Equipment

Mongolia Monday-Gearing Up For Mongolia 2013

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me ggFor the last few years I’ve done a post shortly before I leave about the new equipment and other items that I have purchased for the upcoming trip. Looking back on my previous posts, which you can see here, here and here, a lot of those things are still in use. I also did an overview of what stuff I take and why in 2010 and am interested to see what has changed and what has not. Mainly, I replaced my faithful, but heavy, MacBook Pro with a new MacBook Air. It’s what I use for primary image storage with an external hard drive for backup.

NEMO Nocturne 30 down sleeping bag
NEMO Nocturne 30 down sleeping bag

There’s really not much new for this year. The big purchase was a new sleeping bag. My five year old LL Bean Katadin rectangular bag had developed cold spots last year and holding it up to the light revealed that there was almost no down in some of the compartments. No wonder. But it did serve me well and can still work as a comforter for car camping.

I searched the internet and finally decided on a bag called the Nocturne 30 with a new design from a newish company, Nemo. REI had it and I found that it is one of Outside magazine’s top bags for 2013. And also a Backpacker magazine Editor’s Choice. I’m a side sleeper and hate mummy bags. Apparently I’m not alone. The “spoon” shape feels like it will work well. I can roll over and curl up just like in the old bag. I really liked the feel of the lining. It stuffs down nice and small. So now it will get tested in Mongolia, from the Altai Mountains to the Gobi.

MoKo Slim-fit iPad case
MoKo Slim-fit iPad case

I had to get a new iPad case to replace a now-defunct one that I really liked. After extensive research bordering on analysis paralysis, I picked a red MoKo Slim-fit iPad case based on function, price and the reviews on Amazon. So far I’m quite happy with it. The fit, even with just the stiff tabs to hold the iPad in it, is secure. The cover folds all the way back flat. The grip strap is handy. The bottom comes loose easily for propping it up. The channels are deep and solid enough that the iPad doesn’t slip around.

Trans-Port case
Trans-Port shipping case

Finally, I needed a case for transporting artwork on the plane and I’ll have more to say about that soon. After a LOT of searching I found the Trans-Port Shipping Case from Archival Methods. It looks like it will do what I want, which is to check it as one piece of luggage which will be within the size and weight limits. It’s foam-lined polyethylene plastic and is much, much less bulky than the alternative, an Airfloat Strongbox crate. Checking or shipping artwork is a risk no matter what, but taking it with me is better than trying to ship it. There are still serious reliability problems with shipping to Mongolia, sad to say.

As a final note on one item from the overview post, I was not able to unlock my iPhone in Ulaanbaatar and have continued to use my old Razr. But the other day I asked on the Facebook Mongolia Expat Group page if anyone knew how to get a phone unlocked. In less than an hour I had a message from an expat offering to help and giving me the link to a website where one can do it for $1.99. I went through the process with my husband as back-up since he is far more savvy about this stuff than I am and we think we’ve done it. The unlock was successful, but I won’t know for sure until I get to Ulaanbaatar and stick a non-AT&T sim card in it. But I am cautiously optimistic that I will have finally joined the smartphone age when I’m in Mongolia.

New Equipment For The 2012 Mongolia Trip

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Panasonic HDC-HS80 video camera

It’s time to cover the new stuff I’m taking with me to Mongolia this year, some of it pretty significant. As in years past, I’ll report back once I’m back home. Onward!

Panasonic HDC-HS 80 video recorder- I finally decided to get my feet wet with video a couple of years ago and bought a FlipHD. I found that I liked having the option, but it’s now defunct and the image quality wasn’t all that good. However, I did get footage of takhi at a waterhole at Hustai that sold me on video. My problem is that I already carry two camera bodies and the video cameras that looked like good enough quality to bother with were 1) over $600 and 2) at least the size of my Nikon D80 bodies, so that was a non-starter. But then I found these smaller HD units. I went with this little Panasonic (4 1/4″ x 2 3/8″) from B&H Photo and Video because it got really good reviews, I can carry it in my pocket and it only cost $299 (price seems to have gone up). It seamlessly downloads into iMovie, too. The zoom isn’t very good at the maxiumum, but short of that, image quality is very good. So now we’ll see how it does in the field conditions of Mongolia…

