Thomas Somers

Thomas Somers
Of Fighting Trousers
On the The Mongol Rally 2011
HIGHLIGHT ON MAP
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Big Trouble in Little Mongolia

Its been a little while since our last proper blog, so I had better update you as to our recent trials and tribulations. To start out our car is vaguely ok - it has two broken rear shock absorbers and no rear bumper. Oh, and it has taken to over/underheating, which is a bit of a problem when we dont have a working temperature gauge. Soldiering on anyway.

In terms of Greg's previous (and short) blog entry, that happened when he got in Will of Team Outsmart's Smart car which sped out of Olgii without us and promptly tore his oil sump off. We didnt know this and were happily off to Khovd with the other Smart car and the Skoda. Well I say happily, actually the other Smart got a oil leak which meant we had to patch it with resin and bubble gum and tow it. The locals at the town we took it to then decided they wanted it and didnt much want us to go; so we hightailed it out of town at 10 at night. This led to a series of nighttime towing hijinks up Mongolian mountains, including some river crossings. Eventually our valient Skoda would tow no more and we had to test out the chewing gum 'improved' Smart which actually worked. After some sleep at 3am in the cars we then proceeded (at 6am)to Khovd.

This story will be contined after lunch.

Tom

Thomas Somers
Of Fighting Trousers
On the The Mongol Rally 2011
HIGHLIGHT ON MAP
MORE FROM

Transcontinentally Speaking

There will be no Borat jokes.

We are currently rocking Atyrau, which is a rather pleasant oil boomtown with a remarkable number of expats. It also happens to mark the border between Asia and Europe, which is the Ural River. We have now crossed a number of times, notably from our hotel in Asia to TGI Fridays in Europe. Because we are Transcontinental people.

We are now anticipating several (more) days of brutally bad roads on the way to Almaty (via Aktobe) and some lovely camping on roadsides with the camals. All very Bear Grylls.

Anyhow, I need to get going now as I should be driving.

Tom 

Thomas Somers
Of Fighting Trousers
On the The Mongol Rally 2011
HIGHLIGHT ON MAP
MORE FROM

Didn't We Have A Miserable Time The Day We Went To Kiev...

...We've had a horrible day, got conned on the way and spent all our money on bribes and brake lights.

Anyone with a frankly bizarre knowledge of British musical comedy will find that hilarious. Anyone else will notice we've had a rubbish day.

Firstly we set off from L'viv with high hopes of a decent drive. These were quickly dashed, we were pulled over by some Ukrainian police who had video 'evidence' of our car's ability to accelerate from 60 to 145 kmph in 2 seconds. We should alert Skoda, they will be thrilled. The upshot is that we paid a 2000 [Ukrainian things] 'fine' (approx. 200 Euro]. Ouch. Still, better than the 3000+ they were after. Bah.

We then tagged along with some Czechs who were very nice (they gave us beer) and let us convoy with them. Despite this we were soon pulled up again by the Ukrainian fuzz who this time fell for the dumb foreigner act and let us go on our way. Uplifted by this good fortune Aaron promptly reversed into a petrol pump and did in our brake light in. Once we hit Kiev (not literally this time) we found a garage with a nice man called Misha down a dodgy street who fixed it for us in half an hour and gave us directions to our hostel.

 And here we are, excuse us while we spend some more money of dinner and booze.

 

TomÂ