What Naadam actually is (and why the tourist version doesn't do it justice)

Naadam isn't a performance. It's a competition. The wrestlers have trained for months. The horses are selected for their speed across open ground, not their ability to look good on camera. The archers are shooting at targets 75 metres away.

We've been attending Naadam festivals in Inner Mongolia for three years. The first time, we went to a large, well-known event near Hohhot. It was fine. Plenty of colour, good light for photographs, easy to access.

Then Hongguer took us to the regional Naadam in West Ujimqin. It's a smaller event. The audience is mostly local - families who've come to watch their relatives compete. The wrestlers greet each other like old friends, because they are. The horse racing goes across actual grassland, out of sight, and you wait for the dust cloud on the horizon that means the leaders are coming back.

That's the one we take our guests to. Not because it's more photogenic. Because it's real.

A note on photography: please ask before pointing a camera at anyone. Hongguer will help navigate this. Most people are happy to be photographed; some aren't. The ones who aren't will tell you, and you should listen.