Get Tsam for Free

Naadam weekend presented two really good (and free) photo ops.  One was a Tsam (religious masks) dance.  Even if it sounds boastful, I want it to be known publicly I learned of it from reading a mongolian newspaper article.  The other was watching the Mongolian archery competition at the Naadam stadium grounds.  More on those later, but suffice it to say both are free if you just happen to be passing through Ulaanbaatar on your way to . . um . . well, if your in UB.

The Khuree Tsam dance is actually a religious ritual, and I would never attend one being done for its real purpose.  However, this one was written in the stars to be done conveniently in competition with the first day of Naadam (the heaviest tour date in UB) and was summarily advertised in the newspaper.  Even though non-Mongolian readers (mere mortals ;-) would not know about it, I figured thrifty tour agencies would bring their customers to it to cut package costs, and a couple did.

Now I'm writing this for the lanky, long brown haired guy who was wearing an Aussie looking leather hat and carrying an out of the box digital camera with an "I can see the Mars lander" digital zoom and still had stickers on it.  Dude, you got ripped off!

I overheard your tour guides talking during the dance.  Afterwards they were taking you to a guanz (Mongolian for "hepatitis ridden greasy spoon") and then to the ARCHERY COMPETITION!!  For those with extreme short term memories, remember I said these were both free!  In the one in 6.3 billion chance this guy knows about my blog, I want to offer my condolences for however much you spent on your extreme vacation package.  The leg of it you did on July 11th could almost have been done for the taxi fare and a good tip (minus air fare).