14:40, 30th August 2009. The Finish Line.

On the 30th of August, at 14:40 local time, myself and my two new team mates Ralph and Donal crossed the finish line in their Nissan D21 Pick up truck. 6 weeks, 1 Hillman Imp, 9 Countries, 5 border crossings, 3 bribes, 7 time zones, over 10,000 miles and an uncountable number of breakdowns, I have completed the 2009 Mongol Rally.

But it hasnt been all plain sailing since the last blog! A lot happened since we left the garage in Altai after having a new/old rear diff fitted to the pick up. . .

 

So it turns out that team Rasta Mouse turned up in a second car which they had found a few towns earlier when their last one had broken. It was another Mongol Rally car which had been given up on, how ever between them, Georgio, Tree and Charlie managed to bodge it back together and get to Altai. How ever that car also gave up, so they were stuck with no cheap way of getting to UlaanBaatar. So we did what any decent people would do, and offered to ratchet strap them to the back of the pick up truck for the next 1100km! 

So leaving Altai at ten in the evening, with our three new stow aways strapped to the back of the pick up covered in a tarpaulin, we headed back off on the dirt track, with no tarmac in sight. After driving for three hours, we decided to camp up as we weren't entirely sure where we were, and thought it best to get our bearings in the morning.

Waking up the next day, we sat down to a breakfast of stale bread and chocolate spread. When sitting on the floor next to the pick up, we spotted something we very much didnt want to see. The new rear diff was leaking oil. A lot. The mechanic had screwed us over. All 300 dollars had gotten us was the same problem we had had 4000km ago. We tightened up all the bolts, topped up the oil and hoped for the best. We stopped every hour to swap drivers, and topped up the oil, driving into the next town to briefly grab some food, then cracked on driving into the night. With Ralph driving, the car suddenly started to rev, but not go anywhere. De Ja Vu anyone?! The car would grind into gear but wouldnt move at all and we were in the middle of a very busy track as we were getting ever closer to the capital city. Getting out we instantly saw the problem. The diff had fallen apart. I dont mean a little bit, I mean the whole diff had split down the middle, the wheels where at dodgy angles and the drive shafts were pointing towards the floor, with gear oil everywhere, we could clearly see the cogs and gears inside the diff, this, did not look good. 5 out of 8 of the bolts holding it together had somehow fallen out, so we were left with 3 bolts along the top of the diff. Pushing the car to the side of the road, we decided to leave it to the morning so set up camp and made a huge fire out of all of the fire wood we had left. 

I woke up in the morning in a boiling hot tent, getting out I find Donal and Georgio under the pick up giving ago at fixing it. It turns out the mechanic had forgotten to tell us there was no gasket in the diff, which is why the oil was leaking everywhere! They had jacked the diff up and filled round the edge with gasket sealent, so now all sides were touching once more and the drive shafts were running parralel with the ground once again. Our only problem now was we still only had three bolts! We searched round the car for anything we could undo and take off to steal the bolts from, but none would fit. Strongly considering moving the three bolts left to the bottom of the diff and trying to limp the car to the next town, we see a flat bed truck pull up with another Mongol Rally car on the back. The team whos car it was jumped out, along with the driver of the flat bed. We were having a chat and showed the driver the problem with our car, then suddenly our luck turned, the driver pulled out a huge bag of random nuts and bolts, which Donal and Tree sorted through managing to find enough so every hole in the diff had a bolt holding it together! Hurrah! Saying goodbyes to the team on the flat bed, and with a diff held together strong as ever, we cracked on! Non stop driving, as the sun was going down we pulled onto the most magical of road surfaces, tarmac. And not any old tarmac full of pot holes which we have been used to for the last few weeks, this tarmac was smooth as glass and it was weird to drive on it without having to stay constantly braced. I can also guarentee the three on the back were very glad of the lack of potholes, as their backs and necks had been struggling with the off roading with no support behind them other than the spare tires! Driving into the night, we came across the first police checkpoint we had seen in Mongolia, getting pulled over, they asked to see the drivers papers. Unfortunately, Donal was driving, who has no Driving Licence as he failed his test a few weeks before the rally. So all three of us jumped out of the cab of the pick up and bundled around the policemen, confusing him and convincing him that Ralph had been driving when we were pulled over. We were about to be sent on our way with no issue, until, that is, he saw a leg poking out of a tarpaulin on the back. Ripping it back, he finds three westerners snuggled together like a bunch of immigrants on the bed of the pick up. Clearly unimpressed he calls us into his office. In here, he just kept repeating to us that our car was not normal and it should only have two people in it, and that was the only way he was going to let us carry on, with 4 of us getting public transport. We decided he was waiting for a bribe which we weren't willing to give, so Ralph did what he did best, and nearly talked the policemen to death. When Ralph goes into a rant, he just keeps going and going and going. Starting off asking the guy where we were, he then went onto how many kilometres we were from UB, asking him about his family, where they live, how many children he has, what his religion is and if his religion is the same for his children. He then went on to tell the man that the Russians hate Buddhism, this didnt seem to go down to well and he confronted Ralph, asking if he was a Russian. After this was cleared up we were offered some Airag randomly (Fermented horses milk) an alcholic delicacy in Mongolia. Accepting it, he soon gave up and let us go, telling us to drive slowly with people on the back! Onwards!

