Rainbach/MKR. At the western end of Mongolia, the OÖNachrichten reached Mario Elmecker and his girlfriend Silvia Stumbauer from Summerau via WhatsApp. They got there in their Mercedes Sprinter, which had been converted into a camper. It is already the second minibus that the marketing specialist and the payroll accountant have converted into a camper van. “The desire to go on a longer tour grew in us,” say the Mühlviertel residents. On previous tours, they were actually advocates of meticulous planning. But because this could only be adhered to in the rarest of cases, the two largely forego it this time.
“We only had a few weeks’ notice to sort out our affairs at home. We planned the route largely on the way.” And so, at the beginning of June, the Mühlviertlers got into their Sprinter and set off for Mongolia.
Hospitality in the East
What fascinates both of them about the trip is the hospitality in the east: “It actually started in Turkey and continues throughout. People offer you their help everywhere,” says Elmecker: “We weren’t used to that in Europe. But here a heartfelt thank you is usually enough.” There is a certain routine in the bus. In the morning, technology and supplies are checked, then the journey begins. Mario works a few hours on the side, Silvia quit her job for the tour. It is not a vacation, but rather a journey into the unknown and to oneself. The further east you go, the less you can rely on information from the internet. “Roads that are shown to us often no longer exist or are in a bad condition.” Getting diesel is not always easy either. So the day is marked by all sorts of challenges and problems. The Mühlviertlers share their experiences on Instagram and YouTube (hinundwiederweg). “We do this for friends and family, but also for other travelers, to remove any reservations they may have,” says the couple. Prejudices have almost never been confirmed. Because they set out in Summerau with few expectations, every day brings new surprises, whether in the big capitals or in the country. “The contrast between cities and the rural areas is enormous here,” says Stumbauer. What runs through it all is hospitality. So an evening in a small yurt in the hinterland of Mongolia will forever be etched in the memory of the Mühlviertel residents as one of thousands of experiences: “We were invited and the people there shared everything with us, even if they didn’t have much themselves. It was an extraordinary evening, with the whole village.”
The couple has already covered more than 14,000 kilometers in this way – without any significant arguments: “Unless someone is hungry. Then we have to quickly see if we can find something to eat,” the two joke. They want to make a detour to their families at Christmas before continuing their adventure trip. By next summer they will be traveling to Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Anyone who wants to “join in” is invited to do so via YouTube at “hinundwiederweg”.
Source: Nachrichten
