Off to Mongolia...any thoughts?

[warrentalbot]

My wife and I are catching the train north from Beijing on June 18th and will be spending a month in Mongolia. Our plan is to see (and hopefully participate a bit) in the Naadam games. Otherwise, we have no plans at all. We'd love any suggestions from those who have visited and will happily take suggestions.

Thank you all in advance for your ideas.

 

[Sarah in SC]

Warren, I'd mentioned to Betsy we spent almost a month there. It is probably my favorite place I've ever been! We were also there during the festival of the manly arts, choosing to go to a small-town version rather than in UB, for which I am very glad.
I'll pm you some details of our itinerary. We did choose to travel with a guide/driver, since we wanted to cover a lot of ground and there are virtually no paved roads (nor directional signs) outside of UB.
You are going to love it, I hope!

 

[donheff]

So how does an outsider participate in the games? Are events open to any comers?

 

[Sarah in SC]

Don, how did I manage not to tell you about my Don America (DH) actually wrestling at Nadaam? It was fantastic, but lasted about 9 seconds. Wow, let me dig out some pictures! These are from the small town Nadaam Festival we went to, and one of Don practicing with our driver/wrestling coach.
I also found the thread where I did a bit of a recap of the trip, along with a link to the audio of my short interview with Lianne Hanson of NPR.
http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f46/sarahs-mongolia-adventure-37329.html

 

[sailor]

If you have any kids in the family, who enjoy gifts from "the end of the world", bring some dragon eggs from Mongolia.
I don't remember what they really are - geodes or druses maybe? Any geologists here?
And Google is not helpful I'm getting all hits for Chinese restaurant menus or computer games

 

[rescueme]

"Off to Mongolia...any thoughts?"

Be sure to take a ride on the "double humpers". Just a bit easier than the one's DW rode in Egypt a couple of years ago (before the "troubles" began)...

 

[flyfishnevada]

Do you fish? Taimen

BTW, not me.

 

[tmm99]

Bring a lot of protein bars to eat especially if you do like the smell of mutton in your food.

 

[warrentalbot]

Do you fish?

We don't fish but after seeing that image the idea of getting out and just absorbing the big sky and seeing fish like that sounds very interesting.