Friday, July 11 - More Racing and Life with a Herder's Family

We slept in this morning, not waking until nearly 8 a.m. We ate some of the fruit and other food already in our room, made some coffee, and had our breakfast there. We left the hotel and went down to the internet café for a short time, then returned to the room until Erdene’s arrival at about 10:30 a.m.

We went back to the countryside for more horse racing. We met Erdene’s mother, and joined her and seven others in the Land Cruiser to follow the horses out to the starting point. Khuslee slept on his grandmother’s lap the entire race, which was amazing to us! Erdene’s mother was from a herder’s family, and was a racer in Nadaam until she reached the age of 15.

This was another 12 kilometer race, and twice on the way out to the starting point we saw young riders have their horses roll over onto them. One of the young racers got back up and chased after his horse, but the other did not get up while we were watching. Bolorchulun had two horses racing in this race, and we searched until we found both of them. We didn’t know it at the time, but we would be spending that evening and the next day with one of those young riders and his herder family in a ger provided for us at their home on the steppes.

NBA Basketball is huge here. Notice the Marcus Camby jersey riding in the race!

Again, it was a wild ride across the grasslands following the race back to the finish line. When we got there, we spent a short time visiting then got into Erdene and Bolor’s car and went back into Choibolson to watch wrestling at the Nadaam stadium.

Daryl and I found this wrestling pretty boring compared to American wrestling, but the Mongolians are very proud of their wrestling traditions. Four matches at a time were taking place in the grassy courtyard of the stadium. The two wrestlers would lock arms and circle for a very long time before one would finally make a move. Once a wrestler is taken down to either a knee or elbow one time, the match is over and the winner preens for the crowd. One match we watched had been going on for over 30 minutes, and no one had attempted a takedown. We left before it was over, but in the parking lot we heard the crowd cheer, and assumed the match had finally ended.

We then went to the flour factory owned by Erdene’s family. They call it a flour factory, but it also produces bread. We were taken to Bolorchulun’s office suite, which was by far the nicest place we had seen in eastern Mongolia. It was very elegant and appointed with beautiful things.

Daryl and Erdene went on a tour of the entire factory, which was not operating today because of the holiday. Several girls from the staff were there to prepare and serve our lunch, however. We were joined by Bolorchulun and Enkhbayar, and enjoyed visiting again. We shared vodka toasts twice to honor the friendship between the Americans and these Mongolians.

After this visit, we returned to the hotel for two hours to rest up and pack for a trip to the countryside. Bolorchulun had arranged for one of his herders to host us at his home, in a separate ger put up for our benefit while we were there. The hospitality being shown to us was overwhelming, and we were very excited at the prospect of spending time with a real herder and his family, to see how they live.

It began to rain shortly after we left for the countryside. The trip was supposed to be 40 kilometers, but Erdene didn’t have any idea where he was going, and we got lost many times. No one worried, though, but just enjoyed the humor in the situation. We were on the very primitive trails again, which were sometimes impassable due to the rain. One time Erdene had his window down trying to see where he was going, and was splattered inside the car when he hit a puddle. He laughed and said he wondered what he was doing with his window down. He should have had Daryl’s window down!

Mongolian Road Sign - A Herder

We asked directions from herders many times, and finally after nearly three hours found where we were going. Bolor said this should have taken one hour, but instead it was three. We were joined by three people from Bolorchulun’s company, including the cook, Delgermaa, who had also prepared our lunch at the factory. The herder’s family included the herder, Bataa, wo I had ridden in the Land Cruiser with for the race earlier; his wife, Nergui; their two young sons, Davaa and Puba; and a young female relative, Nandintsetseg, from a settlement, who is spending the summer with them. Delgermaa also stayed after everyone else left this evening, and would be with us for the entire visit. Davaa was one of the jockeys we had been watching prepare for and race the last two days.

Annette, Davaa in front of Bataa, Puba on Nergui's lap, and Nandintsetseg on Daryl's knee.

Davaa where he's happiest, on the back of a horse!


Delgermaa - our cook

We were fed dinner, prepared over an open fire outside the herder’s home. It consisted of beef, potatoes, onions and carrots, and was absolutely delicious. I told Daryl it was my favorite meal of the trip so far, and hadn’t been prepared in a regular kitchen, but under the stars over a fire made of animal dung. After dinner, two of the company employees and Bolor and Erdene left us, and Nergui, Delgermaa, and Nandintsetseg prepared our accommodations for sleeping.

Delgermaa, Annette, Bolor, Erdene and Bataa stand around the kitchen and visit.

They made our beds, and Bataa and Dawaa spread mosquito netting all across the outside of our ger.

Because of the rain, it was a very chilly night, and we were pretty much soaking wet. Crawling into the beds, however, was very warm, and we spent a very comfortable night.

It started sprinkling again during the night, and it was a wonderful sound to hear the patter of the rain on the ger roof. We also could hear the sounds of horses nearby, and that, too, was a soothing sound.