On the way we passed a small lake with a tern colony, where there were avocets and ruddy and common shelduck too. We stopped for pictures and a quick look through binoculars, but couldn't stay long - too much to do!
We used GPS to find the site for the naadam - that's Ger Positioning System, stop and ask at a ger, and they say "over that way, so many kilometres". There are plenty of "roads" to choose from, but eventually we started to see trucks, motorbikes and cars converging on a hill. At the top of the hill we found a very big ovoo (cairn) and some monks were holding a ceremony in the middle of a crowd of people. As the ceremony ended, all the vehicles jolted down the hill to a flatter area below and formed a rough circle. Some people were selling pasties called horseshoes, containing mutton, which are deep fried - not unlike a super-greasy bridie. We had a picnic with us - sandwiches made after breakfast.
The riders in the race are boys and girls aged about 7 to 10, so they are light-weight, and they often have only a light saddle or none at all. They are super-confident riders, riding around in groups as they wait for the races. The horses' tails are usually tied half-way down and many of them have a cloth around their neck and chest. The riders for each race walk their horses out to the start point, in this case the first race, for adult horses, started 15km away, the second race, for young horses, was shorter. A crowd of vehicles, motor bikes and non-racing horses goes along too - many Dads go along to give final advice and cheer their children on.
We watched the riders leave - i followed for a while, as did Ciera and Chelsea, then back to the cars to wait. After a while, we moved the cars across to near the finish flag, and stood on the small hill behind to watch for them coming in. The marker car, with a red flag, came in view, followed by the riders and accompanying motorbikes. Two young riders were neck and neck, a long way out in front, tearing along even at the end of this 15km race.
After the races, it was time for the wrestling - inside the circle of cars and trucks. The only preparation was one man removing the more jagged rocks from the "ring"! Apparently, in the past, some women beat the men at wrestling and the men were so annoyed that they changed the top part of the costume so that you can be sure it's a man! Certainly it's not a style i could imagine many women being happy to wear for wrestling! Anyway, it was a knock-out competition, starting with 66 entrants. Some of the boys from Ikh Nart entered, but although they tried hard, they did not get very far...
The prizes for the horse racing were awarded next - things like TVs, toys and electronics are among the prizes. The horse that came second is owned by on of the ladies from the Ikh Nart Co-operative, and her nephew was riding it. in the picture they are arranged right to left with the winner on the right.
We got back to camp about 7pm, and had a quick dinner, then it was time to hunt hedgehogs - Tom needs more for his research, and they are being a bit shy about appearing, so we're trying a night hunt, starting at 2100 from camp, and all going in the Russian jeep or on motorbikes - plenty of singing on the way! About 20 people, in teams of 2 or 3 with head torches and flashlights trying to walk 2km in staight lines. It looked fairly orderly to start with, but we had to look in every bush and under rock ledges, so some teams took longer than others. I was with Remu and Sanaa, and we found a birds nest and saw a "small mammal" of some sort dash off into the darkness. Like everyone else, though, we found not one single solitary hedgehog! Time for a rethink... and a night's sleep! My feet had survived all day and night in boots, too, with powder in my socks to help them...
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