Naddam Festival Day 3

Day Three at Naadam

 

There are hundreds of gers set up at Naadam, most are selling food, drinks, and toys for the kids.  Some are big and beautiful like this one. One of the country's political parties is the host here. Each time you step in you move to the left to be seated. Once seated the host or hostess offers you a bowl of milk that you take with both hands. You are required by custom to take at least one sip.  It was our first taste of fermented horse milk called "Airag". You cannot imagine how bad it tastes. I am with our translator and her brother.


Whatever you don't drink they pour back into the large vat.  Then they offer you goat yogurt candy, goat cheese with raisins and some kind of meat. If they offer you food on a plate, tradition is to touch the bottom edge of the plate first before taking the food. You are by custom to take some.  They were reasonably tolerable except for the candy.  The brown basket looking object is braided bread with the cheese and candy filled to the brim
We made the mistake of visiting another ger so we could see the inside, but again, we had to go through the ritual.  (Dan failed to tell you that as our translator was explaining and coaching us as to the traditions, he was doing them all wrong and the native Mongolians inside the ger thought it was quite comical. LOL! But they all seemed to be good sports about it.)

A poor mans ger may cost $2,000 or $3,000. This one is in the $8,000  to
$10,000 range.

 

Well, we broke down and decided to give camel riding a try. We heard some crazy stories from Dan and Mary when they were in Africa and did this for two days into the desert, sleeping on the ground in wind and sand and then back to civilization.  The ride wasn't so bad. If you look a little closer there was no saddle or reins. Just hold onto the hump especially when the camel gets on his knees for you to get off!  We had to try it at only 1500 tugs ($1.10) each.  I think it was more expensive in Africa.


 This is the entire Darkhan Zone of Missionaries and our translator. They are a great bunch of missionaries! Most speak a little English!  We had a lot of fun, sun, food, wrestling, and meeting lots of new people.  We look forward to Naadam next year to see the horse racing and archery contests.