Moleskin sketchbook journals

Moleskin Sketchbook Journals– This will be the third year I’ve used them and I’m sold on them for their sturdiness and the quality of the paper that will take ink, colored pencil and watercolor equally well. The pocket in the back cover is really handy for those scraps of paper that seem to accumulate on a long trip. I’m taking three this time because I plan to do at least one drawing a day if I possibly can. They will also constitute the official journals of the WildArt Mongolia Expedition in September and I don’t want to run out of pages for what I think will be one of those trips of a lifetime.

iPhone 3G

iPhone 3G- Apple’s phones are “locked” which means you can’t swap the sim cards if you are in another country or, well, you’re not supposed to. I’ll have my 4GS for everything but phone calls. For the past three trips I took my old Motorola Razr, getting sim card for it and using it for my mobile phone in Mongolia. It was the latest thing when I got it, but now it drives me nuts. Lots of Mongols text and texting on the Razr was a colossal pain. So now I will take my old iPhone, have it unlocked, pop in a new sim card and finally have a smartphone for when I’m over there.

GearTie rubber twist ties

GearTie reuseable rubber twist ties– bought these on a whim at REI. Two for $6.75. The only thing I have in mind at the moment is to use one of them for my rolled up Thermarest pad and when I tried it I found that it’s great for that. My suspicion is that these will be more useful than the cloth straps with quick release clasps because they are flexible, but not soft. I’ll try suspending one between a couple of ger roof poles to see if it’s useful for drying something like a pair of socks or forming a hanging hook.

Smartwool socks

Smartwool socks–I’ve been using Thorlos for years for my go-to hiking socks. They’ve gotten pretty expensive and REI had these on sale for $9.48 a pair, so I bought four pairs. Wool has been rediscovered in the outdoor activity world for its sustainability, warmth and comfort. And these are certainly comfy.

Nikon Nikkor AF-S VR 28-300 mm lens

Nikon Nikkor AF-S VR 28-300 lens– It was nip and tuck whether or not I’d get this in time. For a couple of months there were none to be had in the country, probably due to the great reviews it’s gotten. But B&H came through and I’ve had it long enough to see what it can do. Wow. This is a major upgrade from the Promaster that I let my local camera guy talk me into, which was a big mistake and a story for another day. Before that I’d had a Tamron, which is really the only other option. But you can’t beat Nikon optics. This lens is bigger and heavier than either of the others, but it has Vibration Reduction and the motor is essentially silent. It focuses fast and accurately. So now both D80 bodies have Nikon lenses (an 80-400mm on the other) and life is good.

GoToobs and GoTubbs

GoToobs and GoTubbs- another REI find from a company called humangear. Ok, I’m an artist and am attracted by color and bright shiny objects. But these looked really practical for my needs. The tubes carry 3 oz. and have a nifty ring around the neck with a variety of contents listed that one can choose by moving a outer ring. I’ve chosen “shampoo” and “conditioner”. There’s even a blank one. So no more labels coming off or fading out. The “tubs” are a new solution. Instead of twist tops, the lid comes all the way down the sides. You pinch it on either side to release it. The idea is that you can open them one-handed, which might be handy at night. Both are food safe and recyclable (No. 5).

Petzl Tikka 2 headlamp

Petzl Tikka 2 headlamp– there wasn’t actually anything broken with the last one, except that it was a pain to get open when I wanted to open it and had a talent for falling open and dumping one or more batteries at really inconvenient times, like in a tent at night on the slopes of Bogd Khan. That one really did it, because I had to use the light from my iPhone to find the batteries and get them back where they belonged in the right orientation. Once again at REI, I searched the headlamp rack for something under $50 that didn’t have the same stupid closure method. And would you believe that not a one of them did, of what they had in stock, except this one, which has a simple sensible plastic tab that snaps open and closed. What is so hard about that?

Close up of interior showing opening and closing tab

And finally, the piece de resistance, in a way….

