MOTONOMAD II: BLOG POST (AUGUST 21)

Follow the making of the feature-length adventure film, Motonomad II, as Motology Films’ Adam Riemann and his two companions undertake an incredible 8000km two-wheeled journey through Central Asia…

‘The Great Wall’

Void of any passenger call, the Trans-Mongolian train to Beijing starts spewing Diesel fumes at exactly 8am, and with a series of violent shunts, elongates into motion and checks out of Ulaanbaatar – with or without us!

Luckily, Saturday morning traffic is docile and we make it to the station on time, locate “carriage 7″ and swiftly jam our collection of bags and stray helmets into our cubicle. Our $160au first class ticket provides two bunks, a fixed table with one chair and shares a toilet with the neighbouring cubicle. There’s just enough room to stand up and smack your shins on something but at least the aircon keeps all odours to a breathable level.

As customs officers sweep through your cabin and take your passport, a 3-hour lock-down at midnight on the border of China is mandatory so the wheels can be removed from beneath the train. Each cab is shunted and lifted violently to have its wheels changed to suit the Chinese rail … and yes, you’re locked in the train the whole time.

Somewhere after 2am we manage to fall asleep … if you can call it sleep. Waking to the rocking motion of the now moving train is as disorientating as waking from anaesthetic post surgery. The cab is dark but an eerie glow of a fog-lit landscape pans by the window. The vast spanse of the Gobi desert and inner Mongolia is now replaced by the unstoppable construction of China, fed by its 1.5 billion-strong population. After 30-hours we finally exit the train, our transition into Beijing is complete and we merge into the masses as tourists.

Rounding out the final leg of Motonomad II in China has given me a greater appreciation of Mongolia and it’s sheer resilience as a country. A country that was once the world superpower during the reign of Chingis Khan, now reduced to a recovering population of only 3-million. Perhaps their nomadic ability to survive in one of the most extreme and remote places on earth has allowed the Mongolians to remain steadfast between Russia and China – two of the world’s current superpowers. Whatever the case, the story of the Nomad will forever live in Mongolians, who remain so patriotic toward their country.

I feel privileged to have spent the last 7-weeks travelling across Central Asia. It’s really opened my eyes to the people, places and historic events that have shaped the world into what it is today. There’s a great story unfolding for Motonomad II … time to get back to Australia and get busy.
Adam.

To see more images from the journey, click here.

To access all of Adam’s blog posts about the making of Motonomad II, click here.

And if you want to get a detailed insight into how the Motonomad trio custom-developed their KTM 500EXC machines for the trip, grab a copy of Transmoto’s July-August issue (#51), on sale now, and check out the Bike Dissected article.