Many travellers think about Mongolia a bucket listing vacation spot. For Intrepid leaders Bata Erdenekhuu and her husband Timur Yadamsuren, it’s merely residence.
It’s a sight to behold.
A dead-silent stadium stuffed with 1000’s of spectators, seemingly holding their collective breaths, whereas solely the sound of galloping hooves fills the air. A single horseman clad in full Genghis Khan-era warrior apparel gallops at full pace throughout the race monitor carrying a big flag of Mongolia.
And so opens the centuries-old revered Naadam Pageant, which celebrates three historic sports activities – wrestling, archery, and horse racing – in probably the most immersive and spectacular manner.
“We don’t have many massive celebrations right here,” shares Intrepid chief Bata Erdenekhu, who’s Mongolian. “For us, it’s the Lunar New Yr in winter and Naadam through the summer time. This can be a celebration that brings pleasure and happiness to all Mongolians after a protracted harsh winter.”
“Now we have been celebrating Naadam for over a thousand years,” provides Timur Yadamsuren, her husband and fellow chief. “And it’s through the peak time of the 12 months in July when every thing is inexperienced.”
For nomads, it is a essential time with lush grass and blooming flowers. Dairy merchandise are plentiful as animals and their offspring have entry to plentiful meals, develop stronger and fatten up. Folks start to achieve their bodily energy again.
“I’m from a nomadic household, and through the summer time, nomads don’t have any concern of animals dying attributable to shortage,” Timur says. “Everyone has survived the earlier winter and spring. Every little thing is prospering. So it’s time to fulfill, collect, have a good time and compete.”
With a background in tourism spanning over 20 years, Timur was born to a Western Mongolian household of nomads who herd yaks and sheep. “Rising up within the mountains far-off, I usually felt lonely as a child,” shares Timur. “I used to be very eager to study completely different individuals. I used to be good at geography and wished to see the world.”
This innate curiosity drove Timur to depart his technical profession as a mining engineer and search significant alternatives to work together with individuals outdoors of mines.
Whereas Timur grew up across the Altai mountains, his spouse Bata was raised within the bustling capital metropolis of Ulaanbaatar. She studied Russian and English in highschool, and would go on to main in English at college. “One summer time, I went searching for a job as a waitress at a restaurant. Timur was the supervisor there,” Bata shares. “He advised me I didn’t have to be a waitress as a result of my English was ok to be a tour information.”
Inside a 12 months, they turned a pair, and that was how the dynamic duo began their new guiding careers inside tourism.
Since 2006, and now with 5 kids of their very own ranging in age from seventeen to 2, the couple have been main two-week journeys – individually and generally, collectively – round their residence for Intrepid Journey, together with Mongolia’s Naadam Pageant and Wild Mongolia.
For Mongolians, Naadam is a boisterous celebration of life displayed by three major occasions – archery, horse racing and wrestling. Whereas girls have began progressively taking part as archers and jockeys, wrestling stays traditionally devoted to males. “Wrestling was for coaching the troopers and warriors,” explains Timur. “Girls are seen because the supply of life. Whereas warriors take lives, girls make life.”
Numerous Naadam festivals are held throughout the nation – at county, provincial, and nationwide ranges – and Intrepid travellers will expertise smaller, extra intimate venues in addition to the principle opening ceremony. Timur and Bata additionally take travellers to close by coaching camps for the skilled athletes and go to native households.
“Staying with nomadic households is usually a nice shock even for skilled travellers,” says Bata. “Though Mongolians are very welcoming, we additionally give individuals time to regulate emotionally and mentally to staying in our gers [round, traditional dwellings] and expertise our rougher countryside.” Past staying with locals and visiting camps, travellers also can strive their palms at these sports activities themselves underneath the steerage of competing professionals.
For Bata and Timur, horse racing is their favorite sport. Travellers could be stunned to see that the competing jockeys really vary from six to eleven years in age. “On common, they are usually between seven to eight years outdated,” provides Bata. “And it requires nice approach. The best way to make your horse go slower, sooner, change course or tactic. So the kid is actually considering laborious like an grownup, making concrete plans in the direction of victory.”
Past sharing their nation, passing on the innate pleasure this celebration evokes feels notably poignant for Bata. “Everybody on the competition is actually comfortable, cheerful and joyful. And vacationers really feel this identical pleasure. They really feel the festivity within the air, and I really feel like that little Mongolian child passing that pleasure into their hearts. It really makes me comfortable.”
Timur factors out that Mongolians primarily hibernate by eight frigid months of winter, so when travellers flock in over the summer time, it appears like he’s reconnected to the world once more. He can proudly showcase his tradition and train individuals his traditions from the within out.
For a lot of, Mongolia stays a visit of a lifetime and each Bata and Timur really feel proud that their “small, distant, spacious” nation is a bucket listing vacation spot for travellers. “To assume that we’re a part of these lifetime recollections for individuals, and listening to that, makes you extremely proud.”
Need to discover all Mongolia has to supply? Try our Mongolia journeys.
