As if frozen

Day: 39

Sunrise:
06:21 am

Sunset:
7:49 pm

As the crow flies:
6

Daily kilometers:
9

Total kilometers:
461

Soil condition:
Meadow

Temperature – Day (maximum):
24 °C

Temperature – day (minimum):
24 °C

Temperature – Night:
minus 5 °C

Latitude:
48°53’479”

Longitude:
103°35’527”

Maximum height:
1442 m above sea level

Time of departure:
3:00 p.m.

Arrival time:
5:00 pm

Before we set off, Bilgee wants to go hunting again. Although there are still torn halters and hobbles to repair, we don’t want to deny him his wish. “Can I come too?” asks Ulzii. “I see no reason to keep you here. We don’t have any tasks for you at the moment,” I say. Tovuu, who came by car to dismantle the yurt, motivated us to go on this trip. Although we know that he likes to tempt Bilgee to drink, we hope that the excursion group will be back by 18:00 as promised. Tanja and I are busy getting everything ready for tomorrow. Above all, to send the texts and selected images into the satellite sky so that they appear on our website and facebook.

It is 8 p.m. and already dark as the car’s headlights part the darkness. The doors burst open, laughter rings out and our men get out. “Sorry, sorry,” apologizes the drunk Bilgee, while Tovuu doesn’t even get out of the car because he’s unable to. Ulyti’s face is contorted in pain. “What’s wrong?”, “I have a headache. I think I’m ill.” “His eyes are shining feverishly,” says Tanja. “Well, I hope he doesn’t drop out before the trip even starts,” I reply thoughtfully. Ulzii lies down in his tent as he is. Your feet are still in your shoes and outside. We are getting ready for bed and put on several woolen undershirts and underpants to protect us from the cold. “I think we should do something.” “Do you mean about Ulzii?” asks Tanja. “Yes. If he stays lying there like that, he could freeze something off.” “Are you going or should I go?” “Oh, please do it. I’m completely exhausted from all the paperwork,” I reply. “Okay,” says Tanja, leaving the tent. She brings Ulzii a sleeping bag, gets him to undress, gives him a headache pill and tells him that we will take over tonight’s night shift for him. “Thank you Tanja,” I hear him sigh with relief.

Bilgee, the staggering Tovuu and three other men who have just arrived with a small truck have made themselves comfortable around the yurt’s iron stove and are cooking some kind of offal. Near the hot yurt stove, which is now out in the open, and because of the vodka consumption, they don’t feel the coldest night of the fall so far. They laugh boisterously, make jokes and eat their fatty food with great appetite. At 23:00, despite their condition, they manage to load the dismantled yurt onto the small truck.

At 1:30 in the morning, Tanja comes shivering into the tent. “Denis, get up. Your guard duty begins. It’s unbearable out there. It’s extremely cold, I’m completely frozen. What are we going to do when winter comes? I don’t even want to think about it,” she wakes me up. Despite wearing thick woolen underpants and thermal trousers, two woolen undershirts, two fleece jackets and a windstopper, I also start to freeze after about 1 ½ hours. The wind, the dampness of the stream and the starry night make the minus five degrees seem like minus 15 or 20 degrees. At least that’s how it seems to me. At 3:00 a.m., I also break off my shift and go into the tent. I decide not to wake Bilgee and let him sleep it off. Apart from that, I can’t imagine that horse thieves are out and about in these temperatures. “We have to come up with something else for the future. This is definitely inhumane,” it goes through my head.

We get up early on today’s departure day. It is warm. Who would have thought it after that night. Fortunately, Ulzii is fine again and there is no sign of Bilgee’s intoxication. Because we have really settled in here again, it takes a long time to dismantle the camp and stow it away in the horse-drawn cart. In addition, Bilgee’s personal belongings such as a rifle, clothes and many other small items are now also to be taken on the journey and have to be packed somehow, somewhere.

After the long break, Sharga is in great difficulty. He does not want to be harnessed to the wagon under any circumstances. We join forces to try and get it between the dykes. As it bites and kicks, it is not a harmless undertaking. Then the old carrying strap, which is attached between the two drawbars and is stretched over the carrying frame of the draft horse, tears. Bilgee takes a relaxed view and replaces this fiber and rubber belt with ropes. Good thing I bought over 100 meters of rope. With great effort and patience, we finally manage to get Sharga in front of the car. Boron is then loaded, the other animals saddled and saddlebags tied up.

We finally set off at 15:00. “Look at that yurt over there. They also work with solar panels!” I call out to Tanja. “You should take a photo!” she replies because we are committed to sustainable energy. As soon as I get off my horse, I can see Ulzii and his horse spinning incessantly around their own axis in the distance. He is carrying Tenger, who is apparently about to pass through. “Doesn’t look good,” I say as Ulzii suddenly lets go of Tenger and the horse with Bilgee’s luggage gallops off across the steppe like greased lightning. Ulzii remains petrified on his horse and makes not the slightest attempt to pursue the runaway. Stunned by his inactivity, I swing myself into the saddle to take up the chase. After just a few hundred meters, my horse managed to spit out his bridle. Now without the steering wheel in my hands, I try to rein Sar in with the halter. Then I get out of the saddle again and shorten the bridle, which is too big. As we brought it from Germany, it is not suitable for the small Mongolian horses. Cursing because of the delay, I now take up the chase again. Tenger can only be recognized as a small dot in the distance. I’m riding through a swampy stream when Bilgee appears behind me. “Take the saddlebags and go back to the cart, I’ll try to catch him again,” he explains and gives me his saddlebags so I can ride faster. Then he storms off. Because there is no more room on Sar’s back due to the two saddlebags, I am forced to walk. By the time I reach the horse-drawn cart, Tanja and Ulzii, Bilgee is already back with Tenger. “He is not used to carrying loads and shied away,” explains Bilgee. Ulzii doesn’t say a word about the incident. We ride on as if nothing had happened. Large storm clouds follow us and threaten the small horse-drawn train. Tanja and I put on our ponchos to be on the safe side. A motorcyclist stops us as we reach the asphalt road. “He’s a policeman and wants to see your papers,” Ulzii translates. “Doesn’t he have anything else to do but use his little bit of power,” I say quietly to Tanja. “Who knows if he’s even a policeman. He’s not even wearing a uniform,” says Tanja. “The papers are stowed in the horse-drawn cart over there,” I tell the man. As he now expects to have to wait longer than he would like, he says: “Drive on. Have a good day.” Then he starts his moped again and rattles off. We follow the asphalt surface for a while until we reach the top of the pass. A convoy of minibuses overtakes us and stops at the side of the road. They are tourists taking pictures of our horse-drawn train. They stand silently in front of their buses and let their cameras whir. “Hello!” we call out. They answer with a wave, get back into their cars and drive off. On another ridge, Bilgee leaves the road at 17:00 to look for a camp. The first priority is good grass for the animals. We find a suitable and beautiful spot behind a yurt. We set up the tents so that we can watch the horses from the entrances at night. To everyone’s relief, Tanja’s suggestion was to keep the night watches out of the tent from now on. This means that we no longer walk around outside but watch and keep an eye on our animals from our fabric dwellings. If we lose the horses during Ulzii’s or Bilgee’s shift, their entitlement to their salary is forfeited. That was the condition from the outset. We hope this agreement is enough reason for the two of them to take their guard shifts seriously and not just fall asleep in the tent.

We look forward to your comments!