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Published: August 19th 2005
Hi
I have been in UB several times, and since there isn't too much to see and to tell, I'll just tell it all at once.
The biggest event in Mongolia is the Nadaam Festival. This festival is taking place since the times of the old empire, and is mainly a celebration and a sport event. There are three "manly sports" - horse racing, archery, and wrestling. People from all over Mongolia are coming to compete in the main event in UB, while every little town has its own celebration and competition. I chose to see the big event in UB, which might have been a mistake...
The opening ceremony begins in the main square, where the flags are delivered to the guards and they take it to the big stadium. It's a funny semi-military ceremony, with a band and all. Later the flags arrive to the big stadium, and there a big parade there with costumes, trucks, music, Miss Mongolia, the president. It wasn't so impressive as it sounds - it's not the Olympics just yet...
After that the sport events began. Wrestling in the stadium, with the big wrestlers wearing the traditional uniform fighting and doing their funny winning
dances. They were so far away that it was hard to enjoy it. Outside there was an archery arena, but you kind of get the idea after a few minutes - they aim, they shoot, they sometimes hit the target. Out of the city there was the racing track. The horses were divided according to age, and raced for about 20km or so. You could choose where to stand along the track, generally near the finish line, and then you just wait to see them passing by. All and all - it wasn't such an exciting event for me, and I just stayed in bed all the second day reading a book. The TV coverage was more interesting...
At night they had a big celebration at the main square. They had a famous local rock band singing songs, and the funny part was that at the exact same time the military band was playing on the other side of the same square. It wasn't so harmonic, as you can imagine.
That's the story of the Nadaam...
Another thing I did in UB is to visit the Monasteries there. There are a few Tibetan Buddhist monasteries that survived and are active
again. The main one, Gandantegchinlen Khiid, is the largest in Mongolia. It's from 1838, and there are several temples inside. It has a nice sign in three languages - Tibetan, and the two forms of Mongolian (original one, and the one using the Russian alphabet that they had to use while under Soviet influence). Other than that there is nothing special to tell about.
Another cool thing in the city is the "black market". I don't really think it's illegal, because it's too big to hide, but it's a cool name anyway. You can find there anything - cloths, souvenirs, ger parts, Mongolian boots, etc. A nice place for walking around.
Well, that's all UB has to offer.
So till next time,
R.
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