Ipad with Retina display

New iPad with Retina display– my first gen iPad has more than proved its worth in a variety of ways. We decided that my husband would “adopt” that one and we would get me the new one, which has the stunning new display and enough more power that it will run apps like iMovie. It’s much faster for web browsing, too. I’m waiting for the case and shield to arrive and will do a short post about them before I leave.

So, there you have it, this year’s gear. If you like to see the previous posts, they are in reverse chronological order here, here, here, here, here, here and here. I’m still using the jacket, down bag, messenger bag and some other items that have stood the test of the Mongolian countryside, including the Gobi.

The iPad As A Digital Sketchbook….A Big WIN! But Not Epic. Yet.

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I’ve had my iPad for about three weeks and am already wondering how I got along without it.

It’s easy for me to read on it and I’ve downloaded my first book, Isaac Asimov’s Memoirs, if you must know.

I’ve played to the end of Graffiti Ball. I’ve got Solitaire, Cro-Mag Race and Paper Toss. David and I have found that we like playing Scrabble with it.

I’ve downloaded the iPad version of the Monglian language app that I have on the iPhone and also found a English-Mongolian dictionary.

Google Earth looks really good.

I plan to use Keynote for a virtual portfolio of my work and a presentation about the women’s crafts collective that I work with in Mongolia.

The battery life is terrific. The glossy screen is lovely. The keyboard, well, it’s functional, but will take some getting used to. I wouldn’t write the Great American Novel with it, but would certainly do short blog posts or longish emails.

But, I wondered, having bought Autodesk’s Sketchbook for the iPhone, could I use the iPad as a real, functional, I just need to get some work done, sketchbook? I bought Sketchbook Pro first thing. With some caveats, which I will cover at the end, the answer is a resounding “YES!!!” I had to force myself to stop drawing and get this post done.

The iPad should be viewed as simply another way to create images. A different media, if you will. And one that takes the same kind of futzing around, experimenting and practice that would be required to get the hang of any new way of working. Except that it’s a whole bunch of ways in one app that can be endlessly combined.

I’ve barely scratched the surface as this point, but thought that I would share some of what I’ve drawn and “painted” over the last week or so.

I first had to decide what tool to draw with and what color. I decided to see if I could replicate David Rankin’s fast sketching technique because, if I could, then the iPad would be all I would need for field sketching at zoos and such. Here’s some experiments, the ones I considered reasonably successful. The others have gone to the big wastebasket in teh interwebs.

Gobi Monastery gate, from July 2010 trip to Mongolia; this was the first keeper
Herder's dog; started to see how to add color

These next ones are all done really fast. Maybe a minute or so.

Bactrian camel; trying different tool and value
Another experiment
I like this one. Used a chisel point for thick and thin lines.
My thought here was to see if I could do a prelimary quick sketch for a painting. Two guys riding a yak.

Then we went to the Humboldt Bay National Wildlife Refuge and I took the iPad with me. I realized that I didn’t know it well enough to do much, but I did do this one sketch that turned out ok. It’s from up on Table Bluff looking east across the bay.

First location sketch

When we got home I decided to try something finished in full color from a photo I’d taken that day. I beat this thing to death adding layer after layer and, you know what, it didn’t matter. I could just keep going as long as I wanted to.

Trees at the refuge

So I had a scribbling good time on that one. But how about a “real” drawing of an animal. A couple of false starts, I did the lemur and realized that this app was for real. It probably took me somewhat over an hour because of picking my way through all the choices of tool and colors.  At this point, I also started to really use the “Radius” setting, which is the diameter of the tool and “Opacity” which is how solid the color is. And that function is what really makes this go for me more than anything else, I think.

Lemur, Bronx Zoo

I started an argali drawing, got it almost done, leaned forward, accidentally pushed the button at the bottom of the iPad, which closed the app, unfortunately having not saved about an hour’s worth of work. All gone. Oops. Lesson learned. But here’s the starting drawing, which is pretty much the same as what I do with a brush or pencil.

Start of argali drawing; and the end, as it turned out.

This morning I did the following drawing of a yak, wanting to have something more finished to go with the lemur. I did my saves this time, so I can show you the whole sequence from start to finish. It took about an hour and a half. I used the same procedure as usual.

