Nomadic Encounters in Mongolia

2010-12-16T09:00:00.000-08:00

Nomadic Encounters features multimedia about nomadic families in Mongolia.

It grew out of my 2007 Fulbright Award to experience and record the feeling of living on the move in Mongolia's immense spaces.

Over the course of almost 2 years, I lived with four different families and recorded the sounds of them at work, at play, and at rest.

This site contains excerpts from that research - articles, prose vignettes, work-in-progress multimedia programs and an overview of multimedia collected.

•Read vignettes (posted on nafella.com)
Thanksgiving in Bayan-Olgii
Camels in the Gobi
Sheepherding with Ulaanaa
Why this Place, Why Now

• Watch an Audiovisual program:
Camels in the Gobi
A Happy Day in Hovsgol
Herding with Ulaanaa

• Read an article about horse-riding in Hovsgol province (published in Time Out Mumbai)

• Support Nomadic Encounters.

• Read about other Sounds & Stories:
Spring in Hentii, Summer in Hovsgol,
Autumn in the Gobi & Winter in Bayan-Olgii.

Spring in Khentii

2009-12-06T18:38:00.000-08:00

DISPATCH FROM MONGOLIA

Shebana Coelho

©May 2006

Spring in Khentii

Back from a month in the hoodoo, the countryside. A month in the province of Khentii with a family of nomadic herders living in gers amid steppes and mountains. A household of brothers and their families who come together at this particular place every spring to attend to about 1000 sheep, goats, cows and horses during calving season.

Spring is all about births: horocks (lambs), ishigs (kids), togals (calves), and winds: fierce winds, soft winds, dry blustery winds, moist winds, winds that bring smoke from distant forest fires, and winds that hit the ger with full force so that bits of plastic on the roof make a flapping din and people inside the ger raise their hands and yell, "Holdoré" so the wind hears and knows to move far away.

I worked outside in all kinds of weather, milked cows, herded sheep, goats, watched lambs being born, sheep being killed, ran long distances after strays, brushed cashmere from sheep, visited the birthplace of the big C. Khaan and made the acquaintance of some wonderful people. I listened to the sounds of things and people and recorded them. Spoke a lot of Mongolian and understood some. Oh and I sang – badly – while everyone around me sang beautifully. Amazing how many Mongolians have swell voices, how many songs they know, and how many moments became magical when people around me took to singing.

A collection of some moments:

****

Nothing like driving anywhere you damn please, sometimes following rutted track marks and sometimes not, over fields, hills, meadows, swamps, half-frozen rivers, flowing rivers, dried-out rivers with songs trilling on the radio and not skipping a beat and everyone singing along as we are flung this way and that, our heads almost hitting the padded roof of this amazing battered Russian-made jeep called, for good reason, a SUPER Jarin Yuus.

Nothing like first morning in a ger, walking out to endless steppe, to orange sunrise over mountains.

****

We are in Khentii, in the northeast of Mongolia, not too far from the Russian border, about an hour away from a "soum" or village called Bayan-Adraga.

Three gers (round white houses) in this space:

-The work ger, where lots of equipment is stored.

-The right or baruun ger -- mostly full of brothers who live in other parts of Mongolia but come here during the spring to help + one couple and one brother who live year around in the countryside. It's this brother, Bayraa who drives us down from UB. And there is also Tsolmon, Bayraa's nephew, who is 21, has spent about half his life in Mongolia, half in the States + his friend from UB, Ulaana. Tsolmon helps with translating, especially with interviews.

-The left or zhoun ger is where I lived with a lovely couple: Jagee, 31 (the youngest of the brothers), his wife Monjago, 30 and their two kids: 6 year old, Bombole and four-year old Saraa (another son, Odko who is 12, goes to school in the village). They've been living for about 7 years in the countryside. They work hard and -- as I see when they go into Bayan Adraga for a visit -- party hard as well. Monjago and I have no English between us but we get each other really well in Mongolian – she's very intuitive and quick to understand. I basically shadow her the whole day, from milking cows in the morning to running after calves at night.

So - everyone's here together in the spring as there's tons of work. Then in summer, the various families separate, cattle is divided, they move away – some back to cities, some to other parts of the steppe.

We moved while I was there, away from the mountains, close to a river.

