Landlocked Mongolia is the furthest from the sea of all the nations. Historically, its isolation and combination of high-altitude steppes, deserts and mountains produced a small, but hardy population of horse-riding nomadic herders.
At one point the Mongols became so good at horsemanship they decided to ride their mounts south and west to see what the rest of the world looked like. The result of that curiosity was the creation of the Mongolian Empire, a 12-million-square-mile expanse that stretched 7,000 miles from the Pacific Ocean to the Baltic Sea.
Alas, the Mongols were better horsemen than they were statesmen, and their mighty empire now lies almost 800 years in the past. Today, Mongolia is a Mexico-sized buffer state between the very under populated boreal forests of Siberia and the 1.3 billion subjects of China.
Echoes of Mongolia’s warrior past are heard anew each July in Ulaan Baatar, the country’s capital, during the Naadam Festival. The ancient event revolves around three major sports competitions: horse racing, wrestling and archery. The chance to compete or watch these events draws herdsmen and their families from hundreds of miles around at the height of Mongolia’s warm season.
Naadam’s competitions were originally called “the three manly sports” and, thus, restricted to men. But over time, and under the influence of the former communist rulers’ insistence on female equality, the horse races and archery were opened to all comers. Only wrestling remains a “manly sport.”
The horse races have gone one step further away from the old men-only custom, featuring jockeys as young as 6 years old. The Mongolians explain that the age of the rider is immaterial when what’s really at stake is the quality of the horses they are mounted on.
Because Naadam takes place when the days are long and the whole town is in a great mood, the festival begins with a giant parade down the main boulevard of Ulaan Baatar, passing government buildings and monuments. Think Fourth of July, the Rose Parade and Macy’s Christmas Parade rolled into one and you get some idea of how Mongolians view this opening spectacle.
Beyond Naadam and Ulaan Baatar, Mongolia offers activities ranging from joining paleontological digs on the Gobi Desert to living with nomads and sleeping in yurts, to hunting, fishing and riding in the country’s often surprisingly lush high-mountain conifer forests.
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