Drawing
Shapes of shadows
Laying in the darkest darks
Putting in a layer of color all over
The process of refining shape, values, drawing begins
More layers of color
Thought I was done and, anyway, it was lunchtime.
But came back and realized that the highlights on the hide were too bright.

I could keep going on this guy, smoothing the transitions between areas and doing more with the ground, but I’ve gotten all I need from this one, so time to move on. It was fun though, especially adding the squiggles on the head.

Now, the caveats:

The first eight drawings, up to the lemur, were done with my finger. I was surprised at what a decent result I got, but I needed something with finer control and which was a wee bit thinner because said finger blocked my view of what I was working on.  We went by the local Apple affiliate store and I bought a Ten One Design Pogo Sketch because….it was the only stylus they had. As it turned out, it works pretty well. But I would still like something with a smaller tip. There doesn’t seem to be anything out there at the moment. The stylus tips have to be a special kind of foam that will conduct electricity, which is how the touch screens work. There is some DIY info. on the web that shows you how to make your own and I’m thinking I might try that.

Moving the foam tip around on the screen doesn’t have a great tactile quality. It’s kind of smooshy and draggy. And I wonder how long the foam will hold up with the kind of use I intend to give it. I still need to put a removable clear film on the screen, so maybe I can find something that is slicker. Someone needs to make a special clear film for artists that has the right amount of friction.

Overall the functionality of Sketchbook Pro is really good and pretty intuitive. I’ve read the documentation and don’t recall seeing any of these addressed: I would like to have a side bar, like in Photoshop, that let’s me keep the tools and color selector in view. Having to toggle back and forth can get a little old. But it does give one the maximum real estate for drawing. I’d like an auto-save option (imagine that) that can be set to a choice of intervals. I want an eraser. Right now, I have to change colors and select white to erase.

I’d like to be able to directly import all or a selection of drawings into Aperture without having to export them to Photos on the iPad first. But the whole process was easy and worked well, except for the part where every image was re-named “Susan on the camel.jpg” (a previous project) when I exported them to my blog folder instead of the names I took the time to give each drawing in Sketchbook. Aperture also insisted on creating a new Project for the images instead of letting me import them into the album I had created for them. The two apps need to learn to communicate better.

I’d like the images to be in a format other than jpg so that I can process them in Photoshop if I want to without losing image quality.

I would like to be able to access the user manual in one click.

In conclusion:

The combination of the iPad and Sketchbook Pro is very close to being a serious product for serious working fine artists. I absolutely recommend it.

Mongolia Monday- 2010 Trip Gear Wrap-up And A Few Favorite Images From The Trip

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Honored elder at Naadam opening ceremony, Ulaanbaatar

Before I left on my July/August trip to Mongolia, I bought some new stuff and posted about it here and here. It included a new camera pack, jacket, hard drive for image back-up and memory cards. I also bought a couple of pairs of L.L. Bean tropic weight pants.

The KATA digital rucksack was a WIN. My camera equipment was well-protected and easy to access. The straps had a good ergonomic design that made the pack very easy to wear while hiking.

My new REI Windbreak Thermal jacket was also a WIN. It was all I needed for summer travel in Mongolia and it really did stop the wind and resist light rain.

Sunrise, Ikh Nartiin Chuluu Nature Reserve

The Toshiba 500GB hard drive, which I used to back up images that I had downloaded to my MacBook Pro did the job. I liked not having another battery to keep charged, as was true with the Wolverine drive it replaced. Another WIN.

The Sandisk Extreme 8GB cards were indispensible. I was filling one in a little more than a day at times. I’ll keep the 4GB ones for back-up for now, but will probably get two more 8GB cards for the trip to Kenya/India in January. Definite WIN.

Horses near Hustai National Park

The only FAIL were the L.L.Bean “tropic weight” cargo pants. I have no idea what they were thinking when they named these. I wasn’t in the tropics, but the weather was often humid, sometimes VERY humid. The pant fabric didn’t breathe at all. If anything, they acted like a moisture trap when my legs started to sweat. Very uncomfortable. Needless to say, they aren’t going to India with me, but they’re fine for wearing here in Humboldt County.

