Sophie's World: Ulaanbaatar Naadam 11-12.07.2008

Naadam, the full name which I'm unable to write in Mongolian, means the three manly sports (Horse, Archery and Wrestling). Nowadays the only one that remains reserved to men is the wrestling; the other two are practiced by both genders. It is also the biggest festival in Mongolia it last for 3 days and is celebrated around the country. Disorganised as I can be I found myself trapped in UB. My original idea was to go somewhere in the countryside to enjoy a more familiar Naadam, with the idea that next year I would've been able to see it in UB. Well I had to reverse plans, this year was UB next I'll pick somewhere else!

As for Tsaagan saar, life stops for three days, however this time, the streets are full of people and most of the time happy people eating khoshuur (sort of empanadas, very helpful indeed I give you a Venezuelan reference for a Mongolian word!)

There are two sites for the festivities, the national stadium, where the open ceremony and the wrestling are done; also the archery is practiced round that area; then the horse race valley. The all go for 2 full day, overlapping a bit before and after.

I could tell you my misadventures of why I didn't get to see the opening ceremony and got locked once outside and once inside of an apartment, almost got beaten up by a taxi driver, putted salt on the tea instead of sugar, broke the yolk of the egg while trying to cheer up my morning! All this in approximately 6 hours (between 3am and 10am)… but I'll stick to the point and concentrate on the festival. As one of my friends said I'm cursed and I ought to go and see a Lama… I'm taking this advice very seriously!

Sport Naadam

Female archery