The opening ceremonies for Naadam kicks off the three days of festivities. We were told right from the beginning that there the pagentry alone was worth the effort. I should say that this was one of the hottest tickets in town. And honestly, it was a bit of a trick trying to get them. The standards (pictured to the right) are made of horse hair and they are brought in to signal the official start of the games.
As I mentioned, tickets were a bit tricky - but thanks to very good Mongolian friends we were able to secure tickets. I'm not certain that my pictures here really capture it, but suffice it to say it was a great parade of many of the traditional Mongolian costumes and dances.
You'll also notice in the pictures that there performers all have outstretched arms - this is a very old, very traditional Mongolian greeting. Essentially the entire party was welcoming the crowd before the games.
One of the biggest cheers went to the Mongolian Olympians - sports (especially the manly kind) are taken very seriously here.
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