All the seats were taken and as the only Westerners present could hardly expect to go unnoticed.  We crept down the center aisle and crouched on the floor to take photos.  Within minutes we had been ushered into the best seats amongst the judges and were feeling just a bit out of place.

As these elegant ladies completed their routine we were led from our prize seats and ushered around a corner. 

Where a barrage of press photographers were waiting to take this! We passed our cameras to them and this is the resulting photo.  I felt like one of the seven dwarfs with these gorgeous pompomed creatures towering over us.

When we got back to our seats this quasi military troupe were performing