we clarified a few things that influenced greatly my future.

For ordinary people like me, no matter how much $ you make, on December 31, your pockets are empty because with the lifestyle of a big city like New York, you spend it all. If I was to sell everything's I had, I would have enough $ to travel for 10 years on my sidecar. I had 2 choices and it took me seconds to apply common sense and take a decision:

1 - I keep working for 10 years in New York and I will be poor after that !

2 - I sell everything I have, I go travel for 10 years and I will be poor after that !

Three month after that dinner, on February 16, 2005 at 6:04 am, I left New York for my "Ten Years on the Road !"

I am not doing a RTW (Round The World) because I don't have to. I just go horizontally and vertically where ever it works better for me on a day to day. I don't have to see every country or everything in each country I travel. I prefer to spend time in remote places than in big cities.

The most valuable item I have with me is "Time", I appreciate it every single day, i don't have to rush for any reason. My second most valuable thing I have now is "I don't have to sell anything anymore !". I was selling in my little businesses all my life and if I did not succeed, it was simply because I was never good at it and I did not know what else I could do. There is only one reason why people don't buy from you, it's because they dont' trust you ! People always liked me, but they never trusted me !!!

So when several time a week people ask me "Are you writing a book ?" My answer is 'No" and that is simply because if I want to write a book, I will have to sell it in a matter to please a publisher and go through the same system I used unsuccessfully all my life. I always complete my answer by saying "But I write a web site". I do it very carefully and completely as I can because I don't have to sell it, it's free !

Now more and more people ask me "At the end of your Ten Years, you can do a movie with all the material you have". I still answer no, because I don't want to sell anything anymore. Then came the $ question "But you could make some $ out of it !". It is true, I could make some $ out of it, but I don't need it, I would call that "Greed", because I sleep quite well in a ditch and I don't need much to be happy !

An this is my recipe to live fully my newly acquired FREEDOM!

I got a call telling that my Mongolian driver licence is ready to be picked up tomorrow, I will be able to buy a motorcycle insurance with that. I slept lightly on the ice this everning and I hurt my hips in the process. I understand that my hips is going to bother me for a long time so I am ready to get used to it !

I am thinking to leave Wednesday for Bulgan in the Gobi desert where there is a camel festival for at the occasoin of the Mongolian New Year.

10:00am: New York time, I just posted and update of the video

Blablabla, Miam.Miam.Miam & Vroom-Vroom-Vroom !!!

While resting, I did a composite video about

Blablabla, Miam.Miam.Miam & Vroom-Vroom-Vroom !!!

After a week of blue sky and feeling the spring at the corner (between 0ºF and 10ºF) there is a nasty snow storm on all the West of the county. All the roads going where I want to go see the Mongols hunt wolves with their eagles are closed.

I am resting comfortably reading my books on Genghis Khan in my guesthouse of Ulaanbaatar for a few more days.

To Phil, Jojo, Claire, Rodolphe, Marion and many of you who wrote me emails regarding what Phil thought was a digress.

When I was a very little boy, I had nuts in my stomach every morning going at school because I was already disconnected with what was happening on the black board in front of me and I did not graduate from high school. I was not even close of having the level to go to college that my dad would have love paying for me.

My working life was about the same. Because I had no education or knowledge, I worked very hard to compensate and always thought I was overpaid for what I was doing. I lived in the red all my life and the spinning stopped only 5 years ago when I left New York for my Ten Years on the Road !

Thanks to their mothers and to me, fortunatly, none of my daughters followed my path. Eve did not use too much her 4 years in college but had ease at finding her way in the professional life in England, Lucie has a master in linguistic and psychologies and is raising her kid in France. Jessica has an MBA and is a corporate trainer in the USA - Eve and Jessica are already making more $ than I ever made in my life !

Today, my nomad life on the road is a dream come true because like when I was a little kid, I always felt disconected in any system I was, always wondering what I was supposed to do. We all have to find our way in life. For some, it takes longer than for others and there is nothing wrong with that. As for me I feel lucky because for some it might never happens !

Thank you to all of you who are following my travel and don't disconect your internet because I am not even half way through.

