Lady of the Gobi: trucking coal across the desert to China
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 8 ก.พ. 2025
- On Mongolia’s coal mining highway to the Chinese border, truck driver Maikhuu dreams of a better life and financial security for her three children.
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But the more she drives her truck up and down this perilous road the more she realises she is working for the very industry that is destroying the livelihoods of many Mongolians. The highway is also riddled with accidents, toxic pollution, poor hygiene and now, amid the Covid crisis, drivers face days of quarantine on the border. Maikhuu is left wondering if the financial gain is worth the cost.
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#LadyOfTheGobi #Mongolia #CoalMining #China #Maikhuu #COVID #Documentary
Working out of Minnesota hobbled together 42 years trucking. Marriage, relationships in general hard even when you are primary local. This young lady is doing one of the harder driving jobs I have seen.Big respect.
On behalf of all Mongolians, I thank you sincerely for the captivating and moving documentary. Must be the first media agency to cover such story in Mongolia.
I truly appreciate the great work and transparency of the Guardian Media.
Hope the better days are coming for all of us! Godspeed to all of us!
????????
It’s made by Mongolian filmmaker Khoroldorj. The Guardian is just posting this.
What a different and captivating documentary! I felt the pride and the despair of her trials and tribulations. I hope her dreams of an unbroken family comes to fruition, She is beautiful, inside and out!
Yes, agree
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@@tangbesitangbesi7009 when did The Guardian start posting documentaries? Wow, i didn't even know they had a YT channel.
Inside everybody’s the same nothing but blood and guts and it’s not nice
Lpl0l
This is heartbreaking. I have been a trucker for 32 years. Being away from your family is part of the job. I hope she is able to go back home to her kids. ilona
Extraordinarily poignant documentation of personal survival in a harsh (so harsh!) environment - goodness, you have to feel for every one of these drivers. Seeing it all through the daily experiences of a mother seeking her way, her connections to family and sources of meaning is heart rending. To the makers of this documentary: thankyou so much for creating this window through which to reflect on the thousand ways we experience and make meaning in our every moment. Without doubt it is the most moving thing I have watched in TH-cam in weeks. Thankyou 🔆
Indeed well said for us who have being through much of life
Well said. Excellent video.
It was all a fabricated production, yes the truck envoys are real, but it was a written and directed production. I thought the same but when you see the credits saying director and writer at the end you realise what it really is.
@@michaela4024 no, you’re wrong.
@@khulanwr8641 dude, outside of surveillance cameras, there hasn't been 10 seconds of video produced in the entire history of the world that wasn't intended to make you think a certain way about a topic.
Amazing documentary..big salute and respect to hard working people of Mongolia specially mom.. .. thank you filming team for making and sharing such a beautiful documentary ..✌️
I give a lot of respect to Maikhuu, a single mother of 3 daughters. She has lost her home, and is now starting life afresh. And she is facing all the challenges of life all by herself. And she is seemingly on course to realize her dreams. This young woman clearly, has exceeded my expectations. I wish you all the best, Maikhuu.
Outstanding documentary. Message for Maikhuu: always wear a face mask when unloading or loading coal, or when just standing in a coal yard. Black lung disease will shorten your life.
What a great documentary, these miners are incredible people ❤Doing it for there family and a better life.
The lady driver is the strongest woman I’ve ever seen.
Love and respect 🇦🇺
Enjoyed the Mongolian narration. First time I've heard Mongolian language.
Great Doco!
Hat’s off to those who made this documentary depicting the day to day activities in the Gobi and Chinese border. Respect for every single soul working in these harsh environments just to keep the industry and city folks live. Bless your soul. Watch this over any blockbuster at any given time.
Thank you so much! Sitting in our comfortable rooms, watching this made me think a lot!
Beautifully done. Helped me to see a different side of Mongolia and her people. Grateful thanks.
As a fellow over the road CDL 🚛driver, I understand perfectly, what this fellow Driver is going through. My heart ♥️ goes out to her I have been doing it for over 11 years pays great got me, my house 🏡my property 🏔and out of financial💸 debt. But it is a lifestyle not a job
💯%
What an amazing job documenting this. Congratulations to the cinematographers and reporters who put this together.
❤great mothers always wants to provide for her kids. My heart goes out to her.
My utmost respect to that lady, mother and bread winner, my heart goes out to you and hope that you will find your way to what you want in life.
Respect of our the Mongolian women. All of women's trying to do best
I loved this doc.....these people are unique humans!
Beautiful filmmaking! Thanks!
Strong lady, hope she gets to spend more time with her friends and family.
That's the longest line of trucks I've ever seen.
