Korla Travel Tips
Climate and Weather
Climatic Features: dominated by continental climate, the area is dry with light rainfall, a high evaporation rate, lots of sun and a huge temperature disparity between day and night.
Average Temperature: 7-14C annually with great daily temperature difference
Rainfall: annual precipitation 25-100 mm
Local Festivals and Folk Custom
Nadam Festival
The Nadam Festival, usually held from June 4 to 9 (lunar calendar), is one of the most exciting and colorful festivals in Korla. It sounds like a Mongolian festival but also held every year in Korla. At the center of the festivities are the fierce horse racing, archery and wrestling competitions.
In Mongolian, the word "Nadam" means "amusement and entertainment" and can be traced back to 1225AD, when Genghis Khan mounted an expedition to the west and conquered Khwarezm. In order to celebrate the victory they held the magnificent Nadam Fair. The Mongolians used this exciting gathering as a big occasion to compete in the horseracing, wrestling and archery, which were regarded as the three basic skills of men.
Gradually more and more events were added to the Nadam Festival, such as marksmanship, chess, reciting epics, polo, film, drama, singing, dancing and track and field competitions and so on and so forth.
There are three kinds of Nadam, the big one, medium one and small one. The big Nadam requires the participation of 512 wrestlers and 300 horses and usually lasts 7-10 days while the medium Nadam will have the participation of 256 wrestlers and 100-150 horse, lasting 5-7 days. And 64 or 128 wrestlers and 30 or 50 horses will take part in the small Nadam, which lasts 3-5 days. Anyone can apply to compete in Nadam, regardless of his or her ethnic origin and religious belief.
In addition to sports competition, people also make good use of this gathering to hold talks and establish relations in economic trade or to interchange goods.
Other Odds and Ends
Phone Dialing Code: 0996
Postcode: 841000
Emergency Call
Fire: 119
Police: 110
Ambulance: 120
Weather Forecast: 121
Consumers' Complaint: 12315