What I mean by "Things were kind of easy for us" - the generation that matured in 1968 - is that all you had to do to have a job was to show up in the morning ! In comparaison, I remember about 10 years ago on a hot summer night in Arcachon, France, at a cafe were Gaelle was a waitress, the young generation telling me "We want to stay student as long as possible because when we graduate, we will be unemployed !". So getting a job was much easier but I still had to work as hard as anybody else all my life to pay my rent.

I did the video on the dog sled ride that I just put online.

I did one story on  my web site, wrote a long email answering many question for Clemens for an article on a the German motorcycle magazine "MO" www.mo-web.de.

Lorraine told me that I should get a massage after the dog sled. I found a clean place in a 5 stores woman dept store and took the 90 minutes/$17 full body massage. It was great, i am not used to do that. Last time I had a massage - beside when with Lorraine - it was at Canoa Quebrada on a paradise beach in Brazil on October 28, 2006. I learn a year later how it made my daughter Lucie in Paris pissed at me when  I was asking her some administritratives French information while I was havinng massage on the beach and she was working very hard in Paris. It is true the my generation of 1968 has been privilege in many way. We benefited from a lot of freedom, sexually and socially. Things were kind of easy and now that we are retiring, we have a lot to do to enjoy a long healthy life after work. Many go back to study, or live their passion what ever that may be or travel around the world etc... during that time our children (generally speaking) came to maturity at the time of AIDS, everything is going so much faster now than before, they are working very hard and too often it's just a rat tace while we - the 68 people - are enjoying an easy life !

I went to Dondov's ger yesterday. I love being with these nomads where people are what they look like, where there are no pretence and no false attitude !

We were all very happy to be together again, I gave them their photos, a couple of little presents like a small bottle of vodka, a pack of cigaret, a pack of cookies and an pack of candies. The temperature was cold during the night but today it was around 10ºF and we could feel spring being around the corner. I did a couple of hundred miles and came back in Ulaanbaatar to see Edernebileg who installed the spokes. The spokes a sounding good ! I will stay a couple of days in UB to rest, I bruse my hips last week when falling down with the dog sled and it bother me a lot.

Because I entend to stay in Mongolia for a while, I am working on making a Mongolian driver license from my international driver license to be able to buy a liability insurance for the sidecar. To do a couple of hundreds miles to do the final adjustment on the new spokes of my wheels, I want to go tomorrow to visit Dondov. He was the first ger where I stopped in on December 10. I printed 20 photos I want to give them. I hope to be back friday to check up on my wheel before I go to Olgiy (1000 mile) in the far West of the country to watch Mongolian hunting wolves with their eagles.

I finished preparing the sidecar this afternoon and I parked it across from the guesthouse where i stay in the center of Ulaanbaatar.

I replace the 5 shocks absorbers that Ural gave me - I mounted the new tire Heideneua that Heindlengineering, Ural dealer in Ohio gave me

gave me - I changed the brake pad of the front wheel. The oils are good I would like to ride a few hundreds of kilometer and check if the spokes need to be tighten or not. I still have a lot to do tomorrow, I hope to go back on the road thursday.

I just arrived from the dog sled ride, it was a week I will never forget !

We were just 3. Faith, American is travelling since 1.5 year in South America and China, Raphael from Switzerland also travelled for the last year and half in Central America, South America, Japan, China and now Mongolia. Joel, from Toulouse, France is a musher for the last 30 years, created the dog sled tour in Mongolia Wind of Mongolia and his wife Bayana is from Mongolia. Joel and Bayana were on one sled with 9 dogs, and each of us were on one sled with 6 dogs.

It was a perfect group. This week with the dogs is one of the highlight of my travels that I will never forget. I expect the photos to be great but the videos should be excellent.  I will download them tonight and have a look at it for the first time !

What a day ! I mounted the tires and then started to changed the shocks. I was able to remove the 5 shocks and mounted 4 only with 2 wheels. Tony close his place at 4 pm and I had to go. I had lunch with Sukhee and Gantulga who organized motorcycle tour in Mongolia on KTM, check it out on their web site.

