Day Forty-Two: Ger on the side of caution (yesterdays post)

This may or may not be my last Ger related pun. I make no promises.

So Alex went back to the hospital today to get the Rabies jab, or so we thought, but after him leaving the campsite and not returning after several hours we sensed it might have become more complicated.

He had been accompanied to the hospital by the owner of the campsite where we were staying and a while later the owner returned in a different car without Alex. He basically told us that Alex had been told by the Mongolian doctors that there was no need for the jabbut by his doctors at home he should get one as soon as possiblend another three days later. He was stil at the hospital talking to people and calling home to make the decision.

Over six hours later,the decision was made and we saw the little red Saxo pull into our road. He had decided he definitely wanted to get the jab but the only jab they had available in Khovd was a course of six which apparently was not very effective or up to date. The alternative would be to fly to Ulaanbataar where they had the vaccination and ditch the convoy.

To be safe he decided on the latter,which now means our plentiful convoy of eight has been whittled down to three. Alex took his belongings out of the car, promised to either get a bus back to where we were after his jabs to fnish the adventure, or wait for us in UB and we left.

I think the next few days are going to be tough. If that wasn't enough of a blow, the English team also staying at our campsite who had to get rescued 200 odd km beyond Khovd couldn't have painted a worse picture of the roads to come had they presented us with a picture of The Grand Canyon. Sandy tracks, rivers up to your waist boulders bigger than tyres and a dust screen heavy enough to cover Big Ben are all laying in wait for us.

We have just set off and the road ran out about 10 minutes ago. The car is vibrating so much it sounds like hail on a tin roof. One more hour before the sun sets and we stop for the night, last chance for sweet dreams before the nightmare begins...