The revenge of the little brook

Day: 30

Sunrise:
06:08 am

Sunset:
8:07 pm

Total kilometers:
452

Soil condition:
Meadow

Temperature – Day (maximum):
14 °C

Temperature – day (minimum):
10 °C

Temperature – Night:
6 °C

Latitude:
48°55’401”

Longitude:
103°39’459”

Maximum height:
1379 m above sea level

I wake up this morning completely drained and with a severe headache. Apparently it wasn’t Montezuma’s revenge that got me here, but the revenge of the little brook. I crawl out of the tent like an old man and drag myself to the yurt. “Do you feel able to come with us?” asks Tanja. “I don’t know. Can’t you do it with the changer without me?” I reply. “It’s better if you’re there. I’m not familiar with the technology myself and Ulzii can’t make decisions for you,” Tanja convinces me to go with her to Erdenet. Tovuu, Bilgee’s brother-in-law, offered to drive us to Erdenet in his car for 8,000 Tugrik per person. We are relieved not to have to ride the horses to the road and accept his offer. As the car bumps over the holes and bumps of the steppe, I feel sick to my stomach after a few kilometers. My head is buzzing as if little gnomes were at work digging deep holes with shovels and pickaxes. I squint through the window at the rain-soaked steppe. The cold rainy weather has adapted to my state of mind and health. By the time we reach the small town, I am barely able to speak, let alone go to the market to look for a voltage changer. “We’ll take you to Naraa. You can lie down there. We’ll get everything we need and Ulzii will take care of repairing the changer,” Tanja decides. I confirm Tanja’s words with a meek “Yes”. Naraa is very happy to see us again so unexpectedly and offers me a mattress in the kitchen-living room. Shivering with cold and weakness, I settle down with relief. When we arrived here, I thought I had reached the end of my comfort zone. Everything seemed so simple and unclean and now I think we are staying in a star hotel. The fire crackles in the stove and radiates a cozy warmth. “Take the blankets,” says Naraa and spreads two of them over my body. “Bajarlaa,” (thank you) I say quietly, writhing due to the constant onset of stomach cramps. Then Naraa offers me a glass of hot water. “Get well soon. You’ll be fine,” says Tanja as she says goodbye. “I hope,” I reply, wishing I hadn’t caught dysentery, which I have often suffered terribly from on our travels. It doesn’t take long before I fall into a feverish sleep. From time to time I’m forced to get up and walk across the wet, rainy yard to go to the outhouse. And so this unpleasant day passes. Suddenly my cell phone rings and after disassembling and drying it, it actually started working again this morning. “Repairing the changer will cost at least 90,000 Tugrik. (52,- €) Should we have it done? It will take a few days,” Tanja wants to know at the other end of the line. I try to organize my confused thoughts and come to the conclusion not to have the expensive part done. “We can make do with the 12-volt power supply from the replacement computer. That seems to work,” I reply, and the issue of the voltage changer suddenly disappears into thin air.

In the evening Ulzii and Tovuu come back to pick me up. We drive to the supermarket and pick up Tanja, who has bought more food supplies. Then it’s off to the gas station. “30,000 Tugrik”, (17;- €) demands Tovuu. “Didn’t we work out 8,000 tugriks per person? That’s 24,000 tugriks and not 30,000,” Tanja calculates. “That’s right, but I’m too tired to bother about the 6,000 tugrik (€3.50),” I reply. “They always try to get a bit more than we agreed,” says Tanja, letting the matter rest. As we leave Erdenet, the sun sets in spectacular colors. All the rain has washed the air clean and the glowing star makes the cloud stripes appear in all shades of red, yellow and orange. It’s a sunset you don’t see that often in your life. When we get back to the yurt camp, I immediately retire to my tent and sleep until the next morning. Tanja, Bilgee and Ulzii take over the guard duty for me.

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