We spent the first two days in Mongolia to enjoy the Naadam festival as Nelle mentioned in her last post about Mongolia. Naadam is like the Olympics or World Cup for Mongolia, and it features competitions of the three manly man sports of drinking, betting, and drinking. There are also smaller events in wrestling, archery, and horse-racing. We picked up our previously arranged tickets to see the opening ceremonies of the festival, and walked down to the city stadium after a surprisingly cosmopolitan breakfast at a local cafe (Who would have thought: cafe latte only ~$1.50?). We arrived to find a completely packed arena filled with locals and tourists the world over (Naadam is basically the main reason that most foreigners visit Mongolia anyway, I'm sure).

The ceremony, which coincidentally also this year marks the 800th anniversary of the Mongol Empire (!), was incredible!! It completely exceeded any expectations and was on par with the Olympic opening ceremonies, if not more impressive - ok, maybe I'm biased because I got to see it in person. There were thousands of performers, singers, dancers, horsemen, and others in costume. A section of the stands was reserved for people with coordinated colored cards that would form the Mongolian flag and other images. A live orchestra played traditional music. A marching band played triumphantly and the deep tones of ancient "long song" singers resonated through the stands. A legion of traditional Mongol "morin khuur" two-stringed guitar players strumming in unison;  A dizzying array of sights filled the stadium:  hundreds of brightly dressed children performing synchronized dances; acrobatic horsemen showing off flips, trick dismounts, and contortionist moves mid-gallop; the President of Mongolia (I think) speaking to the masses; oxen pulling a giant "ger" around the stadium; groups of warriors and martial artists staging faux battles; women in brilliant dresses waving silk ribbons in the air; even an appearance by ol' Chinggis Khaan himself (who was/is formerly and incorrectly referred to as Genghis Khan). By all accounts it was incredible. Well worth the pains and tight schedules in Russia to see this ceremony.

Click below to see videos I took during the Naadam opening ceremony. You will need the newest version of Windows Media Player to play these WMV files.

Video 1 - 9.4 MB
Video 2 - 10.4 MB
Video 3 - 2.3 MB
Video 4 - 3.6 MB

Outside the stadium was a bevy of souvenir and food stands, which we perused with much excitement until we could no longer stay standing. We staggered back to our pleasant $5/night hostel enamored with Mongolia, and the following day we eagerly hired a driver to take us on a 5 day, 4 night excursion to explore more of our new favorite country.