photographs with captions- novel

our first cultural experience in ulaabaatar- daddy and me outside the winter palace. everyone enjoyed the day. we would like to thank hendrik for his excellent photography.
the famous belgian cyclist (ooooh, aaaaaaah)- hendrik vandyck- and lewis. both at our regular campsite haunt just outside ulaabaatar, that is until we were robbed.

daddy enjoying the merryment of the evening- caviar and sparkling wine (russia's finest). these treats were recently bought from the state department store in ulaabaatar. the caviar is about 2 euros for 50g and the wine, i am assured was one of the best they had ever tasted. needless to say we have bought much of the same. the night during which this photograph has been taken was not a special occasion but hendrik did make us chips, chicken and maonaise. daddy is sitting in the kitchen of our new and extremely cheap guesthouse run by boggi who loves children but got introuble for pinching lewis' cheek: all was forgive with ice-cream. it was on this night that lewis and i were invited to see boggi's family. we had a traditional mongolia rice pudding and lots of sweets. we reached her brother's flat by taking a taxi, which is ulaabaatar means just any driver who will give you a lift. eveyone had a lovely evening but some remember more that most.

hendrik slaving away at the stove. he is earning his keep from all the times we took him camping with matt who comes form belguim via england. he is cooking on the one ring on the hob that actually works in the kitchen of boggi's guesthouse. we hope you can see the mountains in the background that are visible despite the flat being in the middle of ulaabaatar.

close up of russia's finest and the caviar. teh is teh one table in the kitchen but all the people staying at the guesthouse eat here every morning. we have made ourselves somewhat more at home than most and have brought in all the stuff from the car and trailer (including the precious loong-bought scissors) as we have found that crime in the city is high and we have yet to find secure parking. all our stuff takes up a lot of the kitchen and the dorm in which we are sleeping but means that we have access to all our stuff easily (the guesthouse is a flat on the 4th floor) and daddy cooks breakfast.

at our second guesthouse we met a couple of boys from holland who knew someone living in ulaabaatar also from holland. in the end we went on an expats night out to an expensive traditional mongolian restaurant. there was free entertainment that lewis enjoyed so much he had to have his photograph taken with the muscians in traditional dress.

this is the amazing solar system that lewis and i made during a science lesson. we make quite a lot of stuff. we attached it to the inside of the gazeebo and then the scrap book. i'm sure you will all see it when we get back.

the whole crew including newcommers hendrik and matt near our amazing campfire. i think lewis is setting up card den, den of cards.

this is a massive hill that we all managed to climb near our favourite camping spot. we are sitting around a buddihst pile of rocks. we had all walked around the rocks three times before putting three more on. we are just enjoying the view before story time with daddy and lewis. the hill is just south of ulaabaatar.

we picked lots of edelweis so that we can get arested when returning to the uk. they are a protected species in europe and are extremely rare but they are everywhere in mongolia. this is one of our better photographs and was taken on our walk up the big hill.

camping at night.