Nadaam in Ulan Bator
The Living Culture Heritage

There are roughly 5 million Mongols today, of whom 2,2 million live within independent Mongolia. The remaining ethnic Mongols live in China (Inner Mongolia) and Siberia in the so called Buryat Autonomous Republic to the east of Lake Baikal. In China and Russia most Mongols no longer live in gers and they have become minorities in their own lands.

Brief Outline Itinerary
This is a brief encounter with the Mongolian capital, Ulaanbaatar and its immediate surroundings during Naadam times.  The itinerary should be understood as tentative in order to accommodate any changes in the Naadam programs made or change of restricted areas by the police.   Overbooking of hotels is likely.
We have the experience of Naadam every year, and we know how to anticipate any problems.  It is a time everyone wants to be there which includes the Mongolian government inviting VIPs and other official guests, why accommodation and transport are in short supply.   
Tue 10 July: Ulaanbaatar
Arrive in the Mongolian capital by flight or join this program from any other of our trips. Transfer to the hotel. Ulaanbaatar was a migrating ger city (yurt city) until 1778, when the town finally settled on the Tuul River where it stands today. Today more than half the population still lives in gers in the city.
The minor archery competitions may have started already today, especially different styles such as children’s archery, Buryat style archery etc. and training sessions. If there is time these will be visited during this day, allowing for good photography. In the evening the horsetrainers move their horses with their mobile camps near to the city, and pitch camp at the steppe area.
Wed 11 July: Naadam
A.m. Naadam is being opened officially by the President of Mongolia.  Soldiers on horseback, sometimes dressed in Genghis Khan warrior regalia, will bring the nine white horsetail banners.  They will get the banners at the Parliament where they are normally displayed and will then ride in procession through the city, later to be placed in the center if the National Stadium, from where we will be viewing the Opening Ceremony. Usually the first round of wrestling will start immediately thereafter. 
Usually 512 wrestlers from all across Mongolia will compete in the first round! But sometimes more than 700! No judges, no time limits and no weight limits!
There is a chance to attempt to see the archery competitions (if not done the previous day) and later find our way out to the steppe area on the fringes of the city. Visit to the nomadic tented camps that have sprung up, and experience a concentration of nomadic Mongolia at one site! Herdsmen have come with their horses and all provisions for the festivities, which include airag (koumiss; fermented mares milk) for the merrymaking.  Stroll around the area and you are likely to be invited in somewhere.  You may also try your luck at the finals of the horse races, but prior instructions are necessary, since the coming of a full horserace of several hundred, is a potentially hazardous situation. 
Thu 12 Jul: Naadam
A.m. The horse races are continuous over the two main Naadam days, and today we will try our luck early and find a site beyond the restricted zone, where a close up encounter is possible with some 700 children on horseback.  Otherwise, with the crowds and restrictions of the police, a real close up experience is not possible. Mongol horseracing is part of a living cultural Heritage, similar to the equestrian tradition that brought the Mongol armies to faraway places during medieval times. 
P.m. This is buffer time, to accommodate personal requests, but we will continue our quest to experience the Naadam Games, possibly repeating some of the previous experiences. We will catch up with something that failed earlier or other elements of Naadam. 
Fri 13 Jul: Ulaanbaatar
Transfer to the airport for your flight out of Mongolia or join any of our other trips.

General Info
Mongolian herdsmen of today share the same lifestyles as those their ancestors have practiced since time immemorial. Their land use patterns date back at least to the time of the Huns and the period during which the Chinese started constructing the Great Wall in 200 BC Their life revolves around their yurts, their livestock and the pastures. More than a quarter of the entire population are semi-nomadic herdsmen. Every Mongolian can ride, in fact they dislike walking.

The capital, Ulan Bator offer a sharp contrast to the herdsmen´s lifestyles. Most modern buildings have been erected by Russians over the last thirty or so years. A quarter of the Mongolian population live in this city, but over half of these urbanites still live in traditional gers. Typical for Mongolia, there is a tremendous contrast between the old and the new modern Russian-inspired gray buildings. There seems to be very little middle ground. The modern Russian impact on architecture and lifestyle is confined to Ulan Bator and a few other towns.

Approximately 6 percent of the population of Mongolia are non-ethnic Mongols. These non-Mongol groups are kazakhs, urianhai (tuvinian) and hoton. Kazakhs are the main inhabitants in western Mongolia, e.g. the Bayan-Ölgii province. They are muslims and speak a Turkic language. Of the Mongolian ethnic groups the Khalkha Mongols make up 70 per cent of the population and the remaining are divided into 14 sub-groups. Westerners find it difficult to distinguish them from each other.

Languages: Until recently all Mongolians learnt Russian in school, but today there is an increased interest in English, German and French. Very few Mongolians speak anything other than Mongolian or Russian. The Mongolian language is of the Uighur-Altai group, and unrelated to European languages. In 1940 the Mongols adopted the cyrillic alphabet, just adding two letters to the Russian version. In 1995 the government plan to reintroduce the traditional Mongolian script. It is however unknown to most people, since very few Mongols were literate in 1940, when the Russian alphabet was introduced by the authorities. In western Mongolia turkic languages like kazakh is spoken.

