BACK IN ULAANBAATARWeare back in Ulaanbaatar and say goodbye to the young students, for whom the fifth semester and everyday university life will soon begin.Then we are driven back to the International Student Dormitory and discuss the plans for the next few days.Hermann and Margit are flying back to Germany in a few days and Rico and I have to organize the trapping of house mice for the next six weeks. First we gather the equipment, more than we thought... Then we think about which parts of the country already have house mouse material and where else we could go to collect more material. Our meetings with Lkhagva and his colleague Prof. Samiya are very informative. Samiya offers us the opportunity to set up the traps in his summer house north of Ulaanbaatar for a few days. Hermann and Lkhagva come up with more ideas and contact friends and acquaintances, and Martin, whom we met in Tunchel, also offers to take us to Sukhbaatar. He is traveling there on business and knows a few people. We follow this idea and book a train ticket with the Trans-Mongolian Railway (a branch of the Trans-Siberian Railway) for August 24, which will take us to the Russian border.24.08.2016TRAININGON THE TRANSSIB TO SUKHBAATARAlthoughSukhbaatar is only around 400 km north of the capital, it takes us over nine hours on the old Trans-Siberian. The train is exactly as I had always imagined it. An old train, magnificent, high-quality and robustly built, which heats the water in a coal-fired boiler in each compartment so that the passengers can be served tea. The train is extremely clean and well-maintained; the toilets may only be used away from larger towns... There are two of us in a four-berth sleeping cabin and we are given tea and comforter covers for the night journey. I think about how we - now traveling more or less alone for the first time - are going to explain to the Mongolians what we are doing and why we are setting traps - it remains exciting.I can hardly sleep all night because I am far too busy processing the last experiences. Besides, we don't know exactly when we'll arrive. This important information is not on the train ticket and the conductor doesn't really understand our request when we ask for information, so I stay up so as not to miss the exit... As I lie looking out of the window at the starry sky, I'm actually glad to be awake, because it's a breathtaking moment and I can't believe that I'm allowed to travel on the famous Transsib.We arrive in Sukhbaatar at around 05:00 in the morning; it's still dark and we have a lot of heavy luggage.Luckily, Martin has already announced us at his hotel, 200 meters from the train station, so we can check in easily and fall straight into bed. I still want to catch up on a few hours' sleep.25.08.2016SUKHBAATARAND THE FIRST HOUSEHOLDSFirst,we get an overview of the city and walk along various routes. With the help of my phrasebook, I write down a few Mongolian words on a piece of paper to help us explain our work when we speak to people and ask if we can set traps for them.We ask around in our hotel, in other hotels and in a bakery. But only our hotel agrees to set the traps outside, and in the afternoon we meet Martin during his break. He takes us to the school where he teaches. We can agree with the school management to set traps on the grounds. We also get some good tips from a teacher who speaks English and we can stay in a student dormitory nearby. It has a kitchen and food supplies, which initially suggests the presence of mice. In addition, mice have already been sighted here in the past... We took a total of 40 traps with us and set them up for the first night of trapping at the three locations, with the result of at least two house mice on the school grounds.our first house mice since we have been in Mongolia.two days later, on August 27, we caught a third house mouse at the same location, and that was it. We consider the result to be satisfactory and discuss what we could do better in the future. Nevertheless, we think that three mice are better than none at all... As we don't have much to prepare during the day, we explore this border area a little. Martin takes us to a beautiful viewpoint where we and a few other tourists can enjoy the sunset. 27.08.2016 SHORTTRIP TO ALTANBULAGWeget a last-minute tip to drive to Altanbulag, a small border town west of Sukhbaatar, to set up traps here too. A colleague of Martin's not only puts us in touch with a family in Altanbulag, but also negotiates cheap rides with a cab driver for us. Of course, we still pay more than the locals because we obviously look European. Nevertheless, we get a good price and the cab driver agrees to wait for us in Altanbulag until we are finished with our work. So she gets a good deal and we are guaranteed a safe journey home.Although the cab driver speaks about as good English as we do Mongolian, we try to communicate. She shows us her family and vacation pictures on her smartphone and makes a very happy impression. She seems to be a fresh and proud grandmother; most of the pictures are of her grandchild.The attempt in Altanbulag is unfortunately only one attempt.We only have time for a single night of trapping, which greatly reduces the likelihood of mice running into the traps. So we return to Sukhbaatar the next day with empty traps and make our way home on the Transsib to Ulaanbaatar with a total of three prepared house mice from the north.30.08.2016 THREEDAYS SUMMER HOUSEWedon't stay long in the capital, because Prof. Samiya offers us a promising summer house in the north of Ulaanbaatar.In the past, good catches have been made here; we should always have house mice with us.Davka and Samiya pick us up in the morning by car from the student dormitory and take us to the summer house. It does indeed look promising and Rico and I set the traps all over the property and there are also four other houses, a small greenhouse, a ruined house and some piles of stones on the large grounds, which are potential feeding and hiding places for mice. The property is located on a hillside and is surrounded by a fence, where the coniferous forest begins just behind it. Overall, we see a comparatively large amount of forest in this area.The nights are getting noticeably colder and we get up early so that the mice don't have to sit in the cold trap for an unnecessarily long time.Even if we kill them afterwards anyway, death by chloroform still seems to us to be the more pleasant option.After the first night of trapping, there are already eight mice in the traps, which we estimate to belong to six different species. These include a white-toothed shrew (Crocidura shantungensis), presumably four different species of vole (Myodes rutilus, Microtus oeconomus, Microtusgregalis and Microtus spp.) and the wood mouse species Apodemuspeninsulae. Only Mus musculus was nowhere to be seen... After this catch we have the whole day to do and prepare the mice as quickly as possible. As always, we take their body measurements and determine their sex and reproductive status, and in between we arrange the next capture site with Lkhagva on the phone. Some professors from the National University have arranged to go to the Gorkhi-Terelj National Park at the weekend and Samiya offers to take us there.Of course we are happy to accept this offer, even though we might not catch any house mice.So we decide to stay at Samiya's summer house for just one more night and go to the national park on Friday.The second night of trapping brought us another three voles (one Microtus gregalis and two Myodes rutilus) but unfortunately no house mice again.Nevertheless, we leave the traps in good hope until the evening as long as we prepare the three animals and wait for Davka to pick us up.As the saying goes: "Hope dies last". And we are rewarded. About an hour before Davka arrives, a house mouse gets lost in one of the traps we had set up at the ruined house. A really beautiful animal.Part 3 will follow shortly.