Ulzii gets too cold

Day: 66

Sunrise:
07:13

Sunset:
19:05

As the crow flies:
11,76

Daily kilometers:
17

Total kilometers:
768

Soil condition:
Stones/gravel

Temperature – Day (maximum):
15°C

Temperature – day (minimum):
10°C

Temperature – Night:
minus 8°

Latitude:
49°37’317”

Longitude:
100°18’655”

Maximum height:
1700 m above sea level

Time of departure:
10:15

Arrival time:
17:45

Today is a day of sporadic sunshine. Again and again, the star peeps through the clouds and warms our bodies. We don’t get up until 8:30 am. Everyone is in a good mood. Probably because we will reach our first stage destination, the town of Mörön, today. To my delight, Bilgee cooks noodle soup with sheep and then mantuu (yeast dumplings). Tanja and I prepare a big pot of semolina porridge with raisins, which we all eat together first thing. Then I eat two pots of sheep’s noodle soup followed by two yeast dumplings spread with jam. Served with three cups of milk tea. Completely gorged, I would love to crawl back into the tent. “A little sleep would do me good right now. It’s very difficult to ride with such a big belly. But to be honest, I’d rather do that than starve,” I laugh, saddling my horse.

Because of our cooking and subsequent feasting, we don’t leave until 12:30. Again we cross two passes. Bilgee and Ulzii support Bor by attaching ropes to the drawbar of the horse-drawn cart again. Sitting in the saddle, they guide the rope under their thigh and lock it in place with their fist. When we arrive at the Ovoo (residence of protective deities), the wind blows cold as usual. Nevertheless, I’m not freezing today. “It’s probably all the food,” I say to Tanja, who pulls her hood down over her face to protect herself from the cold. We look down into a huge valley. The pastureland looks completely dry and, as in recent weeks, bears witness to the heavy overgrazing. “Behind this mountain is the town of Mörön,” says Ulzii euphorically. We are surprised to find ourselves already at our destination. Also in a good mood, we take a few photos of the impressive landscape. Bilgee and Ulzii talk for a long time by the horse-drawn cart. “What are they talking about for so long?” wonders Tanja. “I have no idea. Maybe they’re overwhelmed by the sight too,” I reply.

On the way down into the valley, we talk about setting up camp a few kilometers before the town. This ensures that we don’t get into the dark today. From our experience, it makes no sense to ride into a town with horses in the late afternoon. We haven’t yet worked out where to stay and how to get food for our horses. “Where does Bilgee think we should camp in this valley?” I ask Ulzii. “I’ve already asked him but he won’t answer. How does he not answer?” I ask in surprise. “I don’t know,” I hear Ulzii’s unconventional words. “They can’t have had an argument just before the finish line,” I think to myself. Over the last few months, I’ve learned to wait and see. “It’ll sort itself out,” I think. But half an hour later, I ask again. “No water,” Bilgee replies, pointing to the land in front of us. “Ulzii, you live here. Is there no water outside the city?” I ask. “Yes, we can camp behind Mörön by the river,” he recommends. “Behind Mörön? Then we’ll be drinking the town’s sewage. That’s not a good idea. We should camp outside the town,” I suggest. Ulzii responds with a deep silence. Bilgee stops the horse-drawn cart and scans the valley with his binoculars. He spots a glint on a mountainside. “Water,” he says and hands me his binoculars. “Looks good. The only question is whether there’s enough for us,” I say. “What do you think? Should we ride to the town or set up camp at the waterhole on the mountainside?” I ask Bilgee. Ulzii rides a few hundred meters away from us for some incomprehensible reason. “What’s he doing there?” asks Tanja. “As so often, he didn’t say,” I answer, switching on my GPS to find out the distance to the town. Although we can already see the outskirts of the city from here, the GPS shows ten kilometers. “We’ll take the watering hole over there,” I decide, pointing to the mountainside.