We planned to make the finish line that night, the night of the 29th, with the 6 week finish line party in full swing, we wanted to rock up and join the celebrations, and we were on target to do so, until that is, the tarmac finished, and we entered the flood plains. Some of the worst road we had driven on during the whole rally. We were all getting very tired and irritable, and I hold my hands up to being the worst of us all, losing my temper at the road I started to floor the accelerator and was swinging the car around potholes, with the back sliding out behind us I was weaving in and out across the huge puddles and potholes. We finally came across a petrol station where we all jumped out and decided there was no chance of making UlaanBaatar that night, so we were going to look for some where to camp. I tagged Donal into the drivers seat and he pulled away, soon finding the tarmac road. A little way down we set up camp which would be the last camp for us on the rally.

In the morning we got the burner out and made some breakfast. I made my own version of surf and turf, made up of noodles, tuna and hotdogs. Perfect. On the road we got, and much to our pleasent surprise, we were only 71km from UB! Ploughing on, we pulled into UB at 14:40 on the 30th of August, after 6weeks and a day of driving, breakdowns and dodgy stomachs. 

We are currently staying at a guest house called 'cheapest guesthouse' run by a Mongolian lady named Betsy, who speaks perfect English and has been helping us sort out train tickets out to get to the Mongolian Chinese Border, then our tickets for the sleeper bus from the border to Beijing! We have had a hectic couple of days donating the car to charity, and trawling through our vast amount of belongings, choosing what we can take on our backs and what we will be leaving behind to the charities in UB. Tommorrow we are going Motocrossing and quadbiking out in the Gobi Desert and up a mountain which is going to be cool, then in the evening we are sleeping in a ger, then head off on a two day horse trek into the mountains! On our return we will stay one last night on Friday in UB, then Saturday morning I plan to go and see the Children of the Christina Noble Childrens Foundation, where all the money we raised is being spent. That evening we get the train and head out of UB to the border, arriving there Sunday morning we chill out for the day, grabbing the sleeping bus in the evening, then waking up in Beijing on Monday morning!

Flights are booked for the 10th of September, and I fly into Heathrow at around 8pm on the morning of September the 11th.

 Even though it is the end of the rally, I will still keep this blog updated for the rest of our travels, but I would just like to thank everyone who has shown us so much support. My dad has always been at the other end of the phone giving me advice when Im not quite sure what to do, my mum has always been letting me know shes worried about me and telling me to stay safe and not do anything stupid (I kind of listened...), thanks to Frank who with out him we would never have taken an imp further across the world than any imp has ever been before, and thankyou to his parents for being so supportive during and after his time on the rally. A big thankyou to Ralph and Donal, for taking me on with them, letting me squeeze into the front of their pick up and allowing me to finish the rally, even if it wasnt in the car I started with, without them I would have been hitch hiking all the way from Kazakhstan to Mongolia, and god knows where I would be right now! Thankyou to Steve Dent and the Robin Hood Stunt and horse team for all their donations of tools,equipment and money, it was a huge help for us and everything came in handy at one time or another, thankyou to all members of the Imp club who donated parts, tools and some very helpful advice, thankyou to Matt Cass and Kim & Mitch Konstantonovic from Kamset digital design for making our logos and vinyls for the Imp, it really brought the car to life and gave it a real character, and finally thankyou to everyone who has donated money to our charities and help us reach our target for the Christina Noble Childrens Foundation. Everyones support throughout the trip has been amazing, either through commenting on this website, text messages, or messages on facebook, a big thankyou to everyone! 