I am leaving tomorrow morning for the dog sled ride and will be back next Sunday, have a great week everybody !!!

I took the oportunity to go on a 5 days dog sled starting next Tuesday.

We are a group of 5 sled (1 person per sled) exploring the region of Terelj where only wolves, foxes  and snow leopards lives. We will stay in nomad's ger along our travel. With an average of 30km per day, at the return we will see the foot prints of the wolves who came to sniff our presence on the way out. At the end, we will return by a 30 km ride on the frozen river Tuul.

This Monday I go to prepared my sidecar with the tires to have it ready to the following week to ride to the extreme West of the country (if possible) where Mongolian/Kazak people hunt wolfs with their eagles !

I got my wheels back this afternoon. The front wheel and 1 drum wheel are perfects, but the other 2 wheels are slightly oval. The warehouse of Tony where is the sidecar is closed this weekend. Monday, I will mount the new tires, mount the 5 shocks that Ural USA gave me and I should be able to get it running by the end of the day.

I am sharing this email I just received because it represent exactly how by the magic of Selima's glasses my life has changed since 1995 !

I have experiences like that very often no matter where I am in the world. Thank you Selima and thank you Tamir. Of course now I will be in contact with my new friend Tamir in Ulaanbaatar.

Hey Hubert,

Hi Hubert! (Eruul) Im very proud of you, what you doing and past days of your life. I hope you will remember me...,
We are met at XEROX center 13th January and I said maybe we ride a same flight to the San Francisco and you gave me a name card of yours...Anyway I hope we will meet again.
I just visited your website and still coudn't get off your travel and life history.
First, I saw you in the center of the Ulaanbaatar from my car window, you was walking around Air trans office (air ticketing company) because you wore with your fashionable red framed glasses so..., I wear glasses tooo. ,,, that's why .
Then, after we (my wife) saw you in the Flight to the Seoul , Korea and I said to my wife about you in when I was see you in UB.... Amazingly, we met in the Seoul to San Francisco flight again.
After all...in XEROX center. I thouhgt what a Huge, and what a Small this world.
Hubert, Wish you all the best and great health, and many many good things to you and to your family (Lorraine, Eve, Lucie , and Jessica) .
If you need anything about all the thing, please don't hesitate to contact me on your ride in Mongolia, and I'm gladly to inviting you a dinner while in Mongolia.
Oh, also I just dropped a 20$ bucks to your account (PAYPAL). Good luck Hubert!!!!!!

Sincerely

Tamir

Good news, I went to see my first wheel this morning and it looks good. In fact  Erdenebileg. I met yesterday, who is doing my wheels did the Master Rally orginized by Rene Metge in 1996 between the Eiffel tower of Paris to Ulaanbaatar in Mongolia. We had a lot to talk together. I brought him the axle of the front wheel so he could adjust his work but the mounting was no problem. He expect to have all the wheels done by tomorrow.

The GPS is loaded with the Mongolian map. It is the map from Garmin in their worlk map CD. Not as details as anybody could be used to in Europe or USA but very useful in this country where off road is king.

I found a new guy for my wheels. He is the president of the motocross federation of Mongolia. We checked together to mount on spoke, he will do one wheel for tomorrow morning and if all is good he will do the other 3.

I got my blue bag from the sidecar and bring it back to the guesthouse to sort everything again. I go to Chinzo who can download the Mongolia map on my GPS. I did half of the California story, I think I will be able to put it online tonight.

Bad news, I just get a phone call from Saruul, he is telling me that the spokes send last month from switzerland are the wrong size, I am on my way to look at the problem !!!

5:30pm: I think I am OK, the problem everybody was worry about here was the diameter of the spokes. The original spoke was 3.5mm diameter and the new one are 4mm. But it's all in the quality of the metal. I called Orlando to be confirm that it mount the same way and he was totally reassuring - as much as when he spokes the wheel last year and told me "with that you will never have a problem !!!". So tomorrow I go back to an other place to get the wheels mounted with the spoke Orlando send me.

I went to the immigration office and have a stamp on my passeport for 90 days in Mongolia.