Religion: Mongolian believers are mostly Buddhists (Lamaists), a Buddhism intimately related to the Tibetan religious beliefs. In fact, it was the Mongols under Altan Khan (1507-83) who installed the first Dalai Lama in Lhasa (Dalai is a Mongol word meaning ocean). During the stalinist regime of Choibalsan in the 1930s there was great persecution of the monks and many monasteries and temples were destroyed. Until recently there was only one functioning monastery in Mongolia, the Gandan monastery in Ulan Bator. Today under the democratization process there is a Buddhist revival all over Mongolia. New monasteries have sprung up, even in temporary shelters like gers. Monks who had been hidden in civil service have gone back into monkshood. For the last 60 years, they had been serving the herdsmen with clandestine religious services.

There has also been an Islamic revival among the Mongolian Kazakhs in the extreme west, and recently the first Mongolian believers made the Haj pilgrimage to Mecca.

Food: Vegetarians are unheard of in Mongolia. People mostly eat meat and milk products. No fish. No poultry.

Although there are potatoes many herdsmen feel there is a "taste of earth" to it. Fruit and vegetables are not commonly seen outside the main towns. Herdsmen do not keep poultry. Mongolian cuisine features lamb and mutton mostly. hey prefer to boil all foods just as in Medieval times. The Kazakhs in western Mongolia prefer goats. Herdsmen milk all their animals including mares, camels and yaks. During the summer, when milk products are plentiful, herdsmen usually revert completely to the "white food" and abstain from meat for a while.

They also pick berries, pine cone nuts and other produce of the forests, when available. From of the mares' milk they make airag (koumiss) which is fermented. The alcohol content can reach 12-15 percent. They frequently distill it and make "Mongolian vodka" out of milk, which is as strong as any vodka.

Herdsmen: The herdsmen, are completely mobile during the summer months. Wintertime is the major constraint for the livestock, as pasture is very limited. Hence, herding families usually stay in one defined winterplace. In the summer, when pasture is abundant, they spread out anywhere where the grass is green. Hence, on different trips we usually do not meet the same people.

Herdsmen are scattered across the summer pastures, and the occasional guest is well treated. It is a matter of course to any Mongolian to stop and talk for a while and they invite guests, even a group 10-15 people, for dried cheese, yogurt, airag etc. We usually buy our meats and yogurts for the expedition from these people - usually live animals such as a goat or lamb. To meet with herdsmen is one of the delights of a trip in Mongolia. They have not suffered significantly during the present changes toward a market economy, but the lack of cash has resulted in many rural areas reverting to a barter economy. Little is available, except for local produce.

The Naadam Festival: July 12th is the Mongolian national day which is celebrated throughout the country. The most popular sports of the Mongols are still the same as they were during the time of the Huns and Gengis Khan. They are Mongolian style wrestling, horse racing and archery. Since time immemorial the Mongols have competed in these "three manly games", all of which were necessary to develop skills for Mongolian warriors. After the democratization of Mongolia, traditions of the past have become even more important and more pronounced. Today, more Naadams are being held. Small regional Naadams are celebrated as well. And at other more traditional timings according to the Lunar calendar.

There are several ways to experience Naadam in Mongolia:

1. National Naadam Games held in Ulaanbaatar 11-13 July every year. On these dates, Naadam is celebrated throughout Mongolia. Local people qualify to go to the largest of them all, the one in Ulaanbaatar itself. It is crowded in Ulaanbaatar during this time, and herdsmen enter the city on horseback. A giant tent city is built overnight on the evening of July 10^th on the Jarmag steppe between the airport and the city center. Horsemen train their horses in on the steppes near the city prior to Naadam. The horses are collected a month prior. A pre-Naadam horse races are held at four different points on , July 3^rd, July 7^th. The wrestling and archery is made in Stadiums whilst the horse races takes place on the Jarmag steppe by the airport road.
   
2. Regional and local Naadams 11-12 July. Most soums (sub provinces) and all aimags (provinces) celebrate their own Naadams. Even at the local level, small Stadium have been built in the soum centers. There are not many practitioners of Archery, hence at local Naadams one should expect to experience wrestling and horse racing only. Whereas in many aimag capitals, Archery competitions will take place. The advantage of the local scene, is of course, that it is smaller, more amateur, and especially wrestling can be seen at close range.
   
3. Small Naadams are becoming frequent anywhere in celebrations of anything. It is just needed an excuse to stage one. These small Naadams are very small by comparison.
   
4. The last 3 years, a giant Naadam have been staged in the open steppes in the commemoration of Mongolian heroes. All have been staged in the month of August. Nor date and site is being made public early. In 1995 in Ovorhangai province celebrating the 360^th day of the birth of Zanabazar.. In 1997 there was four of various sizes. We at Nomadic Journeys, will know well ahead the locations and time to organize special trips for select small groups.