Hope everyone is well, and I will see you all very soon, I just have to go motocrossing in the desert, horse riding up mountains, and visit a certain great wall before I return.

Much love,

Olly Rowland, Mission Imp-possible

SMS Update

Arrived yesterday, the 30Th of august at 2:40 Pm local time. At the finish line in ulaanBaatar, mongolia.

So close but so far!

So we are only 1100km away from the finishline. Unfortunatly for us, we were towed the last 160km due to the rear diff finally giving in. We were cruising along the dirt track, when suddenly the car came out of gear, well, what sounded like it, but the gear stick was still in the right place?! Changing down to forth, still just revving but no movement, with the car slowing and no gears working, we knew the diff had given up on us after 5000km of screaming like a banshee.

Looking around, there was nothing. Anywhere. We had entered the Gobi Desert a few hundred kilometres back, and there was no sign of civilisation, and we had not seen any other vehicles for hours. Sitting there, wondering what to do (and also being unable to turn the engine off due to the starter motor breaking again, and now we couldnt bump start it either as we couldnt get it into gear) we contemplated just one of us hitching to the next town to get help while two stayed with the car, but that really sucked for the guy on his own. Eventually, a truck came past which Ralph flagged down, and after a bit of bartering, we convinced him to tow us (for 10litres of diesel and 100,000 tugrug, about 45quid) 85km to where there was allegedly phone signal. After one of the worst towing experiences of my life (even worse than the 500km we did in the imp) we arrived at a Mongolian trucker stop, which to be honest wasnt the nicest place in the world, nor did it have the nicest people occupying it. We got there and had no phone signal, with our man towing us refusing to take us any further unless we gave him another 150,000 tugrug. Telling him to go whistle for his money, we knocked on the door of a ger to see if they had a phone we could use. The emergency contacts list the Irish boys were given by their rally organisers was no help, not one person spoke English, and the people whos phone we were borrowing just kept laughing at what ever the person on the end of the phone was saying. Deciding to call it a night, we set the tent up in a sand storm next to the truck and went to sleep. The next morning (yesterday) Ralph decided to give it another ago borrowing the phone to see if he could get through to anyone who spoke English. As he was doing that, another car pulled up, The Sandpit Ninjas. Brilliant, some potential help! Approaching the car, I saw a Mongolian man get out on his own, this man looking nothing like Tim or Debbie, the original occupants of the car, I knew something was up. He said he was taking the car to be serviced in the next town, which also happened to be where we were trying to get to. He was accompanied by a friend driiving a small flat bed truck. We convinced them to tow us behind the flat bed the last 80 or so kilometres to Altai, and for 50,000 tugrug less than the other guy had wanted the night before. So off we went, and this was a much more enjoyable towing experience! With our pick up being much heavier than the flat bed, everytime the driver pulled away, it was his vehicle getting a sudden jolt instead of us. Brilliant. Halfway through the desert, the metal tow cable snapped. Assuming we were now screwed, we did what anyone would do, and got out our food box. Mean while, the driver got out a pair of pliars and managed to tie a knot in the wire, but couldnt tighten it, so got his wife to get in the drivers seat and accelerate forwards, while he held onto the knot with the pliars.

 So once the driver had nearly had his arm pulled out of its socket by his wifes frantic dropping of the clutch, we were on the road again, still wondering what had happened to the Sandpit Ninjas?!

