The road leading to the lake went over a steep pass again but was a really good gravel road, this was quite a relief after the horrible tracks we had driven on for the last 4 days. The first glimpses of the lake were a reward, the blue of the lake and the autumn colors worked so well together :o)
Many yaks were grazing along the forested shores of the lake and we picked a spot to camp about 30k’s along the lake’s shore. Another group was camping nearby: Melanie and Nicole from Switzerland and their lady guide and the guide’s father (who did the driving). Although we were situated in a rather isolated location that evening turned out to be a surprisingly social one: First we were visited by a group of two Mongolian women who sold souvenirs and were driven around by their male partners who carried each the lady and a huge bag with goodies around; next we met Nicole and Melanie and made a bit of smalltalk, after that ‘Guy with a dog’ made an appearance (we were to see him many a times in the next three days), after that a car with four people stopped and after much gesturing, pointing and stuttering along it turned out that someone was stuck a few k’s down the road and asked Holger for a pull. As it was already dark we decided to postpone the action until the next morning. During the night some guys came along to do some fishing and it took us a while to figure out what was going on during which I was holding tight to my tear gas and Holger had the fire extinguisher handy, completely idiotic I know ;o}
Next morning it was raining quite hefty and we were glad that we had put up the tent. When I opened the tent we had again a visitor, a young Mongolian on a pushbike. He could not speak but we communicated via hand, feet and the photoalbum he had with him. Because I had just put the kettle on I offered him a cuppa and he showed me that he was cycling to get fit for Nadaam wrestling. He was a big fan and in his photoalbum he had pictures of himself with popular Mongolian Wrestlers and snippets about wrestling. On one picture he was standing in front of the lake with his father and the lake was fully frozen and you could see how ice sculptures were carved in the background. Amazing, as I contemplated already in Siberia - I think I'll have to come back once in winter !
Once it stopped raining the guy who had bogged himself in came along on a horse and Holger and him set off to rescue the guy’s car. It took three hours until Holgi returned and the reason behind him being away so long was that after rescuing the guy, giving him some help to start the car and then farewelling him, poor Holger had bogged himself in on the way back (albeit in a different spot) and had to winch himself out of that mess. But astonishingly enough he did not really complain about that bit, rather he was a bit annoyed that he left the camera at home so he couldn’t take any pictures :o{
Instead we have pretty pictures of the lake's shore :o) In the meantime Guy with a dog had returned and I had offered him some tea, we did not get very far with our communication but, clever guy that he was, he returned later on with the Swiss ladies’ guide and with her help we were able to exchange a few bits of information. He was a security guide at one of the deserted camps and was to stay the winter up at the lake in a tent (!), we hoped he would move into one of the wooden huts for the snow because his tent did not look as warm and comfy as a ger…. He then asked Holger for some technical advice with his car and Holger tried his best to help him get the car running when he went over next morning but it was a problem with the car’s electronics and therefore not that easily solved although they worked again on it in the afternoon.
We have to say, he really grew on us in those days because he was really friendly and always laughing not to mention his friendly companion tyhe dog, I hope his car is running now!
While at the lake we saw quite a few Mongolian families passing by ushering along herds of stock and having Yak’s pull heavy carts with gers and household items on them. One group set up their winter camp on the other side of the dried out river bed close to our camp site. The herder came along next morning to check out our tent and invited us over to get some yoghurt. I went over and admired the clever set up of the gers once more. This one had a solar panel in the back which powered a car radio to which a telephone, a TV, a satellite dish and a DVD player were attached. Again I was offered Aaruul and tea and to trade in for the yoghurt which was made from yak milk I brought stock cubes, a grain mix for soup and some Kuemmerlinge.
Putje's family arriving at their winter campPutje, the family’s daughter, came back to the car to have closer look at our set up again, the whole family was very interested in our travel itinerary and shook their heads upon the big distance we were covering. Unfortunately, Holgi couldn’t come to see the ger because he was repairing, or rather trying to repair, Melville’s door on the driver’s side which had been giving us trouble for some weeks (and is still a sore spot). Mongolian corrugated roads really killed the door’s lock and for the past few weeks we had the door locked permanently with a cable binder from the inside and a cutter taped to the dashboard for emergency cases…
During those three days many animals passed by...
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