Days 35–47, Khovsgol lake: becoming a shepherd, horse riding, and strangers in the dark.

We have found via the website workaway a contact who will place us with a family to help in exchange for food and shelter. And so begins our biggest adventure yet.

Days 35-36, Road to khatgal, khuvsgul lake

Day 35

This evening we depart at 20:12 on a coach trip to go to khatgal, a village on the south shore of khuvsgul lake, north west of Ulaanbaatar, close to the Russian border.

Today we mostly relax and sleep in, met a German couple from Berlin who have been travelling for 10 months, we exchanged blogs and stories, they can’t go to Russia because visa must be applied for from Germany, same as China, so they flew straight to UB.

We then went out to do some shopping, mostly so that Sophie can stock up on fruit seen as where we’re going they’re not big into fruit and veg (I forgo the fruit, deciding to eat whatever they will feed us, which I later regretted), and also to buy sun cream and wipes, we’re not sure there will be showers. We forgot to stock up on toilet paper. Shit.

After a delicious vanilla and kiwi tea, (and some very spicy rice and chicken for me) we head back to our hostel to kill a couple of hours before taking a bus to go to the coach station.

At the hostel we are told we should leave at 17:30 to get there in time, so I skip my shower and Sophie skips her noodles and we head out in a rush. Turns out, we got to the coach station close to two hours in advance and so set out in search of a café with WiFi, but land in a KFC instead. Coffee was bad.

On the way back to the coach station, we are graced with beautiful colours in the sky, too bad so many buildings are in the way.

If not for people helping us find our coach, we would have been lost. The bus number on our ticket was actually the number plate, so we wouldn’t have found it by ourselves.

We slept badly, the air-conditioning was on full blast and we were freezing. The coach stopped for thirty minutes, where everyone got off to eat in a roadside diner.

Day 36

In the morning towards 10:00 we arrive at Murun, a town south of khatgal. Most people in the bus get off here and we go outside to stretch our legs. Eventually the bus sets off an hour later, but we didn't know how long we were there for so always stayed next to the coach.

The coach station is just a dirt patch, at the back of which is a dump.

During that hour we witnessed people driving up, getting out of their cars and collecting packages from the coach. It would seem the coach service also serves as a parcel carrier. People collected parcels, bags, windows and even tires. Now and then our coach drivers would drink milk from a 10 litre bottle they keep in a luggage bay.

We arrive at Khatgal towards 13:00, having slept little and badly. A driver is waiting for us. We climb into the back, along with two other people. Also, no seat belts. The two extra people quickly get out, and our driver helps them start their car engine, replacing the battery or something.

He takes us to his home, where we are to wait for a few hours before taking us to our contact. His wife offers us hot milk, hot water, some really hard bread we dip into our milk, some sort of carrot and meat salad, and some meat in batter (or dried fish? I can’t tell).

There is also bread and butter. As Sophie takes a slice and spreads a little butter on it, the wife disapproves, grabs the slice of bread and butter knife from her hands, and proceeds to add triple the amount of butter already on the slice and then pours a tablespoon of sugar on top.

They show us a family picture of them with their son, who is now a doctor in Ulaanbaatar. We then catch a few hours sleep and they leave us alone in their house sleeping. Their house by the way is one room, with a double bed in one corner, a corner couch in the other and a TV between the two. In the middle of the room is a stove/heater powered by wood, this is the norm everywhere we went in Mongolia, Kitchen area is in another corner and a small sink in the other. Toilets are outside in a small cabin with wooden planks over a huge hole in he ground.

I wake up to the sound of cooking, and I am given a bowl of soup. Rice, onions and meat in hot water. Time to go meet our contact.

Bayaka, pronounced “bayla” and his daughter speak pretty good English. Tomorrow they or someone will take us to a farm where we will help out for ten days against food and shelter. For now, we lodge in this small cabin.

Days 37–42, living with Honda

Day 37

Waiting for our driver, arriving at the farm, swap places with a couple from Poland. They stayed there for 2 days, and when we said we were there for 9 days, the guy retorted “you like dairy products that much?”, oh dear… no I don’t!

We spend the afternoon with 2 little girls, aged approximately 4 and 10. The parents must be out looking after herd or something. Actually no, the parents come back later from town. Over the next few days we come to think the wife might have a day job in the village.

The youngest girl show us two newly born goats. Cute.

The cabin is a single room, smaller than our drivers house. There is a second hut thirty metres away, maybe that’s where the parents sleep? No, it turns out that’s where the aunt sleeps.

The older daughter then does a small amount of work while we watch, she deals with some cheese preparation. Their clothes look like rags they’re so dirty. No toilets, no shower around here. And we’re here for 9 days.