Deeply touching ... Inspiring in the midst of toil and travails ... in the midst of hopes, and hopes dashed. A testimony of our common humanity. Thank you!!!
I salute this brave mother !!
I like how she says they speed racing each other only to hurry up and wait..such terrible inefficiency with the offloading process glad to see they are still mining and using coal
Many Asian countries are still mining and consuming coal.
What a woman strength and Compassion. Best wishes for her and all she wishes for,
That's what is a strong woman. Not a yelling creature in the west.
Very brave woman .
Great documentary. Should be nominated for awards!
Great documenting of the working conditions people have within the coal logistics industry. 🙂
so proud of you sister. ❤
Wow what a amazing documentary♥️
I’ve been watched almost thousands of Great documentaries this is the only one heartbreaking and Unforgettable feeling😢
Hopefully she’s getting better life soon🤞🏼
This video is a contrast between tough and tenderness. She is obviously a very tough woman to be doing this job, and knowing she’s among men, who I’m sure treat her as a forever inferior counterpart. But she’s tender because she’s a mom, and being apart from her babies for that long of a time must be heartbreaking. I hope she finds a gig that will let her spend more time with her kids. They need their mom.
Much respect, ma’am.
I working in the Govi-Altai country. We construct iron mining plants. Also the iron go to China. The most amazing project in my life.
How's the air quality out there?
@@eemoogee160 The air extra clean.
If not have dusty wind. And we middle of the anything. In the Tayan Nuur mountain.
This documentary makes my blood boil as a fellow Mongolian. Life could be much better for these drivers if only government cared a bit for these people.
The never ending struggle to provide something better for your kids is hard to watch sometimes. Life is hard and sometimes full of misery.
i do agree, but i also love the stories of men and women working in the heavy industrial profession as it help build character just as well
Maybe that’s why I think to myself, if you barely have the means to survive, why burden yourself with children? You make your already hard life only harder. You also can’t provide an appropriate childcare and education to end this cycle of misery and poverty. This applies to all people in all countries on this planet.
This system survives on the human hope that tomorrow might be better, but it makes sure we breed more cheap labor and gun fodder. It doesn't have to be like this it wasn't like this.
All the best to Maikhuu, great documentary.
STRONG WOMAN
Amazing lady…seems like her unique situation and all her contacts in the trucking corridor might lead to a business opportunity that will give her more time at home with family… best wishes…
True brave. Been seperated with family for couple years with unclear circumtance during outbreak, tough one is there. Hope Maikhuu and all drivers reach out everything they wishes
My wife used to do railway testing she was away a lot for work driving to sometimes remote areas. I often thought of her and what she must be going through on a given day. Thankfully she doesn't do that anymore and she can be with our son.
truly appreciate, Thank you for sharing this documentary , Please made more films about Mongolia, You can find a lot of unknown topics from Mongolia l
We need more Mongolian content! It's a barely explored country.
What you mean is it is barely known to westerners. It's been there for a long time and fully explored among the central Asian, the Chinese, the Russians and of course, the Mongolians themselves
@@k.k.c8670 Not explored in a geographical sense but in modern daily life. How many people outside of Mongolia know about the Terelj national park, Mongolian State Academic Theatre of Opera and Ballet, Playtime music festival, Dunjingarav shopping mall, Narantuul outdoor market, Gandan monastery, Zaisan memorial and other things? All what people know about Mongolia is horseriding in the steppe and who Genghis Khan was but nothing about modern-day Mongolia and what people do every day, like this woman driving a truck.....
Mongolian is a beautiful language. Like a wolf and bear in love.
I know. Has a very interesting sound to it.
It is such a tough life to make ends meet. We cannot choose how we born, but need to struggle to survive. I wish her and her family well.
The lady should be inviting to canada to work here and better life for her and her kids.
You are a wonderful lady working for your family's future.
Your family is lucky to have a caring and ambitious in it.
And your skills are fantastic driving that huge truk you have achieved great heights.
Well Don and congratulations to you and you will be with your family sooooooooon 🙏🌹
I have the upmost admiration for this woman and a her fellow colleagues what they go through people in the west just wouldn’t tolerate it’s a hard life being a truck driver I know I was one full Kudo is to this woman
The Mongolian government is building three railways to China and soon will be completed mainly for coal and rear earth...I hope she could find a better job close to home !
Then the next documentary from guardian will tell the story of how China funded railway destroy the local job opportunities
Trucking coal from Mongolia to China is or will be outdated very soon as rail transport is only 1/4 the cost of trucking, using the newly opened Tavan Togoi railway.
