From Italy helping children around the world on motorcycle

[AlpineGuerrilla]

Originally Posted by romafras

Matteo's sexy legs.

People sometimes wonder what motorcyclists wear under their heavy motorcycle pants. Now we can show them this pic.

Thanks for the great ride report.

[romafras]

Today is the day to change tires on our bikes. We were taken to the Yamaha dealership to do the job. The mechanic and ourselves do the job. We also did a minor tune up to our bikes. Once the tires were on, we started our trip of the day toward Bijsk.



Changing Tires


Laundry day in Bijsk


Driving toward "Atomic" Bijsk

[romafras]

We depart Bijsk at 8.30 AM toward the Mongolian border of Tashanta. The road is beautiful and in good shape. We have to watch our speed because its full of Police before and after every villages we encounter on route. All of a sudden the scenery changes drastically and reminds us that we are entering the region of Altai. It seems like we are riding in Switzerland or Austria. The people are what makes a difference here. As we approach the Mongolia we see the feature of people changing to a more oriental lineaments. At about 100 KM to Tashanta the scenary changes as well. Its like riding on top of the moon surface with lots of mountains okra color with very little vegetation. Finally we are 10 KM away from our goal: MONGOLIA. We are riding on a long deserted road and it seems we are in a time machine and going back in time leaving the so called civilization behind. We are both ready and exited to explore this country where nature is still predominant. Once we arrive in Tashanta, the border is closed. They operate business hours only. We then need to find a place to stay for the night in this very small village. Our only option is to ask someone on the street where we could set up our tent but the man said that if we were to buy him a bottle of Vodka we could stay at his friend place. We are shown a filthy wooden shed with seven beds and a bucket of water as our sink. Needless to say where the toilet was. We decide to take the roof but we also prefer to sleep on the floor with our sleeping bags.



Our beloved landlord showing us our accommodation for the night


Local Tashanta kid


Playground in the Altai region


"Time Machine".Going back in time.


Our suite in Tashanta


Another picture of our landlord


Easy Riders


Panorama Altai region

[romafras]

Finally after long months of preparation and 12,000 KM of driving trough different cultures, religions, faces, ways of saying hello and good-byes, food, languages, landscapes, we made it to Mongolia. MISSION ACCOMPLISHED! Traveling in this country means not to follow roads but just headings which can give you spectacular sceneries and emotions.



Mongolian landscape

Toward the Gobi Desert

Traffic in the desert

A typical moving day in Mongolia

A wise man

Lots of hotels to choose from.

No water in the desert. Not a good thing.

Be prepared for many flat tires.

[romafras]

[Luna Negra]

Complimenti! Great video.

[romafras]

Mongolian Landscape

A truly five star accommodation

Wild Horses

Children at play

The Gobi Desert

[romafras]

Future Mongolian wrestler


Many time we were lost and asked directions to people we encountered on the path.


The best way of transportation in Mongolia


Me in the distance


Taking water from the well with the help of a Camel

[romafras]

I rather show some photos at this point. No real words to express the feeling about this unbelievable country.
I will get back with the description later on the report.

After Olgy

Locals

One of the many river crossing

Gher at 2400Mt of altitude

A Stop sign in rural Mongolia

Five star camping

Beautiful Mongolian woman

Mongolians are small people

The Boss

[RoninMoto]

Subscribed!

I'm going to be watching this one closely. Hmmm maybe not to closely though.. I don't want you to spoil all the surprises I will have next summer

[romafras]

Even though we often found ourselves in the real middle of nowhere and in difficult conditions, we always found people who were willing to help us. One day following my GPS and Matteo’s maps that were telling us to follow a direction we got completely lost over a terrible track with sand to our knees and without anyone in sight. Riding our bikes got really hard, especially for me with the excessive weight of my KTM 990. We were unable to find water or gas and started to get worried. Mongolia can be a dangerous trip. Luckily for us, when it was already dark we saw a tiny village in the middle of the desert. This was a lucky star for us. Little villages like this one (Maximum 5 gher) are always moving here in Mongolia so there could have been nothing there that day. That would have been a different story. One of the families hosted us for the night. They fed us and allowed us to spend the night in their Gher. The husband insisted that we took his bed for the night while he slept on the floor. We tried to set up our own tent but he refused and insisted that we took his bed. What a marvelous experience.



The only things we saw on our track for a long time. Our minds started to play games


Camels are always in proximity of sand. Not a good sign for us




Arriving at night

[romafras]

Sisters

Brothers

Kid looking at the map of our trip

Kids were very fascinated by maps.

Showing movies to the kids

Matteo relaxing at last

Having fun

Our dinner is getting ready

This was the best dinner in a long time

[salcar]

Sei un grande!

[romafras]

Originally Posted by salcar

Sei un grande!

One of the advantages of posting RR is not only to show your adventures and learn from someone else's experiences but also that you can get to know people like salcar. Il grande sei tu.

[romafras]

We made our visit to the orphanage accompanied by Zagi, official interpreter for “Amici dei bambini” in Mongolia and other social workers. The director of the orphanage received us and explained the drama of the abandoned children in Mongolia. It is very hard to express our feeling of the day with the children. We were lucky to spend few hours in contact with the children and see how they live their everyday lives. Matteo and myself would like to thank all of you, which helped us through your donation to make all this possible. Your donations will guarantee all activities for these children aiming their social integration. As you can imagine, it was for us a very difficult and moving day. Our next projects to help children less fortunate in the world are in Colombia and Africa. Please visit our blog for more information.



Us with the manager of Kindergarden 58




Kids were impressed by Matteo's beard.



A good day !


Most of the children wanted to stay on our laps






Matteo entertaining the children