Inside, there are beds in the two far corners. Parents and the youngest daughter will sleep on the right one, we will sleep on the left one.

Meat hanging on the wall beside coats and other things.

Pots and buckets full of milk and cream stand open on one side.

While waiting for our hosts to show up, we wonder about and try to pat some young yaks.

A woman arrives, we think is their mom, but turns out to be their aunt. She instantly gives us our first task of giving water to the “baby yaks”.

Parents have arrived, father’s name is Honda. First I watched as he changed the chain on his motorbike, while the wife butchered and prepared meat, hanging strips of meat up to dry. Dinner tonight is boiled lamb, followed by a rice soup.

As I’m sitting on the floor eating this off the bone with my fingers, two Mongols arrive in a pick-up truck, the back on which is a big container linked up to a hose.

Sophie and I had previously rounded up the “baby-yacks”, and they start by giving them shots and then hosing them down. The liquid is some special product I guess, but not sure what for. There are many questions we’d like to ask but are unable due to the language barrier. During that time we round up the sheep and goats, of which there are many, and they barely fit in the small enclos.

Same scenario, they give some of them shots, presumably the young ones. And then empties the container by hosing them down for a while. It's getting fresh and dark by this point.

We then go back inside, while the wife and sister? Go milk some yaks.

We all sleep in the same room, although I think the elder daughter sleeps with her aunt. We went to sleep and I’m woken up by the light turning on. They have electricity by means of a solar panel and a battery, which power one light bulb and recharge Honda’s phone. It’s not even midnight I think, and some people sit down in the room and begin talking to Honda. At this point I just cover my eyes with my arm, but eventually I look and of the 2 guys who have come, one is asleep on the floor, the other keeps drinking and smoking cigarettes, until he drinks himself to sleep at 01:30. Oh and Honda was smoking in bed.

Day 38

We awoke towards 08:00, and parents left with the kids on the motorcycle. The aunt made us shovel yak dung, but apart from that we’ve been left to our own devices, not knowing what else to do nor when they’ll be back.

So we walked to the top of a hill.

Father came home with youngest daughter.

He went to get water on his bike with 4 canisters of 25 litres and when he came back we gave 2 of them to the baby yaks. Then he got some photos out of all the tourists he's lodged and of his family and then out came a bottle of vodka.

Oh dear, as I right these lines, I’m thinking back to the worst night of my life which ensued, as I battled vomiting and diarrhea under heavy rain. Every 30 minutes or so I would rush to the door and throw up outside, in my boxers under the rain, it was cold and wet. I thought the night would never end. I wished i was back at home, at least to be sick in comfort rather than in the back-end of Mongolia. The smell of milk is strong in the house and when I got a whiff of it, the effect was instantaneous, I would go running back outside. This was definitely the lowest point of my trip so far.

Anyway the clouds were becoming menacing so we collected wood while Honda left with the bottle of vodka under his arm, supposedly to finish it off with some friends, he was so drunk when he came back.

Day 39

So, worst night of my life, and the following day I caught up on my sleep, by having multiple naps, eating bread and drinking the last of my water.

One thing I forgot to mention is these people don't drink water, ever. They drink “tea” which is diluted milk. Not very nice.

In the afternoon when I was feeling slightly better, I hopped on the bike behind Honda, who brought us to where his herd of sheep and goats was, my understanding was that we bring them in, but he just wanted to get them closer so that it would be easier to bring them in later.

He stayed there a while watching me trying to get the herd to move, it wasn’t easy as the sheep were beside two passages, if I tried to cut them off from one they would go down the other. After a while Honda lended a hand and then left on his bike, leaving me alone to bring the herd back.

I didn’t think it would be so hard, between the stragglers when I was towards the front of the herd, and the front going off in the wrong direction when I was at the back, it took me quite a while to shepherd the herd back to the farm.

I then slept some more upon arriving at the farm, and had a small bowl of pasta with onions and potatoes and homemade lardons. The meat still grossed me out so soon on my upset stomach.

Honda’s son is home now, must be about twelve years old or something and he already rides his dad’s motorbike. We play cards a little, we teach them a simple game of snap and then complicate it with extra rules. They try to teach us a game but we could not see the logic in the pattern.

Day 40

Third night was my best night so far, I actually got a good night’s sleep. I begin to miss fruits and water and am fed up of this milk-water drink. I avoid dairy products because the caseine it contains, yaks milk has even more lactose and caseine than cows milk.

Today I made do with two slices of bread. Honda’s wife told me to do something with the sheep, but I didn’t fully understand. Turns she wanted me to isolate the 2 baby goats before setting the herd free.

