Unexpected birthday surprise

Day: 36

Sunrise:
06:17 h

Sunset:
7:55 pm

Total kilometers:
452

Soil condition:
Meadow

Temperature – Day (maximum):
27 °C

Temperature – day (minimum):
24 °C

Temperature – Night:
5 °C

Latitude:
48°55’401”

Longitude:
103°39’459”

Maximum height:
1379 m above sea level

On her birthday today, Tanja is blessed with a beautiful sunny day. “I wish you a wonderful day, a dreamy, fulfilling life, lots of health, endless laughter and sunshine in your heart. I wish you many more journeys, great experiences, lovely people and deep learning without pain. I wish you and I many more decades of a life together, soaked in happiness,” I wake up my wife. She smiles at me, which makes me glad that she shares such an often spartan life with me.

Before breakfast, we go training with Mogi, as we soon do every morning. He has slowly accepted us as his masters. “You go ahead,” says Tanja, whereupon I walk 50 meters further up the gentle slope. Then I stop and shout; “Mogi!”. Tanja lets him off the lead and he flies across the pasture to me to get a piece of bread. “Sit!”, I command him, which is why he usually sits down nicely and waits for his reward. “You’re a clever dog,” I praise him. Then Tanja calls him. Mogi immediately whirls around and races to her. She also gives him a piece of bread. This way, Mogi gets some exercise and learns a little something new every day. We really enjoy playing and working with this docile four-legged friend.

After training, we go to the yurt. There is a hearty breakfast with oatmeal, raisins, Boortsog, tea and coffee. “Now, for the first time, I understand the commercial where a man unwraps a little cake for his girlfriend in the middle of nowhere and presents it to her to her great surprise. Unfortunately, I have absolutely nothing for you here,” I regret. “You don’t have to give me anything. But it would be nice if you always took care of enough firewood in winter,” she replies modestly. I tell Bilgee and Ulzii about Tanja’s birthday that she had here in Mongolia 15 years ago. “We arrived in Hovd shortly before her birthday. That was the destination of our horse expedition. We had to sell the horses at the market there, so I wasn’t in camp all day on Tanja’s birthday either. In the evening, our companions Nirgui and Bumaa slaughtered a goat. They took out the stomach bladder and put all the innards, such as the heart, kidneys, lungs, liver and so on, into it and then worked on the stomach bladder with a Bunsen burner until everything was cooked. They then happily presented Tanja with this feast. As Tanja hardly ate any meat at the time and because it was cooked with goat’s hair, it wasn’t exactly her birthday meal of choice,” Bilgee and Ulzii laugh heartily at my story.

In the afternoon, Bilgee sets off again to go hunting. Shortly before dusk, a large jeep appears. It is Bilgee’s younger brother with his daughter, who is about 12 years old. Without saying goodbye, the man jets off again a little later. Bilgee steps into the yurt. He’s holding a big box and a bottle of red wine in his hands and wants me to give the birthday cake to Tanja. “You give it to her. This is your gift,” I say and am almost speechless. Tanja doesn’t know what’s happening to her at first. She would never have expected such a large cake and the red wine to boot. Bilgee was hunting for many hours and apparently called his brother from the top of the hill, the only place in this region where there is cell phone reception, to organize a cake and the wine. “Bilgee! That’s fantastic! Such a surprise,” says Tanja happily, hugging him and Ulzii. The joy is so great that it almost brings tears to our eyes. We laugh and laugh as hard as we can. I immediately get my big knife and cut a piece of cake for everyone. Tanja pours wine into the cups. “The best thing is that the cake not only looks good but also tastes very good,” I smack my lips to match the Mongolians. “I hope you have a better birthday this time than the last time you were in Mongolia,” laughs Bilgee. It’s a wonderful evening where we tell each other stories and eat lots of cake until midnight.

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