Hide and Seek

 

Day 5

Position: N 46° .11 E 097° .24

Distance Travelled: 41.3 km

Cruising along, just inches from the desert floor, I check my kite and then glance ahead to see Sarah off to my left and notice the shadow of Eric's kite just above me and to the right. Looking over my left side I notice a third vehicle, a curious nomad, keeping pace on his motor bike, his young daughter riding the gas tank. It appears that they have been following us for some distance waiting anxiously for one of the kites to drop so they can make their final approach and thoroughly investigate the situation. The wind , for the most part gusty, drops into a soft lull. I work the kite in a figure of eight pattern trying to propel the buggy forward, it's of no use, the kite falters and folds a little touching down softly on the ground in front of me. This pleases the nomad very much as he seizes the opportunity to pull in close, turn off his bike, and introduce himself. We have been caught once again.

Before coming to the Gobi I was under the impression that we would see very little life ( maybe a nomadic family every 4-5 days). Now 5 days in to the trip I am beginning to think that going unnoticed and discreetly "dropping in" on a herder may be impossible. Granted you can see a horse or traveller coming in the distance hours before they arrive, and true a trio of large flying orange kites dancing above the horizon may not scream discretion, but this is the desert after all, might we go unnoticed just one night, just one morning.

We have had visitors and unexpected invitations at all hours, morning, night, in the rain, or on route. It puzzled us at first that we could not seem to develop a routine, some sort of schedule for efficient travel. It is becoming clearer now that this expedition ,very much unlike Greenland may be more about a human and cultural connection , rather than reaching a physical endpoint.

After explaining the buggy, the system and that I am from Canada, I play with the kite a little in the dying wind, waiting for it to pick up before I sit back in the seat and rock the kite downward, I move forward and wave good bye to the herder and his daughter. The interactions are becoming easier, and we are making good distance. Maybe we will make it to Shainshand, hopefully taking advantage of all the great interactions and life this desert has to offer along the way.

Curtis