Um… this is a shot of a camel.
And a pool table.
In the desert.
It’s one of those very bizarre travel moments where there is no reason or explanation for what’s happening, just an opportunity to shoot a fantastic photograph. This particular bizarre scene was captured in Mongolia’s Gobi Desert by Bluepeak. If he knows what’s going on, however, he’s not sharing it with his Flickr readers.
Nonetheless, a cool shot and very worthy of our Photo of the Day honors.
Today has been an extremely long day of driving. I have no desire to see another car, steering wheel, vehicle, or anything to do with the road. I’m pooped. Only the call of duty keeps me up and that is bringing you today’s word and more! See how much I care?
Today’s word is a Mongolian word used in Mongolia:
gudamj – street
Mongolian is an Altaic language and spoken by over two million people throughout Mongolia (where it has official language status) and by up to three million people in northern China. Wikipedia doesn’t offer much for increasing your Mongolian vocabulary, but it has great background information. Learning Mongolian online will be tough without an understanding of their alphabet or script used. Omniglot is the perfect place to begin to start learning the alphabet. For quick reference use LP’s Mongolian Phrasebook on your trip.
Past Mongolian words: mori
Just in case you missed it, the show Going Tribal runs on Discovery and is worth checking out. It was originally produced by the BBC and thus has numerous British characters, but that shouldn’t keep you from watching it (jk!). The show follows former British Royal Marine Bruce Parry as he takes a month to immerse himself in the culture, language and rituals of a native community. There was a fair amount of hullaballo about how insensitive the idea is, but I have to say it all seems pretty much on the up and up. Various episodes have had Parry horseback with the Darhads in Mongolia, visit cannibals in West Paupa, practice donga with the Suri in Ethiopia, eat “rat cake” in the Himalayas and hunt in the rainforests of Gabon.
We posted a few weeks ago about the Mongol Rally, a charity event in which 157 crappy cars set off from London to try and reach Mongolia. Currently two cars have made it across the finish line; they’ve apparently missed the point of the race, however, which is to enjoy the travel, get lost a bit, perhaps break down, and eventually arrive in Mongolia in one piece.
The remaining cars are scattered across the continent. The race’s webpage has a series of maps showing locations of the various teams and text messages they’ve sent en route. Most messages are short but revealing, such as this one from Mongol Mocha:
“Camping in random russian field. what i learnt today- how to make a bbq out of a shopping basket.”
Check it out. It’s a great charity event and one that really gets that travel bug chirping.
Just a few days ago I featured a bit of Mongolia lingo for the first time and wouldn’t you know the ole’ NY Times posted a thing or two on Mongolia this weekend as well! If I didn’t know any better I’d say they were spying on me, but I doubt that. For starters I gave readers the opportunity to learn the word horse in Mongolian. This New York Times articles tells readers what it’s like to ride a horse in Mongolia. Not only that – Edward Wong does us the favor of describing what made Mongol horses much better for the calvary men during the times of legendary Genghis Khan. Basically, Mongolian horses are short and stubby. It’s an excellent read if you’ve ever contemplated going to Mongolia and a great time to act on those funny travel urges.
As previously mentioned; 2006 is the 800th anniversary of Genghis Khan, so saddle up and start exploring!