****

Mornings I wake to the sounds of – what else – the wind and the snap crackle pop of Monjago whittling bits of kindling wood and starting a fire inside the stove. Children rustling in the bed across from me, voices of Jagee and Monjago as she makes tea, he moves around, getting dressed, getting stuff he needs. From outside, persistent bleating of sheep, goats being herded out. Horses neighing as they are saddled, ridden, following sheep. A bit later, after breakfast, lots of shoveling dung out of the pens. Smell, I am told, is everything and the pens need to be clean so the sheep can smell out and recognize their offspring. Thus, every morning, symphony of metallic twangs and dull thuds as shovels scrape up thick patties of cow dung, and smaller goat & sheep pellets. Intermittent sneezing and coughing as the wind blows dust and bits of god-knows-what into our faces. Often, in the background someone kneeling besides a sheep and its lamb and singing THOEGO THOEGO THOEG, a see-saw kind of melody to coax out maternal instincts from ewes that refuse to let their lambs nurse. Bicycles wheeling by as the two boys, Bombole and Haltha Hai, ride this way and that.

****

I was born in India, I say

Jimmy, Jimmy, they grin, Aa ja Aa ja.

A Hindi song?

Yes, Monjago says, from an Indian movie we've all seen. "Tansui Disco," do you know it?

Everyone – from folks in the family to folks I meet in the soum –knows this film.

Jaagee hums it again.

A boy, he says, who loves to dance.

And some girl, Monjago says, whom he loves.

Oh God, this is classic Indian rip-off of Saturday Night Fever called "I am a disco dancer." It came out in 1982, I think. They saw it in 1991 maybe, they say.

Mithun Chakravorty as Jimmy, poor boy with dancing dreams.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disco_Dancer

The Taj Mahal? Jagee asks, (actually I think he calls it something old and white) It's Mongolian, no?

I tell him what little I know: Lots of Mughal kings in India for many years; Mughal is the Persian word for Mongol; Shah Jahan who build the Taj, I read, may be descended from one of Chingiss Khaan's sons. So yes, I say, there are Mongolian connections to the Taj Mahal.

So it's Mongolian, he says emphatically.

****

Listen, he asks me another day, who was next after Rajiv Gandhi?

What?

Who came after Rajiv Gandhi?

Uhh, I don't know

It's okay, he says, maybe I'll remember later.

****

They are castrating a horse. Also branding it. A brown horse. It lies on its side, legs tied, rope around its mouth, trying to toss its head, Three men are holding it down while a fourth uses a vise and does the deed.

Then the balls are put in hot coals and cooked.

It's a delicacy, I am told, you have to try it.

Hmm, okay -- give me a tiny tiny tiny piece.

Here, you'll have to use your hands.

Sorry?

Your hands, you can't use a knife on this. It's a Mongolian custom, a yos.

But you've just used a vise and hot iron on…

You have to use your hands.

Fine.

It tastes mostly of charcoal and rubber.

Meanwhile the horse is -- I don't know how -- but yes, it is standing and moving away, towards the mountains where it will join other horses who run, more or less free, until they are rounded up again and caught as needed. Tsolmon is looking at the horse too. Not a stallion anymore, he says.

****

I watch movies dubbed in Mongolian on the TV which is powered by a car battery and gets reception (5 channels!) from a Korean-made satellite dish outside the ger. Evenings feature Jagee outside turning the satellite dish this way and that, and Monjago inside calling out numbers on screen that indicate good reception. 5, she says. Now back to 0, now 10, now 20, 21 22, oh it's 25 percent. Stop Stop. (27 was highest I saw it go.) Sometimes you can't get around bad reception and lines crisscross the screen and make an odd sucking sound. Movies I've seen: Nacho Libre, the Queen, The Marines, the Departed, some fantasy type film with the girl from Buffy, and hilarious Jackie Chain screwball comedy in Chinese.

****

Sitting on my bed, untangling microphone cords, writing down mini disc logs when Jagee comes over and picks up the microphone. He begins to talk into it, kidding around. Then he begins to sing. Then he says, here, come record the "morin khuur," the horse-hair fiddle. I begin recording; he begins playing. He asks Monjago the words to a song he can't remember; she comes over, begins to sing with him. The kids sit on the floor and join in, Saraa looking up at her mother for guidance with the words. After the song, I begin to ask about Mongolian customs but it's too complex for me to carry on in Mongolian and just then, Tsolmon and Ulaana walk in and voila, here is translator and here is interview that starts out being about Mongolian customs and ends up with story of Monjago and Jagee's courting days. Like this, they happened, many of the interviews.

