The view of the stadium from our hotel room
On the way to the stadium through the crowds
The national stadium and waiting for the opening ceremony to begin
The dancers and musicians getting ready
The Opening Ceremony begins
The nine banners are carried into the stadium
There were hundreds of dancers of all ages
And the effect was spectacular
There were displays of amazing horsemanship
There are three main manly sports of the festival. The first being wrestling.
Some of the pairings looked really miss matched with skinny guys taking on much larger opponents
The second sport is archery and both men and women enter.
The men at the end use are signals to advise the competitor of how on target they are
Archery is clearly a very serious business
The third main spot is horse racing but we found out that ankle bone shooting is becoming more popular and features in the festival.
In the evening of the first day of the festival we went to the Mongolian Traditional Folk Concert and saw the amazing state orchestra made up of Mongolian musical instruments, the Long Song, trout sining, contortion, tribal dances and Buddhist TSAM dance.
We then went to a gala dinner and fashion show though we were not really dressed for the occasion.
Day Two
On the second day we were off to Hui Doloon to watch the horse racing. It was supposed to be an hours drive but the road we were going to take had been closed by the police. We took a detour and then our driver decided it would be quicker to go off road.
I could barely see out of the windscreen but were speeding along. And it seemed to be fine to create your own road on the grassland if there wasn't one in the direction you were traveling or if the car in front wasn't going fast enough. Never mind the horse racing, we were getting off road car racing.
We were making good progress until we needed to cross the railway line and there was a truck wedged in the single lane tunnel. There was no polite queue waiting to go through, more like 100 cars jostling for position 7 cars wide with barely inches between them. The driver who was wedged was busy dismantling the canopy of his truck and was soon on his way through. That's when the fun really started. Everyone was pushing their way forward from our side (including the van next to us which has about 6 children in the front seat) and some 'helpful' people were trying to organise the traffic at the front to ensure everyone went through in tern. The problem was no cars went through for a second which was all the time needed for the cars on the other side to start coming through the other way, only there was no where for them to go as the cars on our side were blocking the road. There was stalemate for a little while with no cars on either side willing or able to budge and it was staring to look doubtful that we would make the horse racing in time. There were lots of discussions and some gesticulating and eventually we were on our way. I am sure if the same situation had happened in England there would have been at least one punch up, one collision and the closure of the train line.
We arrive at Hui Doloon and make our way through the gurs and horses towards the finish line. It seems like half of Mongolia is here.
At the finish line it is standing room only and that is only if you have a horse to do the standing for you. I got pushed out of the way at one point, I turned around to see up who has pushed me so hard only to find the side of a horse. Fair enough, I'll just get out of the way.
We were there to see the finish of the two year old horses. The riders are all aged between 5 years old and 12 years old. Adults would be too heavy for the horses over the 10km / 2 hour race.
Our hero guide managed to sneak us in to the front of the stand with seconds to spare to see the winners come over the finish line
Some horses came in without riders and some riders were crying, some horses practically limped over the finish line exhausted. One horse was barely walking and the young rider was trying so hard to get it to gallop, it was just meters from the finish line and two horses were about to gallop past, all of a sudden the tired horse found the energy from somewhere and galloped over the finish line to a huge cheer from the crowd.
A few of the riders after the race
The setting was stunning and the atmosphere amazing. Some Mongolians were asking us to sit on their horses. (For a small fee no doubt) I have never sat on a horse in my life and I am not going to start with a Mongolian one.
Our hero guide and driver who got us to the finish line in time with seconds to spare.
I love the style of this police van.
And one of the winners being interviewed for television
