On duty or a look. The boy is looking after a milk container while adults milking mares for airag-the traditional fermented drink of Mongols. The kid looks a bit sad. Why!? The camp is now fairly "deserted" because his older brothers and sisters have gone to village-the school year has started everywhere in Mongolia! It's September. The brothers and sisters will probably come back on weekend. I guess they are already missing younger brother who looks missing them here. Photo by Bolod.

Is the father to cook now? No, he is just helping Mom to cook by starting the stove with wood. Mr. Adyakhuu has 5 sons, unfortunately, no a daughter yet, as his wife said. The boy in red is a son of his older sister who lives at the camp. One of 4-5 dogs of the family standing at the door of ger- a Mongolian felt tent , of course, knows  well of no-entry rule. Dogs are needed for protection of animals from volves during the nights. The family is planning to move tomorrow to a new camp which is fairly far from here. August 23rd, 2016. Photo taken by Bolod.

15.9.2016. Wolfram, a young traveller from Binzwangen, Germany is helping Mongolian nomads to prepare wood for stove. These 4 gers\tents\ belong to 2 families: a father and a son. 2 smaller tents are for kitchen. They have about 1000 sheeps and goats, 90 cows and 100 horses. They are now very busy by milking horses for airag, the traditional fermented drink and cows for dairy food\tea, curd, butter, cream...\. They milk mares every 2 hours. This morning they got 65 liters of milk from 23 cows including several yaks and half yaks. Photo taken by Bolod.

Teme or two-humped camels of Mongols used to be the principal animal on world famous Silk and Tea Roads. The Mongols say from a camelback the sun and sky seem to be nearer. 

Mr.Scott Lyons, an American man riding a bactrian camel in eastern Mongolia. A man and a girl from nomad family are accompanying the guest. 

The camels in the country are all of bactrian and  it means that they have two humps only. The Mongolia's camels that totalled 895000 in 1954, are  now only 370000 by end 2015, according to  by the census in the country. The most camels used to be found in southern parts of the country. There was a joke which is almost a truth now in Mongolia: The northern Selenge province has allegedly 7 camels only. Photo taken Bolod.

A view in the northern Mongolia. Season of numerous Naadam festivals and horseraces is over. Today is August 23rd, 2016. Nomads in the valley including our host family are about to move to their autumn camps. Our host family will move tomorrow. Two boys aged 14 and 12 are to drive the animals 25 km on foot in 2 days. Gers\tents\, furniture and fences will be transported by 2 pick-up trucks. Photo by Bolod.

A teenage boy from Inner Mongolia of  China is praying to Chingis Khaan's Monument in Ulaanbaatar. The Mongols of Mongolia proper massively pray to portrait of Tibetan Dalai in buddhist monasteries instead of praying to own great grand-father.  Unfortunately, Mongolia's Mongols only like to be taken photographed in front of the monument. You can see how local Mongols wildly and confortably spit in front of Chingis Khaan's Monument.

95% of Mongols in Inner Mongolia in China have Mongolian names while 40% of Mongols from Mongolia proper have Tibetan names. Photo taken by Bolod.

A girl, a shaman\in center\, a "translator" and a woman-client. Shamanism is now booming in Mongolia. Since 1990-s, the ancient shamanism is reviving surprisingly nationwide. Almost all counties in Mongolia now have local shamans. Unfortunately, many of them are believed to be "business- shamans". Before 1990-s, there were only 3 provinces in Mongolia with some shaman- believing population-Dornod\the Buryats\, Huvsgul\the Darkhads\ and Bayan-Ulgii\the Uryankhais\. In 1921-1990 the shamans had difficult time. For example, Tseren, a famous shaman from Dornod Province was 2 times imprisoned for shamanic activities.

Photo by Bolod. 

Samuel, an English boy, aged 8, from Essex, London is having a lunch in Mongolia's immensity. Photo by Bolod.

The girl looking after a milk container while her older brother is busy by helping mother to milk mares. Mares are being milked every 2 hours on daily basis for airag which is a favorite drink of Mongols since immemorable time. The Mongols are indeed semi-vegetarians while they consume airag. Of course, they also store the airag for winter and spring consumption. The milking season is traditionally from the early July tll late October. Photo by Bolod.

A nomad family that we-I and 2 Finish women visited on July 26th, 2016 has about 700 sheeps and goats, 100 horses, 50 cows and no camels. He has a Land Cruiser jeep, a pick-up track and 2 motorcycles. Today, the family would be considered almost a rich herder. 

A medium wealthy nomad in Mongolia today would have about 500 sheeps and goats, 30 horses and 20 cows. Photo by Bolod.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/24/world/asia/kabul-afghanistan-explosions-hazaras-protest.html?_r=

Hospitals treated the many people wounded on July 23rd, 2016 when suicide bombers struck a peaceful demonstration in Kabul staged by Hazaras. Since long time ago, the Hazaras have been discriminated in Afghanistan for both being of Mongol descent and of Shia faith.

KABUL, Afghanistan — The Islamic State claimed a bombing that left at least 80 people dead Saturday at a peaceful demonstration in the Afghan capital of Kabul, raising fears that the group may be extending its reach beyond the country’s eastern pockets, where it generally operates. The Afghan Interior Ministry, in a statement, said the attack on thousands of Hazaras, an ethnic minority group staging the protest, had been a suicide mission.

Photo by Adam Ferguson for the New York Times.

Sigurd Barrett from Denmark embracing Mongolian immensity. His family of 7 has visited Mongolia and stayed overnight with a herder's family. When I was travelling with him I did not know that he was a well-known pianist, composer, entertainer and writer in Denmark. Photo taken on July 18th, 2016 by Bolod. 

Dulguun, a 5 year-old Mongol boy riding a modon mori or "a wooden horse" at camp of his grand-parents. The boy is this fast because he is riding a "horse". His "horse" is a simple wood. The boy is holding a wip too. It's indeed a centuries-old entertainment of nomadic kids. Every Mongol kid including Temujin who would later became Chingis Khaan, was riding wooden horses. When I was a little boy like Dulguun, I also used to ride these "horses". Photo by Bolod.

Extra nutrition from the basket. Another horseracing season is nearing in Mongolia. Horserace is almost the greatest madness in Mongolia. Horses get injections too. Nomads train intensively their best horses nowdays as well as they feed them additionally.  Many men give additional nutrition to their race horses all the year around. Sometimes the Mongol men seem to be taking care of the horses much better than their children. Children ride horses during training and races. But the adults ride Chinese motorcycles more than  horses. Photo taken on June 29th, 2016 by Bolod.

Having about 260 sunny days a year, Mongolia is often referred as a country of Blue Sky. Photo taken on July 2nd, 2016 by Bolod