After a seven-hour drive from Ulaanbaatar, we arrived in Arvaikheer, named after a famous race horse.
Before we left UB we picked up more camping gear and filled an extra-large shopping cart with food and supplies.
We hired two drivers, Gana and Bayaraa, who have worked together before on tourist expeditions. Gamba is a tall, quiet gentleman who drove the Moveable Museum last year and we re-hired him gladly. Yeweng was also on last year’s expedition helping a film crew, and came back to see Western Mongolia. He’s covering the expenses of one of our drivers while he’s with us. So the team is eight: Bolor, Teddy, Thea, Bindi, Gana, Bayaraa, Yeweng and Gamba. Two of us speak only Mongolian, three speak both Mongolian and English, three speak no Mongolian. Our mealtime conversation is pretty entertaining.
On Saturday, Bolor, Teddy and I met with Enkhbold Luvsan, Member of the State Great Hural (Parliament) from Omnogovi Province, where we’re headed later in the month. He’s very enthusiastic about the Gobi’s dinosaurs and spoke with Bolor at length about the museum we’re planning there. He’s eager to support our efforts, and we all left the meeting feeling positive.
Yesterday morning we printed workshop materials at the last minute, got cash (no ATMs in some of the paces we’re going), and around noon we grabbed some cheeseburgers for the road and headed west. City became suburb, and suburb gave way to rolling green hills speckled with horses, cows, sheep, goats, and the occasional round, white ger sprouting a plume of smoke from a center chimney.
We took a quick break in the afternoon to stretch our legs and catch up with some local camels.
The team member I’d like to introduce in this update is Theodora Yoshikami, who goes by Teddy. She met Bolor about sixteen years ago collaborating on an exhibit on Mongolia at the American Museum of Natural History. She joined Bolor in Mongolia for the first time 2 years ago as a workshop educator and helped lay the initial groundwork for the US nonprofit that we’re now creating. Teddy was born in a Japanese internment camp during World War 2, an experience that attracts her to projects benefitting underrepresented communities, including survivors of the Khmer Rouge and Japanese-born New Yorkers. She spent many years touring as a professional dancer and taiko drummer. She grew up in Seabrook, New Jersey, and now lives in New York.
Today we arrived in Bayankhongor and I can’t wait to tell you about it…in the next update!
–Thea
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Posted: September 5, 2016 by Bolortsetseg Minjin
2016 Campaign Update 4
After a seven-hour drive from Ulaanbaatar, we arrived in Arvaikheer, named after a famous race horse.
Before we left UB we picked up more camping gear and filled an extra-large shopping cart with food and supplies.
We hired two drivers, Gana and Bayaraa, who have worked together before on tourist expeditions. Gamba is a tall, quiet gentleman who drove the Moveable Museum last year and we re-hired him gladly. Yeweng was also on last year’s expedition helping a film crew, and came back to see Western Mongolia. He’s covering the expenses of one of our drivers while he’s with us. So the team is eight: Bolor, Teddy, Thea, Bindi, Gana, Bayaraa, Yeweng and Gamba. Two of us speak only Mongolian, three speak both Mongolian and English, three speak no Mongolian. Our mealtime conversation is pretty entertaining.
On Saturday, Bolor, Teddy and I met with Enkhbold Luvsan, Member of the State Great Hural (Parliament) from Omnogovi Province, where we’re headed later in the month. He’s very enthusiastic about the Gobi’s dinosaurs and spoke with Bolor at length about the museum we’re planning there. He’s eager to support our efforts, and we all left the meeting feeling positive.
Yesterday morning we printed workshop materials at the last minute, got cash (no ATMs in some of the paces we’re going), and around noon we grabbed some cheeseburgers for the road and headed west. City became suburb, and suburb gave way to rolling green hills speckled with horses, cows, sheep, goats, and the occasional round, white ger sprouting a plume of smoke from a center chimney.
We took a quick break in the afternoon to stretch our legs and catch up with some local camels.
The team member I’d like to introduce in this update is Theodora Yoshikami, who goes by Teddy. She met Bolor about sixteen years ago collaborating on an exhibit on Mongolia at the American Museum of Natural History. She joined Bolor in Mongolia for the first time 2 years ago as a workshop educator and helped lay the initial groundwork for the US nonprofit that we’re now creating. Teddy was born in a Japanese internment camp during World War 2, an experience that attracts her to projects benefitting underrepresented communities, including survivors of the Khmer Rouge and Japanese-born New Yorkers. She spent many years touring as a professional dancer and taiko drummer. She grew up in Seabrook, New Jersey, and now lives in New York.
Today we arrived in Bayankhongor and I can’t wait to tell you about it…in the next update!
–Thea
Category: Blog Posts