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Having never travelled outside Europe before this was a new and daunting experience, especially travelling alone.

When I arrived in Ulaanbaatar airport it was early morning at a temperature of -23 ºC with snow everywhere. It was an amazing site to behold compared to Suffolk, with snow-covered mountains surrounding the city.

My first experience of Mongolian food was to try something called buuz, which is steamed meat dumplings. They are lovely, along with most of the other cuisine I tried out there.

The monastery in Kharkhorin

Having spent a couple of days seeing the city I flew out to the desert to a town called Bayankhongor in Bayankhongor province in the south west of the country.

We then drove to the home where I would be staying which was near a village called Byangovi. When I arrived none of the family I was to stay with spoke English, which was a very scary situation as I knew no Mongolian.

It took us about three weeks to get some sort of real understanding with the family speaking some English and me speaking some Mongolian.

The area where I stayed was in the south west of the country in the Gobi desert, which is an area with amazing open views of rocky mountains, and scrub bushes spread throughout.

The country is nothing like Suffolk. I was surprised at just what it looked like despite having seen pictures before I went. It didn't prepare me for actually being there and seeing it first hand.

Matthew riding 'Maddy' the camel

My first real traditional Mongolian experience was to go and collect water for drinking and washing. We drove in the family's jeep to the little river near their house and as it was frozen we parked the jeep in the middle of the river and got out to collect ice cold water through a hole in the ice.

I had various experiences similar to this when I first arrived until my first most memorable experience which was during their festival called White Month, Tsagaan Sar.

During this we visited various family relatives and everyone gives out gifts, including one relative who gave me a camel! Riding a camel is a great experience and well worth doing if the chance arises.

Matthew with some of the goats he was looking after. He is wearing a 'deel', which is traditional dress

Over the next couple of weeks I had various experiences with the family including helping to look after their herd of goats, collecting wood and general everyday tasks.

I started to help teach English in the local school to children ranging from 11 to 15 years old. It was a great experience seeing the faces of the children, especially the younger ones, when you tell them they have got it right, it makes it seem worthwhile.

We visited lots of family relatives who lived within a day's drive of where we were, as well as other people who were just friends of the family. It was amazing as everyone is so friendly no matter where you go, everyone is willing to give you food and drink which is commonly buuz and Mongolian salt tea (an acquired taste).

At the end of my first month in the desert we visited the eldest son of the family in another village called Girvantes where I had my first experience of sleeping in a ger, the traditional nomads felt tent. This was a great experience as they are surprisingly warm and well kept by the families, with lots of bright coloured furniture and pictures of their friends and family around.

Matthew with a horse head fiddle in a 'ger', the traditional felt tent, in Girvantes

I spent two months living with this family and doing their everyday tasks helping with washing, cooking and predominantly looking after the goats. Towards the end of my two-month stay with them we went out looking for fossils, as the area I was in is well known around the world for having lots of fossils.

We went out for four days and slept under the stars. As there is no artificial light out there you can see the sky in all its natural beauty.

At the end of my two months I drove back to the city with my family, which took 24 hours. A very tiring experience, but well worth it as it gave me a chance to see more of the countryside between Byangovi and Ulaanbaatar. There is so much variety in the country throughout Mongolia from the desert land to beautiful mountains and pine forests.

I spent the last three weeks of my trip in Ulaanbaatar with the other volunteers and doing some teaching with a company called Voice of the World. I visited some other tourist sites, with the other volunteers, including the old capital city called Kharkhorin.

When my three months was over I did feel sadness and regret about having to leave the country as it is an amazing place with very friendly people and a relaxed atmosphere. There was lots more to see and do but unfortunately I didn't have time.

I would love to go back to Mongolia to see the family I stayed with again, and visit the areas of the country I haven't seen, if I ever get chance in the future.