You all are! Once in Mongolia, I will be completing this project entirely on my own (with the help of locals) but until I step off that plane, anyone who reads or contributes to this …
Read the full story »Tents, saddles, parkas, and the kitchen sink. Discussions of expeditionary equipment.
Everything from plane tickets to fundraising to mapping routes across a land without maps.
Everything about Mongolia you ever wanted to know, and some things you didn’t.
Other equine explorers, daring documentarians, and adventurers in Asia.
Learning Mongolian and getting fit are just a few of the preparations I need to make.
This is one of the aspects I hope to get some input on, but for right now, I plan on attempting to accomplish as much of the trip as possible via horseback. There are several reasons for this, but my two biggest concerns with transportation are reliability/continuity and approachability.
Horses are more reliable:
A breakdown of a car or motorcycle could leave me stranded for weeks while I await the proper replacement parts, but injury of a horse can be remedied fairly easily via purchase of a new horse. Also, with some injuries, a day or two of rest and recovery at a nomad’s ger would solve the problem. With a vehicle, no amount of “resting” will make it repair itself.
Nomads understand and respect travelers on horseback:
As for approachability, I want to make sure that the people I come across in the course of my expedition view me as an outsider as little as possible. By approaching them on horseback, I am, in effect, approaching them on a level that they can understand, and thus they will (hopefully) be more likely to open up to me than if I arrived in a jeep like some rich kid. Nomads have a deep understanding and respect for horseback travelers and will thus be more likely to have a respect for me and see me as similar to them. This should, in theory, help them open up to me and the camera.
[Photo by Karina Moreton]
Mongolia is a country with very few paved roads, as well as very few official roads in general. While this is not a problem for me due to the fact that I will be traveling …
Mongolian herding techniques are considerably different from those of the cowboys of North America. Long sticks looped with rope are used instead of lassos, and once the livestock is separated from the herd, the herdsmen …
When I decided to do this project on horseback, I decided that I should probably learn a bit about the horses that I will be dealing with in Mongolia. Though the exact origins of the …
I have a Mongolian pen pal who is, conveniently, a guide during the summer months. I have been corresponding with him through traditional pen-and-paper mail for a few months now, and though the mail between …
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There are actually two things I wish to accomplish with TME. One, as I mentioned, is to raise awareness of the issues facing Mongolia today and through that, to help out some of the charities …
Buying travel insurance for a cruise or a week-long jaunt to France is pretty easy. Just hit up WorldNomads or any of the other great a travel insurers that are out there, and …
When I first started planning TME back in January, my plan was to do this whole trip solo. As I began to think more and more about the logistics, I realized that I …
A question from the Frequently Asked Questions page asks: “What do you hope to accomplish?”
Here is my answer:
Mongolia is a country rich in culture and tradition, but it is sadly often overlooked and under-appreciated. …
Organizing the funding for The Mongolian Experiment is one of the most important and most complicated aspects of the project. It is going to be an expensive project, but not as expensive as one might …
Seeing as how Mongolia is more often cited as a barren wasteland at the edge of reality that one threatens to send unruly children to than as a country with a long and storied history, …
Today marks the launch of the most ambitious project I’ve ever worked on, The Mongolian Experiment. What is The Mongolian Experiment, you ask?
In short, The Mongolian Experiment (TME) is an experiment in crowdsourcing …
When I decided to do this project on horseback, I decided that I should probably learn a bit about the horses that I will be dealing with in Mongolia. Though the exact origins of the …
Mongolia is a country with very few paved roads, as well as very few official roads in general. While this is not a problem for me due to the fact that I will be traveling …
Mongolia is a country with very few paved roads, as well as very few official roads in general. While this is not a problem for me due to the fact that I will be traveling …
I am incredibly lucky that Arlington, VA has the second highest population of Mongolians in the country (after San Francisco), and they are primarily located in our general vicinity. There are so …
