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Not long after leaving the city, we took off across the steppes, initially following this track. Nomadic Mongolians move thier gers once in each of the four seasons. The four places they move to are the same each year on a rota that has been agreed between families over the years.

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The children most often spend the summer months with their parents and the school terms with relatives in the nearest town. These two were very accepting of this stranger playing with them and thier lego.

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Khaa's took us out to visit his family at their foundry, recently set up by his father and his three brothers. They were using scrap metal,car engines, old pipes etc, to produce ingots which they then cast into spheres which were sold to the mining industry

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At this time Gekk was painting to pass the time, but later she started in earnest once the idea of doing an exhibition came up.

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Our walls soon became a little less bare. Also on the wall can be seen a graduation photo of Jenny.

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We did a few sushie gatherings at our place with other VSO volunteers based in UB.

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Jiguur's training workshops were very well organised and Gungaa, pictured here in the orange top, was one of our top supporters, giving us a much needed insight of the building industry. The first class to gradute from Jiguur were all young ladies who went on the set up their own subcontractor team to be hired by the building firms.

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This event took place not long before I left Mongolia. A meeting of the relevant government agencies linked to project, met to approve and validate the management and quality control proceedures we had created for the nine training programmes.

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Selenge and me having a posh lunch. Normally we would eat at a cafe local to our office.

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It was late spring and the grass was still very brown. It was a real treat to be out of the city and in the vast open space of the steppes.

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And then the unexpected, an off roader. Mind you with so few metaled roads, this was the norm. Somtimes this translated into one way streets in the city becoming two way and pavements becoming and extra lane for the road.

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On the January flight to Beijing, snowed mountians at the edge of the plateau.

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The home of the National Peoples Congress.

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A surprise was to see tolley buses which also had 'off-wire' capablitiy.

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Mao keeping watch.

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The parks is one of two on the north side of the Fobidden City which give great views across Beijing.

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The tombs of the Ming Dynasty emperors with the first berial there in 1420.

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This, the Hall of prayer for Good Harvest, is the largest of many religious buildings on the site.

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The Palace infact is an ensemble of lakes, gardens and palaces, covering and area of 2.9 squ km of which three-quaters is water.

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A temple cut into the hill side.

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The White Pagoda is a 40-metre (131 ft)-high stupa placed on the highest point on Jade Flower Island, built to honor the visit of the 5th Dalai Lama in 1651. Its body is made of white stone.

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