Naadam Carnival

One day we went to a children's park in the center of town that some fun things to do.  This "roller coaster" was leg powered and pedaled like a bike.  There were no ups and downs and cost about $.70.  These people were not in our group, but this was the only way we could get a good picture. 

This "ferris wheel" was a real hit with the Mongolians.  It was made our of concrete and didn't look too stable to me!

This is our district.  We tried to make it look like we were on a cruise, but we didn't quite all fit in the picture in front of the boat.

The man in the grey deel brought two camels to the park for tourists like us.  He was a big hit.  Camels are very interesting in the way the three joints of their legs work.  It is quite interesting to be on them when they get up and down.  The impact is first to fall forward and then to fall backward.

Notice the two humps on the camels.  We are told they are found mostly in Mongolia and China.  They say it makes them easier to ride and to stay on.  Pictures of the ride were $2.25.  When we went to pick ours up, we found a member of our branch presidency was processing the pictures in a tent with all the electronic equipment necessary for instant photos.

This is one of the sisters who really wanted to hold this bald eagle.  She it was pretty heavy, but it was something she really wanted to do.  The bird was really beautiful and was immature because the head was still brown and not white.

While wandering through the park, I ran across this handsome Mongolian warrior.  Does he look familiar?  The costume was pretty authentic of the 13th century and weighed about 15 to 20 pounds.

We had our first Hosher, or Mongolian hamburger as Alan calls it, which is very similar to Buuz, but it is fried instead of steamed. The woman who owned this booth also owns a store in town and said she might be able to special order some things we just can't get in Murun, like peanut butter, powdered sugar, baking powder, brown sugar, curry, etc.  We plan to find her store after Naadam.

Those in the picture from left to right are Sister Largin, Elder Flint, Elder Munkbold, Sister Oktober and  me.  I really was not angry, but my looks like it.  Maybe I was a little miffed.  One of our fellow drunk diners told the others that I was the one with the fat face!  They are very honest people! Needless to say, that didn't make my day.

All drinks are served in a bow.  This drink was made out of plants collected from the mountain side, with lots of floaties.  It really tasted pretty good, until we got to the last part with the settled floaties. We went back the next day and she gave a cup full of the base mix to make 10 liters of juice. It's still in the freezer and we haven't tried to make it yet.  One of the elders said it was like jam and put it on his bread.  We haven't tried that either!  We were trying to make the photo as attractive Abbey and Alison's food shots!  Did we succeed?