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SELF GUIDED TOURS

Thanks for giving us the chance to accomplish a 31 days journey and 3200km through your beautiful country in total freedom.

Not knowing what to expect about the rhythm we would encounter during our trip, we first plan just to go to Moron, driving across the speechless steppe, and then visit the area and spend some time with the northern tribes called the Tsaataan, which was an amazing life experience. But after that we came to realize that we would be able to make much more out of it . So we decided to head south for the Orkhon Valley and descovered there the most magnifients landscapes, and the pleasure of riding a motorcycle through it was a beautiful reality check, even though some parts were challenging. We then decided to go further south to the Govi desert to reach Dalandzagdad and discover another face of the country where rocks, sand and infinite landscape surrounds your all day. Then Back to Ulaan Bataar for a couple days and heading east for the Terelj Park where we enjoyed Mother Nature for a few days before going back to our lives.

So, thank you again for providing such good motorbikes who made this journey possible, completely fit for the outdoors and known from every nomads, which makes it very easy in case of a problem because the people is really curious and willing to help.As urban bikers, the experience of the offroad in this country was one of a kind. Travelling on a motorcycle is unique way to travel, especially in this nomads country where you can pretty much camp anywhere you want to.If some of you want more practical details (budget, organization, motorcycles, etc) you can send us a mail at : eliseninnin0@gmail.com

Enjoy !

Elise and Jeremy

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I would like to share my experience with Cheke tour in Mongolia.

I went to Mongolia in the end of May 2014. I rent a 150cc mustang motorbike and a tent at Cheke tour for 5days. I took enough food for 2 or 3 days 5you can buy more along the road), 5 liters of water and made an awesome 600 or 700km trip by myself.

I started directly from Cheke tour outside Ulaanbaatar (don't drive in UB!) and drove through:
-Altanbulag
-Lün
-Bayannur
-Dashinchilen
-Rashaant
-Hashaat
-Ogiynuur
-Hishig-Öndör
-Orhon
-Bayannur
-Lün
-UB

Villages are small but you can usually find petrol and a small market (expect very basic food and past their use by date). I never stayed long in the village. At night I throw my tent close to nomad gerks. They were all very friendly, invited me to share their food and were very happy to learn more about my travel. I helped them to bring back their animals for the night. Even if we did not speak the same language, communication was possible with a simple translation book, pictures and maps. It's a great experience to share nomad lives far away from all this touristy boring and shameful tours.

There is nice National Park were I spend one day riding through. Khustain nuruu NP. I saw przewalski horses, many marmots, steppe eagles, cinerous vultures... I went also to a nature reserve that I forgot the name. Most of the time, roads are simple dirty not sealed roads. Sometimes I even lost completely the track and was driving on small hiking paths. Only one road is actually sealed west of UB in the direction of Lün. I was able to ride 150 or 200km per day depending of the quality of the road.

Riding is simple and not very dangerous but you need to have some previous experience in solo trips in hard conditions. I recommend also good quality personal equipments. During the night, temperatures can drop under zero even in summer. In the spring, a freezing wind coming from the west can rooted you to the spot, and you can easily burn your skin as it was my case even in May. Massive storms happen during summer. They are quick but very intense with winds that can knock you over. Be aware that Mongolia is nothing compare to the western countries. Nobody will come help you if you have a trouble in the middle of nowhere. Don't expect to find people on the road you are using. There is places were to human infrastructures can be seen for dozen of miles. If you are stuck because of the weather or a motorbike problem you have to be resourceful and find a solution by yourself. There is no wood if you want to do a fire to warm you up or to cook. For the water, you can fill it in rivers (not so many!) or buy some in the villages.

Besides all this recommendations, renting a motorbike is probably one of the best way (with the bike and the horse) to explore Mongolia. You will need a compass and a good map of Mongolia. GPS is not really useful, it's relatively easy to find your way in this country and nomads can help you. Language was not a problem, you can do a lot with gesture. I had no trouble with the motorbike, neither with the weather (a few big storms).

It's a huge cultural and environmental experience. I recommend that before going there, people read a few books and documentation on Mongolia as a symbol of respect for this culture and to not look stupid when you first enter in a nomad gerk. I'm a 22 years old student, so everyone can make this kind of trip with some previous experience.