****

Homecomings. From one direction comes rams + ewes who have not yet given birth, from another cows, from another sheep and goats, from another sheep and lambs. One by one, the different flocks are led into different pens. Usually the sun is setting, deep pink sky, silhouetted mountains. Later, at twilight, the evening's adrenalin rush activity begins – separating cows from calves and getting calves into the pens. First one person, maybe two, go out on horses, and round up both cows and calves. Hog, Hog, Hoj Hoj -- that's what you say to get cows to move. Goorgii, Goorgii -- that's what you say to calves so they know its time to separate. Of course the calves don't listen. Which is why as they get closer, a bunch of folks are waiting to drive them into the pens. A whole lot of hooting and hollering in the dark. Calves running every which way, cows mooing like mad, people yelling like mad. There. Here. That one. This one. Hog. Goorgii. Damn. Run. Hog I said, Hoj.

Dark shapes rushing past, more yelling.

Finally done, calves in pen, cows outside settling down for night.

Walking back to ger under impossibly bright starry skies. Venus is usually out. And sometimes much much later, Mars which glows faintly red. And the moon – even when it's a new moon, you can still see the whole grey orb in shadow with that bright silver arc. And shooting stars that I always forget to wish on because I'm always surprised to see them shoot.

****

Afternoon - sitting outside the ger on a plastic stool. Four-year old Saraa beside me, looking over my shoulder. Ahead, vast expanse of pale grass, yellow hill, brown mountains, lots of sheep, two men on horses and wide wide sky. So -- Saraa watching me write, men on horses shouting at sheep and boys on bicycles behind men on horses and faraway, a brown silhouetted figure. Remarkable how, even from a distance, it's unmistakable: the stance of a man peeing.

****

Look, someone said today, and pointed. There it was, a faint sheen of green across the wide yellowness of the steppe. Summer is coming.

PHOTO GALLERY LINKS

Click HERE or HERE

Sainaa

2009-02-25T20:11:00.000-08:00

U

2009-01-28T19:29:00.000-08:00

Article

2009-01-27T01:08:00.000-08:00

From The O&P Edge
http://www.oandp.com/edge/
February 2009

Click on Image to see larger readable version.

Why

2008-12-20T16:32:00.000-08:00

T

2008-12-07T17:11:00.000-08:00

Ulaanaa

2008-12-02T16:13:00.000-08:00

One morning in Hovsgol with Ulaanaa as he herds goats and sheep.
A work-in-progress program.

Olgii pictures

2008-11-17T14:03:00.000-08:00

Morning

2008-10-31T10:03:00.000-07:00

A work-in-progress audio piece about spring mornings.

Spring in Hentii

2008-10-31T09:47:00.000-07:00

A radio piece on spring in Hentii

NA

2008-10-07T08:14:00.000-07:00

Interview

2008-06-22T23:24:00.000-07:00

Camels - Gobi

2008-06-21T15:46:00.000-07:00

A work-in-progress program, not intended for commercial use.
Camel illustrations by Norovsambuugiin Baatartsog.
From 'Mongolian Folktales' by Hillary Roe Metternich.

Mongolia article in Time Out Mumbai

2008-04-15T20:13:00.000-07:00

Asia adventures

Fake snow in Dubai, insect popsicles in Beijing and transsexual pop in Tel Aviv. Whether you're looking to eat your heart out or shop till you drop, for adventure or architecture, we've found some new charms in old destinations across the continent.

Get some thrills

Riding in Mongolia

Shebana Coelho finds that she's more than just a steppe away from being a nomad.

Tomorsukh, the local guide, was short, jolly and puzzled. "Why do you want to stay with a nomadic family along the eastern shore of Lake Hovsgol?" he asked.

"Because I'm in Mongolia on a US Fulbright research grant to do just that," I explained. "I want the everyday experience of nomadic life. Plus I grew up in India, our Mughals came from your Mongolia and I've dreamt of Chinggis Khan and galloping hordes since forever and I want to explore..."

"Fine, but do you know the road along the eastern shore is terrible, maybe even the worst in the country? By jeep, it's one day of excruciating up down right left pain."

"I've heard."

He grinned. "Forget the jeep. Go by horse instead. For one thing, it's a great way to see the countryside. For another thing, you don't know how to ride, you've said you want to learn so how about you go for three days on a hundred-plus kilometre journey. That'll teach you."

