Sharga and Bor find new owners

Day: 410

Sunrise:
06:29

Sunset:
19:37

Total kilometers:
2468

Soil condition:
Grass

Temperature – Day (maximum):
9 °C

Temperature – day (minimum):
8 °C

Temperature – Night:
3 °C

Latitude:
48°55’433”

Longitude:
103°39’440”

Maximum height:
1380 m above sea level

This morning, Bilgee’s brother-in-law Tovuu and his wife Baatar visit us. Tovuu, who lived with Baatar in a yurt next to Bilgee during the summer vacation last year, behaved very greedily towards us. So we are not particularly pleased about his visit. “That’s a great tent you’ve got there. Does it sometimes rain inside?” asks Tovuu. “It is indeed fantastic. We’ve lived in this home for a long time and it has protected us in all weathers,” I reply. “I’d like to buy it,” he surprises us. “Buy?” “Yes.” “We’re still living in here at the moment. Once we’ve broken up the expedition, we’ll go to the Gobi Desert for a few more weeks. We might still need the tent there,” I reply. “So if you sell it, please sell it to me.” “Sure, we’ll do it,” I say, wondering how serious his interest in buying really is. “They are here to pick me up for haymaking. Please tell them how important it is for you to have me here. I don’t feel the slightest desire to do this work,” Bilgee whispers to me as Tovuu and Baatar are talking about the tent.

“So Bilgee, are you coming with us now?” his sister asks him a few moments later, a little snippily. “Uh… Bataar, please excuse my interference, but we need Bilgee to stay with us at the camp for a few more days. It’s important. He’s the only one who can help us sell the horses,” I say. Baatar looks at me. Then she looks at her brother and says; “You’re muu, (bad) really muu.” Bilgee takes his sister’s anger in his stride. Later he thanks us for saving him from this nasty job.

After breakfast, Tovuu and Baatar drive back to Erdenet. Because Tanja wants to take care of our facebooke and website, she is taken along by the two of them. “Don’t let Tovuu rip you off when it comes to fuel costs,” I warn. “Denis? How long have we been in this country?” “I know, yes. I just wanted to mention it,” I tell her, wishing her a safe journey.

It pours with rain all day long. The thermometer reaches a maximum height of 8 °C. Bilgee and I spend a lot of time in the tent. As I write these lines, I am freezing and wish for nothing more than to have the sale of our horses completed soon. It is already 17:00. Ilhauchauu hasn’t shown up yet. I have already given up hope when we hear the engine of a moped. “Ilhauchauu?” I ask a little nervously. “Magadgüj, (Maybe)” Bilgee replies, shrugging his shoulders. I immediately open the tent entrance and am relieved to see Ilhauchauu. “Come in,” I ask him into the tent and immediately pull the zipper of the entrance closed again. “Is it really tight?” he asks, sitting down on a horse blanket. “You mean the tent?” “Tijmee.” (Yes) “But of course it’s tight. How else would we have survived the many months of travel? It rained a lot this spring and summer,” I mention. “A great tent.” “It is,” I reply, wondering why the Mongolians are suddenly showing such interest in our tent.

“I’ve only got a million with me,” he says, counting the bills without transition. “Muu, that’s really muu for you,” I reply, putting on my poker face. “Why?” “Because we agreed on 1,050,000. I won’t sell it for a million,” I bluff. As I don’t touch the banknotes he wants to give me, he laughs again. “Look in my wallet. There’s no more in there,” he says and shows me the empty wallet. “You should have put more bills in. I won’t sell them for a million. But you can come back tomorrow,” I suggest. “Ügüj, we’ll do the business today,” he says, reaching under his deel and pulling out 30,000 tugriks. “That’s all I have,” he grins. “I need to think,” I reply, also grinning. Bilgee, meanwhile, sits silently by and watches the negotiation game with a motionless face. After a long five minutes, I moan out an agonized “Okaaay”, take the bundle of money and count the bills. “Right,” I say and shake Ilhauchauu’s hand. “The horses are yours.” “Good, then I’ll have them picked up today,” the shrewd shepherd decides, rises with a groan and leaves the tent.

Although he squeezed out another 20,000 Tugrik, I am more than satisfied with the sum he received. Just this morning we received a text message from Shuree in which she wrote: “As your horses are certainly exhausted from the journey, we will not pay more than 900,000 Tugrik for all six of them. (545,- €) I hope that’s okay with you?” Tanja and I were more than appalled by this extremely outrageous offer. “That’s exactly how you rip off foreigners. As a tour guide, Shuree obviously knows how to do it,” said Tanja. “Looks like it. Is not a sincere woman. An honest person would never make such an offer. It was a good decision not to turn back and ride to her yurt. We would have been in a tight spot there. Perhaps we really would have sold our animals for that knockdown price? And who knows, maybe she would even have taken our animals to the slaughterhouse in Erdenet and then offered us five times the price,’ I think.

An hour later, a relative of Ilhauchauu picks up Sharga and Bor. “You have to peg them, otherwise they’ll come galloping back here,” I warn the man. “I know,” he replies curtly, which makes me feel a little stupid for telling a professional how to handle horses. The shepherd swings onto his horse and pulls Sharga and Bor behind him on ropes. I stand there wistfully and look after them. Although we are sure that we have found a good home for the two of them, I am overcome by a feeling of sadness. The departure of these loyal comrades draws an inevitable line under our journey.

Just ten minutes later, Sharga and Bor gallop into the camp, whinnying loudly. Naraa, Tuya, Sar and Tenger also respond with booming whines. The reunion of the briefly separated is joyful but not permanent. The shepherd gallops up like an angry robber baron, jumps off his horse and catches the runaways. He rides off without so much as a glance at us. “I wonder if they’ll make it again,” I say to Bilgee, who is standing next to me laughing.

This time, Sharga managed to break free from his rope at midnight. Whinnying, he appears at the camp and grazes with his friends all night.

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