I will be happy to answer if you want more infos or feedback from my trip.
I would like to finish by thanking the people from Cheke tour, they are very friendly,flexible, speak fluent English. Motorbike are very good and they will help you if you have any question on this country.

Cheers, Jonathan

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My girlfriend and I have just returned from 14 days on the bikes, seeing some of he most beautiful sights in Mongolia. It really was the adventure of a life time! We've been lucky enough to travel a lot. We've also ridden motorbikes through my home country, Australia, Europe, Morocco and parts of SE Asia and South America. This was by far the most adventurous trip we've been on and possibly my favourite to date.

Cheke was super helpful and friendly and nothing seemed to be a problem for her. We rented a tent, cooker etc and headed off on 2 bikes. We got lost leaving UB, but oddly enough didn't get too lost when we were out in the countryside. We had a paper map and GPS, but found it more useful to use the map and just ask for directions whenever we ran into a local.

We had a couple of minor hiccups. A flat tire on the second day, then a broken clutch cable a few days later. Fortunately, you can buy parts in all the villages and it seems as though all of the locals know how to fix these bikes. The bikes are small and easy to manage being 150cc and we were thankful that we were on light weight bikes when riding over some sandy rutted roads. Mongolian roads are terrible, so be prepared for a lot of off road riding. It all adds to the adventure though! I'm definately glad we took food and camping equipment as a few times we had to camp out as it generally took us much longer to get from town to town than we expected. The longest day was 130kms over 10 hours! That was the day with the broken clutch cable though.

I recommend taking camping equipment. Having a tent means that you can stop where you want and not stress about getting to the next town before the sun goes down. I'd recommend either camping near a nomads Ger, or in the forest where you can't be seen from the road. Drunken locals on motorbikes came to visit us one night. They were harmless, but very annoying. That aside 99% of people we met were hospitable and helpful. The scenery was amazing, I can't recommend travelling by motorcycle through Mongolia and Cheke highly enough.

Matt

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J'en suis à mon 3ème voyage en Mongolie et cette fois, j'ai voulu faire quelque chose de different. J'ai loué à Cheke une moto chinoise et suis parti tout seul pour une balade d'un mois à travers le pays. J'avais un GPS avec moi et quelques points que j'avais relevé sur Google earth qui m'ont permis de ne pas trop me perdre. La Mongolie a énormément changée en quelques années. Les nomades sont de moins en moins nombreux et beaucoup partent à Oulan Bator dans l'espoir d'une vie plus facile. Malheureusement, ce n'est pas toujours le cas.

Ce voyage a été le plus réussi car j'étais en autonomie totale, ne dépendant de personne et pouvant aller exactement ou je voulais. Le seul point noir a été la météo quelque peu pluvieuse durant ce mois de juillet et qui m'a obligée de passer de nombreuses journées à l'abri dans des yourtes en compagnie de nomades. Ces derniers sont d'une hospitalité incroyable et semblaient ravis d'accueillir ce fou d'étranger sur sa drôle de petite moto.
Je n'ai eu aucun souci mécanique car ma machine était neuve, pas même une crevaison. Bref, un voyage a recommander à tous ceux qui veulent découvrir une nature vierge sans passer par un tour operator couteux et rigide.

Enfin, un grand merci à Cheke qui a su mes donner les meilleurs conseils, ceux que l'on ne trouve pas dans les guides de voyage

Bonne route à tous

Pascal

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Together with 2 friends, we've used Cheke's motorbikes to hang around in Mongolia.
We did a trip from UB to Karakorum, taking some secondary roads whenever possible.
We were very happy with the services provided by Cheke. The motorbikes went very well without breaking down at all (except a small puncture).
Cheke was very useful to provide itinerary recommendations and to encourage us when everybody else in Mongolia were telling us that we were mad to do this trip without any guide and any preparation.
Although Cheke did lent us a GPS, we didn't use it a single time and neither did we have any map. There aren't many roads in Mongolia so with a compas and good orientations skills, it was just enough to find our way without getting lost too often.
We have also used her tents and cooking tools. All of them were of good qualities and conditions.

If we can be of any help for someone, feel free to drop any question you might have.

You can also review some photos of the trip here:
http://www.fluidr.com/photos/pat-ch/sets/72157631006474472

Patrick