We had an early start today so we could catch a Nadaam in the countryside. It was a combination of a fair and sports competition. We saw the wrestling and horse racing events. The wrestling looked rather like sumo wrestling but the object was to get the opponent to touch a hand, elbow, or knee on the ground. The horse race we saw was of young kids riding two-year olds eleven kilometers. It wasn't quite as exciting as the last race we saw since the riders were spread out at the finish line.
The fair included lots of festival games. I tried my hand at throwing darts at balloons and throwing balls at cans. I did decently but just missed winning. :-( There were kids riding horses and people lining up to get their pictures taken in front of backdrops.
Lunch was an outdoor picnic on hills overlooking the town. We got to try mutton which was really tender. We also did shots of the local vodka.
The most interesting part was talking to some local and getting invited into their ger. It turned out to be a ger of a local political party but they were still very hospitable even if we couldn't vote. We got to try airag finally! That'd be the fermented mare's milk drink. It tasted like buttermilk really.
I didn't take any pics from my phone today so no blog photos. I got a lot of nice people shots on my camera but those will have to wait until I get back.
Tomorrow is the opening ceremonies of the Ulaanbaatar Nadaam. We'll get to see wrestling again as well as archery. It'll be my last day in Mongolia!
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