The trip of a lifetime: Sas Carey takes the long road

Since the first time Sas Carey stepped foot on Mongolian soil in the summer of 1994, she felt a “leading” — a calling to “support and document the traditional Mongolian nomadic lifestyle.”

A driving force in my life has been exploring. “Marrying Mongolia,” my new book, follows that theme from childhood.

“Everything that happened in my life led me to Mongolia. Or maybe it just seems that way as I look back on it,” said Sas Carey, Middlebury author of the new book “Marrying Mongolia, A Memoir.”

If you are like I am, you don’t pay attention to how to get somewhere if someone else is driving. You and I can focus on the scenery or read a book. When I am in Mongolia and hire an interpreter, I let her lead me to wherever we need to go to accomplish a … (read more)

I met Khongoroo (pronounced Hungara), the protagonist, 15 years ago when she rode her reindeer into a Dukha reindeer herding settlement I was visiting.

Mongolia is a herding land with nomads and their 44 million goats, cattle, camels, horses and sheep. The favorite food is mutton from sheep. Mutton with noodles. Mutton dumplings. Mutton covered in deep fried dough. Boiled mutton. I am familiar with these … (read more)

MIDDLEBURY — Nineteen trips, three documentary films, and a book later, Sas Carey decided to do things a little differently for her fourth film about the nomadic reindeer herders of northern Mongolia who she’s been following since 1994. “I’m doing everyth … (read more)

Our team is made up of two young women and me. Jen, an American, is taking videos to add to our latest movie and Mongolian Anuka is translating. We have a horse guide and three wranglers. Now we are coming back from the East Taiga where we took vitamins a … (read more)