Festival Anyone? July 11, 2006
Today’s the big day. We’re all getting up and going to the NADAAM Festival. In our ger camp there is a bus load of German Tourist that left the same time we did. They are moving on and won’t be coming back to this camp. I envy them; we’ve already spent one night here. We should be moving on too. Nomad fever, wanderlust it’s all the same.
The drive to town went quickly that is until we reached town. Traffic rivaled some of the worst grid locked traffic I have ever seen. It took us about 45 minutes to move 1-2 miles. There were traffic cops at the major intersections, but they seemed to randomly select who could go and not go or in some cases who could turn and who must go straight. Traffic laws and signs, painted lanes and directions seem to be more along the line of suggestions as opposed to laws that must be followed. The result is a free for all that brings traffic to all but a halt when the two – three thousand cars that are here are all on the road at once. For example; there is a four lane bridge right before we got to the left turn off for the stadium where the opening ceremonies were held. Two lanes each way, but by mass vote all of us heading to the stadium decided that all four lanes would go that way. Our car was in one of the opposing lanes when we reached the stadium side of the bridge. The traffic policeman, who had been letting all other traffic in our lane turn, decided that we were not worthy and told us to keep going straight even though this meant cutting across the two right lanes that were turning left into the stadium. When TomA objected the policeman reached inside the car and turned the wheel. When TomA objected again and showed our parking pass the policeman grabbed it and continued to wave us on straight. We capitulated and guess what happened to the cars behind us….They were told to turn left. We never found out what that was all about, but the fun was just beginning.
TomA let us out and we walked the 300 yards to the stadium. It was an absolute madhouse. The ceremony started at 11 and it was about 10 after when we got there. We fought our way to the entrance and through the gate but then came to a screeching halt on the stairs that led to the section that was designated by our tickets. Through sheer force, this not an exaggeration!, we made it to the top of the stairs and after a few minutes down toward the front row of seats. At this time I was thinking “alright, they got us seats on the front row”. It’s sad to see our innocent naïve dreams come crashing down around us, but that’s exactly what happened. We made it to the front row and Muugii motioned for us to sit down on the floor in front of the front row. I did so because I didn’t want to stand in front of the people that were already sitting, but I did it under protest. I looked around and not only were there not any empty seats, read this as open spaces on the concrete benches, there were people sitting in other people’s laps! I asked about our seats and Muugii said there weren’t any. I then looked at the ticket, he had given them to Holly and I just as we were walking to the stadium, and noticed that there were no seat numbers just a section. A quick conference with Holly confirmed this. We kneeled there for about 45 minutes. Holly was able to see some of what was happening through an opening. I studied the closer backsides of the costumed participants that were lining the field.
During the ceremony we heard speeches, in Mongolian of course, but there were also acrobats, martial arts performers (maybe a hundred) horse and foot soldiers charging all over the field (maybe 500) and Chinggis Kahn himself ( or a reasonable facsimile) riding around the arena accompanied by 40-50 soldiers all dressed in period costume. From what I could see it was quite a spectacle.
We left the stadium and went to the archery competition that was being held on the grounds. Archery is a time honored tradition here and is still a big sport. Muugii told us that wrestling, archery and horse racing are the big three sports here. We sat for about an hour watching the archers, both men and women warm up. The contestants are all in costume of the time of the Great Kahn and still worn today and the bows they shoot could have been carried by the Kahn’s men.
After the President’s arrival, the competition got under way. Two different types of competition were held; standing, with women shooting from 75 meters and men shooting from 85, and horseback shooting at a ball hung in front of a sheep skin. The horsemen rode by at full gallop and let fly as they passed. Some of these guys were quite good. Just as the actual competition was starting it started to rain and we went to find TomA and the car.
Lunch was a production with flaming shish kabob, fueled by vodka, as the main dish. Like most of the food here it was quite good and very filling.
Since the rain had not let up when we had finished lunch the decision was made to had back to the ger camp and take it easy the rest of the day. So for one of the few days on this trip I am finishing this before 6PM and will have the night free. One more bonus for the day was that Muugii arranged for a lady at the camp to do our laundry. A tall kitchen garbage bag full for 3000 tugrics (Mongolian unit of currency) and worth about US$2.70. That’s what I call a bargain.