Last night, I ate like a pig at the Hyatt buffet: fresh oyster - smoked salmon with capers and oignon - sea food salad - sirloin steak - pork - lamb shop - cheese and desert

This morning, I ate like a fat pig at the Hyatt buffet for breakfast: Smoke salmon with oignon and capers - soft ommelette - bakon - saussage - mushroom - patatoes - tomato - donut - bread - waffle  and cereal !!!

I am flying to Ulaanbaatar in 3 hours.

*****

I arrived in Ulaanbaatar. I got my big box with the 3 tires and the bag with my 5 shocks and passed the custom without problem. The driver from the Khonor Guest House was there waiting for me. We dropped the tires and shocks at Alan office where Saruul told me that Otgon who will replace the spokes of my 4 wheels just came back from visiting his family for the Christmas holidays and the wheels should be done this week. Time we arrived at the guest house, Chinzo was there waiting for me. Chinzo is the guy who want to come with me on lake Baikal in March. He brought my bag of warm clothing that I left at his office when I left for California last month.

Coming from the airport, I already saw a man lying on the ground in his del on the side of the road, he was moving but nobody was stopping to check or help him and the temperature was at 0ºF !!!

I arrived in Seoul, South Korea after a 12h flight from San Francisco. I sleep at the Hyatt - complementary from Korean airlines - and I will fly to Ulaanbaatar tomorrow.

I packed my stuff, ready to take my plane tomorrow morning, I have one night in Seoul and will arrive Monday in Mongolia !!!

My initial "To do" list is completed. I just realized that I have a lot of things to print before leaving that required preparation. Like the news paper article in Mongolian that I want to show to the people I meet in the ger to give us a piece of conversation, outlined letters for the sidecar, my Mongolian booklet etc...

Lorraine went back to New York last night and Jessica just got the stomack virus that Andrew had the last couple of days.

The weekend was a success !

Saturday, about 50 people showed up at A&S Motorcycle in Sacramento where I told my story of  "Ten Years on the Road !". Jessica helped me with the timing and a few things I was forgetting to say and nobody fell asleep.

Sunday we were at the Ural dealer Triquest Cycles in Santa Clara. About 60 people showed up on that Sunday morning to listen to my story. Lorraine helped me with a few things I was forgetting to say and again nobody fell asleep !

Thank you so much for your hospitality Randy, Ski and Sami and all the participants, it was a real pleasure meeting with you all.

I heard that a few people who wanted to come could not make it. Not a problem, I will be next week at the second ger on the right, 100 miles South of Ulaanbaatar in direction of the Gobi desert in Mongolia. I am looking forward to meeting with you there !!!

I want to thank you all of you for your support that I appreciate everyday.

I wish all of you the best year ever for 2010 but I also hope to meet with you one of these days this year somewhere on the road !!!

We had a great Christmas with Lorraine, jessica and Andrew's family.

Here is a list of what Santa Claus brought me under the tree:

- GPS. Franck from France that I did not know send me a GPS that he used in South America, Africa and Mongolia in the past. It's a Garmin V witht the Touratech mounting. Franck wrote me "Because I can't travel any more on motorcycle to discover the world, I travel everyday through your website, and if give me an address, I will send you my GPS that stay on my desk, it's with great pleasure that I am offering to you !"

Thank you very much Franck, that touch me a lot and knowing that your GPS already travelled through the world with you makes it very valuable to me.

- 2 Heideneau tires + 1 Duro HF308 tire. Jon Heindl (That I did not know) from The Ural dealer Heindl Engineering in Ohio, USA heard by my friend Dave Hooker that I was looking to buy tires in the USA to bring them back in Mongolia with me in january, wrote me  and email : "We would like to offer up support for your trip by supplying you with some new tires... Just let me know where to send them and what you can carry back with you !"

Thank you very much Jon, with these tires, I will be able to cross Mongolia, horizontally and vertically !

- 5 new ZF Sachs shock absorber for the motorcycle and sidecar from Ural. Thanks a lot Marina and Ilya, it will be very useful on the wash board dirt roads of Mongolia.

- Red Glasses: Thank you to all my friends from internet for your generossity, I have already largely replaced my broken red glasses with the lenses.

