Travels with Kathryn

An early start (I feel most of my Mongolia posts have opened on a similar statement) to drive the 30km west out of Ulaanbaatar to Khui Doloon Khudag which is location for the horse racing.

As we know, horses are very important to Mongolians and horse racing a serious business and around 30,000 horses will race over Nadaam. Its a cross country long distance race of between 15 and 30km, with child jockeys. Each race is defined by the age of the horse and we’re going to see the 5 year olds. The top five finishers of each race are effectively winners and called the Airgiyn Tav. Interestingly it is the horse owner/trainer that is celebrated rather than the jockeys – maybe all the jockeys need to do is hang on! Luckily they do wear helmets these days.

The whole thing has the feel of something between a big country show and a music festival. Possibly helped by the fact that my last morning in Mongolia is cold – like 3-5 degrees real feel (as there was also a cold wind). I should have worn my puffa coat which I have carried around Mongolia, but obviously left in the hotel room and it was rather chilly wearing just my waterproof and a scarf. But the Mongolians were dressed sensibly in their deels and many ride their horses around, probably to save walking and get a better view over the crowds.

We walked past stalls selling the usual fayre offerings- sunglasses, hats, water filled balloon games and made our way to the stands. I am pleased to report that although it was the same seats as yesterday there was a couple of centimetres either side and plenty of leg room (hurrah!). However, perhaps being more squished in would have been better – Enke did manage to procure a flask of hot raisin juice which helped no end.

The race we have come to see is for 5 year old horses and is one of the most popular. It is over 25km and 121 horses were competing. We were sitting near to the finish line, but horses/jockeys went past us to head down to the registration tent. The jockeys are all aged between 7 and 12. There are probably some tactics as to whether you arrive early of just before the race start as some seemed to be cutting it rather fine…

From the registration area there is then a walked/canter start to the actual start line 25km away and then they race back. One would think that it would make more sense to start at the start, but far be it from me to question an 8 centuries old tradition.

It then takes about 30 minutes for the horses to reach the finish line. As you see them coming over the hill everyone got very excited including me.

Now, I had picked out my winner – no.22 and at one point they were in the lead. However, obviously something went wrong and they ended up near the back. They did not finish last though which was a bit of a disappointment, as there is also a prize for last place. The winner was actually a 7 year old boy from South Gobi called Badar-Uugan. He also won yesterday on an older horse so he must be doing something right.

We stayed to cheer all the horses home whereas the locals like to head to greet the winning horse and collect some of its sweat for luck. I was fine to not do this, and instead had a bit of an explore.

By now it was 3pm and we could either return to the staduim to watch the final wrestling, or back to the hotel. Now usually I am all about maximising the experiences, however, it was the same seats which means that we would be way over the other side of the stadium plus we’d need to be back at the hotel at 5.30pm for our final group dinner. Therefore it was back to the hotel via a shop for plane snacks and to pack whilst watching the wrestling on tv.

I am pleased to report that all the holey clothes are being thrown out, so I am going home with a near empty bag. I managed to squeeze in a little shopping, but there has been very limited opportunities- for example, I did manage to buy postcards yesterday but have failed to write them, find/buy stamps or post them. Oh well.

After a shower it was time for the final group tour. Due to the pace of the trip, and the fact that you spend much of it travelling in separate Russian vans I have spent most of my time with a small group of people I have really liked. Whereas the one or two people who were less my cup of tea (we all know every trip has at least one person) I was able to minimise my time with. Worked out for me.

Due to it being Nadaam and our being a big group, we were only able to book a table at the Grand Khan Irish Pub. I may have questioned it, but I had an excellent rare filet steak (well actually two as the portions were huge) and a honemade lemonade for £25. There was even broccoli. They were also showing the wrestling and we now only have two rounds to go – the wrestlers are getting bigger and the matches longer. We watched round eight so just four wrestlers to go.

We have said goodbye to the group, with big hugs for our bus crew. Colette and I are now in our room watching the wrestling. We have just had 1 of the 4 concedeto his opponent. Apparently he is a 4 times champion and wants a younger man to win. What lovely sportsmanship. I love Nadaam.

I may have to go to sleep soon as I have set an alarm for 5.15am for the journey home. I am very sad to be leaving Mongolia and would heartily recommend it, but I will have plenty of time to reflect (and articulate it into a blog post tomorrow).