Thursday, July 10 - Horse racing and Nadaam

Wow, what a day! Have I said that before? Every day just keeps bringing more amazing adventures, and every day ends with the two of us thinking, “Wow, what a day!”

The day began early again. We are 400 miles east of UlanBator, where the sun rose at 4:30 a.m., but the time zone is the same so today the sun rose at 3:30 a.m. Our windows fill the entire wall of our room, so there’s no missing the sunrise.

We ate breakfast from our own supplies this morning, as Daryl was unable to find the restaurant, and I was busy working on the diary for yesterday. We went downstairs at 9 a.m. to meet Erdene and Bolor, but they were running about a half hour late so we hung around outside the hotel for those 30 minutes and watched the people coming and going.

When they did pick us up, they dropped us off at the internet café just down the street and went to wash the car. When they returned, we headed to the stadium for Nadaam. On the way, we stopped to take in a ceremony honoring the soldiers who fought the Japanese in 1945. A military band was playing and there was a large crowd gathered round. As we left that, we were amused that the young soldiers who had been in attendance drove over to the stadium in vans, and the elderly men who had been honored were making their way on foot, some with canes, and others with young family members helping them make the trek.

Once there, we went up into a raised grandstand reserved for dignitaries. We weren’t dignitaries, but we sat in seats reserved for Erdene’s brother, Bolorchulun, and rubbed elbows with some who were while up there. The governor and his entourage were there, and we later watched as he gave a speech to open the Nadaam festivities. We tried airag (fermented mare’s milk) and dried cheese and dried curds made of mare’s milk for the first time, and decided it must be an acquired taste that we didn’t have. We listened to some Mongolian national music, watched some traditional dancing, and then left to go to the countryside to see the horse racing.

This horse racing is not the kind Americans normally think of. These races are run over open grasslands for approximately 27 kilometers, and the jockeys are the children of herders, ages eight to 15. The pageantry and excitement of the race was something to experience. We met up with Bolorchulun and his three children, as well as his good friend and the engineer for his company, Enkbayar, and spent the rest of the day going with them from place to place for various activities associated with the racing. He had one horse in each of two races we would watch today. It takes special permission to follow the race, since they don’t want a lot of cars interfering with the race, but he had this permission, and we were allowed to observe both races from start to finish.

We raced across the grass of the countryside in a Toyota Land Cruiser to watch the race. In the morning’s race, Daryl had a front seat, and I was crammed into the backseat with a horse herder (who we would later live with for a day), Erdene, Erdene’s two teenage nieces, Kherlen and Khaliun, and his three year old nephew, Tushig. In the cargo area behind us were a friend and another of the family’s herders. It was a wild, bumpy and exciting ride watching the 100+ horses and their young riders run that 27 kilometers. We had never experienced anything remotely like this, and it was a thrill!

When we returned back to the area where the family and friends were gathering, Daryl and I were invited into one of the herder’s gers. We were both offered a bowl of milk tea, which is actually warm milk diluted with water. It would be the first of several bowls of this traditional drink we would be offered as we visited various places across the countryside during the day. We were both also offered curds again, as well as some fried bread that was very tasty, and traditional Mongolian noodle soup. Daryl ate a bowl of the soup, which he has come to really enjoy. He also accepted the offered Mongolian vodka, but I declined. The men were delighted that Daryl shared their vodka with them, and he would be offered vodka several more times as he joined different groups of men for visiting during the horse racing.

After some more visiting, our entire group went back into Choibolson to the Nadaam festival, and we had lunch at one of the food stands set up there. We had potato salad and a type of fritter, similar to a sopaipilla, filled with lamb. We met another one of Erdene’s brothers during lunch, and we had met one earlier in the day at the horse race. He is one of nine brothers, and the oldest brother, Bolorchulun, we were with wields great power in the family. As we traveled with him throughout the day, it was very clear that he holds an important position in this area, and is someone everyone wants to be friends with.

Tushig, Khalium, Enkbayer (the engineer), Bolor, Kherlen, Bolorchulun, and Erdene.

Erdene’s oldest niece, Kherlan, just graduated from high school in Choibolson, and was an exchange student in Aurora during her junior year. She was an absolutely delightful young lady, and I thoroughly enjoyed visiting with her. She had such a unique perspective, having lived a year in Colorado, and now back home in Mongolia. When the ten of us crowded into the Land Cruiser the first time in the morning, she joked with me about this not being much like Colorado—no seat belts and no child car seats! She and her sister, as well as their little brother, were dressed in traditional Mongolian costumes, and the girls were quite beautiful. Tushig took a real liking to Daryl, and was his little shadow for much of the day, asking for handshake quite frequently.

Following lunch, we headed over to watch the archery competition. It seemed pretty tame after the wild activity of the morning, but Bolorchulun arranged for Daryl to try his hand at archery. Daryl was introduced to an older gentleman whose job is head of the tax department for the aimag. His passion, though, was archery, and he was happy to arrange for Daryl to get some tips as he attempted to shoot. Daryl didn’t do too badly, and they told him to come back next year a little earlier and they would practice with him, then enter him into the competition.

We then left the Nadaam stadium to return to the countryside for more horse racing. The next race would be the very young two-year-old horses, and we watched as some of the young jockeys made their preparations for the race. Daryl and I were again shown Mongolian hospitality at one of the herder’s homes, and we both took the milk tea that was offered, and Daryl accepted more vodka. We were also offered more Mongolian noodle soup, but we declined as we had just eaten.

It was very fun to watch and visit a little with several of the riders. They were such little kids, and the boys were frequently wrestling on the ground, apparently getting ready for the other part of Nadaam festivities when they grow too old to race!

This time the race across the steppe in the Land Cruiser was much more comfortable—with just five of us in the car. This race was shorter because the horses are so young. The horses are ridden the 12 kilometers out to the starting point, then gather together and race 12 kilometers back to the finish line. Some of these young horses had a hard time finishing the race, and some could be seen nursing from their mothers after the race was over.

After each of the races we watched, Bolorchulun insisted on finding the winning horse and taking a closer look at it. This wasn’t easy, because when the race is over each rider takes his horse and returns to his family’s gathering area, so we wandered for quite some time before locating the horses. Again, Daryl was invited to join the circle of Mongolian men discussing the racing and drinking vodka. He was really starting to fit in!

At about 7:30, we made our way back into town and nine of us had dinner together at a Chinese restaurant In Choibolson. The dinner conversation finally veered away from horses, and Bolor and Kherlen played interpreter for a detailed discussion of farming and economies. Once again, we were exhausted as we returned to our hotel for the night. Tomorrow, we enjoy more horse racing, and get to watch some of the wrestling competition.