What I'd learnt is that if you're open to adventure, it finds you – especially in Mongolia. Some of it has to do with the immensity of the space – 1,564,100 sq km of steppes, mountains, deserts in one of the most sparsely populated countries in the world. Then, there are the people, who practise a hospitable culture rooted in an ancient nomadic heritage. Finally, there's the dynamic feeling of a country in the midst of transition, a new democracy of 2.5 million, with rapid urban development and migration that is affecting the lifestyles of nomadic herders who account for about 40 per cent of Mongolia's population.

So I said yes to Tomorsukh's idea and he set everything up: three horses and two licensed guides, Baatai, and his son Zorgoo. They had no English, I had some Mongolian and we set off early one morning across the northern province of Hovsgol.

Every day, we rode about five to six hours. Every day, my knees were always the first to start hurting, followed by the insides of my thighs, one buttock cheek, then another, and then my wrists from clutching the reins so tightly.

A swarm of flies and bees often accompanied us with glee. I ignored them, but my horse was not so Zen and broke into sudden trots. When confronted with green meadows, he was kind enough to wait a few seconds so I could prepare myself. Then, he hurtled across the steppe. When we galloped like this, all the pains disappeared and I knew this must be the reason why men got on horses in the first place.

On the final evening, we set up camp on the lake. Baatai boiled tea; Zorgoo unpacked the tent. It was fine to have men set up tents and cook tea for me. Despite the pain, it was fine to be on horseback. Really, this is the way to be in Mongolia, riding through stellar scenery, sometimes meeting other riders who stop and chat. What a welcome sight to spot a white "ger" house in the distance, to dismount, tie your horse to the hitching post, and, with children and dogs at your heels, pull open the orange ger door and enter, saying, "Sain bain uu, hello, how are you?"

"Sain yavaad irsen uu, how did you travel" – like this, you are greeted and given hot milky tea, suutei tsai, and bread.

There's a popular Mongolian saying that goes, "Er hunii jargal ezgui heer nutag." Happiness is the wide open steppe.

How to get there

From Ulaanbataar to Hovsgol, there are buses (about 18 hours) and flights (about 1.5 hours) to Murun, the provincial capital of Hovsgol. From Murun, take a taxi or tourist van to Hatgal (about 3 hours). Camps in Hatgal offer hiking, birding, horse-riding and kayaking excursions. Western-style bathrooms are rare – generally, you'll have outhouses. See www.mongoliatourism.gov.mn.

Mongolian Consulate

Camlin, 48/2 Hilton House, Central Lane, MIDC, Andheri (E) (2836-0302). Mon-Fri 8.30am-5pm.

Source : Time Out Mumbai ISSUE 15 Friday, March 21, 2008

Gobi Camel Song

2008-03-27T20:26:00.000-07:00

Recorded in the field

Horse Hair Fiddle Song

2008-03-27T19:39:00.000-07:00

CONTACT

2008-01-22T06:39:00.001-08:00

shebana at aol dot com

A Happy Day in Hovsgol

2008-01-05T08:22:00.000-08:00

It's Naadam time in the community of Turag. Naadam is an ancient annual celebration of sports held in early July. Nyam-Ochir's whole family sets out --- to meet up with friends and neighbors, to watch horse-racing and wrestling and to cheer on twelve-year old Jeejee who's competing in a horse race for the first time. This Naadam in Turag is called an 'ovoonii bayar" - a celebration of the 'ovoo,' a shrine of rocks and branches, usually found on top of mountains to commemorate nature spirts. ©Shebana Coelho 2008

READ about more Sounds & Stories collected in Hovsgol.

Summer in Hovsgol

2008-01-05T00:52:00.000-08:00

Watch an Audiovisual program about "A Happy Day in Hovsgol"

Read a list of Sounds & Stories collected in Hovsgol.

Support Nomadic Encounters

2008-01-03T08:22:00.001-08:00

NOMADIC ENCOUNTERS can always use your support via donations and/or suggestions for potential funders---organizations, corporations or individuals--who would like to help this project and offset costs of preserving, translating, editing and disseminating these stories. There are over 50 hours of audio, 1000+ photos to go through, edit, translate, and all this requires time, resources and funds.

If you have ideas to share or wish to donate, please contact us:
nomadicencounters@gmail.com

UPDATE ON AMGALAN (4/2009):

A big thanks to all who generously donated towards the travels costs for our Mongolian friend and language teacher, Amaglan to come to U.S for much-needed medical treatment for a prosthetic leg.

Special Thanks to Barr Foundation Amputee Assistance Fund (BFAAF) and New Jersey-based prosthetist, Carey Glass, CPO, LPO, FAAOP who arranged for Amaglan to have a new custom-made fabricated prosthesis – all at no cost to her.

