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Xanadu at the Mongolian Steppe

The ampitheatre that was the location for the court entertainers

More township walls

The platform upon which he held court - rewarding some, condemning others

Silkies celebrate with a bottle of Marco Polo wine brought from Korcula, his birthplace in the Adriatic

And in the distance the surrounding mountains with watchtowers on each of the high peaks

First views of the grasslands of Inner Mongolia - pretty barren, heaps of erosion

Walls of the township in the distance

Excavation reveals the original bricking

Finally we're here - Xanadu where Kublai Khan had his summer palace. This is a wall of the town around it

Reminds me of North Canterbury

A village alone on the Steppe

Just as in the Taklamakan desert, the Chinese are opening up Inner Mongolia with the most fantastic roading you can imagine

Local farmer taking the unlucky ones to the slaughterhouse

Little bit of factory just to remind the Mongolians that the Chinese are here

Simply gorgeous green after those weeks of an arid landscape

Not a huge population here and mostly the elderly

Local village with the Steppe beyond - must be hellish cold and exposed in winter

No we won't take any photos and post them to the Russians

Oops - must have taken an unauthorised route - Chinese army doing exercises

Better here, sure makes a change from the vast expanse of desert we seem to have been in for ever

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