The drive back to Ulaanbaatar

Jumping back into the van for the long ride back to ULN

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Detoured into the vast Greenland, we visited one of our driver’s family who were nomads themselves.

Better equipped compared to olden days - They have satellite!

     

horse milk was served

Our young driver.

curious kids checking out on us & us chasing them around with our cameras.

Dried manures for burning

Lijuan having a taster ride on the horse.

Ajit had a go too!

how nice..to be able to ride freely on the horse back   

Hand milking the horse.

And Alta joined in the ‘merry-go-round’...

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Pre-Naadam Festival Practice

Naadam is Mongolia’s biggest festival of the year that takes place throughout the country and this year it falls on 11th – 13th July. This festival has been held for centuries as a form of memorial celebration, as an annual sacrificial ritual honoring various mountain gods or to celebrate a community endeavour. Apart from music and performances, the highlight of this event is the coming together of many greatest athletes to compete in horse racing, archery and wrestling.

We weren’t in time for the actual festival but we did manage to get a mini preview… because we’ve got connections! Alta (right), our translator’s husband (far left) happened to be one of the organisers of this event.

Before the kids head to the starting point, they’ll each get a goodie bag.

She is young.

He is even younger…

Ain’t they pro?

Free food and drinks – the Mongolian way.

Lijuan with her bowl of horse milk. (Everyone shared the same bowl)

Mongolians in Deel, their traditional clothing.

 

the young participants

Riding to the starting point

Men on bike herding the horses to the starting point.

  We passed by them on the way out again and joined in the herding craze… our driver was making full use of his van’s horn and driving skills, getting the horses to move in the right direction/starting line.

Because of the whipping and horning, the frightened horses went out of control – can you tell from the photo that the kid was swearing at us.

Off they went…racing back to the festival site - a sight that words can’t describe, you have to be there to experience it. Truly feel for kid who fell off his horse shortly after the race started.

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Continued with our journey and stopped by for a camel ride by the road near the mini sand dune site – USD10.

 

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Slight delay on the road… goats in the way.

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Just when we were not far from ULN, there were smoke coming out of the other van. Our van followed slowly behind and a phone call came from Jochen for assurance that their van was not going to blow up. It didn’t explode but eventually all of us had to squeeze into one van with our luggage.

Arrived around evening time and the rest was history. We did had a sumptuous dinner, mainly of chicken. Deprived? of chicken meat that weren’t readily available in the countryside…