A three-part series of articles on her experience/medical treatment in the U.S is now online on the website of The O&P Edge:

From Mongolia to the US, Part One

A Journey of Hope Continues, Part Two

From Mongolia to America, Part Three

Thanks very much.

Bayan-Olgii: Stories & Sounds

2008-01-03T06:43:00.001-08:00

WINTER IN BAYAN-OLGII (western Mongolia)

School Days in Altan-Tsougts
Off to school with Mongolian and Kazakh kids and their teachers.

At Home with Maika
At home with a Kazakh "soum" (village) family: Maika and Argan and their family of five who live in Altan-Tsougts.

Inside a Kazakh Ger
Aiotan describes his ger, his everyday life and offers up a Kazak song about mothers.

Paying respects
Sounds of Muslim prayers at a cemetery.

A Brief Visit with an Eagle
A Kazak eagle hunter introduces his eagle and describes how he hunts.

A Long Journey
Seventy-three year old Doldbai describes the overland journey from China in 1942 to the small hamlet of Aag Ahraal in Bayan-Olgii.

A House in the Woods
Meet a Kazakh family who live in the woods: Dalil Khan, his wife, Manar Bek and their three kids. Follow them as they collect wood, herd cattle in the forest, and describe making a new life in the hoodoo (countryside) only eight years ago.

Letters in song
Letters in song and prose from Bayan-Olgii to relatives in Ulaanbataar.

A Fine Evening Concert
Jaina Guul starts it off and everyone joins in – about ten Kazakh songs about love, homelands, friends and mothers.

A Neighbor Visits
Hoanbai stops by for some fine conversation about Mongolia, the US, and Iraq.

What was once a horse….
Slaughtering cattle and storing meat is a family affair.

Kazakh Radio Waves
Excerpts from a Kazakh Radio program broadcast everyday in Olgii.

What's in a name: Altan-Tsougts domog
Legends and songs about the village of Altan-Tsougts with Pharavdorj who's been collecting "gazariin domog" (landscape legends) since he was a child.

Farewells
Kazakh toasts and customs narrated by Manar Bek, Maika and Argan on the departure of a visitor.

Gobi: Stories & Sounds

2008-01-03T06:39:00.001-08:00

AUTUMN IN THE GOBI (southern Mongolia)

Once upon a time…
The legend of "how the camel lost its antlers to the deer" narrated by a variety of people from poet Bat-Nyam to camel doctor Lovsan to an assortment of herders.

Gobi Legends: Bat-Nyam speaks
Bat-Nyam narrates "gazariin domog" (legends about the landscape) about Omningobi landmarks such as the ice gorge, the sand dunes, and a gold mountain which brought tragedy on Chinese miners.

On the Nature & Use of Camels
Assorted interviews on how camels are used and regarded in the Gobi.

Introductions
Meet Demee and Saingerelt, who – among the two of them – milk twelve camels and sixty goats everyday and produce "ingnii aaruul" (camel cheese) that's been voted the best in Omingobi two years ago. What they do, how they met, their thoughts on autumn and their opinions on a range of topics from the US to socialism.

Everyday
Sounds and Interviews about everyday life in the autumn: roping and milking goats; herding and milking camels and botogs (camel calves), making ingnii arrol, airag, nirmil and all kinds of dairy products.

Indoors
Saina describes all the things inside the ger and how she uses them.

Meet the Animals
They name all their animals in the Gobi! Saina and Demee introduce a few of the goats and camels.

Visitors
A stellar evening of song and poetry: first, songs with poet Myankhai and local singer Oyungerel; and later traditional "ortiin" songs with Ganbataar & Gantogtokh who stop by in their van to buy aaruul.

Gobi Waves
The staff of Gobi Wave radio describes their documentary programming and the issues they cover in the provincial capital of Dalanzadgad.

Hovsgol: Stories & Sounds

2008-01-03T06:33:00.000-08:00

SUMMER IN HOVSGOL (northern Mongolia)

Introductions
Nyam-Ochir introduces his family and his home, about two hours from Hankh village in northeast Hovsgol. He's built fences, planted vegetables and he describes his plans for making a living off the land and not cattle. Lots of opinions, has Nyam-Ochir – and he shares them all - from his thoughts on overgrazing, climate change, to globalization and the future of Mongolia.

Sheepherding with Ulaanaa
Thirteen-year old Ulaanaa takes sheep and goats over the hills and valleys everyday and shares his thoughts on herding and his future – as a driver, he says.