Arriving at the drivers workshop shortly after the sandpit ninjas car, a frantic Debbie ran up, looking through everything in the back of the flatbed. It turns out, that their car had broken down about 200km back, and they decided to pay a ger $50 to look after it while they hitchhiked ahead to Altai to find a mechanic. The mechanic had then said they would send a flat bed back to pick it up, then bring it to the workshop to fix it. What they did instead, was send a flatbed that was to small, so they wired the rear wheels together (the axel had snapped) and drove it the 200km back instead! Before the mechanic had got there, the people looking after the car had ransacked it, taking anything of any value left in it. After an hour or so, and with several mind changes of whether they should get the car fixed or just get the bus to UB, they decided to give it another go and let them fix the car. The mechanic worked into the night on their car, (over 9 hours) so our pick up unfoprtunately didnt get a look in. During the night, Debbie decided it was a good idea to pretend I was a mechanic, and got me to keep coming over and looking at what he was doing (to make him think he had to do a proper job otherwise I, the mechanic, would know it wouldnt work). This appeared to work in our favour, as he came to look at our car, kept asking for my advice, and eventually showed me a large pile of rear diffs he had, saying he would be able to fit one onto the car for us! So here we are today, after bartering with him down to 440,000 tugrug (170 quid)  to get the work done, he thinks he will have it changed over and we will be on our way in 6 hours. The only worry is, as he thinks Im a mechanic, he asked me to take the current rear diff off the car. At this point, we decided we didnt understand what he was saying anymore, and headed into town where I am now! My phone battery has run out and my charger is broken, and it seems there are no Samsung phones in Mongolia, so buying a new charger is seeming to be a bit of a mission, but I've still got 6 hours to kill, so maybe Ill get lucky.

 From here we have 1100 km to UlaanBaatar, the finish line. We hope to get there in time for the last finish line party on Saturday night, then Monday we will apply for my chinese visa, pass the car over to the charity, book our train tickets to Beijing, then rent some horses for a couple of days and go off on a trek into the mountains! On our return, we will swap the horses for some motocross bikes and head off into the desert for the day, perhaps do some sandboarding, then grab our train to Beijing for the last chapter of this epic adventure!!! 

As always, thankyou for all your donations, and if you havent donated already, what are you waiting for?! www.imp-possible.co.uk and follow the links from our donations page!

Much Love,

Olly

SMS Update

I'm in mongolia baby! We managed to get out of russia and into mongolia in two and a half hours! Unheard of by most of the rally teams! The land scape is mental, just miles of nothing other than hills and mountains, no trees anywhere. We camped up with eight other teams last night, and have c ** some text is missing **

Barnaul, The last big town before Mongolia!

Sooo as I wrote in my sms update a couple of hours ago, we have been having a bit of car trouble. The rear diff has been making a horrendous amount of noise, so much so that since the Russian border we have been forced to wear ear plugs to allow us to keep our hearing. The down side of this is when we stop to camp for the night, we find ourselves all still shouting and being very loud!

Russian border crossing was ok, we pulled up during the nap time between midnight and 2am, so myself and Ralph got the cooker our in nomans land to make some soup and coffee, in preperation for whatever the russian border guards were going to throw at us. It turned out that the border crossing was quite easy, they were all quite helpful and we had pretty much no hassle at all! 

Entering Russia we were all knackered and it was about 6am, so we drove through the town, pulling over at about 10am to set the tent up and sleep. We were attacked by giant gnats as we got out of the car in the field we had pulled into, so rapidly put up the tent in the little shade we could find and grabbed a few hours before setting off to Barnaul. We camped just outside Barnaul last night and drove into the town this morning, with the rear diff making as much noise as ever. As soon as we found a garage and pulled into park, Ralph told to us that the brakes had stopped working properly about half an hour ago, and that we should probably get those looked at also!

Turns out the rear diff needs replacing, and due to that being a timely and costly job, we have replaced the oil in it and are going to leave it as it is. It is slightly less noisy now, but not by much. The rear right brake line had come off where it was vibrating so much against the rear diff, so we decided instead of replacing it, just to crimp it up so it cant happen again, so now we only have three working brakes! thats plenty isnt it?!

