Radical simplicity and living (and photographing) abroad

Will you be based in UB? If so, good for you. :)

Outside UB, everything will be difficult to get, even toilet paper.
Laptops are expensive in Mongolia. It'll be easier and a lot cheaper to bring one from home.
Stay far away from film labs in UB. They only process colour film, and not very good at that. Your film WILL get scratched.
Mongolia is a hugely dusty place in Spring and Summer, and a very air-polluted places in Autumn and Winter. Keep that well in mind for your equipment and your own health. Eye problems are very common in Mongolia.

Mongolia is also a place where even the barest of essentials are getting more and more expensive. Try to bring your personal luxury from home. You'll need it. Mongolians don't understand this "Western" need for the bare essentials as many are forced to live like that out of necessity. And whatever they have, they take with them when they move.In the countryside this literally means loading everything on a big truck, including children.

I bring my laptop, my R-D1, my Canon Eos 300D, a couple of lenses for each body, and plenty of everything else whenever I go there. You won't be able to buy (rangefinder) cameras and lenses in UB, or get them fixed. You'll be on your own when you don't have a spare. Internet is available everywhere in UB. Mobile phones can be used through much of Mongolia, oddly enough; plus they're much more reliable than line phones.

Credit cards can be used in UB in more and more places, plus you can draw money from ATM's in downtown UB every 100 meters. :) Outside UB... have plenty of cash (dollars, euros, and the local tugrik) in small bills on you 'cause your credit card won't serve you there.

UB is a great (though not very clean or pretty) place to be. But most of Mongolia is wild: from tranquil rolling steppe to wind-swept, snow-covered mountain ranges to large forest infested with wolves, bear and other wild animals. Don't take hiking out lightly.

My personal opinion is that foreigners should try to stay away from other foreigners as much as possible. Try to build up slew of Mongolian friends and try to fit in. Don't be their trophy foreigner. :) And... most Mongolians don't wear traditional clothes anymore, except for the "gutal" perhaps and the "deel" on festive days.

Be aware of your personal belongings when your going to the "Xar Zag" (Black Market), the railway station, bus stations and bus stops. Pickpocketing is rife in those places. I learned the hard way.

Don't get into a fight! Mongolian men in general are far stronger that most Westerners. And from young they've been wrestling with each other, working hard and heavy. Also, don't drink too much with strangers. Nearly every Mongolian man and many women can hold their liquor very well. Be careful with drunks and street kids. Unpredictable.

Don't be the "foreigner who'll save the world". There are many poor people. Especially the elderly have it rough oft times. Don't encourage begging. In stead, make phone calls from the street. Buy sweets, socks, and sigs from the street. Get weighed once in a while.

Be aware that taxis can very well have a rigged, broken or no meter. If you have a regular route, make a mental note of the average price and try to get a ride without the meter for a fixed sum. Traffic was (still is?) atrocious 2 years ago, with some improvements here and there being implemented. Getting stuck in traffic is a real hazard, so take your time when going places.

Do go see the Zanabazar museum, the National History and Natural History museums. And do visit a traditional music performance.

Take a trip to Zaisan and the Buddha statue. And to Mother Rock and the nearby temple complex some 40 KM south of UB.

Terelj is a nice place for a day trip and a picnic, or for a few days stay.

Erdene Zuu is the temple at the site of the former imperial capital Karakorum (Xar Xorin). Great place to go to (one day to, next day back, for instance). Hotels outside UB are total crap, btw.

Naadam is 11-13 July. Try to be there. I will. :)

To me the best places in UB are the Gandan monastery and the Choijin Lama museum temple. Try to go to Gandan early in the morning to attend "mass". Choijin Lama museum is much much smaller than Erdene Zuu but once you've seen Choijin Lama Erdene Zuu may seem a little disappointing.

Cool place further away is Khujirt. Try to stay at the State resort or the (rather good!) privately owned resort next to it. It's a health resort: mud baths, massage, etc. And the area is great to. From Khujirt there are a number of interesting places that can be visited in a (very long) day, like the Orkhon waterfall, Erdene Zuu, and another old temple complex in the mountains (I forgot the name) down the Orkhon river.

For the rest, rely on your Mongolian friends to take you places. They know where to go, how to get there, and when to go there. Especially friends with partner and kids will often take a weekend break outside UB or go to Bogd Khan Uul in winter for sleighing down the slope. Really cool, btw, at -30 degrees C. :)

Anyway, enjoy your stay. I'll be there from 3 (4?) July until the end of that month. Maybe we can meet some time.
 
BTW, how are you going to get your dev'ing chemicals? You won't find them in UB anywhere. Importing (or someone sending it to you from Tokyo or Korea) could work, but the mail may take 2-3 weeks. And than Customs will have to let your chemicals trough....

