We left early in the morning, as usual – at summer temperatures.

The road to Ulaan Bataar wasn’t as good as we had hoped. However of course we had the next record within 30 minutes (probably in exactly the same place as last night….).

Around afternoon we passed some yurts, where you could ride on camels. Seth and Grayson were  immediately overwlemed with excitement.

First we had tea and some snacks at the “Ger” (yurt).

Then it was off to the camels and off into the dunes.

Ulaan Bataar, the capital of Mongolia, is home to almost 1.5 million people, half of the country’s population.

Before we looked for a hostel, we drove around the city to visit Genghis Khan. The 40 meter high monument was erected 10 years ago and consists of 250 tons of stainless steel. As always we parked bumper to bumper.

Our car looks so tiny from above.

On the way back to the city we had of course….. a flat tire. Badum’tss…

In Ulaan Bataar nothing goes, the traffic is the horror. 24/7 traffic jam. By far the worst city of the whole rally.

In the hostel where the other teams stayed there was no place left for us, we were recommended a hostel around the corner, Sara’s Hostel. Boah, that was bad. We arrived, they told us there was still room and we waited for the check-in, an hour later we paid and got the keys, without any info which floor, room or bed number or whatever. Of course Sara doesn’t speak a word of English. Somehow there was one free bed in each of the different rooms. In the end  we had already paid. A nice but fiery Korean man tried to help us, by loudly speaking to Sara, and in Korean of course. At some point I didn’t like it any more and only wanted a bed, somewhere else but not in this juice shop. In the end we got three beds in one room and it took only 2.5 hours until midnight.