Everyday
The whole summer "tsagaan idei" or dairy production operation from start to finish – including milking cows and yaks, using the milk machine, making 'aaruul' etc.

Casino on the steppe
Happening on a group of men playing day-long card games in Turag.

On a mission
A surprising scene: a Korean pastor and his students visiting the small hamlet of Turag with its sole Christian inhabitant.

Neighbors
Brief assorted interviews with families around Turag about their life.

Horse Matters
Sounds and descriptions of Nyam-Ochir and the boys as they make stirrups and reins from cattle hides.

Clean Cows
A cattle Doctor visits, sprays/injects sheep and cows and describes the general health of cattle in the area.

A Happy Day: Ovoonii Bayar
It's Naadam time in the community of Turag! Naadam is an ancient annual celebration of sports held in early July. The whole family sets out --- to meet up with friends and neighbors, to watch horse-racing and wrestling and to cheer on twelve-year old Jeejee who's competing in a horse race for the first time.

On High
Ambience and stories about ovoos, sacred piles of rocks and branches to celebrate sprits of nature.

And then the spirit entered…
A shaman describes how she became one.

Spring in Hentii

2008-01-02T19:49:00.000-08:00

Listen to an Audio program on herder, Bataaha.

Read a list of Sounds & Stories collected in Hentii.

Hentii: Pictures

2008-01-02T19:40:00.000-08:00

Click HERE for a photo album of my experiences in Hentii

Hentii: Stories & Sounds

2008-01-02T12:38:00.000-08:00

SPRING IN HENTII (eastern Mongolia)

Introductions

A family of brothers - Bayraa, Bataaha, Jagaa – introduce us to spring and the landscape in the "hoodoo" or countryside in the northeast of Hentii.

Catch 'em if you can...
The whole gang rounds up new horses from the herd; Jagaa describes how it's done.

Everyday -- the same, more or less…
Jagaa's wife, Monjago leads us through a typical workday in spring: cleaning out pens, marking sheep, separating them, keeping them organized, herding, milking cows.

Legs First: A difficult birth
Hoiga and Monjago guide a sheep as it struggles to give birth far from the ger.

Night Games
Hooting and hollering at night as everyone works – every night - to separate calves from their mothers and put them in the pens.

Passing Time
On a very windy afternoon, everyone is indoors, playing cards in the ger.

A Formidable Woman
Horse trainer, Munkh-TseTseg describes how she gets her fast horses ready for Naadam.

Money flying in the wind
Careful as you brush goats, every bit of cashmere that flies away is money – so says Tsolmon and the boys as they brush goats and sing.

Bataaha
An evening talking to Bataaha about spring and "malchin" herder life.

A 'Morin Huur' afternoon
Interviews with Jagaa & Monjago on how they met, how she's a "dragon" but he loves her anyway and the whole family singing the "12 Years" song.

Kids at Play
Saraa gets a new Barbie doll and the kids play the Chinggis Khaan song game in the ger.

Two Visitors
Shar Ho & Demee visit from Bayan Adraga village and share some traditional 'ortiin artiin' songs.

The Move
As summer approaches, Monjago and Jagaa move close to the river. Interviews with all of them, including the kids and sounds of the day-long moving process.

Soum Life: Bayan Adraga selects
Visits to a nursery school, the phone center, the herder kids dormitory, a store and Monjago's mother in the soum (village) of Bayan-Adraga.

Chingiss Who?
In Dadal village, the birthplace of Chingiss Khan, residents share what they know and what they don't about the legend, the man (and his height, weight and appearance).

Deluun Boldog
Bayraa, Tsolmon and Ulaanaa recall what they know about Chingiss Khaan's childhood as we sit overlooking the valley where he is meant to have been born and raised.

Nomadic Encounters - Project Presentation

2008-01-02T00:12:00.000-08:00

Click here for a Slide Show Presentation describing NOMADIC ENCOUNTERS.

You will be directed to a Picasa web album site. The slideshow should start immediately.

You can pause and control timings of the slideshow - click on + button to increase the timings of the slides so the slideshow proceeds slowly or click on the arrow buttons to go forward or backward.

If the slideshow doesn't start immediately, please click on 'Slideshow' on the right side of the Picasa screen.

Hentii: Audio Profile - Bataaha

2008-01-01T21:41:00.000-08:00

Bataaha Speaks (a work-in progress)

A short (5 min) audio profile of a herder, Bataaha sharing his thoughts on spring and herding.