last days with Dragon

Last welding was fatal for our engine, it started burning oil 1liter in 20km.  Smoldering spark plugs each 10km.  And it even blew out 2 of the spark plugs.  It seems all the bad things happened at once!

The bus is pulled up over mountain passes, on 2 blown out spark plugs, and smoking badly tons of oil, it was wiser to get a lift up over the mountains.  There the sparkplugs were fixed again and again with liauid metal.  This lasted usually untill first accelerations, but while coasting down hill, it was easy.  Here we were towed by some young drivers.  Their trailor was only attached with metal cable, so we gave them the 3ton strap, in fear of recieving the trailor flatening the poor Dragon, with us in it.

We met a nice restaurant owner lady, who proposed that she may keep the bus at her house in Tosinzingel City, so withrout hesitation we decided to leave the bus here in Tosontsengel, half way to UB, and take a minibus over night to continue East.

Once in town, I was recomended to put the bus up on wood, taking off the tyres, taking out the battery, do to the freezing -50 temperatures in winter, that can destroy the tyres.

So for a tank 50l full of gas, and loaned mudd tyres, and 3 20l water bottles, Dragon has safe keeping untill end of May, once the snow melts.

The kind restaurant owner and her husband, by the bus

Augusta with Elios and the lady, saying good bye to Dragon

The travel continues as planed, in public transportation, although 1000km earlyer.  The mission accomplished, Dragon stays in Mongolia and awaits us in the spring, untill I bring the broken rings, and try to revive it for the road back.

Elios plays with Hotel hoses'es daughter.

the tight private bus, took us from Tosinzingel to Tsetseleg over night into the afternoon hours.  A long trying ride.

Since we left the bus, were traveling with our backpacks.  Still too heavy as we drag with us alot of warm clothes.
We made our way in a bus that drove over 500km in night and day, through a hard mongolian land.  The snow started to fall on mountain peaks.Elios took the travel very well, trying to sleep like all of us on the bumpy road, playing with our very helpfull hitchiker Brani from Czechoslovakia, who is a student of Mongolian, as well as a fine babysitter ;)
A new phase of traveling is on.  And we are doing fine now using sign language, and some basic phrases that we learned from our translator ;)