Jonathan Wood

Jonathan Wood
Of Blues and Twos
On the The Mongol Rally 2011
HIGHLIGHT ON MAP
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Olgli, Mongolia

With Ambi gone there were only two brave soldiers willing to carry on the torch, both of whom have found themselves rather stuck in the back end of Mongolia. Though the vintage plane ride over epic scenery has more than made up for it. Tomorrow we head off early to barter for more plane tickets in the hope of securing a bargain passage to Ulaan Baatar. Hope the girls are surviving even with the lack of good company and that Chloe has found a cable car. That's all for now. The men

Jonathan Wood
Of Blues and Twos
On the The Mongol Rally 2011
HIGHLIGHT ON MAP
MORE FROM

Karagandy Province, Kazakhstan

A fantastic four days in Bukhara's friendliest truck stop...consisting of countless kebabs which lead into bottles of Uzbeks finest vodka which lead into a sarcophony of English/Russian techno keyboard playing, courtesy of Mr Russia and dj Shiner. Ambi set off with a new lease of life for all of 2 starts, and by Tashkent she'd been bump started 6 times and had a broken clutch. Never to be defeated and assisted by 8 baton-waiving truck-stopping policemen we made it to Kazakhstan after 3 seperate tows and a 2km push. Beer o'clock.

Jonathan Wood
Of Blues and Twos
On the The Mongol Rally 2011
HIGHLIGHT ON MAP
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Chalus, Iran

From leaving Tabriz we soon discovered Iranian road signs were non existent and that the very few that were there were all in Farsi...far from ideal. After taking a slight detour we ended up winding through a high mountain pass which was absolutely stunning though Laura and Chloe were too busy fighting the wind to pay much attention. After hrs of slow progress we stumbled upon the only bit of civilisation we'd seen all day, Kivi. This was an unexpected wonder and turned out to be the honey capital of Iran...apparently. The next morning we awoke to find Harry full of excitement, some would have likened him to a 2 month old puppy...it was his BIRTHDAY!!!!! Probably not the best place to celebrate one's 22nd...Iran being a dry country and it being Rammadam, but none the less we were determined to celebrate. Balloons were blown, pipe cleaner animals were crafted, hats were worn and even the odd gift or two were exchanged. Enroute to our birthday stopover we had a slight issue with the spare wheel...it fell off, luckily however it was rescued by a friendly mechanic who hailed us when we went back looking for it. A few more signitures on the ambulance and we were once again on the road. With it being such a special occasion we managed to rootle out a steak house and proceeded to tuck into a pretty good hunk of meat...life was good.

Jonathan Wood
Of Blues and Twos
On the The Mongol Rally 2011
HIGHLIGHT ON MAP
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Trabzon, Turkey

After leaving the bustle of Istanbul we headed East until we found what we thought was the Swindon equivalent of Turkey. With no better place stay we pulled into the center of this industrial town to find a warm welcome from a local policeman who was offering his proffesional as well as domestic services....Chloe's eyes lit up! We solemnly ventured into town in search of a kebab but by chance met a man who's arsenal of weapons Rambo would have been proud of. After a bit of imaginative roleplay we we were granted access to the collection and can now safely say that we would back ourselves with a Desert Eagle .50.Moving on from guns, we went in search of fabled beach far far away on the coast of the Black Sea....alas, it was chucking it down when we got there and so the hope of finally ending our shower drought was thwarted....the girls are suffering. We drove down the coast in search of balls.