The drive to town went quickly that is until we reached town. Traffic rivaled some of the worst grid locked traffic I have ever seen. It took us about 45 minutes to move 1-2 miles. There were traffic cops at the major intersections, but they seemed to randomly select who could go and not go or in some cases who could turn and who must go straight. Traffic laws and signs, painted lanes and directions seem to be more along the line of suggestions as opposed to laws that must be followed. The result is a free for all that brings traffic to all but a halt when the two – three thousand cars that are here are all on the road at once. For example; there is a four lane bridge right before we got to the left turn off for the stadium where the opening ceremonies were held. Two lanes each way, but by mass vote all of us heading to the stadium decided that all four lanes would go that way. Our car was in one of the opposing lanes when we reached the stadium side of the bridge. The traffic policeman, who had been letting all other traffic in our lane turn, decided that we were not worthy and told us to keep going straight even though this meant cutting across the two right lanes that were turning left into the stadium. When TomA objected the policeman reached inside the car and turned the wheel. When TomA objected again and showed our parking pass the policeman grabbed it and continued to wave us on straight. We capitulated and guess what happened to the cars behind us….They were told to turn left. We never found out what that was all about, but the fun was just beginning.
TomA let us out and we walked the 300 yards to the stadium. It was an absolute madhouse. The ceremony started at 11 and it was about 10 after when we got there. We fought our way to the entrance and through the gate but then came to a screeching halt on the stairs that led to the section that was designated by our tickets. Through sheer force, this not an exaggeration!, we made it to the top of the stairs and after a few minutes down toward the front row of seats. At this time I was thinking “alright, they got us seats on the front row”. It’s sad to see our innocent naïve dreams come crashing down around us, but that’s exactly what happened. We made it to the front row and Muugii motioned for us to sit down on the floor in front of the front row. I did so because I didn’t want to stand in front of the people that were already sitting, but I did it under protest. I looked around and not only were there not any empty seats, read this as open spaces on the concrete benches, there were people sitting in other people’s laps! I asked about our seats and Muugii said there weren’t any. I then looked at the ticket, he had given them to Holly and I just as we were walking to the stadium, and noticed that there were no seat numbers just a section. A quick conference with Holly confirmed this. We kneeled there for about 45 minutes. Holly was able to see some of what was happening through an opening. I studied the closer backsides of the costumed participants that were lining the field.
During the ceremony we heard speeches, in Mongolian of course, but there were also acrobats, martial arts performers (maybe a hundred) horse and foot soldiers charging all over the field (maybe 500) and Chinggis Kahn himself ( or a reasonable facsimile) riding around the arena accompanied by 40-50 soldiers all dressed in period costume. From what I could see it was quite a spectacle.
We left the stadium and went to the archery competition that was being held on the grounds. Archery is a time honored tradition here and is still a big sport. Muugii told us that wrestling, archery and horse racing are the big three sports here. We sat for about an hour watching the archers, both men and women warm up. The contestants are all in costume of the time of the Great Kahn and still worn today and the bows they shoot could have been carried by the Kahn’s men.
After the President’s arrival, the competition got under way. Two different types of competition were held; standing, with women shooting from 75 meters and men shooting from 85, and horseback shooting at a ball hung in front of a sheep skin. The horsemen rode by at full gallop and let fly as they passed. Some of these guys were quite good. Just as the actual competition was starting it started to rain and we went to find TomA and the car.
Lunch was a production with flaming shish kabob, fueled by vodka, as the main dish. Like most of the food here it was quite good and very filling.
Since the rain had not let up when we had finished lunch the decision was made to had back to the ger camp and take it easy the rest of the day. So for one of the few days on this trip I am finishing this before 6PM and will have the night free. One more bonus for the day was that Muugii arranged for a lady at the camp to do our laundry. A tall kitchen garbage bag full for 3000 tugrics (Mongolian unit of currency) and worth about US$2.70. That’s what I call a bargain.
posted by Gary and Holly Davis @ 7:20 AM
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