Kaitlyn Linnemoller

Visual Story Teller, Adventurer, Cultural Enthusiast

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Tag: Mong

June 15, 2018 Kaitlyn Linnemoller

The Significance of Embroidery in Hmong Culture

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I’m all about that minimalistic lifestyle. I have actively put in effort to own less “stuff” in life, but my idea of minimalism quickly got blown out of the water when I spent some time in Mongolian gers. These gers, which are no more than a single large circular room, are often home to several generations. It is not uncommon to have grandbabies, parents and grandparents all living in the same ger. So naturally, when you have so many bodies living in a such a small space, there’s a tendency to accumulate less junk. Everything has a purpose or two or three. I was especially impressed with the kitchen setup. Meals are heated over the wood stove that is always located in the very center of the room. There is also a little cooking station (as seen in the first photo) which is always on the right of the entrance when you're going in. #gerlife #mongolia #roadtothetsaatan #wildmongolia . . . . . . . #klinnemotravels #backpackerphotography #passionpassport #earthcapture #stayandwander #travelstoke #simplyadventure #whereeveryougo #adventuremongolia #badassmongolia #natgeoyourshot #exploretheplanet #roamtheplanet #earthfocus #@cangeo @cangeotravel
(Tsaatan 7) Now normally this would be the point where you call a tow truck or something to haul you out of the pit, but in Mongolia, this is not how things work. For one, I hadn’t had any reception on my phone for several days at this point, so calling for help was out of the question. Secondly, even if we could call somebody, there were no mechanics where we were, in the middle of nowhere. I had maybe seen only one or two other vehicles along the dirt road that day but I had faith in Mongolia. Angha, our driver, did the only logical thing there was to do at that moment: he started walking in a direction. The further Angha got, the smaller he became, until he was only a small black prick on a distant hill, and then he was gone. I anticipated a long wait and I was not let down. After a couple of hours, Angha reappeared on the distant horizon, but this time in the form of a car. Chance was on our side it turns out! The closest nomad family was out doing some field work in their old truck and offered their assistance. I was later told that it is highly looked down on to refuse to help a fellow driver, especially in winter when it is below 40 degrees Celsius and a breakdown becomes a dance with life and death. I assume that many people had been in a similar situation at some point and had they themselves been helped. Unfortunately, our rescue truck wasn’t enough to pull our “bread van” out of the pit. In the end, it several tree levers, 2 vehicles (another one eventually popped over the horizon), approximately 8 people, a whole lot of muscle power and some very muddy faces to get the sucker out, but we made it. And like nothing happened, we continued on our way… only a bit of lost time. #mongolia #roadtothetsaatan #wildmongolia . . . . . . . #klinnemotravels #backpackerphotography #passionpassport #earthcapture #stayandwander #travelstoke #simplyadventure #whereeveryougo #adventuremongolia #badassmongolia #natgeoyourshot #exploretheplanet #roamtheplanet #earthfocus #@cangeo @cangeotravel
(Tsaatan 6) At this point, our jeep had crossed and driven through some pretty aggressive currents, and while I was admittedly impressed with what this majestic beast of a jeep was capable of driving through, I was doubtful of its capabilities when we came across this stream. Obviously there was no bridge because... well... it’s Mongolia, and most of the time you just need to make it work, which turns out is somewhat of an art. However this did not alleviate the tendency for things to break down and go wrong. The jimmy rigs that I had witnessed at this point were fantastical in a way and required great imagination. Our driver, Angha, was a Picasso of jimmy rigs, so when he approached the river and seemed hesitant, I grew apprehensive. But what other choice did we have? None. Before attempting the cross, the wondrous Angha took a walk along the stream to suss out the best spot to make our move. The decision was made when he found an area where the water was only up to almost his waist. So back in to the jeep we all got. In the lowest possible gear, Angha approached the stream and when the wheels made a 45 degree drop into the muddy water, Angha floored it. vrrrrrooooommmm vrrrrrooommmm VVVVRRROOOMMMMMMMMMM screetched the engine. It seemed that we were in a bit of a pickle. We were so totally stuck. #mongolia #roadtothetsaatan #wildmongolia . . . . . . . #klinnemotravels #backpackerphotography #passionpassport #earthcapture #stayandwander #travelstoke #simplyadventure #whereeveryougo #adventuremongolia #badassmongolia #natgeoyourshot #exploretheplanet #roamtheplanet #earthfocus @cangeo @cangeotravel
(Tsaatan 5) Hours and hours and hours passed as we were tossed, bumped, jolted and thrown around likes pieces of popcorn in the back of the old Russian jeep. It turns out that having even roads is not what Mongolia is known for. I don’t know whether it was the fumes of the black exhaust that were constantly being emitted into the inside of the jeep or the inability to walk or stretch my legs for hours on end, but the 20 somewhat hour jeep ride is a bit of a daze. Following every hill that the jeep putt itself up was another endless valley that took hours to cross before putting up the next hill and traveling across the next valley for another few hours and up another hill and across another valley... The days felt like a bit of a time circuit, like somebody had pushed a replay button and I was reliving the same valley and hill that I had already lived over and over. As much as it was mind numbing, it was also hypnotic, and eventually I found that my body relaxed. My neck gave up on trying to stay straight and gave in to the rattling. I could have given a bobblehead a run for its money as I became an absent-minded fly on the wall, an observer of the endless horizon of the Taiga. #mongolia #roadtothetsaatan #wildmongolia . . . . . . . #klinnemotravels #backpackerphotography #passionpassport #earthcapture #stayandwander #travelstoke #simplyadventure #whereeveryougo #adventuremongolia #badassmongolia #natgeoyourshot #exploretheplanet #roamtheplanet #earthfocus #@cangeo @cangeotravel
#Mongolia #klinnemotravels #earthcapture #whereeveryougo
(Tsaatan 4) Mongolian nomad kids are tough. They know how to handles themselves. I’ll never forget the time that I saw an 8-10 year old hop onto the back of a wild horse to tame it. I had heard in the Tsaatan camp I was staying at that they were bringing in one of their wild horses to tame, so obviously I was pretty interested in seeing this go down. I come outside of my teepee to find a few kids sussing out this so named horse as it nervously fidgeted under the unfamiliar harness, with no adult in sight. Less than a few minutes pass before one of the boys grabs hold of the horse’s mane and swings his leg over. Immediately the horse gets itself into a frenzy, kicking and bucking in effort to rid itself of the little human on its back. I look around for some parents to put an end to this folly, until I realize that this is how it’s done. As the horse reared and jumped, the kid on its back laughed his little heart out, as his friends tossed their caps at the horse’s rear to get it even more worked up. This is nothing out of the ordinary in Mongolia. I was constantly impressed with the badassery of Mongolian nomadic kids. #mongolia #badassmongolia #adventuremongolia . . . . . . . #klinnemotravels #backpackerphotography #passionpassport #earthcapture #stayandwander #travelstoke #simplyadventure #whereeveryougo @cangeo @cangeotravel
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