Drying your negs may be problematic with the dust everywhere. Think up a really good solution before you go to Mongolia, and test it out at home!

Water is another issue. The water in UB is hard. Boiling will help but you'll need filtration to get good water for developing your film. You can get bottled water but I haven't found any demineralised water yet.
 
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I think one camera and two lenses is a good balance; for me it would probably be the CV 25 and Nokton 50mm (or 40 if I had an R3x). If you don't think you could survive two or three weeks without a body in case of a malfunction, take a second body right away.

I imagine you've made a list of what you'll need, but just in case here are some suggestions:
  • Camera and lens(es) - No end of choice here!
  • Film - If you have friends in Asia who can send you more film, use them. Take enough to last you one or two weeks, and have the rest pre-shipped (see bottom of post) or sent by friends the day you arrive.
  • Camera bag/satchel - make sure that your camera bag is multi-purpose, comfortable, and that you don't mind carrying it everywhere everyday.
  • Batteries for the meter - LR44 batteries are ubiquitous but make sure you have fresh ones in the camera, and one pair as backup.
  • Developing tank w/reels
  • Developer and fixer - Where will you get these? Do you know which developer and fix you will use, and have you considered shelf life?
  • Negative storage - After you've developed your negs, where will you put them? At the least you'll need some rubber bands and a shoe box; ideal would be sleeves and a binder. Consider also sending them home in batches to reduce the risk of damage or loss.
  • PC and scanner - This is where it gets complicated. If you're in a big city, there's likely a photo shop with some modern equipment. They might be able to scan your rolls for a decent price; take a Mongolian-speaking person with you, and hammer out a good rate in advance for all your future work. Then just take your CD to an Internet shop.
In addition, if you know your address before you arrive you should be able to ship yourself some useful equipment/accessories before you leave home. This includes the dev equipment and chems, and extra film. Doing so will allow you to travel lightly on the airplane; when you arrive you'll appreciate having an absolute minimum of fuss and baggage.

Good luck with your planning, and if you do finally go on this trip, enjoy!
 
Great opportunity. Taking one good Leica M camera and lens is a good idea and will at least focus your mind on the photogarphy rather than which equipment to use (one of my endless issues). I would however recommend that you take a 35mm lens rather than a 50mm - I think it is so much more versitile for this kind of stuff. And it follows from that that you should take an M2 (which you can pick up for less than the M3 usually) of maybe an M4-P which is a lovely camera.
 
keep it simple. i did what you are doing many years ago, in the 70s, in northern pakistan and afghanistan when it was relatively safe and foreigners were fairly rare still. unspoilt and innocent places i had a nikon f2a and a 28mm nikkor lens only. i still have those tools, by the way, they still get used a lot. i took a hundred rolls of HP5 and shot like crazy, relying on DOF and no batteries. when i saw the colours of the countries i was in i found colour kodak "tourista" film in the most bizarre of places and am so glad i have the reflections of that part of the life there. B&W was all the go then but colour images now of the unspoilt places is rarely replicated in these days of western influences creeping in. have also been to mongolia in more recent years and it is still, to a degree, unsoiled by westrerners, although seeing nomadic goat and horse herders wearing western adidas type sneakers is a painful dichotomy and visual argument.

do not leave any footprints.

happy and safe travels.

-dd
 
A friend of mine spent a little over a year in rural China a decade or so ago; she had a fixed location to go back to so she took all of her Nikon gear. She ended up paring her kit down to just her FM body and the smallest 50mm prime she had. She complained that even that kit was too bulky while on the move.

I keep trying to convince her that an RF with a smallish lens is travel nirvana...
 
Thanks for all the great replies, everyone. A wealth of information. I've got most of the logistics for processing, chemicals, film, computer, etc worked out at this point. I'm not set on the camera arrangement, but it's fairly likely that I'll go the RF route. My two weeks spent in Mongolia last summer yielded great experience, some wonderful photographs, and an itch to return. This is going to be good.
 
Great opportunity to live in a - for us western guys - far away country. Big chance for yourself.

Based on the comment of RML I would think about a simple, old fashioned camera you can clean and repair yourself up to a certain point. A M3 or M2 would be something to think about. And I would think about a backup body just in case even if you take just one lens. What RML wrote about the quality of water made me think of a digital camera but I´m not sure if I would trust an Epson or a M8. An old fashioned camera without any metering and a good handheld meter would make me feel more comfortable.

All the best.

Thomas

P.S. Thanks to Marek for the link. That guy´s picture are simply great.
 
