Monday, November 30, 2015

Life in the freezer- day 26 & 27

The problem was the diesel fuel, which was the summertime mix and began to freeze into a gel in the engine. We went ahead to a small soum to try to get a heated garage, while the Toyota that was still going towed the other slowly into the soum. Heated garages are hard to come by, so the pump was taken out and heated in an oven in this roadside café and small shop.
We all had a nice Mongolian goulash dinner here before heading off towards UB. This back section was warmer than the front area, perhaps because it was near the kitchen action.
Eventually got a photo of this very active little boy, son of the family running the eatery. Loved his Mongolian hat and his expressive face. I spent some time showing him photos and videos on the i-pad.  He kept running outside without a coat- it was about -27 degrees C but it didn't seem to bother him.
We headed off towards Lun, the next soum but then both diesel Toyotas broke down due to the fuel issue. Luckily petrol vehicles are not affected by severe cold. We passed many vehicles stopped with the same problem. Our vehicle then slowly towed each vehicle, individually into Lun. We drank coffee and waited in this very cold roadside café and watched Mongolian TV, happy just to be out of the cold. A rescue, petrol 4W vehicle arrived from UB and a heated garage was found for the 2, out of action vehicles. Once the fuel, now gel, is heated and drained out, Winter diesel fills the tank and then there is no problem!
This man was one of the drivers, sitting in the cold vehicle as it was towed. The temperature was now -33 degrees C! He had his wolf skin coat to keep warm. I was impressed by how beautifully the pelts were matched and stitched. He waited 4 years for the coat. We eventually got back to UB early Sunday morning and crawled into bed at 3 am.





 

2 comments:

  1. Well that was an adventure that you will never experience again.

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  2. Never knew there was a difference in diesel quality Jan!

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