Solo Trekking - Day 1

I am back at the ger of Tomor and Otgon, where M and I stayed four days ago. The lake looks beautiful.
M left my Lonely Planet phrasebook at this ger, so I have come back to get it. Without that book, the rest of my trek will be all the more difficult. M continued clockwise around the lake and is heading back to Khatgal.
I left Tsagaannuur at 2:40 pm. and went on the wrong path right away. I came to the river and my horse would not cross. I tried a second time at a different location, but had the same result. Max stood motionless on the bank. That was probably a good thing. If the horse cannot see the bottom of the river, he may be hesitant about entering the water.

I doubled back, went around a lake and found a bridge further on. For quite a while Max was neighing, missing his fellow animal companion. He also wanted to turn back to town on his own.

When I tried to mount Max back in T. the saddle slipped. I had put a new, broader cinch on Max that I had received from a Dutchman. I did not have it tied tight enough.

I arrive at the ger of T and O at 7:30. No one is visible. I hitch my horse and see a couple people in the cow corral. I enter the ger local style, without knocking. Mongolia may be one of the only places in the world where you can enter the home of a complete stranger unannounced and be offered sustanance and refuge for the night.



Two boys tag along up the pass

 Riding up to the pass a couple hours north of Tomor's ger I meet two small boys on a horse. They tag along for a few minutes. One shows me his trick: he stands atop of his horse.

Back in Tsagaannuur M and I divvied up the provisions. I told him I wanted the saddle that he had been using these past three weeks. It has better padding on the seat. But he did not want to discuss it. I said I would flip a coin with him for it. The best he could muster, with his 28 years, was "I don't know." M is not really into sharing.

Tonight's dinner: güriltai shöl. Noodle soup with mutton and potatoes. I am beat. Whipping the horse must have tired me. The old leather cinch I had replaced I used for a whip. It worked. Whipping the horse with the lead rope, as E had done, did nothing. The leather whip gets results.