April adventures, part 2: the biggest springtime horse race in Mongolia!

 Dunjingarav: the most important horse race of the spring.  One fine Sunday morning in April, word-of-mouth news led us to believe that a major horse race was taking place on the western outskirts of Ulaanbaatar.  We piled into a jeep and headed west, eventually coming across an encampment of cars spread across the steppe and up onto nearby hills centered around the presumable finish line of the race.

A horse with mane and tail done up in anticipation of the day's race.  The finish line is in the background near the white ger beyond the line of cars.  This is not Instagram: today was the dustiest day I have ever experienced in my entire life (Photo courtesy of A.D.)

April adventures, part 1: wild horses, sand dunes, and camel rides

In early April I went on a day-trip to Khustain Nuruu National Park and Elsen Tasarkhai.  Khustain Nuruu is a protected area for Mongolian wildlife, specifically designated for the reintroduction and preservation of takhi (wild horse indigenous to Mongolia, or Przewalski's horse) in 1993.  The national park is home to numerous plant and animal species beyond the takhi, and is only about 100km west of Ulaanbaatar.

Our main goal for the Khustain Nuruu trip was to see takhi.  Horses have been a huge part of my life since early childhood but I had never seen a true wild horse until this trip.

The takhi (Prezswalski's wild horse) up close in the Khustai Nuur National Park and Nature Preserve.  The takhi has distinctive coloring, mane, and skeletal structure compared to modern domesticated horse breeds.  This fellow looks like he's sprung to life from the Lascaux or Alta Mira cave paintings to me.  Except his expression is much sassier.

Xena: Warrior Princess

This post is dedicated to my sweet girl, Xena, who is now with another loving home better suited to her size, energy, and socialization needs.

Beautiful, loving Xena at nine weeks

Baria zasal (warning: images of heavy bruising)

I have had back pain since I was 12 years old.  That was about the age I got my first professional massage.  Since that time I've received various combinations of massage and physical therapy on-and-off.  Although my Chicago-based massage practitioner, Devra, has helped me the most, whenever I go without regular treatments from a skilled massage practitioner for more than a month or so, my muscles start to twist and ache, my body goes out of alignment, and the pain returns.  I've sought more 'standard' medical treatment through the years, going as far as to get X-rays and MRIs of my spinal column at various points.  Standard Western medicine, in my experience, doesn't have a great way to deal with a wide variety of afflictions and states of the body.  Massage has been the only thing that's made a real difference for me when it comes to back pain and a lot of other 'bodily afflictions'.

Luckily, it's easy to get a good massage in Ulaanbaatar.  Professional massage practitioners here in Mongolia are, in my experience, extremely skilled.  They specialize in a more medicinal, intense form of massage than most spa-going Americans are used to, as it involves more pulling and applied pressure than a standard relaxation massage.  Some Westerners that I've talked to, especially men, were very uncomfortable with their massages here in Ulaanbaatar.  This reaction stems from the pain associated with Mongolian-style massage-healing and the brusque, no-nonsense approach to nudity and the body taken by many (maybe all?) Mongolian massage practitioners.  Fortunately I'm not modest and I'm willing to take a good deal of pain in the name of long-term healing.

Бариа засал (baria zasal) is not massage.  Baria zasal frequently gets translated as 'massage' and, while baria zasal treatments sometimes include massage, it would be a major mistake to confuse the two.  My friend and fellow Fulbrighter, Aleah Goldin, is conducting research on baria zasal and I would encourage you to seek out her eventual publications on the subject.  She is conducting actual ethnographic research; all I have to offer are my personal experiences and what I've been told about baria zasal.  Baria zasal is not widely known amongst non-Mongols.  Indeed, I've been working in Mongolia since 2005 and had never heard of baria zasal until Aleah told me about her research project.  If you talk with Mongolians from all walks of life, they definitely know what baria zasal is and have likely either received baria zasal treatments themselves or know someone who has.