Day 187: Naadam Festival Kicks Off in UB!
The morning of the big festival is here!
I was a little nervous about wearing the Mongolian clothes because of all the (justified) cultural appropriation sensitivities these days. But from asking around and reading up, confirmed that if you’re invited to wear traditional clothes by the people of that culture — and are doing it in a way that shows contextual respect (think wearing a sari to an Indian wedding rather than, say, as a Halloween costume or god forbid a joke) — then you’re ok.
Phew.
Love this pic of Willa reading quietly while the rest of finished getting ready to go. Her bookworm-ishness is flourishing by the day. Does anything make a parent of a 7-yr-old happier??
Our driver Zaia (sp?) dropped us off with our guide Ganzo a few blocks from the stadium, and it was already crazy crowded. We navigated the throngs, glad we’d worn our traditional clothes because just about everyone else was dressed to the nines.
Finally pushed our way to our gate and took a seat in time for a speech from the president of Mongolia, and the start of the opening ceremonies.
There were dance/musical reenactments of major moments in Mongolia’s history (eg, Genghis, liberation from China in the 20s, etc.), parading military folks, Mongolian animals making the rounds etc.
The stadium itself is modest and old — word is, construction of a new fancy one will get underway this year. I think there’s a major tourism push that’s slowly gathering steam and capturing the attention of foreigners like us. Not a ton of outsiders here but there’s definitely a machine starting up.
The kids started to get antsy as the almost two hours of singing and dancing kept going — and we were in the middle of a PACKED bleacher section, with very little hope of getting out until it was over. Glad we were in the shade!
Ganzo led us out of the stadium after the show, and we attempted to meet up with the driver to take us to a restaurant for lunch. No such luck. After about 20 minutes of us trying to keep up with a zigzagging, mobile-phone talking Ganzo through the crowds, we all gave up and decided to just eat on the festival grounds.
Glad we did because we got to try the traditional Naadam dumpling from one of the many food stalls offering it. They make a regular meat dumpling, then roll it flat and fry it that way. When it cools, you eat it rolled up like a crepe. Salty and delicious.
What we *didn’t* try was the ubiquitous fermented mare’s milk, a mildly alcoholic drink of choice out on the steppe. Ladles of the stuff were going around but we passed. We’ll need to try at least one sip before we go.
Instead we paid to play a few rounds of balloon darts, much to James and Willa’s delight. They won two (seemingly pre-owned) stuffed animals and I think it’s the happiest they’ve been all year.
Returned to our seats for some wrestling. Interesting fun wrestling facts:
- Only men can participate in the wrestling event. In fact, they wear these leotard-material open-chested bolero-looking tops meant to expose any women attempting to sneak in the ring. The tops were created after a woman wrestler at the turn of the century started kicking everyone’s ass. Women were subsequently banned and the tell-all shirts were created to keep it that way.
- There are no weight classes or time limits because there are no weight classes or time limits in real combat — and these games date back to army training from Chenggis Khan time. You have to be prepared to be matched against whomever, for as long as it takes.
We had fun watching a particularly fat guy spar with a tiny one. The small guy held his own for a surprisingly long time, but it ended how you’d think.
Next up: Archery! We walked to another, smaller stadium — more like a glorified bleacher. Watched teams of men and women in full robes take turns firing off arrows at faraway targets of blocks.
One bow made of birch wood takes a year to make because after being carved it has to dry for a year before being worthy.
James was wiggly but there was enough going on to keep him engaged. That and the fact that he and Ganzo get along so well. Ganzo has two hyper sons ages 3 and 6 (by his account), so he knows his audience — a rare trait in guides, we’ve found. The two of them sat separately and chatted and laughed.
By about 4 we headed back to the hotel. I got to go to the gym while Teddy took the kids to a kids’ indoor play facility inside our hotel complex.
We all met up at the indoor pool, where we befriended a mining-industry British ex-pat named Wayne and his 5-year-old daughter Emily. They live in Ulaanbaatar and live in our hotel’s residential tower with his wife.
Had a great chat with them while the kids played happily, then made plans to catch up later on in our visit for dinner.
Time for bed!
Misc:
There are a ton of French tourists here. Seem to be the highest concentration.
Seatbelts are so not a thing here. Nor carseats. Kids are generally in the front seat and/or on people’s laps in the driver seat. Babies too. Our guide told us a story of an American teacher he knew in UB who tried to use a seatbelt in a taxi and got dust all over the front of his white shirt b/c the belt was never used.
This city is not that pretty but it’s *very* clean. A massive festival like this would probably be covered in trash elsewhere, but there are signs and teams in t-shirts everywhere encouraging all participants to do their part to keep it spotless. Seems to be working!
There’s also tons of NBA gear around. Basketball is Mongolia’s #2 fave sport after wrestling, Ganzo told us.
Ganzo walks fast, likes kids and isn’t long-winded — our kind of guide!
We’re reading the second Pippi Longstocking book — “Pippi Goes Aboard” — and it gets outright belly laughs from the kids every night.
Notably, the Shangri-La hotel might have the most comfortable beds we’ve slept in all year.
