Hatgal Naadam

Well, for those of you who don't know what Naadam is, click here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naadam_Holiday

However, the countryside Naadam's are something special. First, we went out to see our hosts son, he must have been about 14 and was preparing his first horse for the race. He had been living with a small stable of young men all doing the same thing for the past couple weeks, though he had been working with his horse to prepare it since February. It is a complex regimen of exercise and diet meant to slim it down to all muscle. Young men have been doing this for over a thousand years in Mongolia, and it serves as a type of introduction to manhood. On the first day of Naadam we headed out to see the horse race, which marks the beginning. His horse was running in this first race, though there are several different age classes for each gender, his age class was the youngest so it goes first. We were arriving in a jeep with his parents when we saw the race heading towards us, we timed it perfectly, riding next to his horse in the jeep and cheering it on. In Mongolia, horse races last almost 5 miles, so the speed they had going into the finish was even more remarkable. Unfortunately, his horse didn't win but since he was competing against people who had been training horses for years. After that, we headed into the main festival area to pick up some food and see the official opening ceremonies.

Horses are ridden by children between the ages of 8 and 14.

Heres our guy! Coming to check his horse out after the race.

After a nice lunch of fried meat pancakes, huushuur, we headed to the central stadium and watched some of the opening ceremonies. I must tell you that it was a tad bit boring, but we didn't want to walk all the way back to where our car was and talk because we thought the wrestling might start and the walk to the car is quite hazardous. Everyone riding their horses around at full speed, regardless of pedestrian traffic. Quite a challenge to negotiate the less crowded areas, but around the stadium there were so many people they had to walk their horses. When the wrestling finally began it was great fun, in the opening rounds it is a small Naadam and they didn't have the full compliment of wrestlers required by tradition (512) so they take volunteers from the audience, in particular foreigners. It was hilarious watching the herders toss them around like rag dolls. I was too smart (and chicken) to get in there.

These are big guys! And they are strong and skilled as well, not for the faint of heart.

It was alot of fun, and we decided to return the next day, though we were due back in UB, we wanted to go one more day. Amina had a great time too, there was a constant stream of horse races arriving on a bi-hourly basis, to divert our attention from the wrestling. Fun foods to be tried and little side events going on, at one point the tourist children were wrestling the local children, it was great fun to see. However, mid-way through the second day it was time to head back, back to Murun. A two hour trip on one of the nicest roads in the whole country. Our trip to Renchinlhumbe was down a different road but only around 100 kilometers farther away from Murun than Hatgal, yet it took around 8 hours longer. However, the trip to Renchinlhumbe still couldn't prepare us for what waited for us in Murun. We decided to save $200 and drive back to Ulaanbaatar, a 19 hour trip over nothing more than a dirt path in a completely overcrowded truck. No fun at all! However, it felt nice to be back in civilization, with indoor toilets, hot water, reliable electricity (or just any at all!), and a selection of non-mutton dishes. It was now July 14th. We will pick up with our time in UB next time.

It is still hard to look at Amina's beautiful photos without missing her tons!

Here we are with the stadium in the background, it was beautiful weather!