Soon after, I accompany the aunt to stop the sheep from wondering too far off. When we get around a hill, out of line of sight from the farm, the herd is mixing with another, but the other shepherd, a boy not older than 12 or 13 I’d say, jumps down from his horse and manages to separate both herds. The aunt then tells me to follow the herd. Not long afterwards I hear here yelling, so I turn back, apparently I have missed a young goat somewhere, from what I understand. We go after it, not finding it, we continue searching and then lose the herd. After a while, she tells me to go home.

I find Sophie shoveling yack dung with the two daughters, the parents are absent. I manage to filter some water to drink. Pure bliss.

Honda back and enquires about the sheep, I briefly explain through sign language what happened, he looks dismayed.

He then leaves and comes back with a male yack which seems to be horny. He ties a rope around its neck and tries leading it to a female without success. He then ties it to a pole.

A little later, we see two guys pull up in a truck with 2 yacks on the back. Aha. We think they’ve come to get them pregnant. Honda invites them in for tea and vodka, money changes hands, and they head out, untie the bull from the post and lead him onto the back of the truck. And they drive off. Honda then explains to us that he’s sold the bull to be killed in Ulaanbaatar.

He goes to collect his wife from Katgal. Some people arrive shortly before they come back, and upon them leaving, his wife begins beating Honda.

The day takes an intense turn, we witness a fight, and in normal circumstances I would probably have intervened, except here I was a guest and that kept me back. She ends up leaving with some money from her wallet and goes back to Katgal on foot. By this stage the two little girls are crying and go after their mother who must have told them not to follow her for they sit down and cry and scream, whereupon Sophie and I go sit with them until they’ve finished crying. We get them to stand up and walk back towards the farm.

As we’re walking back with them, the aunt who seems oblivious to the situation calls me over to gather up the baby-yacks. I find one which is dead strangled. I thought it might have been Honda who did this when he was drunk but it’s only an accident, the calf must have caught itself in some loose rope and tightened the noose while trying to free itself.

The atmosphere is a little tense, Honda seems to bring his anger out on his kids, especially his son. He had barely spoken to us. We’re thinking the wife will come back tomorrow. Honda is calling everyone in the address book, no doubt to try and find his wife’s whereabouts.

Day 41

We got up later than usual, it was 09:25 when we got up. Honda promptly left for Katgal, no doubt to look for his wife, telling us we could eat yesterday’s leftover pasta.

Shortly afterwards the kids come in the house and tell us to let the sheep go. I don’t really appreciate being given orders by a kid, I was about to beckon them to come help but Sophie thought it best to leave them alone, like that we would be at peace.

Since it rained during the night, the patch where the sheep spend the night was muddy with shit, rain and piss. I had difficulty catching the two small goats to isolate them before freeing the herd.

That done, twenty minutes later I’m told to go get the sheep. Those things are fast when they want to, I had to march a good hour just to catch up with the herd. I caught up with them on the ridge of a mountain, the goats having already passed to the other side. I round them up and begin leading them towards the farm, taking it slowly.

Once back, Shovel shit,

Feed baby yaks, sit in the sun, read.

Go get the sheep, no don't.

Go get the sheep, no don’t. (Again! Make your mind up guys :p )

Honda came back, left with youngest daughter to Katgal.

Get some yak for milking, then get sheep, then get the rest of the yak. Sophie had been ill all day is now asleep.

Patchimuk cooked some pasta for us but put too much salt in, it's not edible.

Then aunt had finished milking, and cooked a nice dish with rice and pasta and onion and bits of meat.

Honda is not home and it's 23:30 by the time we go to bed, when usually we're in bed by 22:00.

Day 42

Honda came back some time in the night or early morning, and when we woke towards 08:30, the wife was back. Honda smokes while we’re still in bed. I don’t want to stay any longer, I’ve had enough and seen everything. I can deal with being sick, not eating correctly, not washing and having to shit behind trees, but what I don’t want to deal with one more day is his smoking when I’m in my sleeping bag. It’s a pitty, he had talked about going on a three day horse trip up the lake for a really cheap price, but with all that has passed, we’re not sure that will happen.

There’s a guy here this morning to kill a sheep.

Actually, the sheep ended up leaving on a motorcycle between two other guys. We shoveled some more dung, and dung is heavy by the way, the biggest ones weighing easily 3 kilos. We let the sheep and baby yacks go. I then told Honda that we were leaving today after all, I think he was sad and tried to get us to stay.

I called Bayaka, the guy who placed us with Honda, his wife dropped by to pick us up. So we ended up leaving without saying good bye to Honda since he’s gone to prepare for winter with some friends, which is a shame, I don’t even have a photo of us together. This ending happened so abruptly, the whole thing feels unresolved.

We arrive at Bayaka’s guesthouse, and we run into the French family from Australia we had met on the train from Irkutsk to Ulan-Ude. There are two other couples, also French, we end up eating dinner together, which is fun, we tell stories of our travels and listen to theirs.

