Nomads Going Green...and other Observations

Another sampling of Random Observations

1. Nomads are smart.  Really smart.  They have survived for centuries on the steppe plains of Mongolia by digging, scratching and clawing out a living off of the land.  They've herded their horses, sheep, goats, cattle and, yes, dogs all across these plains and survived.  Some things took me by surprise.  Many of the nomads now use motorcycles to tend to their herds and to run errands to the store for supplies.  I saw herdsmen on motorbikes, monks on motorbikes, mom and dad on motorbikes, and children on motorbikes.  Harley-Davidson would do well here!

 

Yes, he's a blur because he was haulin' ass!

 

2. Nomads are going green!  I saw several gers with solar panels and solar arrays as well as wind   turbines to generate electricity.  Many of them had satellite dishes.  They are connected to the world and generating their own energy to boot!

 

 

Horse - Check

Wind turbine - Check

Solar panel - Check

Satellite dish - Check

Motorcycle - Off to the store!

 

3. Loo, loo, skip to the loo!  Well, that's not exactly how the song goes, but you'll understand what I mean shortly.  First night in the ger camp was primitive. PRIMITIVE. The tent was fine.  The bed was fine.  However, we didn't have showers or bathrooms.  We arrived late in the evening - it was pitch black dark.  When I got settled in, I discovered that there was indeed a bathroom.  In Kentucky, we describe it as "the little path out back" meaning we had a two-hole outhouse.  I haven't been to the outhouse since I was a kid growing up on the farm.  Let's just say it was a trip down memory lane without a Sears & Roebuck catalog.  Wish I had a picture of that little green shack out back.  That's all I have to say about that.

 

4. Mobicom Lotto Winner! Mobicom is my telecommunications provider.  I bought a Mobicom SIM card for my spare cell phone so that I could call in-country at something less than the $20.00 per minute that AT&T charges.  Mobicom is a gigantic company in Mongolia.  Each month they sponsor a lottery drawing for prizes.  Once a year, they have the BIG drawing which includes a free car and a free apartment in Ulaanbaatar.  I snapped a picture of the Mobicom Lottery winner and family on the road from Kharkhorum.

 

 

Somebody's gonna win.  Might as well be them!