We thought we were ok for time but we just realised that the irish boys russian visas run out on the 22nd, mine runs out on the 25th. Unfortunately, the Mongolian border closes at 5pm every day, and isnt open at weekends. It can also take 24 hours to cross the border, so we have to make sure we are out of Russia by midnight Thursday (otherwise we have to register our visas which is a real hassle) This means that we will almost certainly be stuck in Nomans land between Russia and Mongolia Thursday night, waiting for the Mongolian border to open Friday morning, and hopefully, we can get across between 9am and 5pm on Friday, if not we cant go back into Russia and will have to wait to Monday in Nomans land!!!!!

 Not sure how much signal I will have entering Mongolia, so updates may become scarce, but I shall try my best! I have also booked my flight home now, and in doing so have added an extra country onto my trip. I will now be joining the Irish boys on the train into china to Beijing, then we will be flying from there to AbuDhabi, where we change over and they catch their flight to Dublin, and I jump on the plane back to Heathrow, arriving at 7am on the morning of 9/11. Shit, didnt realise I was flying on that date. 

Either way, I will be home on the 11th september and am looking forward to catching up with everyone and having many beers! 

speak soon, easy now, Olly

SMS Update

just taken the car into mechanics. Rear diff making huge amount of noise and brake fluid spewing out rear left brake pipe. One oil change and a Crimped brake pipe later we are back on the road. 35 Hours to do 750 km. Onwards!

SMS Update

This update is a bit late as i am now 500Km north east of Astana in a city called pavloada, but there is no way of plotting Pavloada on the map so Astana it is! Astana was a great city to see, incredibly modern in comparison to london, let alone the rest of kazakhstan. We are about to drive to the russian border and try and get across tonight. Then we head to Barnau tomorrow to take the pick up to a garage as it is making a hell of a lot of noise! Other than that, all is good other than the lack of frank and the imp! Easy now.

Two Goodbyes!!!

So, a lot has happened in the few days since I last updated. We left Aktobe, making good time along one of the first nice roads in a while, everything was good. Until we stopped for a toilet break. Then it all started going horifically wrong. The Irish boys pick up wouldn't start again when they got back in it. We tried cracking the starter motor with the crow bar which had worked the last few days, but still nothing. And now something was leaking. Shit. We had knocked a rusty break line which had now started leaking fluid. Within half an hour, there were no brakes other than the handbrake.

      Ralph jumped in the imp with Frank, and they turned back on an hours journey back to the last 'big' town. Myself and Donnel sat in the pick up in the baking sun for four hours, hoping that their return would bring a new brake line we could fit at the side of the road, and then we could bump start the car. Four hours later they returned, with two bottles of water and 8 snickers, but no brake line. We obviously couldn't sit there, so the decision was made to stop a the next truck we saw, get them to give us a bump start, and then try and use the hand brake to stop going into the back of them. So, Ralph stepped into the road, but instead of hailing a big old truck that it wouldnt matter if the pick up went into the back of, he hailed a brand new 48 seater coach, full of passengers. Brilliant. Even so we got it bump started with out crashing into it, and then both cars drove the now two hour journey back, as the Irish boys didnt want to go faster than 40km with no brakes, which we thought was fair enough, especially as we were driving infront in the Imp.

      Arriving in the town at about 7pm, we found that most of the garages were closed, so pulled up outside a car parts shop, where instantly we were surrounded by people (as we have been the whole trip) wanting to take photos and look at the Imp. We managed to explain to a couple of them that the brakes on the pick up were broken and we needed the part replaced. By the time we managed to explain it to them (via a young girl who could translate as she was leasrning english at school) all the parts shops and garages were 100 percent closed, but the guys who were looking at the cars were adament they could fix the problem for 50 dollars. Before we could say anything, they had removed the broken brake line and seemed to know what they were doing, so we let them give it a go. They went off in their car and came back with a brake line off another vehicle (possibly off a working car in the car park round the back, who knows?!) this part how ever didnt fit, so they did the same again, this one was more of a success,a lthough we still weren't sure about it until we saw them start bleeding the brakes that it seemed they knew exactly what they were doing, and after we push started the pick up and the guy who had fixed the brakes gave it multiple skidding tests, they sent us on our way! We were so relieved that we could crack on with our journey. Then, 30km outside of the town, the imp was making a lot of grinding noises, then we suddenly lost forth gear, then second, then first, then third. Then we couldnt even get it into reverse, and then Neutral wouldnt even work!! Pulled over at the side of the road, Frank turns to me and says 'we're fucked'. The gear box was destroyed. Seeing as it was the middle of the night, and towing wasnt an option due to our wheels being stuck in position and no neutral gear, frank jumped under the car and disconnected one half of the drive shafts so the wheels could roll, but unfortunately, this meant they were flailing around under neath the car, doing a lot more damage, so we pulled over and slept, re-evaluating the situation in the morning. 

