Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
So the final part of the journey. What took us 5 weeks will be undone in about 12 hours. Looking back through the pictures and videos Europe seems a long time ago. At least the customs and passport control here is the easiest you get this side of the world. We ended up ditching the party pretty early last night, so we've had some sleep, and only have the luxury of Mongolian Airlines to look forward to.@
Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
After a peaceful nights sleep in a comfy bed we wake up and have a good breakfast of fresh fruits and an omlette - we then book flights from Berlin to Bristol for tomorrow and then have showers. All blissful. We then meet the Danes and our American friend gregg - head to a bakery for coffee and plan our day. We want to head to the black Market to get presents for friends (we promised emma a small mongolian husband!) and family and then find the giant statue of genghis khan. Tonight is the rally party so were planning on being fully hungover for our flight to Berlin tomorrow. Happy Days.@
Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
I should point our we 're sitting in a nice hotel, indulging in HBO English films. Ahhhh.
Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
The finish line! We actually made it here about 4am last night, to very literally limp over the line. The last 24 hours has been some of the hardest of the whole journey. The 16 hour journey actually took 48 hours. Something we would have moaned about but very quickly forgot. Unfortunatly just as we were heading to the finish line all of us started feeling sick. The dumplings we'd eaten about 10 were about to get some serious revenge for eating them. So about 4.30am last night I was desperatly driving around UB looking for a hotel to house the particularly fragil versions of ourselves. Then this morning was a very difficult morning. Starting to feel better now, so we'll update about tuefun Bits tomorrow.
Bayannur, China
Another epic and adventurous day. So we are trucking with the Danes in their ambulance, were about 200k from where burt is dropped off when we come to a river - no problem we think - we head through the river get to the otherside and then the ambulance cuts out and starts making very bad noises. We realise the bonnet was not shut properly and the engine is soaked. Not good. The bonus is we are stuck next to a river which is a welcome sight in view of the fact we have not showered for about 6 days and are grey from desert dirt so whilst we leave the car we all hop into the river with our shower gel and enjoy a good wash down. Then we go back to the ambulance and realise it's way more serious than we first thought. Water in the engine apparently is a very bad thing and the pistons have seized up. This is not good. We end up being stranded by the river for 12 hrs whilst a man we meet from a local ger arranges for a large lorry to come. Over the day we'd made friends with the guy helping us. He just sat with us all day. In the evening we unloaded a load of tools and various mechanical stuff from our little van and gave them as presents. He was pretty happy about his car-based Christmas come early, so when we asked about getting some food he invited us back to his Ger, we met the whole family and they cooked us a slap up Mongolian meal. Well fed we then got into an ambulance, on top of a truck, and got comfy for a 12 hour night time drive (they stopped to sleep for a few hours) to get to Bayankur this morning. We headed straight to a garage and, to simplify, the ambulance was not fixable quickly, and we still had to get it to UB. So right now we've climbed back on top of a truck, in the ambulance to do our final 15 hour journey in a surreal but, with the vodka and beers we have, entertaining manner. Next post likely to be from the finish line.
Altay, China
A sad sad day, we've just had to drop Burt off in the Mongol car park in the sky. About midday yesturday (quite soon after sending the update on burt's illnesses.) our clutch went again. Nothing spectacular, just stopped at a sign post and when we restarted it wouldn't go into gear. We checked clutch cables and anything easy but we think it's the lever inside that's come loose or snapped. No phone signal out there to get picked up, but a tug from the ambulance to jump start us in first meant we could drive clutchless by matching the revs. Perhaps easy if just popping down the road but we then did 230k of potholed, ridged, crazy roads with no clutch, unable to stop, still having to flick the ignition every 10 minutes. It's amazing what you can do in 3rd gear. Great fun. We got to a Mongol drop off point this morning. They probably could fix it, another dead Daihatzu sat round the back, but it was going to take a day. We had the choice of making it there, but by ourselves, or jumping in the ambulance, and getting to Ulaanbaatar with the people we've been travelling with since Atayu. So we went for friends; who wants to drink by themselves?
Govi-Altai, Mongolia
Burt Update: Our fuel gauge seems to be working again, whoop. But the speedo has stopped, boo. Since the clutch and drive shaft were fixed there's a gentle sqeal but all seems fine. The weird power loss problem is still happening, fuel filter didn't seem to be the problem, but we've got used to flicking the switch every 10 minutes or so, so more of a character trait than a problem. Yesturday a large bump cracked the radiator, but some Radseal seems to have fixed that for now. Finally this morning one of our tires went. In fact this morning between the three cars we've had 4 punctures, and one exhust crack. These 'roads' don't pull any punches.@
Hovd, Mongolia
Mongolia is one of the most beautiful places we've been, and the slightly chaotic lawless driving (I can't be bothered to go all round there, I'll start a new track) Is a refreashing change from the police obsession of Russia. We've stopped at a Mongol Rally campsite in Hovd, and sat in a Ger eating damn tasty soup and listening to some Mongolian throat singing and a guy rock a crazy two string cello thing. The drive here was great fun, if a bit intensive. Stones, gravel, sand, 4 or 5 rivers. It's amazing what you call a good road after a few hours.@
Bayan Olgii, Mongolia
Once we headed out we were quickly flagged down by a man on a motorbike. He started explaining that he could guide us to the next town. We thought why do we need a guide, we've got a map. So we drove a bit further and then it hit us; there is no roads. The ground is full of snaking intertwining tenticles of tracks but no one road. We stopped, conferred and came to a conclusion. We'rve got a compass and a sense of adventure, who needs roads. So off we set towards the mountains, slipping from one track to another heading in the general direction. We seemed to find a better road an ** some text is missing **
Bayan Olgii, Mongolia
So through to the other side. Nothing too bad, about 4 hours while they sorted our pink slips, easily whittled away talking to the other teams, playing cars, making breakfast, and sun bathing. Once we got out we pulled up to wait for our convoy, and quickly made some friends. As kids realised there was something interesting, and that they might get sweets or presents, the little towns young occupants start appearing from everywhere. Balloons, flags and sweets were passed out and soon a gaggle of chaos had formed around the cars. The whole mice experience was only slightly dented by one little hardened and dodgy kid nicking the Leatherman. He was obviously looking for something to grab and unfortunatly we didn't watch him close enough.@