- Space pen - works by -30ºF, under water, upside down etc... I had one that was stolen by a very smart custom agent at the Kazakhstan border thank you jessica, I will be able to write you a postcard from subfrigid temperature with it !

- One set of 6 Toblerone tablets

- One pound of See's Candies  (the best of the best in California)

- One coupon dinner for 2 at "Il Fornaio" restaurant. Thank you Andrew, I will go with my beloved Lorraine

- One coupon for 2 full body massages, 2 scalps massages, 1 manicure and

one ______  massage, all to be performed by Lorraine !!!

Thank you my family, my friends and everybody that I don't know yet but I hope to meet one of these days somewhere in the world on the road !!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYBODY AROUND THE WORLD !!!

For the California's people, I hope to meet with you :

- Saturday January 2 in Sacramento at A&S Motorcycle starting at 3pm

- Sunday January 3 in Santa Clara at the Ural dealer Triquest Cycles starting 10am

My todo list is virtually done :

√ - find a dentist to remplace a filling (I have an appointment on the 26)

√ - Apple store to replace keyboard and buy new OX Snow Leopard (It took 30")

√ - Craftman: buy flat plier and good quality zip plastic. (it's life time guaranty)

√ - Renew my US driver license & international driver license (to have a spare) (it's in the mail)

√ - Send my Nikon D300 and the 18/200 mm lens to clean up and check up (there is a Nikon repair shop in Sacramento)

√ - Buy a new Panasonic waterproof that I lost when robbed last week. (Ordered at B&H)

√ - Repair the Kodak camera from Chinzo  (Chinzo might run out of luck, there is not Kodak repair in Sacramento)

√ - Buy a good quality camera stand (these things are amazingly expensive !!!, I am buying a Manfotto middle price)

√ - Make a new eye prescription and lenses for my spare red glasses. (done at Cutsco for $89, will be ready january 3 ? I hope)

√ - Replace the blue primaloft jacket (at the end of it's life) (Find a Mountain Gear but again very expensive, I may try to repair the one I have and keep it for an other leg)

√ - Replace one used pair of socks SmartWood that i like so much (cost me $22)

√ - Find replacement shocks for the sidecar (they are dead) (Thank you very much Madina for sending me a new set of shocks)

I prepared my todo list in California:

- find a dentist to remplace a filling

- Apple store to replace keyboard and buy new OX Snow Leopard

- Craftman: buy flat plier and good quality zip plastic.

- Renew my US driver license & international driver license (to have a spare)

- Send my Nikon D300 and the 18/200 mm lens to clean up and check up

- Buy a new Panasonic waterproof that I lost when robbed last week.

- Repair the Kodak camera from Chinzo

- Buy a good quality camera stand

- Make a new eye prescription and lenses for my spare red glasses.

- Replace the blue primaloft jacket (at the end of it's life)

- Replace one used pair of socks SmartWood that i like so much

- Find replacement shocks for the sidecar (they are dead)

After an eventless flight, I arrived in San Francisco. Lorraine pick me up at the airport with Karen. I ate a turkey sandwich with a coke, very American and very delicious. We will be with Jessica in Sacramento Sunday morning.

I have a 22 hours lay over at Seoul. It's a very modern airport, I have wifi, double leather armchair face to face and a 220V plug !

I did my Christmas shopping, I am ready to take my plane tomorrow for California.

I have been thinking of a mixt of Mr T, Ulk, Steven Seagal, Clint Eastwood and Crocodile Dandy or even better GIORGIO, the situation would have turn to my favor !

For the last 5 years I have been living outside of my environment and never had a problem up to last night until I get robbed !!!

I am OK and I was very lucky.

coming back to my guesthouse in the center of town in Ulaanbaatar at 9:30 pm, I left the main street, turn left for 50 yard in a passage, right in a big deserted and ligthed courtyard for 100 yard and enter with my flashligh the dark lobby of 12 sf to punch the 3 number to open the door of the 5 flight building. I felt lucky that 2 guys enter at the same time as me so they will punch the number, unstead one of them grab me from the rear putting his hand on my mouth energicallly.