The morning came, and we had no idea what to do. We couldn't get the other half of the drive shaft off with out a 38mm socket which we didnt have. So Frank and Donnel headed off back into the town in the pick up to get the socket and some water as we had run out. They returned back with water, more snickers and what turned out to be a 58mm socket when we put it on the wheel nut, not a 38mm socket. So back to town they went. While they were gone, two big 4x4s turned up, pulled over behind us and 5 guys got out, all in camo gear and approached us while we sat in the imp. It turned out they were hunters going fishing, and just wanted to check out the imp. With 5 minuts of meeting them (and remember its 10:30am) they had given me and Ralph a cold beer each, and we sat round the imp having a drink and trying to chat, with the language barrier not being to difficult, sign language seemed to suffice. Then, they got out a brand new bottle of ice cool vodka, which between me, Ralph and one of the hunters, we finished within ten minutes. The time was now 11am, and both of us were pissed as anything. With the hunters on their way, Frank and Donnel soon returned to find me and Ralph laughing at anything and everything. It took all day to get the drive shafts removed, so we cooked dinner on the camp stoves and were on our way, being towed by the pick up. The roads were beautfil to begin with, but gradually got worse and worse as the night got darker and darker. The towing was getting quite horrible, as everytime they slowed and sped up, we were getting a very sharp whiplashesque jolt. The whole tow was 500km, and took us from 7pm until 10am the following morning, stoping for an hour and a halfs sleep, with the majority of the road being an off road dirt track. 

Once we had got onto the busiest junction in town, the hardcore tow strap we had been using which is used for towing lorries snapped where it had been rubbing on the floor so much during the 500km, so there we were, stranded in the imp in the middle of a horiffically busy junction in kazakhstan. We pushed it to safety off the junction, and then evaluated our situation. The rear right suspension (opposite to the side we got fixed in atyrau) had totally collapsed and come through the floor of the car, so much so the car body was nearly dragging on the floor. As well as that, the engine was now only firing on two cylinders. With the suspension, Gearbox and Engine all broken, and us being two weeks behind schedule, as well as all the extra money we had spent on the car/our two weeks worth of delays, we decided that the gear box could almost definitely not be fixed, and it would be very pricey to get EVERYTHING fixed, that we were better off leaving the car. It was a horrible decision to make, and it was the most upsetting and lowest point for me on the trip when we started emptying our stuff out of the imp and transferring it into the Irish boys pick up. With the Imp now empty, we towed the car to the local police station, where we found a helpful english speaking lady and a policemen, who drove us to the customs office, where we filled out the necesary forms. We then drove back to the imp to empty the last of our stuff out, and get it ready to be towed to the customs office. A seriously horrible moment here. We had four brand new, unused tires on the roof rack, which the policemen asked if he could have if we didnt need them, so we let him have them. Then more people started gathering round, asking for bits off of the car, until there were about 15 people, all with socket sets and screw drivers, stripping the car for parts. Frank jumped in and grabbed the few bits he wanted to take home, I managed to get the number plates off as keep sakes, but the Kaazakh guys stripping the cars infront of our eyes took the Battery, the tires, the alternator, the speaker and speaker wiring, our foot pump and scissor jack, our spare brake cable, the tarp, engine oil, a few bungee cords, fog lights, a whole box of imp spares, two empty tool boxes, and I even saw one guy trying to pull the stickers off the car. Seeing him pulling the stickers off was a bit to much for me to watch so I had to walk away for a bit. We both have got very attached to that imp, and driving away from it in the car park at the customs office made me feel genuinally sick and upset. That was the end of our journey with the imp. The imp is dead, long live the Imp. 

