More Naadam - photos/video

We figured we might as well give you as much audio/visual stimulation as possible.  Here is a photo slideshow of the 2011 Naadam festival in Arkhangai set to some really cool Mongolian music by the band Altan Urag.  Make sure to have your speakers on for each of the following videos.

If you would like to see the individual photos used in the slideshow and read a few more descriptive captions for each please check out Kara's FB photo album "Naadam 2011".

Also, here is a video of a dance during the opening ceremonies.  The quality is poor and it's only about a minute of the full dance, but essentially what you're seeing is a large group of choreographed women dancing with 6 small bowls stacked on their heads.  The dance involves them taking them off, putting them back on, spinning around, moving all over the place...and obviously NOT dropping any of the bowls.

And lastly, here's a quick video of the final 4 wrestlers prepping for their matches by walking up to the flagpole, waving their arms in the traditional eagle dance, and basically offering thanks/respect to Mongolia.

In just a few short hours, Kara and I will be traveling with 20+ of my counterparts to Blue Lake for a 3 day retreat/camping trip to celebrate our work over the past 2 years.  Upon our return, we'll only have 2 short days left in Arkhangai.  Hopefully we'll have some beautiful pictures to upload following this final excursion as well.