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"I don’t understand the outside world. I know only eating, drinking, tending animals......."
The Badain Jaran desert is remote from the main Silk-road. There are no roads into the desert and the routes are bumpy. In the heart of the desert, there are only about 30 Mongolian families still living in a tradition. One lake, one family. They are separated by sand valleys. They rely on Bactrian camels and goats for meat and wool. Several years ago, people couldn’t go anywhere without Bactrian camels. Nowadays Motorcycle and four-wheel drive are gradually used, but not very often. Telegraph service arrived 20 years ago, daily life would likely be similar to the Mongolian herdsmen who dwelled here centuries ago. “I don’t understand the outside world. I know only eating, drinking, tending animals. This is what my parents did and their parents. ” An old woman who lives in the Badain Jaran desert said, “But the old life of herding is coming to an end. The youth, it appears, never return home after going off to school. The future is not among these unforgiving dunes and valley. But for me, I will live in this place until I die.”

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