My thought were "it's happening huber and it's going to hurt" they very quickly took my wallet with the equivalent of $20 and I did not care then they had the side pocket with my US passport that I need in 2 days to go back to california, but they immediatly throught it on the floor looking for cash only I guess then they could have left but were not satisfied yet. At that time, i was on the ground pulling my knees to my chest to protect myself. I was saying to them loudly "you have my money , you have my money, go" The yound guy in front of my show me that if i don't shut up, he will punch me in my face, but I was repeating the same thing. Then he tear up my jean to go to the passeport belt all the tourist are wearing (including me) . It was a long time, I knew I was going to be hurt but I was worry more about my French passport with my 1 year Russian visa in it.  Finally the left, I stayed on the porch looking at them running away and i sreamed "I need my passport" several times. They stop running and I saw them throuwing something on the ground and they left. I went there and picked up the pocket with my passport. I went up to the guesthouse, called the police, wrote an email to Lorraine and jessica 10' after it happened. At the police station, I realised that they took also my little camera waterproof Panasonic. My red glasses were broken in the fight.

So red glasses, camera and about $200. I was not hurt, I still have my both passport that at one point was in their hands.

I am emotionally shaky but very lucky. It could have happened in Paris, New York, Geneva or any place else !!!

I am back in Ulaanbaatar, I LOVE MONGOLIA.

I am putting the first story online now but I have 3 or 4 more that I will have to do.

Tomorrow I go visit a coal mine with Vince, one of the Australian guy I had this long lunch with last week.

I already park the sidecar at Tony's warehouse where they have 3 of their Ural sidecar. I dismounted the wheels to replace all the spokes by reinforced spoke Orlando is sending me from Switzerland. During my little ride south, I had a new broken spoke at the front wheel and the sidecar wheel has all the spokes loose.

Today, it's snowning in California  so Jessica set me up for an afternoon at the
BMW dealer A&S Powersports where she lives in Sacreamento with MY sidecar bmw/ural sidecar that I used to go from the Arctic Circle to the Antarctic on January 2, at 3 pm. So save the date if you are around, I will be very happy to meet with you, let's just hope that January 3rd will be also a snowy day !!!

My Ural sidecar is already warmed up outside, I am leaving for a few days in direction of the Gobi desert in an hour !

I got my 1 year Russian visa !!! that feels good, it gives me freedom to go on my own pace.

I finalized my equipement, bought gift to give to the families I hope to meet in gers (yurts) on the road - rice, sugar, vodka, candies, cookies.

Al is the Australian guy I met yesterday. At 11am this morning one of his guy (he sells hydrolic equipment to the mining industrie) picked me up at my guest house to visit his Ural mecanic Otgon. Otgon works from a container and gave me a good impression so he will re-spoke my wheels when I go to the US for Christmas. On the way back Al called his guy driving the car asking me if I wanted to meet with him for lunch at the Bistrot Francais with a couple of his friends

At the lunch, there were:

Al - Australian - lives in Mongolia since 5 years, sells hydrolic equipment to the mining industrie. He bought 2 Ural sidecar a year ago and renovated them to one looking like a new one.

Vince - Australian - lives in Mongolia since 5 years, is married to a Mongolian woman and works also with the mining industrie.

David - Australian - lives in Thailand with his family since 14 years.

They have 3 other Australian friends who lives at Ulaanbaatar and each has a renovated Ural sidecar.

We all arrived at noon, had an excellent lunch, talk about, travel, the Mongolian culture, religion, politique, world leaders, heros etc...

We left the table at 9 pm, it was a extraordinary and rich afternoon for all of us.

I know Tiffany (UK) from the internet, she was riding just ahead of me in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan last summer on her BMW100GS. We missed each other from 3 days in Almaty. She went to Mongolia, Vladivostok, Japan and is now in Los Angeles. She put me in contact with a Ural sidecar guy from Australia who lives here. He has plenty of resource for the sidecar and all of the sudden I can see a solution coming for my spoke problem. I will meet his mechanic tomorrow morning. We set up dates with Chinzo to ride together the frozen lake Baïkal at the end of February when the ice is crystal clear.