Personal and Professional Essentials For Traveling In Mongolia

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But first, to help everyone get in the mood for Naadam, which begins a week from tomorrow, here’s a terrific music video from Nomin Talst called “Minii Mongol Naadam” or “My Mongol Naadam”. This is a great example of why I love Mongolia:


On Monday, I’ll do my last post before I leave. It will include one video for each of the Three Manly Sports that are held during Naadam: Horse racing, wrestling and archery.

I leave next Wednesday, so the organizing and packing has begun. Over on Facebook, a friend asked what I consider essential, both personally and professionally. FWIW, here it is:

Personal Essentials:
I don’t go there anymore without a Thermarest pad, even for hotel stays. The beds, everywhere, are HARD, seriously hard. My hips don’t do “hard” anymore. I also take my 20F rated down sleeping bag. It’s a rectangle, not a mummy bag, so I can use it as a comforter on a ger bed if it gets nippy.

Drugs for all the basics: cold, flu, sinus plus bandaids, antibiotic cream, sunscreen, Cipro, etc. and medical emergency air evacuation insurance, which I get from my tour company. There’s essentially no western standard medical care in the capital, Ulaanbaatar, except for an SOS International Clinic and something called the Russian Hospital. In the countryside, well, I don’t know much about traditional Mongolian medicine yet.

For anything serious, like a sprained ankle (yes, that can be serious) or a dog bite, you’ve gotta get to Hong Kong, Beijing, Bangkok, Seoul, you get the idea. And that can run, so I’ve heard, around $10,000 to get flown out, so $40 a month for the insurance is a pretty reasonable deal, I think.

My one major preference that I indulge is the ability to have a cup of coffee when I get up in the morning. This has proved iffy at times at the ger camps when I’ve gotten up early and haven’t been able to score a thermos of hot water the night before. I now take an Esbit stove, which is basically a small metal stand that one can put a small stainless steel camping pot on and that uses solid fuel cubes, which travel in my checked luggage. Heats enough water for two large cups of coffee in about 8 minutes. I buy packets of three-in-one coffee and milk tea at a grocery store in UB before I head out to the countryside. I take a coffee mug, too. Oh, and matches.

A Fozzil bowl that stores flat and snaps together and will hold water. I use it mostly as a place to put my watch and rings and stuff at night, but I can use it to wash underwear and socks in a pinch in warm or hot water that I heated up with the…Esbit stove. The stoves in the gers aren’t really used in the summertime, so I can’t count on access to one of those and wouldn’t want to use fuel for that kind of thing anyway.

Two Travel Towels, each of which fits into its own little bag. I never have to worry about having a towel and I like to have one for my hair. It’s small stuff like this, which is different for everyone, that seems to make travel go more smoothly.

As is true for many places, I always plan to dress in layers. Sturdy pants, light hiking boots or walking shoes, fleece jacket, t-shirts, turtleneck, thermals just in case. Teva flip-flops for going to the shower ger or if it’s hot.

I also always take a couple of del, the long, traditional Mongolian garment. Perfect for a robe in the morning, to wear to the toilet or shower, sit around in in the evening or, and this is really traditional, portable privacy on the road in a country where there are mostly no trees. And it can be really, really flat.

One change from previous trips is that I have lots to do in UB this time with various people. I’ve only had “field clothes” before and always felt like I’d just crawled in out of the Gobi. I really needed a nice warm weather outfit. So, our very own local Bohemian Mermaid, Bekki Scotto, carved out an hour a few days ago before she hit the art festival road and met me behind the Safeway store in Arcata with a rack of tempting goodies to choose from. I bought a couple of her hand-dyed rayon t-shirts, and a matching skirt and scarf to wear in town. She made me promise to get my picture taken wearing her finery in Mongolia.

My iPhone with excellent earbuds. I don’t care about airport delays anymore since I can always zone out to music, play solitaire or Paper Toss if I don’t feel like reading. Or watch my virtual koi pond.

I take a small stack of books, paperbacks that I will mostly leave behind as I go.