Great doc
She is the wonder woman 👍👍👍👍💪💪💪🇮🇩🇮🇩🇮🇩🇮🇩
Thank YOU
In Europe we are spoiled: no one could face such a hard life!
a hard life would be carrying the coal on your back and walking on your own feet.
@@lemonlimelukey : LOL! Try to make the same job as this brave woman
Spoiled? It's because Europeans fought for strong labour rights. It wasn't just given to us. Organised labour had to make it happen.
you have a point there @@JohnSmith-yt8di
Permeable, weighty, beautiful. Invading. A wonderful piece of moment, of timelessness, of being and meaning.
Proud of you 💪💪
I have a great respect for this lady, who is trying her best to provide for her family and yet she is facing a future that is so uncertain that is not only dragging her down the road to uncertain poverty, and facing difficult decisions to decide not only her fate but the fate of her children. I know in other countries like hers its 10x to 100x far worse then here in the US.. as the poor are getting poorer and the rich getting richer. and with Covid 19, its putting the lives of people into harsh reality of a hard life.
great doc! thanks for the upload!
Amazing woman 👏
Great vlog...I hope it all goes well 4 her
12:14 *_That little girl don't know that, how lucky she's. Having a such a great mother_* 🙏
Beautiful cinematography!!
Wasn’t there a huge scandal over this recently?
Hats Off To These Hard Working Mongolian Women And Chinese Infrastructure Roads Also Powerful Yet Cheap Price Trucks. Love From India.
Thanks to The Guardian for covering this story. 👍👍👍👍🙏🙏🙏🙏
Great woman in Mongolia ❤️
Pray for Mongolia
I'm a trucker of gasoline to gas stations in Calif.
Home every night.
But I got no family.
Proud of you
She is real queen. Brave women make great nations.
Perspective.
Thank you.
Looks like a hard, dangerous job. Nothjng but respect for her, her partner and all of the others out there powering China. I'm not jealous, except maybe of that beautiful Beiben tractor.
such a beautiful and strong woman
14:20 thats humanity in its knees.
Amazing and Encouraging
Heartbreaking. We hear and read about the wealth being brought to Mongolia by its ressources boom, but we already know its distribution is lopsided, and there are lives like this - trapped, only trying to break free.
Heartbreaking reality
Now there’s a real woman. Not afraid of work. Thanks for the video.
Beautiful documentary‼️👌🏼
That coal trailer design has to be the stupidest and most dangerous setup I could imagine. I pulled a Frameless end dump trailer for ten years hauling Demolition materials, c and d, steel beams, asphalt, bricks, concrete. I would be dead with a trailer like the one she pulls .
That's your takeaway from this huh?
Kudos to you Madam driver. please protect yourself from the dust of coal. Use a mask
Exelente documental. La vida de un camionero.
brilliant documentary
I like her! 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
This is a true strong women 😊
They really need a Railway!
If a train carted that coal, then all of the truck drivers would no longer have a job.
Would make thousands of people unemployed. Keeping the labour force is more important than the shortcut..
Railway is commisiioned recently
@@harvaach5105 Thank you. I did not know that.
An internet search tells me that the 233km Tavan Tolgoi railway line commenced operation in September 2022.
Why isn't the coal carried by railroad trains?
Like it is in most of the rest of the world.
No railroads i guess. They trucking coal from Mongolia to China. Also think Mongolia have different gauge rails than China due to being part of Soviet.
@@maolo76 That makes sense. Thanks.
China's domestic railway gauge is 1,435 mm (standard-gauge), while Mongolia uses broad gauge(1,520 mm).
in fact, it is more complicated than different gauge rails. Basically, politics, specifically, russian intervention in Mongolian local politics. As a competing coal supplier to china, russia installed its agent as a president of Mongolia who has been stalling the whole process of buildingg railroad over decades.
Powerfull woman!
She asks so little and works so hard.
Looks like it's crying out for a railway there.
Are you listening Bill?
i love watching these documentaries 👍🏿
Gobi 5th Largest Dessert n the World..
0.5 Million Sq Miles..
In Swahili..
Ubarikiwe..
wow what a documentary, fantastic
Women is more careful than men when they drive
All that coal being burnt. I will never worry about having a bonfire again.
WHY IS IT SO "HEROIC" AND "EXTRAORDINARY" TO DRIVE A TRUCK?
Beautiful lady, both work hard to eke a living with pairs of hand pair of legs for your three kids, simply wonderful
Нүүрс буулгаж байх үед маскаа сайн зүүхгүй бол уушги будаа болдог шүү,гуйя сайн шүүлтүүртэй маск заавал зүүж байгаарай эрүүл мэнд эрхэм баян шүү ,энэ залуучуудад ХАБ сургалт орох юмсан
Stay strong 🙏