Twenty four hours into my return trip to Mongolia and there is already plenty to report; including a new wrestling video, updates from the Guinness World Record tournament and some surprising news from the World Championships in Turkey. All that and a weather update from the coldest capital city in the world.
The Mongolian national team is in Turkey right now, leaving me without many of my closest in-country contacts. Tomorrow is the start of Mongolia’s record-breaking 4096 man wrestling tournament …

 
I’m once again hopping aboard the 33-hour train from Beijing to Ulaanbaator. There is plenty of work to be done on the ride, which is made easier by in-cabin electricity, coffee and ever-changing views. This week is also the World Championships in Turkey and I’ll have a very special post to share on Thursday about the championships and what they could/should mean to the world’s sports audience. Until then enjoy the updates at USA Wrestling and FloWrestling and be sure …

After 10+ weeks on the road I’m packing up the speedos and Jedi outfit to come home and start writing in-depth about my time on the steppe. The process will be painful at times as details aren’t easy to acquire in Mongolia. However, I’m confident that my network of friends in-country will help me separate truth from opinion. The goal has always been to get this thing in bookstores in time for the Olympic Games which means I don’t have …

Last week’s Arkhangai Naadam figured to be my last competition of the trip. The main competition in Ulan Bator had ended, signaling – or so I thought – the end of Mongolia’s Naadam festivals. I’d also had friends headed into the country, the tentative game-plan being for us to motorcycle and initiate impromptu matches against people we met on our route. However, in a turn of luck I was able to find and schedule another Naadam in Moron, the capital …

He’s a 21-year-old Mongolian Monster but my friends had traveled across the world to ride motorcycles on the steppe and watch me wrestle enormous Mongolian strangers – who was I to ruin their vacation?
Nasanbatar was our best friend forever (read: for the afternoon). He’d become the assistant to our guide Jargal (Ja-Ga) after we’d stopped the Fergen van and asked him for directions to a town some 130km north of Tsetserleg. Like most Mongolian interactions Nasanbatar immediately offered all types …

Mongolia’s annual Naadam festival celebrates the country’s three manly sports; archery, horse racing and wrestling. The largest and most important festival is held every year in the capital city of Ulan Bator with some 300k Mongolians making epic treks across the steppe to watch their favorite wrestlers compete for what is essentially immortality. However, not every Mongolian can make the trek, so many local communities hold smaller Naadams in the weeks surrounding the main event in order to relax, drink …

American folkstyle wrestling is missing out on one of the most important aspects of traditional wrestling competitions – the victory dance.
I remember sitting in the University of Virginia Wrestling room in 1999 listening to then-captain, now-coach Steve Garland and a half-dozen other wrestlers fantasize about what they would do if they ever win the NCAA championship. Almost every celebration included some use of available props, in this case ankle bands. Guys floated the idea of using them as a grenade …

“When you were born the nurse said you had the most beautiful ears, now I’ve seen buttons sewed on them – look at them, they’re gross.” – Mom
I like my ears, though they do present a couple of problems. For example, should they remain unattended to for several days, dirt and gunk can collect in the creases and folds causing a mildly foul stench. I also can’t wear normal earplugs on planes and have to buy the special in-ear units …

Correction: China may have been easier to navigate than Mongolia. As I’ve already written, there is nothing easy about traveling through the world’s most sparsely populated country, but the past few days have been exceptionally littered with unforeseeable speed bumps deadfall traps.
Premier among the frustrations has been the visa office which is simply a holdover from Communist rule, probably developed by the Soviets as an experimental torture technique that they abandoned for harshness, but the Mongolians seem to enjoy. To …

I’ve decided to re-print the edited email of my first motorcycle ride in honor of this afternoon’s return to motorcycle travel. This is the story of what happens when you’re forced to learn to ride a motorcycle in the nuttiest population center on the planet.
Enjoy!
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I was being pressured into a bigger and better adventure than simple backpacking. My friend “Big” and I were traveling through southeast Asia for a few months and we decided to rent bikes to get a …