This Week in the Mongolian Countryside....

Well...this is the month when winter reluctantly lets go of Mongolia and spring creeps in...at least, theoretically.  In fact, this week we had 6 inches or so of snow on Sunday, which made for some lovely photo opportunities...

Like one of the many frozen logs in the river..

 and gorgeous, random chunks of ice strewn about after the river had a huge "heave" which left rising mounds of ice, large fractures and these pieces of unbelievably clear ice shards.

 This week we also had  a full moon,

 and a visit from 20 or so of the neighbour's horses...which made our little stable pretty crowded!

and afforded Baagii an opportunity to laugh at the neighbour trying to catch a couple of these horses so that the International Equestrian Club could take our usual Tuesday ride, although in this instance, it wasn't quite our usual Tuesday ride.  We were lucky enough to have an internationally renowned saddle maker ( and one or two of his saddles!) along as well as the Chief of the Mongol Derby - a 1000 KM race across Mongolia with different routes each year.  We had a wonderful ride...!

In the end, Salow got his horses...with a little help..

 ...from Maygaa  - Ronel's valient driver and, like so many Mongolian men,  erstwhile cowpoke...

 I'm not that sure that the horses enjoyed this game of  catch me if you can ...in the corral!

Other big news out at the ranch this week?? Saraa & Baagii are the proud owners of...

 a Kia Bongo...4 wheel drive ...with A/C!!

 Much fun and posing..including this rare shot of Baagii at the wheel....

 If he really is going to drive he's going to have to get off his horse and go get his license!!

 So here's the plate number those of us living in Mongolia  need to be on the lookout for...and two VERY happy herders!

 Of course, life doesn't stop for new cars or great gallops across the winter iced steppe...and it was lovely to see the birds back out in full force...

 ..even if they were a little on the "puffy" side trying to stay warm at our balmy spring temperatures of -18!

All in all ... a lovely week out in the Mongolian countryside...

 ..for all of us - including the dogs!

And of course, there are never ending opportunities for cool shots of river ice.  Here's on of my favourites! Hope you had a good week too..wherever you are!

In Which We Examine The Exotic Sport of Camel Polo

Ok - so ... How Fun is This?? Welcome to the 8th or 9th edition of...

"Cool Stuff You Get To Do in Mongolia"

Last weekend I was fortunate enough to get the opportunity to go out and enjoy an action-packed game of polo.  On camels. That's right ..camels! Wow !!  So, here is my take on the day, the game, the rules and, of course, the outfits!  And no, for all of you smart alecks out there - that is not me on the camel in the picture above - but it could have been!

Camel polo, well, actually polo of any sort,  is not a game I've ever seen before, but it is tons of fun!  Very action packed with tons of 'scrums' around the ball , 

...and serious on on one competition for control of the ball!

And speaking of "ball control"...check out this very talented camel! His nose people...look at his nose!  Oh, and the people also got in on the display of some pretty impressive talents...although I didn't see any of them carrying the ball on their nose!

But I did see some seriously gravity defying lean-outs to take a shot!  These camels were running at full gallop ( do camels "gallop"?) and it was amazing to see these guys on the big lean preparing for their shot!

Of course, like all games, it has rules...some of which I was even able to figure out...I think.

It appears that if at the end of regulation time ( whatever that is!) if the game is tied, a shoot out takes place.  The teams choose their best shooters and, just like the NHL, and it is one-on-one with the best shooters vs the goalie.  Yes, I did say goalie - of course they have to have a goalie....of sorts!

Although, I have to say I don't really know who is the goalie per se - is it the jockey leaning over  in the goal, goalie mallet ready to rock.... or the camel standing there placidly blocking 80 percent of the goal?  You decide!

and..yes, these camels are heading toward the goal at full tilt.  This has to be a bit unnerving for the goalie ..and perhaps for his stalwart steed!

But when he stopped the shot, this particular goal tender and his camel appeared pretty pleased with themselves!

Like any sport, Camel Polo has its own set of officials...which may or may not be close to what I think I have figured out.  So here goes - the man in the lovely red dell?  I think he is the linesman...and mallet guard. And yes, the game was going full flight while he was walking across the pitch ( field? paddock? course? piste? ... not really sure..!)!

