Ulaan Bataar, Mongolia

We Made it!  Got in to Ulaanbataar at about 2.00pm yesterday after three more days of driving.  compared to the previous days the last two were rather uneventful, or as uneventful as they can be on Mongolian roads.  We had a bit of trouble navigating in the gobi.  there are just so many little tracks, and absolutely no signposts.  It is a matter of guessing which one will head in the right direction, and we managed to get it wrong a lot. we did get to see some stunning Mongolian scenery in the process though.  We slept in the car just before a water crossing as we did not want to attempt in in the dark, and our reasoning proved sensible as a drunk mongolian managed to pretty much sink his car after choosing the wrong route.  The next couple of day saw us making the final push into Ulaanbataar, and the return of a tarmac road which was a nice change for the never ending bumps of the gravel tracks.  I would like to thank everyone who has donated to mercy corps. I sure the money will be greatly appreciated.  Now for the homeward journey.

Harry

Altai, Mongolia

I have now changed teams again. Unfortunately team Ireland's transit suffered a problem with fuel yesterdat, probably the fuel pump.  i jumped in Exploding Marmalade's Citroen Berlingo, and the transit was towed back to town by the biggest, baddest truck i have ever seen.  I think it was an ex Paris Dakar truck.  the Berlingo was flying yesterday, until the last of the exhaust fell off.  it was an eventful day for both teams in the convoy.  The Kingdom Crusaders had to ditch their roof rack after the vidrations caused by the road snapped the supports.  The Berlingo then suffered a puncture even though it was on rally tyres; some of the rocks are savage.  The Kingdom Crusaders then snapped a front coil and burst a damper meaning we had to crawl the last few miles to altay.  We spent the morning today fixing the cars, and they are now both ready for the onward journey. 

Harry

Khovd, Mongolia

Had a very good two days in Mongolia.  Yesterday saw us waking up in the middle of know where having camped in the dark.  Mongolia has the most amazing scenery i have seen so far, and we camped in the most sunning vally.  After taking a wrong turning, we had to back track for about two hours in the morning before we started going in the right direction.  This led us to an extremely steap hill, and the transit started to struggle, meaning that she had to be emptied before we attemped to push her up about 200 vertical meters of very steep slope.  Great for fitness especially at 2500m above sea level, but unbelivably tiring.  After 3 to 4 hours of toil the transit and her cargo were at the top of the hill, and the route down was amazing.  Dirt road, but much easier for poor trany.  We camped last night again in the middle of know where, and were up early for a good push today.  It was hard going; we had are first river crossing, and another seep hill, but trany fared well until about midday, then the clutch, feeling the effects of yesterday started to complain.  So much so that she gave up completely, and we had to rev match to change gears.  Luckily there was a town near by, and we are staying over night in a yurt while the van gets a new clutch.  Things could be worse!  Hopefully tomorrow we should be on the road again, but not before we have done some falconry with a mongolian golden eagle. 

Harry

Bayan Olgii, Mongolia

Finally into Mongolia after 34 eventful hours at the border. Arrived at the Russian side at 10:00 on Sunday expecting to be through early Monday morning. Little did we know that we were at the worlds most inefficient border post in the world. This frustrated everyone, and resulted in some pesky Russians cutting the line. Ralliers were not amused, and cut back in front of the Russian, and the situation escalated until the Russian was boxed in by rally cars, and unable to open any of his doors. The ralliers started settling in for another night at the border, and a party was started on the roof of the transit, complete with a piper. The russian realised we were going to keep him penned in over night, and finally relinquished his space. We got through the Mongolian side of the border this evening after a whole day waiting for the transit van to be cleared by customs. Harry

Biysk, Russian Federation

Now in the altay of russia, which reminds me of the alps. Stayed in a log cabin last night on the banks of a large river. Had a swim last night and this morning despite the water being about 8 degrees. Bumped into another 4 teams this morning. They were camped only 500m from where we were staying. It's good to see all the other teams again. Should hit the Mongolia border this evening. Sounds like it might be slow, but should be fun if there at lots of trams there. Harry.

Barnaul, Russia

Made it through the Russian border again with out a hitch, and are now staying two nights in Barnaul.  aimimg to try and reach the Mongolian border late on sunday to attemt the crossing on monday.  There are 5 other mongol rally teams staying in our hotel, and it is going to be an amazing convoy to the border.  looking forward to a night out in russia tonight with everyone.  Should be lively with all the teams here.  Still traveling with team Ireland, who are are really great group of people.  One of the other teams at the hotel is the jimny, of kazakh towing fame, and it is really good to see there faces again, and im glad their car was easier to fix than the ambulance. 

