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 …

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 …

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 …

I mentioned in my InterMat interview that I was a bit nervous about the scope of the Wrestling Roots project and that I was, in general, scared. Maybe I was thinking about what might happen to my clavicle after tangling with this mob.
And they’re the middle school division …

 
 
<—-  I’m planning to wrestle this guy and his pals for eight weeks.