Khovd, Mongolia
after a long night of towing if it wasn't broken before, I'm almost certain it is now. The rescue vehicle appeared in no better state than ours - it had four levers at the front which the driver seemed not to know which was the gear stick, wires dangled down from everywhere and it had a crow bar as a ignition key. However this only adds to the impressive feat of the locals navigating their way through rock fields that lifted our car off all fours - so massive shout out to them! Getting some food and waiting on a diagnosis.
Arkhangai, Mongolia
the punto has finally packed it in; called it a day; thrown in the towel. The rumours are true - Mongolia takes no prisoners - the roads are brutal, littered with rocks, ridges and road kill. The past few days have been expensive in terms of vehicles, t'was only yesterday we woke in a convoy of 5, which now we regret has depleted to a single ambulance. We've called in the cavalry and awaiting rescue. Keep your hopes high for a genius mechanic.
Khovd, Mongolia
Loving mongolia, weather is fantastic, setting is perfect.... Punto is doing ok, except for the two tyers down. Lost two cars from the convoy, but gained an ambulance... Just going to eat some lunch, fill up the tank and hit the road again... @
Altai Republic, Russia
Don't think we are getting over the boarder today, been in the queue since about half 6, still havent moved all that far...
Semey, Kazakhstan
apparently the tiger team are back in the game after they stumbled upon a fiat clutch, somehow. In other news, the expats had a little accident involving a poor calf. The baby cow bolted over the road and must have flown about 20ft, luckily no-one was hurt, the cow even got up - though I think his future will be short lived. The expats bonnet took the brunt but their radiator also is written off. So, we towed them the best part of 120 miles all the way to semey where we found a taxi driver who finished off the journey to a toyota dealership. We've got high hopes it will be fixed for tomorrow, but we'll have to power on to the border to make up some miles and get to mongolia asap.
Almaty, Kazakhstan
after an amazing sleep in the hotel and a lazy morning we were set to cruise north towards semey. However just as we left the outskirts the tiger team encountered some difficulty losing all control of their clutch. Now waiting on a mechanic - not getting to far today.
Almaty, Kazakhstan
made it! Long haul, but the early bird catches the morning worm, as they say. Not a lot but driving today, getting a lot of waves and toots here - seem to love it. Off for a meal and drinks in the city.
Shymkent, Kazakhstan
Not much to report, still on the road, thinking we'll be in Almaty tomorrow...
Kyzylorda, Kazakhstan
not a lot today just driving through sand storms. Trying to find somewhere to camp now. Finished harry potter 4 audio book, moving onto number 5.
Kyzylorda, Kazakhstan
Please excuse the last update, it was done by tiger nick... We have convoyed up and moved southwards. We had our first car related casualty today, the rear exhaust box has fallen off... This has not affected performance, just sounds like a finely tuned subaru imprezza growling away. Perfect.@