A Timbuk2 messenger bag for my non-roll-on piece of luggage, which my purse fits into, so I still only have two items. Clever me. It also holds the laptop, my file folder of trip stuff, all the power and charger cords and USB cables, snacks, a water bottle, a book and…my First Class Sleeper, which is more or less a half-size air mattress that you put between you and your cattle car-class seat back. It provides lumbar support, cushioning and has “pillow flaps” on either side. It has made a huge difference in my inflight comfort and arrival fatigue level. For $29.95. I just wish they’d make it from something that didn’t outgas at first.

My Mongolian-English and English-Mongolian dictionaries, since I’m really trying to learn the language.

Professional Essentials:
All the camera equipment: two Nikon D-80 bodies, 28-300 lens, 80-400 lens, 8, 4 and 2GB memory cards, four batteries, and a charger.

New KATA daypack for carrying same.

MacBook Pro for primary image storage in iPhoto. New Toshiba 500GB portable hard drive for back-up.

Car lighter adapter for charging batteries since not only do the ger camps usually not have electricity, but I’ll mostly be either camping out or in a fairly remote research camp this time.

Sketchbooks, pencils, gel pens, pan gouache, more paper, pencil sharpener, brushes, water-soluble colored pencils, a collapsible water container.

Nikon Monarch 10×42 binoculars.

Final essentials: patience, flexibility, a sense of humor and a willingness to set a goal but let the Mongols figure out how to do it. And my sense of wonder always gets a thorough workout.

Marin Art Festival 2010

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Two of the fantastically costumed stiltwalkers

I did a number of art festivals in the San Francisco Bay Area for a few years, including the Marin Art Festival the year before last. What I have found as an oil painter is that the street fair style of events don’t provide a targeted market for what I do. After skipping last year because of the economy, I decided to go back to the Marin festival. It’s a well-established destination event held on a big, grassy field near the Frank Lloyd Wright designed Marin Civic Center.

Side view of VW Eurovan packed and ready to go

I like that fact that it’s a flat rate for a space and that once you’ve been juried in, you are invited back and given a $100 discount on the entry fee. Knowing I will be able to count on participating year after year means a lot to me as far as my yearly planning. Communication from the people running the festival is excellent. They go out of their way to find ways to drive sales, especially this year. Besides postcards provided free to the artists in whatever quantity you request (each one good for a $10 free admission), they sent an email to all the artists with a free pass to print out that we could forward on to our mailing list. Other things they tried this year to drive sales were handing out “coins” that could be redeemed for a $10 discount on sales over $100 and a silent auction, which did generate sales. There is also a raffle.

Back view of VW Eurovan with propanels

Besides the artists and fine craftspeople, there is gourmet food, live music and members of a local “circus” who provide amazing stiltwalkers and costumed raffle winner announcers. Well-behaved dogs on leashes are allowed. Someone does face-painting for kids and there are special activities for them, too. There are lots of tables with umbrellas and chairs for people to plop down in for a break. It’s all calculated to encourage people to stay as long as possible.

My booth at the festival; they request that you "spill out" into the walkway area

I’ve decided that the Marin festival will be my one yearly Bay Area “appearance” due to time and distance constraints. My plan is to build up a following and identity as the artist who paints Mongolian and animal subjects. I feel that I made a good start this year. I had sales, got quality sign-ups for my mailing list and was able to tell my “story” and make myself memorable.

More stiltwalkers with a young admirer

Mongolia Monday- More On Upcoming Trip Equipment

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As I said last week, I had a few more things coming in and they got here the middle of last week. One is a 500GB Toshiba portable hard drive. My plan is to shoot my pictures, download them first into iPhoto on my MacBook Pro and then back them up to the Toshiba, so that they will be in two places. It’s light weight and has an internal shock sensor for protection. I bought mine on Amazon.

Next were two new memory cards for the cameras. This next trip will be almost twice as long as my previous ones and since I’m hoping to see lots of Mongol horse action close up, races and herders working, I anticipate using the burst function more than ever. I already know that I can fill a 4GB card in less than a day. The price of memory cards has continued to drop. My new SanDisk 8GB Extreme SDHC Class 10 High Performance Memory Cards cost less than the 2GB ones I bought a few years ago. I buy the “Extremes” because I can never be sure what weather conditions I’m going to encounter and I need a fast card that won’t hang up in the middle of the action. These came from an Amazon seller.