Mongolian culture:

After a couple of very short nights doing my Mongolian booklet, wake up at 8 and went back to sleep immedialty. There is one young Mongolian girl in my room since a couple of days and this morning in my second sleep, I could hear her blow dryer very loud... after a while, I open an eye and saw that she was vaccuuming our room ! With our culture it is obviously stupid and rude to do that while I am steel sleeping but in Mongolia it's totally different. Every body has the culture of being raised in a yurt. A yurt is one big tent with no separation where the whole family live. That mean, you cook, you eat, you rest and you sleep. There is no privacy and for this girl to vaccuum was just normal and I knew it. I love Mongolia.

I am late in my storires, I will try to do the first Mongolian story today.

I finished my Mongolian booklet and I am very happy with the final product even it I screw up by cutting it the wrong way and I had to rego all the printing etc...

I go to the "Black Market" to try my dell (coat) that should be half way done.

I had a full day !

Last night, I finished at 4 am the first draft of my Mongolian booklet. It was the first day that I took the sidecar to go in town.

At 11 am, I was at the French Bookstore to meet Undaarma from the news paper "Odonor" (the New York Times of Mongolia". The interview last for 2 hours. Then went to see Guy from Le French Bistrot next door and I met Michael who had 8 Ural sidecar in the past for his tours. He knows of a good mechanic, but it might take some time to find him. I went to Xerox to print the first draft. I already see some adjustment to be made but I am in good shape I will print the final copy tomorrow saturday. Then I went to visit Gansuk who introduce me to the woman who is doing my "Deel" (Mongolian sheep fur coat). After that I was just on time to be at Chinzo's office where I was able to meet with Gustav the Cuban mechanic. We discussed my spoke problem, I need to talk to Orlando Calonder who monted the rims to have more informations.

The photographer from the news paper came for a photo with my sidecar for the article that will be published next week. I am back at the guesthouse and will work the whole evening to finish my Mongolian bookelt.

I concluded my 7th and last class of Mongolian with Nasa this morning.
I own now 800 words and sentenses. I know how to introduce myself and explain my story, ask for my way etc... conjugate at present, futur and preterit, count, and read correctly in cyrillic. All i have left to do is to learn it by heart !

I will always have my booklet in my back pocket and some of it will came by itself on the road and i will try to learn 10 word/day during Christmas time in the USA. I am very happy of having taking these classes, it will help me a lot to learn and share with the people I will meet on the road.

I am still chasing Gustav the mecanic !

I went shopping for a custom printer to do my booklet and after that, i felt like a real good dinner. I went to the Bistrot Francais. The owner Guy that I met a couple of days ago arrived a little later and told me that the Ulaanbaatar newspaper was looking to make an interview with me. We will do it tomorrow at 11 am.

No class today. Still chasing Gustav the mecanic. Went to the "Black Market" with Oyumbeleek from e-mongol (good friends from Jean, an internet friend in france) who speak a very good French to visit their contact who makes "Deel" Mongolian coat with sheep skin inside out. I liked the lady called Yenjinkhotkshol. I met her again at the end of the day to go to her house where she makes the coat. One of her daughter speaks a good english and we were able to define the details for my coat that I will have Monday.

I own now 500 words and sentences in Mongolian that fit perfectly my needs. I typed them on my computer to print a booklet I will have by the end of the week and will never leave my back pocket.

I am still chasing a Cuban guy named Gustav that will eventually look at the problem I have with the spokes of the wheels.

I just put online the video that the "Gaucho" I met on their blue sidear in Kyrgyzstan put together from their vacations. They might not have experience on motorcycle or sidecar when they arrived there, but they surely know how to put a video together.

I already have 400 Mongolian words and sentences that I typed in my computer by theme. It's going really well.

Mongolia is the size of Alaska with a population of 2.7 million people included 1.2 millions in the Capital Ulaanbaatar. There is a hores to human ratio of 13 to 1.

In 1928, 1 Tugrik = 1 US$

Today, 1430 Tugriks = 1US$

It's hard to understand how it works.