Normally tomorrow we’re going on a horse trip organised by Bayaka. We’ll see if we can negotiate the price.

Day 43

So we got up quite early and decided on 2 days on horseback. We go into the common room for breakfast and in comes Honda. He is here to take one of the French couples to his place, they’re on motorbikes. I got a photo taken of me with Honda.

I emptied half my pack into my foldable bag, and left it at the guesthouse. Bayaka dropped us off at our guide’s house where the horses are. And our guide is … Honda! Hahaha…

The couple which has replaced us is staying in the aunt’s house, so they won’t be subjected to the cigarette smoke.

We saddle up and Honda leads us to one of his friends house where we eat… bread and yak butter with sugar and that milk-tea.

After that snack-lunch we leave again, have a little horse trouble, mine either is too slow or too fast, and the lake is revealed little by little as we pass between two big hills. It’s only 15:00 and we stop here at a spot next to the lake, which turns out will be where we sleep.

I go for a swim, the water is quite cold, but it feels so good, I felt cleaner coming out.

Honda starts a fire and we sit down, I show him some pictures I took during our stay and show him on Google maps the places we’ve been to so far.

He then leaves with the horses to go back to his farm. Sophie then picks up wood while I tend to the fire to make sure it doesn’t go out and to make it bigger.

We enjoy the view while tending to the fire, collecting as much wood as possible before night fall. A big log I unearthed with much effort proved very helpful in making the fire last and shielding the hearth from rain.

We hear some voices at dusk which give way to rowing noises. Meanwhile, we make toast with slices of bread on sticks.

Once it is dark, the voices on the boat become louder as they come back. They will join us for the rest of the night. 2 Mongols in traditional coats. Smartphones and their limited English make for laboured conversation. They are from up north and are fishing by night. They will go back out at 03:00 to check the lines. The told us their names but they’re so similar and foreign I forgot them almost instantly.

Clouds part to reveal stars and the milky way and we witness a moonrise. Eventually, they go to sleep beside the fire.

We go sleep in our tent. We were cold, I’m surprised I even fell asleep. We heard them leave, by the time we got up they were gone. Too bad, we missed the sunrise at 06:00 and the grilled fish they had proposed to cooked for me earlier.

Day 44

The fire had died out, but thank to my scouts experience I knew there would still be hot embers under all that ash. I get the fire starting again, and proceed to heat some water to make coffee.

Our guide has arrived. It isn’t Honda, but some tennager. We pack our things and mount up.

The first two hours are enjoyable, we go along the lake under the trees, cross another French couple, (so many French tourists in his area!)

We then go inland and uphill, through marshes, pine forests, dead pine forests and plains.

Things began to be a pain after our short break. I must be doing something wrong, but every time I horse ride, it’s a painful experience. So after another hour, I decided that was enough for me, dismounted, and continued on foot. That’s the last time I’m going on horseback.

We arrive at his father’s hut, where the grandpa is watching TV, one of those old sets with buttons and the speaker on one side.

After a few slices of bread and butter, we’re off through some light woods before arriving at Katgal from the hills.

We’re tired, deciding to go shopping for more crisps, snickers, soda and apple purée and noodles before coming back to the hostel. I light the fire in our ger and we sleep in the next day.

Day 45

We get up just before 12:00. There is water in our ger, wind during the night widened a gap in the roof.

We have a bus ticket for Ulaanbaatar leaving on the 6th of September, but want to leave today (4th of September). Our host tells us it will probably leave at 17:00 so we time our stop at the souvenir stands to give us enough time to pack our bags and catch the bus.

I buy a pipe made from yak horn.

At the bus, the driver first says it’s ok. And then just before letting us on the bus, says we have to pay. Long story short, we ended up paying more than our original ticket but have been told we can return our other ticket once in Ulaanbaatar for a refund minus 5%.

The coach is full. A few people are even sitting in the aisle on camping chairs. Only places left for us are in the back row, I have no legroom, it makes for a very uncomfortable ride.

Day 46

We arrive early in Ulaanbaatar and after much confusion manage to get our refund at the coach station. We then take a bus into town and set on finding the café we had been to on our first day in Mongolia, for some breakfast, coffee and WiFi. We book a hostel with a hot shower. We are soaking wet, it is pouring rain in Ulaanbaatar ever since we have arrived. I have holes in my waterproof shoes from the campfire, some flying embers must have landed on my shoes. Outstanding.

We arrive at the hostel and enjoy our first shower in ten days. We also choose to do our first washing-machine-laundry of the trip. Waiting for my clothes to dry, I’m sitting around in swimming shorts and my coat.

Days 47 & 48, we just relax in our hostel.