And here he is again - with the official ball drop after it had skittered out of bounds.

There, lurking in the background of the shot is the referee - although I have to admit , I couldn't figure out what the "fouls" were that he was calling... but nobody booed him so I guess he was doing a good job.  Either that or Mongolian sports fans are more polite than Canadian ones!

This, of course, is the official goal judge. I can tell because of his very official badge, his very shrill whistle and the fact that he is willing ( and able!) to stand in front of the defending goalie ( goalies?) and eyeball the oncoming shooter.

This, I think,  is the water boy.  Well...in this case I guess not much water is being consumed as the primary athletes here happen to be camels, but he was responsible for 'sweeping the ice' by which I mean running out amongst the thundering camels and collecting the broken mallets - of which, I must say, there were quite a few!

Or maybe this is the "water boy"?  Actually, I think there is no corresponding role in hockey ( always my frame of reference when trying to figure out rules in new and bizarre sports!  Hey, I'm Canadian - what else would you expect??)  for this little guy's job - walking the camels to cool them off.  I guess he would be a "page" ... officially?? Now if you polo enthusiasts ( enthusiast??) out there have the official title for this job, please pass it on! I'd love to know! Whatever his title, he was very cute!

Of course, no sporting event would be complete without the fans!  I have to say, these were the most beautifully dressed sports fans I've seen in a while! 

The bleachers in the back row were a little different for this match as well!  This fellow couldn't see over the gathered spectators so after a little conversation with one of the local camel jockeys, he hopped up for a better view!  And yes, that is Chinggis Khaan on the largest equestrian statue in the world there in the background.  Only fitting that he was there to be the final judge as to who the rightful winner of the competition would be!

Cleverly ( or not so cleverly!) hidden in the crowd were the scouts from the other teams checking out their competition!  I looked like a round-robin competition of some sort - started Saturday morning and when I left at about 5:00 Sunday evening it was still going strong!

This was a pretty big deal, and spectators of all ages came out for it...

...not many got a seat though!  Isn't she beautiful??

Of course, there was the requisite opportunity for the modern nomads to take a ride... I loved this guy in a suit up on camel back...texting.

There was also the opportunity to ride horses while there, but I cheated and snuck away to our ger to ride my horse.  Lovely ride, by the way.

But I couldn't leave before getting my picture with one of the camel jockeys - the other guys were giving him a hard time because we had on matching hats... I don't know - I think we both look very dashing!

Watching Dad compete..

First seriously cool beard I have seen here in Mongolia.  Really - that's why this guy is here in my blog... I love this beard!

And last, but not least, like any good sporting competition, Camel polo has its winners and losers.  It was lovely to see how happy they were with their win and how much they enjoyed being able to play in front of a crowd.  These guys all came up from Omni Gov...the South Gobi desert .. to play.  Those of us lucky enough to be out there for the day are very grateful they made the trip and very much hope this is an annual event!  Maybe next year it will be me up on that camel...maybe...

Riding in Red Silk.....

What do you get when you mix together silk, silver & sheepskin and sixty or so years of sewing experince??

  Julie's new winter dell! 

No, not a computer ( and a weird computer that would be made out of silk, silver and sheepskin...)...a wonderful, warm traditional Mongolian long coat.  And before all of you linguists get up in arms and start yelling at your computer "It's a DEEL Julie, a DEEL!!" I want to make the case for phonic transliteration...yes, that's what I said.  Phonics...remember those?  You see in Mongolian the long coat is called a дээл...for those of you who don't have Cyrillic enabled on your computer that may look like ????...in which case here it is ..anglicized.... deel.

  

Now, if you are an English speaker and you see the word "deel" you're likely going to pronounce it like peel...or feel...or kneel..or...well, you get the idea.  In Mongolian, however, having two "e"s together doesn't make that lovely long "e" sound we have in English. Instead, it maintains the  short "e" sound (like fell, or knell, or sell....) but makes it so that the speaker holds that sound for a longer period of time.  Thus...the  Mongolian word "deel"  sounds MUCH more like dell than it does "deel" when you write in in English - hence the phonic transliteration..and so my дээл will be written in English as dell...so that all of you who don't actually live here at the end of the earth and are not familiar with this (fantastic!) article of clothing will have a shot at pronouncing it correctly.  So there's the case for my spelling - now on to what it is and why it is so wonderful!