Firstly, what a great opportunity. At the same age I went to Thailand to do some work for "6 to 12 weeks" and ended up staying four years - Thailand isn't in the same league of remoteness as Mongolia, but it was the best thing I ever did.

As for photo gear, if I was doing something like that with only one body and lens, I think it would be an M2 and a 35mm, with a good hand-held selenium meter - I'd prefer not to have to rely on batteries, and I'd want as few electronic things that can go wrong as possible. I don't think I'd rely on just one Bessa - they are great (I have an R4A), but I just don't think they're robust enough for me to rely on as my only camera for a couple of years.

But whatever you decide to take, I look forward to seeing your photos (Can you get Internet access in UB to post results here on RFF for us to see?)
 
congrats on your decision to 'leave it all behind'... I'm very jealous...

i've only ever 'disconnected' for a month at a time and on both occassions, I went to Spain to hike the Camino de Santiago.. i carried everything with me in a very comfortable backpack (three days worth of clothes, a bivy (small one man tent) , a good sleeping bag, basic toiletries, small first aid kit with antibiotics, electrolyte replacement powder, antihistamines, advil and a few other basic drugs, small pocket knive, a LED headlamp, a small notebook and a few pens... 30 rolls of film and hiked 30 km a day... you'll likely need a lot more clothing given the climate in Mongolia and it'll also depend on how often you'll have access to water to clean with... but less is definitely more in this case.. my only advice is to invest in the best backpack you can afford, go to a store that will fit you properly AND put weighted sacks into the pack when you're wearing it... a pack will free up your arms to shoot and do other things with while on the go..

i only carried a M4-P with a 50 Hexanon-M and a small incident light meter and rarely found myself wanting for more... if i had to do it all over again, i'd take a 50mm lens over all others... you may find a 35mm suits you better but either one will do...

i carried the exposed film with me for the most part, but on two occassions mailed the film home to Canada (Spain has a very reliable postal service so I wasn't worried about it being lost in the mail) ... having said that you may want to bring some Diafine with you and process the film yourself, a gallon of Diafine will easily last 150+ rolls but the downside of course is that you'll have to push the HP5+ 2/3 - 1 stop as it's a compensating developer...

have fun and stay safe...
 
btw- as for gear, i'd take your Nikon F3HP - and an FG as backup...you're much more likely to find Nikon repair or replacement options in UB than probably any other brand of camera...
 
Living and growing up in silicon valley... I can not fathom the idea of dropping everything and living simple. I'm jealous.

...I must say though, it's great you want to stay analog, but why not bring a Dslr, a few cards, and maybe a image bank to dump the cards to? Will it really contaminate you goal to "keep it simple?" As RML stated in his posts, although very interesting and cool, it's not going to be utopia over there. Sounds like you have things planned well, but whenever you have to rely on other variables, like having things shipped to you, or getting stuff over there... Those variables can introduce delays and disappointments. If you bring a dslr, a couple of batteries, charger, lens or two, cards, image bank, stash it in your apartment as a "...in case on emergency." I just don't see the harm in doing that.

John
 
Sounds like a fantastic opportunity.

I spent most of 1989 in Poland on a research fellowship. It was the end of Communism, and there were shortages of everything, but it was an exciting time to be there. I didn't have much money as a grad student, but the US dollar went very far, so I didn't need so much. The average worker's salary at the time in most Communist countries converted to about $35 per month (street value for local currency). My fellowship was paid for by US foundation, but most of it was absorbed by the Polish government, and I received around $20 (street value) a month, plus I had around $500 in cash to trade on the black market over the course of the year, so I could live like a king. By the end of 1989, the informal market in hard currencies was legalized, so we could trade dollars for złoty at a fair price with less risk involved.

I brought my Canon New F-1 and maybe three or four lenses. I used it for street and general photography and for microfilming for my research. Bulk 35mm copy film was easier to buy than toilet paper or meat, since there was little demand for it. Processing chemicals were difficult to find, but I could have my microfilm and E-6 processed in local labs. I remember going into the photo supply shop one day to buy some microfilm, and the attendant said "we have fixer" since that was something unusual. I loaded the microfilm in canisters obtained from the same labs. Toward the end of my stay, a thread frayed off of one of those canisters and jammed my shutter, so that camera was out of service, but I'd done most of the microfilming I needed, and I just photocopied the rest of what I needed--an adventure in itself, since there weren't many photocopiers in Poland at the time as they were regarded as a threat by the government and were too expensive in local currency.

Over the course of the year I was able to buy a Pentacon 6 and four CZJ lenses for about $135. I was able to do better street photography with this setup than with my Canon, because the Pentacon was more familiar to most people over there, and I could pass as a local student.