I went to visit Chinzo at his office. He convince me very easely to buy a GPS to ride in Mongolia because there are no signs anywhere on all these trails and hundreds of tracks crossings each other. He has a GPS map not as detailled as this excellent map but I will be able to know very quickly when I will be off track !

After class #4, I earn already more Mongolian language than I had Russian language (I was stupid not to take Russian's classes). Of course, I will have to learn it by heart but that will come quickly with practice because I am building a vocabulary and sentences that fit my specific need. The language is pretty guttural and harsh.

This afternoon, I went to the "Black Market". My most interesting discovery is to see how people push each other physically like a farmer walking in his barn would push his cows to get through. They will also grab your arm physically to keep your attention. I don't beleive they would ever hurt you but you have to pull physically to get out of there. Let's not forget that wrestling (there are no category of weight, age or sex) is one of the main sport in Mongolia with archery and horse racing.

I met the amazing Chinzo, the Mongolian biker I met through Horizons Unlimited.

10 years ago, he was a taxi driver, today his tour travel company own 10 4X4 SUV that he rent to tourists and 14 Yamaha motorcycles for tours in Mongolia with guides.

When Mongolia was part of the Soviet Union until 1992, they kept their language unlike Kazakhstan or Kyrgyzstan for example. All the administratif work was done in Russian, but there were school made only in Mongolian (98% of the population is literate). Today, even if Mongols understand Russian language, they don't like to use it and are much more excited about the English language.

This is why I am learning to speak some Mongolian and not to have to use the little Russian I have and why I am printing new business card in Mongol.

Here is my Mongol name.

Yuruul   =  Good Heart    =   Hubert

- Mongolian lesson #2 - done.

- Registration USA passort at Mongolian emigration - done.

- Glue moving bridge - done.

Tonight, I meet a biker I met on internet through Horizons Unlimited.

I just completed the first 4 hours Mongolian classes with Nasa.

It's not easy and that's all I can tell you at this time.

My to do list at Ulaanbaatar:

- Clean the sidecar from the crust it accumulated on the transsiberian higway

- Resolve the problem of the broken spoke

- Buy motorcycle insurance

- Register my USA passport at emigration office for a 90 days stay in Mongolia

- Do my Russian 1 year visa on French passport (done, I will get it back 12/9)

- Buy plane ticket to spend Christmas in California with Lorraine & Jessica (done, I will fly on 12/17 and return on 1/9/10 to Ulaanbaatar).

- Find a one on one teacher to learn Mongolian language (done, I start tomorrow with Nasa 2 hour every morning and 2 hours every afternoon for the next 7 days)

- Find dentist to glue a moving bridge

- Buy a Jacket or coat to replace my the black sleeveless jacket I forgot in Irkutsk

- Make new prescription and new lense for my red glasses.

- Print business card in Mongol

- Buy good road map for Mongolia (done)

- Find books about the life of Genghis khan

- Buy good food...

I went to the Golden Gobi Guesthouse yesterday when I arrived. The guy does not know how to run a guesthouse and has a bunch of stupid rules - BYO toilet paper and wifi shut down at night - but mostly the front door is locked (to get in or out) for security during the night and only his employee have the key - in case of fire, just ask the key to the girl !!!

I left this morning and found the ideal gueshouse. It's called Natural Guesthouse, perfectly located in the center, the sidecar is in a heated garage with 2 very nasty dogs, I am sure that nobody will ever touch it (me neither!), I am alone in a huge room with 11 beds for $10/day and 24h Wifi.

I just talk to Lorraine who just arrived in California at Jessica's house for Thanksgiving.

It's a sunny day in Ulaan Baatar, life is beautiful

5:30pm: Just arrived in Ulaan Baatar. I am extactic to be here, you have no idea what it represent to me, a dream come true !

I have a lot of things to do in Ulaan Baatar, but my Mongolian visa problem is resolve. I enter Mongolia with my US passport that does not require a visa and and give me 30 days. If I go register here within 7 days, I can stay for 90 days. That works great for me, it will be easy to swing by Russian for one day and have an other 90 days available when ever I need it.

I am leaving Ulan Ude, next is... MONGOLIA !