“Where are you going?” asks Ulzii in surprisingly good spirits as he approaches us. “We’re spending the night by the streams over there,” I say, whereupon his initial smile disappears again. “He probably thought we were riding into town today,” says Tanja. “Then he won’t see his family until tomorrow. That’s no problem,” I reply. As we set up camp, Ulzii approaches me with a serious expression on his face. “I’ve just spoken to my family on the phone. My father is in hospital,” he explains, quite dejectedly. “What’s wrong with him?” I want to know. “I don’t know. The connection is broken. I have to visit him today”. “That’s all right. But please come back to keep your vigil,” I reply, to which he again responds with sustained silence. As Ulzii often seemed like a spoiled little boy on the trip who always does whatever he feels like doing, his silence is not difficult to interpret. After several attempts, Tanja gets a connection to Saraa. “Hello Saraa. We’re about ten kilometers from Mörön.” “Oh, that’s nice. So you’ll be there tomorrow?” “Yes, we’ll be there tomorrow. Do you have any idea if we can stay with you?” “Maybe. I’ll talk to my husband again. We’ll have to put up a yurt for you.” “That sounds good,” Tanja replies with relief as the question of where to stay is still completely unresolved. As she is about to ask if there is any food for our horses in the town, the connection breaks down again. However, it doesn’t take long before we receive a text message from her. “Tanja, Denis! Please take extra care of your horses this night. There are a lot of horse thieves in the area around Mörön!!!” “I thought we could take it a bit easier with our night shifts, but under these conditions we have to be extra vigilant,” I say. In the meantime, Ulzii has had telephone contact with one of his brothers again. His father injured his knee in a car accident. It is swollen. Otherwise he is in good health. “When you visit your father today, please come back. We need you for the guard shifts. You’ve read the text message from Saraa. So it’s very important. It’s also not possible to hand over your shifts to Bilgee. Four hours is too much for a man after such a hard day,’ I ask him. “I don’t know if my brother will pick me up,” he replies. “But when he picks you up, please come back,” I say, feeling an uneasy sense of foreboding.

Because Ulzii is busy on the phone, we set off without him in search of firewood. As we are close to the town and the whole valley is completely grazed, we can’t find any fuel. Using binoculars, Bilgee finds two horse stakes on a hill. “We’ll get them tomorrow. Today we can manage with the few leftovers we think we have. Besides, we’ve got a bit of wood in the horse-drawn cart,” he suggests.

In high spirits at having made it to our first stage destination, we sit around our fire pit and tell each other funny episodes that we have experienced together on the journey. Ulzii keeps telling us how cold it was, although he usually claimed the opposite on the trip. Hüjten, hüjten, hüjten”, (“Cold, cold, cold, cold”) he repeats my joke, whereupon we hold our stomachs with laughter because of my unconventional pronunciation. “Do you think he’s going to visit his father today?” asks Tanja later. “I don’t know. He’s aware of the urgency of his presence. He won’t let us down,” I reply confidently.

After a hearty noodle soup with onions prepared by Tanja, we go to bed. As Ulzii has the first shift from 22:00 to 24:00, he sits in the vestibule of his tent and shines his headlamp around the area. “He’s doing his job particularly conscientiously today,” I say happily, unzipping our tent and slipping inside. “Huaaa hüjten, hüjten, hüjten”, (cold, cold, cold, cold) I say to Tanja as the thermometer is already showing -8°C at this time of day. We are just about to slip into our sleeping bags when we hear the engine of a car. “Is this coming to us?” wonders Tanja. “Sounds like it.” “So Ulzii is being picked up by his brother after all.” “Looks like it,” I say. As soon as the car stops at our camp, Ulzii comes to our tent and calls me. “What is it Ulzii?” “My brother is here. I’m going into town now.” “That’s okay. When will you be back?” “I’m not coming back.” “What, and what about your guard shift?” “Bilgee will do it for me.” “Ulzii, we told you that a double watch shift is far too long. That’s not fair to Bilgee. He had a hard day today with the horse-drawn carts and two passes.” “I had a hard day too,” he replies, to which I unzip my pants to look at him. “You know that the guard shift is important today. You’ve read Sara’s text message. You have to come back.” “I’m not coming back. Unless you pay me for the cab.” “The cab? If you go, you have to come back under your own steam. Your father isn’t dying. He has a swollen knee.” “Denis, Denis, Denis. You said I could walk.” “Yes. But we also said that you had to come back.” “I’m not coming back.” “Ulzii, we need you.” “Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!” we are startled by his sudden, indignant swearing. “My trip is over here. That’s a much bigger problem for you. I’m not coming with you to Tsagaan Nuur. It’s getting far too cold for me,” he says, turns around and gets into the car with his brother. Shivering from the cold, I sit there like I’ve been beaten and try to digest what Ulzii has just thrown at us. Since we treated him like a brother during the whole time, we cannot understand his behavior. It hits me hard. I thought we were a team. I thought one for all, all for one. But I was thinking wrong. Ulzii saw the hometown and literally ran away. Psychologically understandable, but humanly a catastrophe. “We’ll manage without him,” says Tanja confidently. “If Bilgee doesn’t break in on us now, he will.” “That’s not his style.” “I think you’re right.” “We should split the guard shift between us,” Tanja suggests. “Yes, we should,” I say, still shivering from the cold. Before Ulzii insulted us and left, I was still really warm. Now, on the other hand, I feel like I’m a single icicle. It’s interesting how the psyche can influence physical sensations.

“I’ll go out and explain to Bilgee that we’ll share the guard shifts,” Tanja suggests and slips out into the cold. As I still have a lot to write, I’ll take over the time from 21:00 to 24:30. Tanja from 24:30 to 3:20. Bilgee from 3:20 am to 6:00 am. After 6:00 a.m., no thieves are allowed to show their faces.

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