Altai Republic, Russia

The rumours are true: Rus/Mongolia western border is closed Sundays! Will have 2 wait 'til tomorrow. We have been warned queues get messy & the crossing can take an entire day! No-mans land is approx 10 miles wide! Few days ago the coolant system decided to have a laugh & empty itself! Don't know where it went! After losing 3L every 2hrs we put an entire bottle of radweld in,which slowed leak to 1L/day. Let's hope it holds!

Altai Republic, Russia

We've made it to the Mongolian border! Now camping up with another team (And Go...) now freezing our butts off! We reckon it's 15 deg C, but feels -5! Now to eat pasta (again), drink some beer and start the last border bureaucracy in 8 hours! Woop! TTFN

Semey, Kazakhstan

Finally some phone reception! After more visa issues & missing out Tajikistan, we can only enter Russia on 20th, so we have a wait before the last push through Mongolia! Let's hope nothing goes wrong! Done about 7500 miles I think - lost count! Lost sanity too! Police everywhere and all bent on finding something wrong with our paperwork! When we're stopped, they all ask about football and Wayne Rooney... Deluded fools! Hahaha! TTFN@

Karakol, Kyrgyzstan

Distance: 6800 miles Speeding tickets: 2 Exhaust: Noisier Location: Karakol, Kyrgyzstan Weather: Hot. Dry. Sunny. Lovely. Sorry for the lack of updates - we've had phone problems ever since Iran. We can't connect at all. There will be more gaps ahead, as we travel across places that aren't aware of mobile phones... We're in sunny Kyrgyzstan! Stunning place. Went for a swim this morning in a crystal clear lake, surrounded by snop capped peaks! Awesome! Car had it's first blip this morning - it ran out of coolant and started to overheat! We filled it back up, and will keep an eye on it. Also, door locks have vibrated loose on the dodgy roads and tracks! Nicked some screws from the rear doors and hope nothing else falls off! In all - good! Running low on food, so starting to sample the local delicacies. We ordered some shish kababs, and got 6 sticks full of liver. Hmmm.... TTFN!

Samarqand, Uzbekistan

Finally! A computer that works, and that can let me login to the Adventurists website! Apologies for the lack of updates so far, my phone doesn't seem to work ever since we were in Iran. Tim's sim works in my card, and that's about it. I guess we'll configure that to work on the updates.

We're in Samarqand in Uzbekistan! Lovely here, and after some serious thinking and some tasty local food (and a chat with other travellers coming from the East) we have decided to bail on Tajikistan. It all started when we found out that my Tajik Visa has the wrong date on, and they only gave me 4 days to travel a route that would normally take 6! So, in the end - we've had to avoid that country. Not only that, due to the shorter route, we thought we could get to Mongolia quicker - oh no! More visa problems - we can only get into Russia from the 20th August! 10 days later than we requested. Genius. Lets see how this goes... The remainder of the route from the Russian border normally takes about 8 days if we don't break down... fingers crossed!!!

So - some facts so far

Miles: About 6000 done, 4000 ish to go

Exhuast: Nearly dead

Rattles: More

Fuel: Crap. Octane 80 makes the poor little suzuki pink like there's no tomorrow. We need some booster stuff!

Roads: Uzbek roads: The good ones are poor. The poor ones are dire. The Awful ones you avoid and use the verge or field!

 

Ardabīl, Iran

Last night we made it across the Iranian border! We passed a 5km long queue of lorries waiting to cross into Iran, and we immediately met some likely looking fellows. After an hour of "haggling" (arguing) we got our paperwork back for only €30 palm grease! Bargain. Not.@

Erzurum, Turkey

making our way through the turkish mountains; stunning vistas! We might actually make the Iran border before night today! Exhaust is noisier, but sounds more like a local's car now. Dust & dirt building up too - lookin' good!! One other thing- fuel here is £2 a litre! Ouch!!

Istanbul, Turkey

We're now officially in Asia! Istanbul was awesome! We've crossed the Bosphorus, now en route to Ankara... Getting hotter by the hour...

ýstanbul, Turkey

We´ve made Istanbul f

Timisoara, Romania

Spent 2hrs in the hot baths yesterday - bliss! Now sunburnt. Had breakfast, now on our way to Istanbul tonight. Turkey is where things start to change! Had to turn around at Serbian border as we didn't have green card, & weren't willing to drop â