Road to Bayanzurkh - Day 9 Solo

Departure: 10:45 am.
Arrival: 4:20 pm
Stopped often to feed.

It was cold last night. I awoke at 4:30 and put on my thick jacket. I was up at 6 with Davaa to foto, but it was disappointing. It took a while for the sun to peek over the nearby hills. Davaa says my horse won't last until Moron. It will fall over, she mimes. We joke about it. I would be happy with two more weeks. I think that would be enough. This is really fun! Of course, I don't want my horse to die underway!
Dinner in Bayanzurkh - five greasy Khorshor.  I am getting frustrated. I got my first turn down at a home. Then I searched and searched for e Namjiljong Hotel. A small boy Bat Tulka helped me out. He fetched water from the river down a steep incline. He came with ame to a shop. I intended to buy him a treat, but they would not sell me dried kiwisfor 100 tg. Then he said he knew where the tall grass grows. Max is starving. So we walked up the abutting hillside to a rocky mesa. I was getting perturbed. No grass.
Today the road forked early. But some kids were nearby and I asked for the road to Bayanzurkh. They pointed me in the right direction and the older brother came. They rode with me half an hour down the hill and then said good-bye. Have you ever wondered how a little kid mounts a horse? She brings its head down to feed, lays herself across its neck and when the horse lifts its head, she straddles the neck!
The trail crossed a river numerous times. At one point a truck came from the opposite direction. Three men got out while a woman waited inside the cab. i had led my horse to the side to feed. But one, then two men approached me, and as the conversation wore on, I got anxious. I should not have let the situation develop. No use hanging around when the men got out of the truck. That was a mistake. But luckily nothing untoward happened.
On top of that incident, I made another mistake. After crossing the river at one point, I led Max a meter or so up the hillside to the trail, but he continued on, although the hillside was very steep and covered with scree. He pushed on and nearly fell backwards, but luckily I was able to bring him back to the trail. That fall would have cost me!
There were few, few gers along the way. After the above incidents I saw none until I spied Bayanzurkh from the hilltop. I chose the ger - actualy a cluster of gers - at which I would stop, to which I had seen a boy dragging firewood behind his horse. A log cabin was situated behind these gers.
Children welcomed me as I rode up. It was a promising scene. I entereed the log cabin and the huge family was intrigued by the fotos of people I showed them, some of whom they knew. But then the room cleared out, after I had only some aaryyl, one cup of milk and one cup of tarak (yoghurt). The mother gave me a bag of aaryyl - a sure sign for me to move on. So i asked for a hotel name in town and they told me.