The third item I described as an “indulgence”. What I wanted were portable speakers for my iPhone, for listening to music when I was in a hotel or ger camp. I ended up ordering Livespeakers and returning them. Maybe my really good quality earbuds have spoiled me, but the sound just didn’t cut it. My husband, who understands how things like speakers work, explained why it’s physically impossible to get a real bass tone out of small speakers. I knew they would drive me crazy and I can use the fifty bucks for something else. Voices sounded ok though, so for someone who wants to watch movies I think it would be fine.

So, that’s about it. One pair of LL Bean tropic weight pants with cargo pockets still to arrive. I’ll do a packing dry run this weekend.

Mongolia Monday- New Gear for Next Trip

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As promised last week, here’s look at two items I recently purchased for my next trip to Mongolia. In both cases, they are “upgrades” that I hope will perform and function better than what I’ve used in the past.

First up, my new camera/day pack. I’ve used a good sturdy general purpose daypack from REI for quite a few years and it did what I wanted until I got a MacBook Pro which is larger than my old IBM x31. I solved that problem with a messenger bag from Timbuk2 that I reviewed here last year.

The cameras fit in the old pack, but had to be put into it vertically side-by-side with some kind of cloth wrapped around one to keep them from banging together. Not very satisfactory. And it got worse when I was able to upgrade to a Nikon Nikkor 80-400mm lens last year which is much longer and bigger in diameter than my old zoom telephoto. The jury-rigged set-up even made my guides nervous.

I started out looking for a pack which had the depth and padded dividers that would let me safely carry the two cameras as I had before. On the road, the pack is on the floor at my feet so I can grab either body in a hurry or zip it up and go without a bunch of fussing around.

I searched the internet and found a couple of possibilities, but realized that the only way to know for sure was to take both cameras to my local camera shop (Swanlund’s) and see what actually worked. And, as it turned out, the one I’d thought would, didn’t. But the young guy who was helping me, all of five days on the job, pulled a KATA pack off the wall and handed it to me. I’d seen the brand when I was looking on the web, but knew nothing about them. Turns out they’re an Israeli company which specializes in “Protective Carrying Technology”, which means gear bags and bullet-proof coats that can literally go into a combat zone. Might be, uh, overkill for my purposes, but I did want something that will protect my cameras.

So I sat on the floor with both Nikons and their lenses and a Digital Rucksack DR-465. What the young sales guy pointed out was a top compartment which would hold one camera and a bottom compartment with zippers that slid back far enough that I could get the body with the 28-300 lens in and out easily. And he was right.

There’s a loop on the back for a tripod and a zippered net pocket on one side for a water bottle. There are three zippered storage pockets in the front and the top compartment has a pocket along the back that will hold pens, notebook, cellphone, etc. The bottom compartment has a re-configurable or totally removable padded divider. Included is a rain/dust cover that comes in its own bag.

The inside is a lovely goldenrod and it has a purpose. It’s a color that will make it as easy as possible to find whatever is in the pack when it’s dark. Really dark.

The company points out in its literature that it doesn’t look like a camera bag, which is true, and that’s not a bad thing at all. The straps feel like they are well-designed ergonomically and will be comfortable with a full load hiking in the field. So, all in all, I think I’ve got a winner here. I’ll know for sure by the end of the first round of travel in the countryside.

KATA Digital Rucksack D-R 465, without cameras
KATA Digital Rucksack DR-465- with cameras

I’ve also gotten a new jacket. I needed something less bulky than the reliable old Travel Smith jacket I’ve used since 1999. I wanted wind and at least a little rain resistance. The weather in Mongolia is very changeable and one needs to have good outerwear.

The best deal in my price range (pretty low) was an REI Windbreak Thermal Jacket for $89.95 (and I had a 20% off coupon),which they describe as their warmest wind-blocking fleece. They claim it will do the job in up to 50mph winds, which ought to be sufficient. It also has a water repellent for light rain. I have a poncho already for real rain, a certainty if Mongolia has a normal summer. The exterior pockets zip up and there are also large pockets on the inside, which I think will be handy.  The styling is such that I can wear it around UB and not look like I just crawled in from the Gobi.