Semey, Kazakhstan

Finally back on the road after the ambulance broke down. Bumped into team Ireland by chance in Almaty, and they luckily had a spare space in their transit.  Now onward to russia.

Almaty, Kazakhstan

Looking for lifts from Almaty to ulaanbataar. If anyone can help please call +447515271560. Harry

Almaty, Kazakhstan

I am writing this blog entry after completing the 43 hour train journey from Aktobe to Almaty that we managed to secure in anything but the normal method.  The train itself was run by a private company, that i suspect was owned by a friend on Gonnady.  Callum and i had a cabin that we shared with two other people.  The first set were an older couple travelling with ther 4 year old Grandson.  They were extreamly friendly, and simple conversation was struck up using Callums Russian phrase book as a guide.  After a few hours, the Kazakh 'Che' or tea set was brought out, and we were treated to a very substantial dinner.  It was about this point, that we noticed the group in the cabin next to us was a rather lovely group of young, attractive Kazakh girls.  This would have been the ideal time to speak perfect kazakh, but alas a combination of broken english and phrase book russian had to surfice.  the two western tourists were obviously a novelty, and we managed to create a disproportionate amount of attention.  One of our fellow travelers, was Dana, a Kazakh university student, who we could converse with in english.  We continued chatting with Dana, and others about our trip, and eventually retired to bed, passing the giggling Kazakh girls on our way.  The next day saw new people sharing our cabin.  This time it was an older woman, and a young boy.  the elderly woman insited of feeding us at every oppertunity, and we ate until we were stuffed full.  The Kazakh landscape we passed through slowly changed from arid 'steppe' to a slightly greener scene, and early on the second day we saw our first trees.  We are now relaxing in our hotel room that Gonnady's daughter Anastasia managed to arrange for us (we are so indebted to the whole family!).  Today is going to be a quiet day, Callum especially is feeling the effects of all the food on the train, and hopefully we will meet up with the teams who have kindly aggreed to give us lifts in the next couple of days. 

Harry 

Aktobe, Kazakhstan

The past few days after the ambulance broke down have been very surreal. I left off last time with the ambulance being towed by the jimny, and unfortunately this took it's toll on the little 4x4, resulting in a knackered clutch. Forced to make camp where we rested, sam from the jimny managed to arrange a tow, and the team headed off to be fixed. The next morning Rupert flagged down a passing truck, who told us that his company could probably help. Abandoning our ambulance temporarily we got a lift in the fiesta and the mongulance to the trucking company. They agreed to give us a tow, and treated us to breakfast, lunch and showers. In the afternoon we recovered the ambulance with the help of a 6 wheel drive Kamaz truck, and where dropped at the next village. A local policeman was told of our plight, and proceeded to flag down any passing truck to secure us a lift. After a couple of hours we had managed to get a lift, but it was now getting dark. We were towed through the night for 250km to Aktobe to try and find a mechanic. On the outskirts of Aktobe we were flagged down by a man in a mafia themed blacked out lexus 4x4, and the driver informed us that he would take care of us. With no other choice we accepted his offer, and were towed to a very swanky Nissan garage. After leaving the ambulance there to be looked at we were driven in the lexus to a hotel, told to relax, and given a time to be ready by to be picked up and taken back to the garage, and still thought we were making deals with the local gangleader. Once reunited with the ambulance we were told the timing belt had been changed, but 2 of the pistons had been broken when the belt had snapped; a cripplingly expensive repair, and unfortunately the end of our beloved ambulance.  We sold as much of the non medical equipment as we could, and donated all the medical supplies to a local state run emergency centre where they were warmly recieved.  This is where mafia man Gonnady really started to come into his own.  We were taken to the train station to enquire about getting to almaty, and were told that there wasn't any space for a week, meaning that our visas would expire, and spelling the end of the trip.  Very depressed we headed back to the hotel, to refect on the adventure, and prepare ourselves for the long sad trip home.  The next morning whilst making travel arrangments to get back to london, one of Gonnady's friends discovered our predicament.  One thirty second phone call later, and two spaces on the next train to almaty had been found.  In some what of a rush, Callum and I packed our stuff, and headed down to the train station for a second time.  This time instead of heading to the ticket desk, we were lead to a tiny grate hidden to the side of the station, wich was open in responce to a phone call by Gonnady.  2 minutes later the tickets were thrust out, and we prepared to board the train, thanking Gonnady profusely, and still perplexed as to why he had donated to last two days to helping three western tourists stuck in his city, and asked for nothing in return.