Travel Blog Mongolia

Three-time winner of the most famous off-road rally on earth, Spaniard Marc Coma, has been forced to withdraw from the 2013 Dakar Rally which is due to start in Peru on 5th January. Following a shoulder injury back in October, Coma has been working hard to get fit enough to race. Sadly, at the last moment, he has pulled out, leaving American champion, Kurt Castelli, to ride Coma's KTM. On 15th January 2006 Marc Coma was crowned champion for the first time in Lac Rose Dakar. In 2006 he had to withdraw and 2008 was the year the Dakar in Africa was cancelled at the last moment due to security concerns.In 2009 he was back, winning the first south American Dakar rally, then again in 2011. Coma is one of a very few people who have won on more than one occasion and the first Spaniard to win the world's toughest race more than once. So it is no doubt with great regret that KTM have announced that he will not be racing in the imminent 2013 rally.

The 35th Dakar Rally is ready to start on 5th January 2013. There will be 196 motorbike riders starting, along with  40 quad bike riders, 161 cars and 75 trucks. This year's line-up includes, for the first time,  two Mongolian motorbike riders, #174 riding a 'Yamaha 450 Rally' NAMCHIN LHAMAA and  #175   DAMDINHORLOO BOLDBAATAR.  Apart from the Dakar’s three host countries, which represent a quarter of the rally’s population, new flags will appear on some vehicles for the first time. The challenge of the Dakar continues to attract drivers from throughout the world and Mongolians will attentively follow the performance of two of its drivers. The riders will compete in the 3-country South American rally starting from Peru, then on to Argentina and Chile.  The terrain covers some of the world's most stunning deserts; it is both a motor race and an orienteering challenge. Crossing the great Andes mountain range at altitudes of up to 4500 mete...

Tiananmen Square From Januray 2013 it will be possible to get a 3-day Chinese transit visa on arrival at Beijing's Capital International Airport, enabling people travelling to Mongolia to easily stop over in the Chinese capital, making the most of a visit to Central Asia. Great Wall of China In the past it has been costly, time-consuming and confusing to get a Chinese visa before travelling to Asia if you wanted to get out of the airport and see something of Beijing whilst travelling en route to another destination. When it becomes possible to get a transit visa on arrival in Beijing, it will be possible to visit the Forbidden City, The Great Wall, Summer Palace and other great sights within the area of Beijing. Forbidden City People taking advantage of the new transit visa regulations will have to arrive and depart from Beijing's Capital International Airport and travelling outside Beijing will not be allowed. One must register at a police station in Beiji...

US Customs Officials have been startled to discover the skull of a dinosaur in a house in Wyoming. The Tyrannosaurus Bataar, a close relative of the famous Tyrannosaurus Rex, was linked to a fossil smuggling ring from Mongolia. The skeleton was sold at an auction for $1.05 million (£652,000) before being seized by the US government. Robert Painter, a Houston attorney representing Mongolian President Elbegdorj Tsakhia, said officials hoped that such seizures will have a chilling effect on smuggling.  "It's really part of what we hoped would happen ... there would be an  increased awareness across the country of Mongolian law and the U.S. government is cooperating in protecting these cultural treasures," Mr Painter said.  He predicted there will be more such cases as word gets out about the illegal sale of Mongolian dinosaur bones.  Louis Martinez of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Homeland Security Investigations said the investigatio...

Our new website, www.ktmtour.com is more or less finished now, although we keep adding to it. There are loads of photos and some videos from our summer 2012 tours. It's a much more dynamic site and really gives you a good idea of what we are doing in Mongolia. Please take a look because even if you're not interested in motorcycling in Mongolia, you will enjoy the pictures.   For anyone interested in music, the page www.ktmtour.com/music has some interesting information about Mongolian music, the different types of song, traditional instruments and many tracks of beautiful music which you can select and listen to in full from the website.