 

Our second goodbye is to Mr Frank Claydon. With the demise of our car, and with things to attend to at home, Frank has made the decision to fly back to England tommorrow from Kazakhstan. I will be jumping in the Irish boys two seater pick up for the rest of the journey (Its going to be cosy thats for sure), and so will keep you updated on our progress in a Nissan D21 4x4 which doesnt actually have four wheel drive as they broke it parked up at the kazakhstan border (dont ask). It is currently in the garage having a good going over in preperation for the rest of the trip, so we will hopefully be leaving town tonight or tommorrow morning, and then onto the next chapter of the journey! If anyone wants a broken Hillman Imp, we know of one in Kostanai, Kazakhstan! 

Aktobe, Kazakhstan

Helloooooo, Olly here! A lot has happened since we last updated (I have been sending text updates but they clearly havent all been appearing on the website).

So we stayed in Atyrau for a night, and took the cars out to get them fixed the next day. We met up with Chris and Dan who were staying in the same hotel and had found a garage. When we arrived there, they were on the phone to the embassy, seeing what the deal was with scrapping a car in kazakhstan. Things were not looking good for them! We had our car looked at, and they didnt fix any of the problems we knew we had, but found another one (rotaflex had broken) so that was replaced which was cool, and the owner of the garage treated us to free food and drink while we waited which was cool. Chris was then given the number of an ex pat named Shawn Weaver, from the embassy, who lives in atyrau and knows how to get rid of car. He told them that the garage we were in was dodgy as anything and they would try and nick other parts off our cars, so he drove straight down to sort everything out and allow us to leave with our cars. It turned out that for the last four years Shawn had wanted to do the Mongol Rally but never got a place, but each year was always helping out ralliers who were having car troubles. He has a big yard/workshop that he took us to, and let us work on the car in there, so that evening Frank started changing the head gasket, and then we booked into the hotel for another night in Atyrau. 

The next day we went down to the yard, and while Frank finished changing the head gasket, I took the rear springs and shock absorbers off, then we all went off to the local auto market to see if we could find some bigger springs, or a way of blocking the spring up to make it a bit taller! After haggling on some rubber pads to go on the springs, we returned back to the yard, and fitted them, along with some circular pieces of wood one of Shawns workers sorted out for us. Assuming we had fixed both problems, we were ready to get back on the road (along with the Irish boys who had spent all day at a Nissan garage, had nothing done to their car, yet it had magically started working again!!!). We picked up the guys from team Gobi Desert with the spirit of Chuck Norris, and headed off towards Uralsk. Or so we thought.

As team Gobi Desert had a team member who spoke Russian, we thought it was a good idea to get him to ask for directions out of Atyrau heading to Uralsk. To begin with everything seemed fine, lovely smooth road, just what we had been told the road would be like. Perfect. Then suddenly, there were a lot of potholes, then no tarmac, then an off road track with pot holes, then some lumps of tarmac dumped down randomly. Basically, the worst road you have ever seen. We decided to crack on, even though it was midnight and I had already nearly driven the car into a ditch after thinking I was being clever driving on what I thought was a smoother gravel track next to the road, turned out to be wet slippery sand and mud which sent us skidding off towards a ditch! We camped for the night in a town called Makat, some sleeping in cars, some sleeping in a big stage in the town centre. By this time, we had come to the conclusion that the road we had taken was infact, the one road we had been told by absolutly everyone to avoid, the government gave up resurfacing it years ago, and it only got worse. But due to not many people wanting to turn back, we cracked on, having a bit of fun off roading throught the deep puddles and dodging pot holes. We even came up with a new way of going to the toilet without stopping the car, with both myself and Ralph hanging off the back of the pickup with our ars.... you get the picture.

We then pulled over and camped up for the night, team gobi desert had been towed the last few miles due to their car breaking, and the imps rear left suspension was now dangerously low, worse than it ever had been. Frank saw the problem. The car was bending in half, there were cracks all over the place and the suspension was pushing through the chassis and body, into the car itself! We phoned Shawn the following day to see if there would be a place to get it welded further along the road, he was adament there wasnt, and that we were better off turning round, driving 200km back the way we came down the worst road in the world. It made sense to us to do that, 200km back, guarenteed to get it fixed at shawns yard, then take the good road to Uralsk and then to Aktobe, instead of another 400km direct to Aktobe, on possibly even worse road, and no guarentee of getting fixed.

