Last weekend I went to a Nadam festival. It's a mix of a sports event (wrestling, archery, horse-racing, etc) the state fair, and the never-ending, always fun game of "stare at the foreigners." These festivals are a tradition among one of the minority groups in the area and happen every summer. This one was open to the public, which meant I too could have entered the women's wrestling contest, but there were some pretty hefty ladies. And, I was doing nothing but standing and already getting stared at as if I were an attraction, so participating would have sent me over the limit as far as the staring goes. My American friend, never having shot a bow before, got 14th place out of 128 archers though, and I think that's pretty good.
I really did have a good time, despite being the first foreigner most of those folks have ever seen. We watched the wrestling, played some games, and watched a performance.
The performance was at the town square. They were also selling these plastic star-shaped things....and telling people they were starfish. They were even kept in water. I suppose if I had lived my entire life in one of the most land-locked places on the planet, I might believe it too. At least they were only charging 2 kuai or something.
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