Miss Asia Siberia

The same day as the poetry contest was another contest in the evening.

A couple weeks earlier our new Sakha friend Varya had come to our place. She wasn't eating much that evening. It turned out that she was preparing for a beauty contest. She invited us to go along. We didn't have any idea that it would be such a big deal.

Varya has competed in beauty contests before, one earlier in the Summer. This contest was called "Miss Asia Siberia." It was open to any Asian ethnicity living within Siberia. The main contestants were from the Sakha, Buryat, Khakas and Tuvan peoples. Koreans also competed this year for the first time. At one point during the evening the hosts mentioned that people were representing their republic. This makes me wonder if it was only open to people with their own republic. I would hope not.

The evening was split into different categories- National costume, Performance, Party Dress, Evening Dress and a kind of Arabic harem costume.  I didn't photograph the harem section.

The national costumes were the most fun, as were some of the musical performances. In our opinion Varya had the most stunning national costume of the night. She didn't win though, a girl from Tuva did. This contest was big enough that it attracted many sponsors, government representation, and was covered by the newspapers.

One of the other highlights of the night was a Tuvan throat singing performance. Tuvan musicians truly are breathtaking in their musical skill and originality. They attracted a huge cheer from the Tuvans present that night, as well as some enthusiastic flag waving.

I'll let the pictures do the rest of the talking.

Our friend Varya, from the Sakha people. Hers was the most spectacular costume of the night.

Another Sakha girl.

A Khakas girl.

Varya again.

A Tuvan girl.

A Khakas girl.

A Tuvan girl

A Khakas girl.

A Buryat girl.

A Sakha girl.

Last year's winner from the Sakha Republic in north eastern Siberia.

These Tuvan performers including throat singing was a real highlight of the night.

The Tuvans in attendance thought so too, and waved their flag to show their approval and patriotism.

Last year's winner (a Sakha girl) presented a crown to this year's winner (a Tuvan girl).

Varya performed very well on the night.