I’ve been wearing it every day when we go out to walk the dog and, so far, I like it a lot. But, once again, field use will tell the tale.

REI Windbreak Thermal Jacket
REI Windbreak Thermal Jacket

Just got an email from Amazon that my order from them has shipped. More camera batteries, a new option for back-up and a little indulgence that I’ll reveal next week, if it works.

Plans are Coming Together

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Let’s see….my Flag Expedition page should be live soon over at Artists for Conservation. I have confirmed that the weather is likely to be hot, hot, hot. Unless it rains, in which case it could be cold enough that I’ll want my down bag.

I spent three hours on the phone last night with Gana Wingard, the scientist with whom I am working on the women’s craft cooperative. She sent me a great email this morning entitled “The Grand Plan” and then noted that, of course, it’s all subject to change. But we now have hashed out a way forward and know what we need to do, who we need to talk to over there and when and in what order it will probably happen.

It reminds me of one of my favorite exchanges towards the end of one of my all-time favorite movies “The Wind and the Lion”. The Raisuli and his men are on their way to a small village, returning Mrs. Pedicaris and her two children to a contingent of American marines and, after hearing their destination described, along with the myriad dangers likely to be lurking there and the possibility that he could be killed,  The Raisuli says “It is good”. His right hand man says “What is good?’. The Raisuli answers “It is good to know where we are going.”

It turns out that Gana will be bringing radio telemetry equipment because she needs to find all the radio-collared argali or as many as possible before the next Earthwatch team arrives on August 2. There are plans to try a new population survey method since, at this point, it’s not really known how many animals are in the reserve. This is great news for me, since I will now be able to go out looking for sheep with someone who knows the reserve really well and is as motivated as I am to spot the animals.

Here are a couple of photos that I took on previous trips of the scientists using radio telemetry equipment. The research project now has some GPS collars, which send in the data via satellite, but those are relatively expensive, so there are still animals that need to be tracked the old fashioned way.

Amgaa doing radio telemetry just below an ovoo, Sept. 2006
Amgaa doing radio telemetry just below an ovoo, Sept. 2006
Jed Murdoch searching for a collared Pallas Cat; he never got a signal and the cat had vanished, April 2005
Jed Murdoch searching for a Pallas Cat he had captured and collared; he never got a signal and the collar was never found, April 2005
My "grand finale" sighting in 2005; a good-sized group; note the ewe left front wearing a radio collar
My "grand finale" sighting in 2005; a mixed group of eight argali; note the ewe left front wearing a radio collar; one of the handy things about argali is their habit of stopping to look back, which provides an opportunity to get photos of something besides their butts as they run away

Our plan is to “game drive” in the mornings and evenings, when it’s relatively cooler (Gana said that temperatures went over 100F last July. Okaaay.). During the day we will have our meetings with the women, for which the groundwork is being laid by another of the scientists, Amgalanbaatar (which means “peace hero” in Mongolian; see above photo), who we all call “Amgaa”. He is now at the reserve and is passing the word about the meeting and the hoped-for dates. Everything is tentative because summer is when the women have the most work do to, milking animals, making aruul and airag and also felt. We don’t know how many will come, but we know that they are interested. They will need to arrange to have someone watch the children and will want to be home in time to make dinner. Gana expects that they will arrive both on horses and motorbikes.

There are about 100 families living in and around the reserve, depending on their livestock for their living. The women all know how to sew and, in fact, the country women are the repository of the skills needed to make garments like del (the long robes). The younger women who have been brought up in town don’t learn to sew anymore. The material to make a del, outer fabric, liner fabric and trim costs about $30. Some of the women also do embroidery and since that’s something I’ve done on and off for many years, I’m really looking forward to seeing their work.

Three Mongols wearing del; train station, April 2005
Three Mongols wearing del; train station, April 2005

After talking with Gana, we’ve scheduled a third day for me to get together with any of the kids who are interested in art. I’m taking some sketchpads, pens and pencils. Should be a fun way to pass a hot afternoon.

We plan to go to Ikh Nart on the 23rd and return to UB on the morning of the 28th. That will give me a day and a half to tie up loose ends. Five days and counting………..

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