Meeting the Eagle

Posted on Sunday, 29 August 2010 by robjkentjr

27 May 2010 | Deluun Sum, (47.8677, 90.6981)
On our second day, after suffering a tea hangover from our welcome meals, we finally met the eagle.  Although she did not have a name, she was as much part of the family as any one of the kids (not even the dog slept inside!).
The hunter introduces us to the eagle, which sleeps in the bedroom with the family and was definitely not happy about us waking her up.
We all enjoy a together with the eagle.  From this, I learned that when an eagle begs for food, you give it what it wants.  Hanging on the wall, you can also see some of the 44 foxes she caught this last winter.
The eagle-hunter as he gazes lovingly into his pet’s eye.
These talons can do some serious damage if given a chance to clinch the flesh, which she tries on me in a bit.
I am desperate to make friends and cuddle with the but she wants nothing to do with me.
I finally get to hold her, and sure enough, she digs her talons into my arm.
The hunter is mounting up to bring his eagle for a horse ride.  She was about as excited as a dog when pulling out the leash for a walk.
It was amazing to see how the eagle is literally a cherished part of the family and earns her keep by hunting for precious meat during the winter.  Sadly, this ends our time in the area of Mongolia and now we start our two-week to the capital, Ulaanbaatar.

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Daily life with an Eagle-Hunter

Posted on Monday, 16 August 2010 by robjkentjr

25 May 2010 | Deluun Sum, (47.9828, 90.6611)
The reason we came to this remote corner of Mongolia was to visit the eagle-hunter.  But before playing with the giant we had to take care of some household chores and drink vast quantities of salty milk tea.
Arriving at the nomadic eagle-hunter’s home, we noticed the satellite dish and solar panel.  It powered his portable TV and mobile phone so I guess that is keeping with his namesake.
As honored guests, the mother fetched us some fresh milk.  She just mixes the goat, sheep and yak milk together for extra flavor.
We also needed some water so we drove down to the local creek and scooped some up, careful to keep the floating bits of sheep dung out of it.
Finally, we were ready to make some salty milk tea.  We each drank about eight glasses of the stuff that day.
Our guide had to make a phone call so we walked up to the top of the hill to get one bar of reception.
You might have noticed there are no trees around to use for firewood.  This is why there are piles of dried dung (behind the goats), which gives everything a nice smoky flavor.
As the Mongolians say, I am taking pleasure in the great outdoors toilet.  Cannot imagine doing this when it is -40°F out,
you might lose a vital appendage.
Spending a day helping out with chores has again reaffirmed our respect for these people who live through the harsh winters here (if you wanted to see for yourself, check out Kelin, a great movie depicting that has not changed for centuries).  Now that we have partaken in the ritual tea drinking, we are ready to meet the last feathered family member.

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Blocked in China!

Posted on Sunday, 18 July 2010 by robjkentjr

Hello Everyone,

I have to write and tell you this. Currently, I am in and have no access at all to any of my website social activities.

What does this mean? Well, so far I have discovered that Twitter, Facebook, FriendFeed, YouTube, and Plaxo are all blocked by China’s Great Firewall. On top of this, I cannot access any pages that say what exactly is blocked in China. But even worse, my website has been blocked by China!

I have no ftp access to upload photos so all of you are going to have to wait a month for the next blog post. Sorry.

Going for some duck!

and

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A glimpse of nomadic life: The ger

Posted on Sunday, 4 July 2010 by robjkentjr

25 May 2010: Altai Tavan Bogd National Park, (48.5583, 88.3998)
After the family left their winter camp, we drove ahead to where they would be setting up summer camp and waiting for them to arrive.  It actually took us longer to the 40 km (27 mi) there then it did for them to set up two gers but I think they were this quick because we were helping them.
It is always fun unpacking after a trip.  Here these nomads have to separate the possessions from three different families.
The first step in setting up a ger is to clean all the accumulated dust off the parts and then tie on your ceiling decorations.
After the ceiling decorations are in place, it is time to erect the wall and place your front door, which should always face towards the south.
After raising the center mount into place, each support rod needs to be inserted and tied off.  is a natural sailor when it comes to knots.
Once the supports are in place, it is time to put on the weatherproofing.  This is an under layer of plastic that keeps out.
Then there is the insulation.  In this case, it is a blanket of wool felt that makes these homes so comfortable in the cold.
Here is the final product; a postcard perfect homestead.
After a hard day’s work, we all relaxed inside with some and biscuits.
These last two days were an amazing experience for us; so much so that we would love the opportunity to one day bring our kids back to spend the summer here with this family.  Excited to move on though, we had to leave early the next morning to reach the eagle-hunter before dark.

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A glimpse of nomadic life: Packing

Posted on Wednesday, 30 June 2010 by robjkentjr

25 May 2010: Altai Tavan Bogd National Park, Mongolia (48.6670, 88.7242)
After driving on what seemed to be one of the worst, never-ending roads ever (averaging about 50km every 90 minutes), we finally arrived at our camp.  This turned out to be a serendipitous day because this family was in the process of packing up their home and the next morning would be moving from their winter camp to summer camp and we were invited to join them!
As we arrived in camp, this herder rode up on his majestic looking horse with its mane blowing in the wind.
As the full moon rose, I climbed the mountain to look down on this family’s winter camp home, nicely sheltered by the mountains.
After suffering enough in the cold, I retreated to the warm interior for dinner and some more salty milk tea.
The next morning, the family was awake at 4am to start packing their ger and belongs for the move to summer camp.
Even the family cat needed to be packed up, but it did not seem too happy about its treatment.
Getting to summer camp involved crossing a major .  It reminded me of playing Oregon in school; kind of scary if you think that your entire could be washed away in an instant.
Then they rode off into the sunset towards the lush valleys of grass recently uncover by the melting snow, satellite dish and all.
We followed along as they encountered each obstacle and got a real feel for what is involved to be a nomad (funny enough, comparing our lives to theirs, Rasa and I feel like modern day nomads).  The next task was to set up the new home, which Rasa and I happily helped with.
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