Naadam in Ulaanbaatar

The last moments spent in Mongolia will be dedicated to the Naadam, the country's traditional festival that is celebrated nationwide. The three manly games (archery, wrestling and horse racing) were considered to be the essential skills in ancient times.

The opening ceremony is a combination of quite a few surprises

The wrestling begins with 512 wrestlers meeting in a single-elimination tournament. They lose if they touch the ground with any part of the body except hands and feet. Competitors wear an open-chest vest called zodog, made open to ensure only mean take part in the wrestling, after a national champion was found to be a woman, according to the legend.

35000 wrestlers, 40000 horse racers and 1500 archers compete throughout the country.

Good bye everybody, take care !

Aduu min zuseeree saikhan Baina

Adduchin bi jargaj Baina...

Mongolia : On the road (again)

It's already time to head back to the capital, with Oyona cooking for us in “borrowed” restaurant rooms, and Choukaa and Gamba fixing the trucks.

We will have the opportunity to see horses race with a lot fewer people than in Ulaanbaatar. Just try and imagine that those kids are between 5 and 10 years old, and cover almost 30 km in 45 minutes with their horses.

Last monastery, last ride (on camel back this time, where is my Sheitan ???), last pictures before coming back to Ulaanbaatar...

In the steppes

Time to start the great adventure !

First contact with the nomadic breeders, with whom we will stay during the next 10 days. It is purely amazing to be here, it hardly seems real.

And also first contact with the horses. They have no name, it will give us the opportunity to chose how we want to call them. Mine will be Sheitan, “devil” in Arabic language : generally speaking, the Mongolian horses are more wild than tame, and this little buddy is a 4 year old stallion. It looks like those holidays are going to be eventful !

After a first 8 hour day of riding (including 4 hours of trot and lope, now I understand why people say that Mongolian horses lope like the wind in the steppes) full of emotions and a night more than useful to recover from the previous day, we leave family campground and start heading towards the Orkhon falls, then a bit further every day.

There is no word to describe what we are going to live during the following 8 days, but just to give you an idea :

• welcoming sanitaries

• fully equipped kitchens (and an amazing cook, thanks for everything Oyona !)

• one million star campgrounds
  

• awesome sceneries and millions of flowers everywhere
  

• cattle drives (mmhh, this reminds me something, but I cannot remember what...)

• long, non stop, exhausting days ;)

• learning how to load and unload a yak (not sure that I will have the opportunity to practice very often in Paris) with the 150 kg they can handle, or to ride it

• watching women milk the mares, and practicing on yaks afterwards (it just took me about 2 minutes to get 5 drops, fortunately I don't do it as a living...)
  

• learning how they kill sheep (!!! if you want to learn it, you can have a look at the video below, otherwise do not try and view it !!!). Poor Dudule, before, during and after...

• trying to find solutions to fight against all the insects of the universe in the evenings

• hailstones starting to fall where there is not a single tree within miles and miles

• unforgettable moments spent with the families we will meet on the road, tasting the mare milk, the yak cheese and the salted tea they offer to anybody who enters their home

• wonderful evenings spent with everybody around the fire, playing cards or listening to Mongolian songs during hours, laughing out loud and doing our best to communicate in spite of the language

Those days flew away like seconds, we didn't want to leave Puruwe, Timbe, Badra, Boldaa, Gana and Bor.... For sure, we will never forget you guys, nor your families. Thank you so much for everything you shared with us day after day.

(Thank you Laura for the group pictures)