This morning we leave Ulaanbaatar to begin our exploration of this vast country. But the first order of business was to drive about one hour to Hui Doloon hudag, the horse racing site for Naadam. It is simply an open field with rolling hills, located about 50 km from the city. We will be attending the most important race- 5 year old horses who will be racing 30km across the steppes. The riders are boys and girls aged 5-13! And they used to ride bareback, now use saddles and helmets for safety reasons. Horses and riders trot out the 30 km, turn around and immediately race back. Those horses must really be something to handle those distances. The top 5 winning riders get school supplies and a medal while the owner of the horse and trainers get free apartments, cars and money! Seems a bit unfair to me but everyone seems happy with the system.
Our touring vehicles turned out to be late model Lexus SUVs! We had three vehicles (3 people each plus driver) and rotated drivers and vehicles each day. Maggie always rode in the lead vehicle which then held 4 people.
What was unbelievable was how many people come out to watch these races; Maggie said up to 800, 000 people come here. It has a county fair kind of vibe- games, food, drinks (airag) and partying! We arrived early to absorb the experience, ate some more Naadam fried pancakes and worked our way down to the area of the finish line where thousands of people jockeyed for viewing locations. And then, it was over in a blink of an eye and people either went back to partying or like us tried to leave the venue, which turned out to be a major problem as it took us 1.5 hours to leave the parking area and get back to the paved roadway.
Parking everywhere you look. Might be a real challenge finding our vehicle when we want to leave.
Many people camp overnight at the site of the Naadam horse races.
Local family enjoying their breakfast while waiting for the horse race to end.
Most people drive to the site. Others simply ride their horses.
Carnival like atmosphere here.
Wonder what he is cooking. Looks pretty elaborate.
Souvenirs and candy for sale.
This sheep will soon be part of a restaurant offering.
Cool, remote controlled (by the parent) cars for rent.
Not sure what the object of this game is.
Camel rides are available.
Dressed in her party finery!
One of dozens of pop-up restaurants here.
A ger restaurant. Note how they allow air circulation by opening the lower portion of the ger.
Enjoying another hot fresh Naadam specialty-Huushuur, the deep fried meat pie. It was really good!
Scott had to try the horse meat and chicken offering. The horsemeat tasted like beef to me.
Now that looks like a fun slide!
Hmmm. Seems there were more adults than kids on the train ride.
The crowd is huge! Supposedly up to 800,000 people show up for these races.
Spraying the spectators with a water mist right before the horse riders show up.
Here come the leaders. It goes real fast! I am amazed at the endurance of these horses, running like that for over 15 miles.
Ten minutes after the race leaders/ winners showed up the stands were empty!
Messing with the crowd after the race. The kids loved getting wet.
Yes, we were there.
Cars and people everywhere.
Trying to leave the parking area after the horse race. It took us 1.5 hours to reach the road!
We stopped at a local ger camp for a late lunch before heading further south, stopping for awhile to watch a local nomadic family milking the mares in their herd; the milk is then used to make their alcoholic airag drink. It is a fairly complicated process. The mare’s foal will start nursing to start the milk flow, then is pulled aside for the nomad to continue collecting the milk. The foal is left touching the mare during the process. The foal is allowed to resume feeding once the milking process is completed. This milking occurs 8-9 times a day from mid-June to October!
Note dirt tracks which serve as roads when off the paved highway, which are few and far between. Surprisingly the dirt roads are in good shape and we often were traveling at 40 mph or so on them.
The dining hall at the lunch stop ger camp.
Our lunch stop. Unusual decor in the dining room.
Chicken nuggets and meatballs for lunch.
Our French lady pouring hot water for tea.
Now that looks like a fun camping rig!
Locals gathering at the local watering hole for some swimming and probably washing of clothes.
A large herd of cashmere goats and sheep enjoying the delicacies of Mongolia grasslands. By the way, the goats and sheep do not interbreed!
Pick out your next cashmere sweater. Mongolia supplies most of the cashmere to the world.
The expansive steppes of Mongolia. Treeless as far as the eye can see.
The small herd of mare horses and their foals, waiting to be milked.
The nomad lady milking a mare.
Scott handing out hard candy to this ger family.
Maggie asking the children how old they were. They were very polite.
We arrived at our first stay in a ger camp around 7PM. It was surprisingly modern with nice beds, very clean restrooms and showers. There was even electricity available 24 hours. Our ger experience begins!
Genghis Khan revered the sky, I can see why. The cloud formations are ever changing and marvelous.
Our first sign of the real “rock”!
Our first ger camp experience. It was located 102 miles from Ulaanbaatar and 3 miles from a real road.
The ger camp had 37 gers for tourists.
The way luggage is deleivered to your ger by young people working at the camps.
The main dining ger and wash facilities at the camp.
The central dining ger.
Our home, away from home.
Modern day gers have elaborate wooden doors, rather than the canvas of old.
Furnishings were basic but adequate. It was cool at night so a blanket was provided. We did not need the stove.
This ger had electricity 24/7. Not all of them will.
Modern, clean toilets with lots of toilet paper!
Showers were good, although most did not provide soap or washclothes.
Very modern bathrooms.
Typical buffet selections. The potatoes were excellent.
Surprisingly good salads and kimchee.
The beer here was cold and cheap.
Nearby hill that Scott climbed after dinner.
Sunset on our first night on the steppes of Mongolia.