As I try to make my way through life here in Mongolia, I am finding that the people who have lived in this climate for the past 22,000 or so years have figured out a quite a bit about how to stay warm through it all.  As I am doing the Mongolian thing and riding through the winter ( albeit less frequently and for shorter distances) and because I have been entranced with the gorgeous, sparkly dells since I first came to Mongolia and saw people everywhere parading around through the coldest weather in warmth and style,  I decided that I really ( really) wanted to get a winter dell! As an added incentive,  that is what the Mongolians who live out in the countryside wear all the time. My theory was that it will be something I will wear forever...unless that global warming thing turns out to be true!

 A couple of points about the winter dell - completely lined with tanned sheep skin it is HEAVY!!  My guess is about 15 or so kgs...and as it is very long it makes getting up onto the horse quite a feat.  Fortunately, I had help!

 The Mongolian winter brings out a whole variety of styles of warm riding gear.  My friend Robyn has a Mongolian cape made of sheepskin that she uses when she rides...

 And  for the authentic Mongolian look  there's Baagii with his long & short dell combination topped with a Russian style mink hat and finished off with the hand tooled leather boots, Santa with her cashmere dell, insulated carharts  and jaunty Santa cap and of course...my great winter dell and fox fur hat.  Ok Shelly - you're right there is no helmet under that hat....I don't know if you will believe me, but in all the effort of getting up onto the horse, I forgot I didn't have a helmet on until we were well out on the ride...still, I have to say it makes a rather fetching fashion statement.  

 Getting the deel made was no easy feat.  Getting the materials was fairly easy - the sheepskins  were actually from the sheep we killed and sold earlier in the year to help one of the local herders raise some money to pay for open heart surgery, the silk was the result of a romp through the amazing fabric section of the Black Market ( which deserves, and will get....some day a blog post of its own!), and the silver buttons  were not in any of the fancy fancy button shops that I rummaged through looking for the "perfect" button, but rather they were lying in a pile of nondescript plastic ones in a little stall in the black market that was manned by a woman that my driver Bayaraa knew from when he was a child...when he used to make silver buttons with her!! It is kind of cool that my buttons were made by a friend of a friend. Bayaraa, however, could have told me he knew a button maker before I spent the better part of two afternoons combing the silver shops in the city looking for the "perfect" buttons.  Oh well...live and learn.

In any case, having assembled the necessary materials, I was left to find someone who could make it for me. A dell,you see, it is a very traditional article of clothing that is usually made by your mother, or grandmother.  After 3 abortive attempts, I finally found a grannie who was prepared to make one for me. She told me she had, in her lifetime, made more than 100 of these for family members, friends and customers...and her mother had been a seamstress for the last Bogd Khan (....see previous blog posts to find out about him!) How cool is that??

So..she took my  gorgeous iridescent silk...

 ...added three buttons at the hip...

 Two at the chest...two at the neck...one at the armpit...one on each sleeve to hold up the gorgeous extra long sleeves, one on the bottom of each sleeve to cinch it in  in case of wind...

 ...created a duplicate sheepskin dell for the inside - including the long, long sleeves that men in the countryside traditionally wear.  I wanted them as they are so WARM on your hands when you're riding! All that took was fourteen ( yep, fourteen!) sheep skins...

 ...and voila!  All that remained in order to take advantage of this pinnacle of warm clothing technology was a lesson in dell belt tying...the winter version!

 It takes serious work to get any kind of waistline when you have one of these on!

But success was achieved, and the dell was blessed with a traditional poem which involves each section of the dell being tugged and straightened as the appropriate part of the poem is recited...followed by a gift of cash!  In this case it was 1,000 MNT ..about 80 cents. How wonderful to have my dell  welcomed to the world...Mongolian style!!  Now it was ready to fulfill its many purposes...

 ...including, but not limited to:  blanket,

...wrestling gown...

...and deliciously warm haute couture...Mongolian countryside style!  Next month we're making Chelvan's!