|  |  It's five months since I left Exeter, and I’ve crossed 15,000 km to reach Ulan Bator, the capital of Mongolia.
"It’s strange not to be in Russia any more – for more than three months I rode through Russia and in that time it became almost a second home to me.
"True, I was always on the move, but some things seem fairly constant across the whole country: the range of groceries available in village shops; the water pumps on street corners; the warm and generous hospitality of the people; the tedious but rarely aggressive drunks; and of course the language.
"I get by fairly well in Russian but in Mongolia I am reduced to sign language, speaking
S L O W L Y - A N D - L O U D L Y |
and in every respect playing the role of the dumb foreigner.
"At the same time I’m having to adjust to a new diet – bananas are either unavailable or very expensive in Mongolia, but I still haven’t found an adequate replacement for a banana sandwich, which has been my staple breakfast for the past five months.
 | | Ed with his worn out shirt - he's got a new one now! |
"After Novosibirsk things got better, then worse, then better again.
"First of all, the giant horseflies and clouds of mosquitoes, which made life pretty unbearable across 2000 km of western Siberia, became much fewer even if they didn’t disappear altogether.
"But then, a couple of days later, having shaken off the pursuing insects, I was pursued in an action-comedy-farce of a low-speed chase by a pair of motorbike-mounted muggers.
"They demanded money and, when I refused they rammed their motorbike repeatedly into my bike. They managed to snap off my front pannier rack - in fact I was lucky not to have destroyed my whole front wheel as the rack went through the spokes.
"In the process, though, the muggers fell off their motorbike. With all of us sent sprawling and my bike and their motorbike damaged, they decided to call off the attack and head for home.
"I managed to cobble my bike back into a more-or-less rideable shape and limp off to hide in the woods for the night in case they’d gone to fetch reinforcements.
 | | Ed celebrated his birthday on the banks of Lake Baikal |
"The next day, when I was feeling at a low ebb, I met two other cyclists, Victoria and Daniel, who had (sensibly) taken the train as far as Novosibirsk but who were planning to ride through Mongolia to China.
"Since we were all heading the same direction, and, as the Siberians are fond of saying, 'there is only one road', we decided to ride together for a while.
"It was nice to have company after over three months of solo riding, and we were able to celebrate my birthday together on the shore of Lake Baikal with a camp fire, baked potatoes, and a present for me: a new green T-shirt to replace the one that I’d been wearing since England, and which had finally disintegrated to the point that there was more hole than fabric.
"I’ve now got an enforced break in Ulan Bator for a week while I wait for a Chinese visa. Then it’s south through the Gobi desert towards China.
"Meanwhile I can rest my knees and reflect on the fact that I’ve got it easy, really: last week, near Lake Baikal, I met a team of people who are running round the world. Now that takes serious knees. 
Take a look at the photo gallery for more pictures.
 | Ed's last diary >>> |  |
We hope to hear from Ed again very soon.
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