Travelling by Mongolian Horse
Jan. 12th, 2009 08:15 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
nonionayI've been reading "Travelling by Mongolian Horse" by Bekhjargal Bayarsaikhan. (An actual Mongolian!!)
I want to own this book so bad. Amazon, of course, doesn't have it, but Abebooks does, for 65$.
When I actually looked for books on Mongolia at the university's library, most of what I found were either histories or written in Russian, Chinese or Mongolian. It wasn't until I looked for books on horsemanship that I found this, packed full of cultural info without all the number-packed dryness of an anthropological study.
It's filled with rough drawings and usually-bizarre cartoons. One is a line drawing of three tourists and a Mongolian in the summer. Number one is someone from a hot climate, like Malaysia. He's got on a big hat with earflaps and a heavy shirt. There's someone from a warm climate, like Mayami, dressed in long sleeves. Someone from a cool climate, like Europe, has on shorts and a t-shirt. And then there's the Mongolian, in a wife-beater and big Mongolian boots.
The translation is highly erratic, often varying spelling in the same sentence, ("raicing and racing") "The mare will soon give a burth." "the stones jumped from the horses hoofs fly like wipons,the land in front becomes unvisible, and the dust reaches the sky!" But though occasionally rambling, it's still understandable.
It also shows how to play Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star, on the morin khuur (horse-headed fiddle). And, it has the lyrics for one of their songs:
"I love horse" [word in Cyrillic] I e e e e e eyy yy yy yy a aaa aaa aa aa aa aa aa lo oo oo oo oo oo oo oo oo oo oo oo ve ee ee ee ee ee ee ee ee ee eee ho oo oo oo oo oo oo oo rrrr rr rr rr rr rr se ee ee ee ee ee ee ee aa aa aa aa uu uu uu uu uu uu yy yy yy yy yy yy"
Keffy sang it for us, in probably a very realistic fashion. (semi-tangent: A Tuvan throat-singing group is coming to the Mount Baker Theatre. I think I might splurge and go. OMG OMG.)
The author is clearly an imaginative, funny guy, and I'm in love with his weird, weird, incredibly informative book.
I want to own this book so bad. Amazon, of course, doesn't have it, but Abebooks does, for 65$.
When I actually looked for books on Mongolia at the university's library, most of what I found were either histories or written in Russian, Chinese or Mongolian. It wasn't until I looked for books on horsemanship that I found this, packed full of cultural info without all the number-packed dryness of an anthropological study.
It's filled with rough drawings and usually-bizarre cartoons. One is a line drawing of three tourists and a Mongolian in the summer. Number one is someone from a hot climate, like Malaysia. He's got on a big hat with earflaps and a heavy shirt. There's someone from a warm climate, like Mayami, dressed in long sleeves. Someone from a cool climate, like Europe, has on shorts and a t-shirt. And then there's the Mongolian, in a wife-beater and big Mongolian boots.
The translation is highly erratic, often varying spelling in the same sentence, ("raicing and racing") "The mare will soon give a burth." "the stones jumped from the horses hoofs fly like wipons,the land in front becomes unvisible, and the dust reaches the sky!" But though occasionally rambling, it's still understandable.
It also shows how to play Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star, on the morin khuur (horse-headed fiddle). And, it has the lyrics for one of their songs:
"I love horse" [word in Cyrillic] I e e e e e eyy yy yy yy a aaa aaa aa aa aa aa aa lo oo oo oo oo oo oo oo oo oo oo oo ve ee ee ee ee ee ee ee ee ee eee ho oo oo oo oo oo oo oo rrrr rr rr rr rr rr se ee ee ee ee ee ee ee aa aa aa aa uu uu uu uu uu uu yy yy yy yy yy yy"
Keffy sang it for us, in probably a very realistic fashion. (semi-tangent: A Tuvan throat-singing group is coming to the Mount Baker Theatre. I think I might splurge and go. OMG OMG.)
The author is clearly an imaginative, funny guy, and I'm in love with his weird, weird, incredibly informative book.
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no subject
Date: 2009-01-13 06:08 am (UTC)Reeeally? :D
no subject
Date: 2009-01-13 06:13 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-13 05:28 pm (UTC)Fantasy world-building research is FUN.
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Date: 2009-01-16 06:04 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-16 07:36 pm (UTC)It's about the Eveny ethnic group, their ancient traditions and how those traditions adapted or failed to adapt to communism and then perestroika and communist collapse, and it's really fascinating (and an easy, engaging read). The author is a British anthropologist.
I'm hoping to find some sources for pre-communist anthro with more concrete details on clothing, housing, and reindeer training (yay world building!), but I'm really enthralled by this book. I have a hold on "A Year in Lapland" as well - we'll see how that is.