I brought some T-max and color slide film in 35mm and bought mostly Agfachrome 100 on the black market in 120 for the Pentacon. When my Canon shutter got stuck, I sold off my remaining 35mm Kodak film on the black market as well, and bought more 120 chrome film.

I also got a Krasonogorsk-3 16mm camera for cheap but didn't shoot it while I was there, because it was almost impossible to buy 16mm film. When I got back to the US, I realized I couldn't afford to shoot 16mm, so I sold the camera to a film student and made some money off it.

I traded my Pentacon system toward studio lights at Ken Hansen at a good rate and started shooting headshots for actors.
 
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Just something to think about, I'd bring two cameras, one RF, one SLR. That way you'll have a backup if one fails. Other than that, your simplistic approach I applaud. Godspeed!
 
Here is your opportunity to photograph! I would really make this your opportunity. Since you will have a base, I would bring as much photo stuff as you can carry. Film and chemistry is depedent on camera gear. If you can swing this is what I would try to find. All of my equipment is used. A lot of the equipment I bought I learned how to do some basic repairs myself, or find someone who can show me a little.

CAMERAS:

--1 or 2 rangefinder bodies--brand does not matter and then a 24 or 28, 35 and 50. This is all you really need.

If you can I would bring a medium format--so many to choose from, if I could swing one I would look into the PENTAX 6x7 or the 6x7ii. They are cheap and the lenses are cheap. A friend was able to pick up a body and three lenses for $500.00 on CL. We did some film tests metering tests etc, and everything was fine.

If you can afford a used hasselblad with two backs and two lenses this would be good too.

I think with this outfit you would be all set.


The other option is to bring two 35mm cameras and then pick up a used 4x5 with one to three lenses, 4x5 film holders etc . . .

Camera Bags: A domke Satchel it will carry everything (the Large one). It will fit everything that you need plus more.

Filters: I would bring a few filters for the lenses yellow, orange, red, and a polarizer filter.

Film: Load one carry on suitcase with nothing but film. Bring as much film as you can carry. I would bring more film for the camera that I would use most, and combination of 100 asa and 400 asa. For color I would bring 100 asa. But this really depends on when and what you think you will be photographing.

Chemicals: I would bring a darkroom changing bag, and one of the tent types as well. and I would load one check in suit case of just chmistry to process the film.

Tanks: I would probably bring large stainless steel developing tank that can hold 8 rolls of 35mm and 4 rolls of 120. Again if you can carry it in luggage I would bring two.

I would not bring too many clothes, and I would just buy and wear what the locals wear. I don't really care how I look when I am travelling, as long as I am comfortable. A lot of people I meet will notice that I wear the same thing everyday, and they think it is odd since I from the US. They even think it is more odd when I am wearing their types of clothing or shoes that they buy from the same street markets. I often get teased saying that they do not want to be seen with me in public.

Joking aside, I think if you want to photograph really bring equpiment that will allow to photograph, and photograph in different ways, by having a couple of choices of lenses, and camera formats you can really achieve some incredible photgraphy ranging, from small and large format cameras to landscapes to still life. The possibilies are limitless.

If you brought a hasselblad you could photograph the same scenes in black and white or color, or having one with 25asa and another back with 400 asa. However, if you brought two twin lens reflex cameras--Yashica G-mat--you can have one camera with black and white, and the other with color. The Yashica might be another way to go. These are very small, light wieght, and the lens quality is amazing. However they are fixed lenses, and are limited to that 80mm--yet you can still accomplish a lot with these as well.

I hope this is useful . . .
 
Having trudged and travelled a bit, one 35mm camera and one lens (35 or 50) sounds good. If you use an M2 or M3, or a Barnack, take a spare spool. And the appropriate sized screw-drivers in case of disaster. Dev the film when you come back, or when someone is out-of-country and can do it for you. (You can run a short roll of C41 through the camera and have it dev'd locally as confidence check every month or so).

My next plan was to fly to Vladivostok and use public transport to come back, but then I got a one year work-contract and chickened out . . . next year maybe.

Have fun.
 
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I have to say I'm a bit overwhelmed by the quantity and quality of responses. Thanks, everyone. There is definitely something to be said for taking a larger range of equipment, though I do have reservations about taking medium format as well, as that would add a lot of variables to the equation. I have time to decide, though.
 
Hi David,
The keeping it simple tack is a romantic notion, but if you have your sister established there already, if I were you, I'd take more gear (range of lens focal lengths, back up body, and medium format), stash the bag at her place and just use what you need once you know what that is. You can still walk around with just one camera and one lens, but if you needed anything else, it would be close enough for you to access it.

In any case, enjoy!
 
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