We drove up to the next town to get supplies, then turned back, with our new team mates Ralph and Donnel in their Nissan Pick up, leaving team gobi desert whos car was very much dead, to find a flatbed truck to take their car to town. We drove solidly through the night, our exhaust fell off very early on, so it was a very noisy journey back, as well as us also bashing the oil filter housing on a pothole, we were pissing oil everywhere and had to pull over to bodge it back together. We finally arrived back in Atyrau the following afternoon, where we went straight to Shawns yard and were met by a welder. We were then told to leave the car with him and get a taxi to Shawns place by the river. So off we went, on arrival at the river, we were met by Shawn and some of his friends out on his motorboat, quite intoxicated, towing eachother behind the boat on rubber rings. After not washing for days, we were more than happy to be invited out for a play on the boat, then after a few beers and a few goes on the rubber donuts, Shawn took us out for Dinner which was amazing, and then we headed back to his yard where Ralph and Donnel slept in their tent, I slept on the back of the pick up, and Frank slept in the cab of the pickup.

The next day our car was ready to go, the welder had done an amazing job, the car was riding high at the back again, and Frank had even managed to fit another spacer in the rear left suspension, so we set off, this time on the good road, heading to Uralsk.

50 or so kilometres outside of Atyrau, we were pulled over. Frank had been doing 82 in a 60 (our speedo hasnt worked since England) and the traffic officer insisted we drove back to Atyrau with him. No way were we doing that, so instead had to pay a bribe of 10000 tenghi (50 quid) to let us on our way. Just outside Uralsk we set up camp, planning to drive in early in the morning to get our immigration cards stamped (we were now over due by three days). After getting up at midday, we drove into Uralsk found the customs office, and showed we needed our cards stamped. then we waited. and waited. then were moved into an empty office as we were making to much noise in the waiting room. then we waited some more. Finally, someone came in and told us we had to pay a one hundred dollar fine each for not getting the stamps on time. We refused to pay and we refused to sign anything. Time passed, and everyone else had gone home other than us, the customs officer dealing with us, and his translator. Seven o clock in the evening arrived, and he started turning the lights off and walking out of the office, with us still refusing to pay or sign anything. He took us into another office, where he told us (through the translator) he justs want to go home and that if we signed the documents which said we admitted to not getting our immigration cards stamped, then we could go on our way without paying a fine. Perfect. He was so desperate to get home in fact, that Frank didnt even have to sign anything as they hadnt filled a form out for him, so its just myself, Ralph and Donnel who now have criminal records in Kazakhstan. Brilliant. 

We left Uralsk, and made an executive decision to drive to Aktobe through the night, down the main road which we were warned is very dangerous and full of robbers and bandits at night time. So, we left at 10:30pm after having some dinner, and drove through the dead of night, down the most dangerous road in Kazakhstan. 400km of it. after 15km, we were both having car trouble, but Frank and his tool kit saved the day, and we carried on, Camping up just outside Aralsk, then headed into the city this afternoon, where we are now in an internet cafe, and about to head off again, further east through Kazakhstan!

 

Long old update today, sorry the sms updates havent been coming through, will try and get that sorted! Sure I have forgotten some information but that will keep you all going for now Im sure!!!

 

easy now, Olly and Frank 

 

  

SMS Update

So we have made it into kazakhstan! Unfortunately the cars haven't been good to us. The irish boys pick up gear box is very broken and rattling, and the imp is in a bad way. The water pump has broken, causing the engine to over heat and has blown the head Gasket. On top of that the rear suspension is getting lower and lower by the day, and we now have ground clearance of about three inches at the back! We have just booked into a room for the night in atyrau And are now about to take the cars to a garage. Franks finally been driving again as you don't need an internatiol driving permit here, and the one tarmac road in kazakhstan is pretty awful! If we can get on internet will put on a bigger update! much love, olly and frank