Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
we're here!!! We've done it! The finish line is a dilapidated building in the centre of the city but everyone we met along the way is here. There's beer and burgers. So elated! Our flights are booked for early Monday morning so we'll be back in London about midday. Time to partay!!! Thanks to all who've followed us and donated! See you all very soon! xxx
Ovorkhangai, Mongolia
whoops! Missed an update. We made excellent time after Altai and met up with team 'bella the ambulance' - a lovely couple who convoyed with us during the day. They made us pasta and meat balls and camped with us. The night became extremely windy and wet. The temperature drops dramatically at night and the wind is harsh. Last night especially! We've made incredible time though. We'll get to Ulaan baatar tomorrow as apparently it's Tarmac the rest of the way. Oh yes, and Chris crashed the car into the back of the 4x4. Everyone's fine. Mixed emotions - excited and sorry to finish. The finish line party is on Saturday and flights back soon after. x
Govi-Altai, Mongolia
there isn't any signal between towns so the next one might be in another two days. The first day out of khovd was a difficult one for casbaatah. They beached and developed a rattle in the brakes. While we didn't need to stop, the sump guard lost two of its four mount points and rattled ominously on the bottom of the car. Moreover, the gear linkage started getting stuck on the guard causing difficult changes and a lot of vibration. We stopped for the night in the middle of nowhere. Everyone was tired so it was an early one. The second day revealed that the 4x4 of tin can had lost back suspension in both wheels. As a result we crawled along at 20mph. Going at about 45, I managed to spin the car for a second time taking the tyre off the front wheel. Once replaced, we got to Altai in excellent time. Spent the evening at the mechanics getting everyone sorted. Heading back into town this morning to see the black market! x@
Khovd, Mongolia
yesterday was the first proper rallying. The roads are as expected - nonexistent. In the morning we pulled up to let others in the convoy catch up. Checking the tyres revealed we'd had a blowout sometime and had to replace the wheel. The scenery is fantastic and we had a couple of river crossings which Chris handled with ease. We had to climb quite high and the car overheated. I was driving fast on a good bit of gravel to cool the car down, had to swerve to miss a large rock and ended up spinning the car! We were a bit more awake after that but I still managed to get stuck in some sand. We arrived with probably 8 other teams to stay in a ger, get some delicious goat stew and get tanked up! Sleep was great but feeling it this morning. We've popped into the town to get some supplies. Aiming for half way to Altai today. x
Altai Republic, Russia
[Chris:] Whoops, didn't update for a while! We left Barnaul and headed for the border. After a few hundred k, we entered the mountains. They're amazing! They're just like the alps. We followed a river for hundreds of kilometres along smooth winding roads - lovely. We camped by the river last night and proceeded with much merriment drinking local beer and vodka. Today we've reached the border. We're camping on the Russian side on a hill where we can see the border. All 4 cars went up to the summit of the hill (mountain?) and we got some great pictures. We've been joined now by at least 10 other teams at our campsite and everyone's excited to be nearly in Mongolia. Onwards!
Barnaul, Russia
Got through the border no trouble. Tin can, having been in Russia earlier on the rally, were nervous of the country, police and its people. We proceeded under the speed limit to Barnaul. The buildings are stunning here. Modern and well designed. We stopped on a main road. Chatty from tin can, Chris from casbaatah and I went looking for a hotel. After about 30 minutes we came back to the cars to meet all the others running in the opposite direction looking terrified. Some drunkard had punched one of them in the face and kicked another in the stomach. we could see him laying into the cars. He got distracted by his equally drunk friend and we jumped in the cars and drove away. Not a great welcome for us! The hotel was excellent and after a shower, we donned our ragged glad rags and headed for food. Having eaten, most of the guys headed for more at the local subway. Chatty, Jamie and I got talking to some guys on the street. They all had modded cars, looked like something out of the fast and furious. They were really friendly and one of them took Jamie and I at about 100 mph up and down the main street, straight past the police! Too cool. Late start this morning, we've stocked up on food and cash and are ready to head for Mongolia. x
Semey, Kazakhstan
the roads rapidly got very bad (almost to Turkmenistan levels) which slowed our pace today. We reached our target, however. We picked up some supplies then drove through the city. Only 100k from the border and trees are starting to dominate the landscape. The towns seem imposing and authoritarian. We camped with knights of the tin can but the Swiss team (unpronounceable name) left us for a hotel. Chris and I had corn on the cob with butter - delicious! Today's plan is to get into Russia. We originally thought we'd only spend hours before reaching Mongolia but from the map it looks like it might take a couple of days. x
East Kazakhstan, Kazakhstan
[Chris:] Good push yesterday, we went past our aimed destination at about 4ish. A little while after, we were happily flying along the road when two other teams went past us in the other direction. We stopped and asked them which of us was going the wrong way. It turns out they knew of a nearby lake that they were looking for. Since we'd made good time, we decided to join them. The two teams were some young brits and 4 Swiss. We drove for half an hour down an unlikely gravelly track that took out one of our rear tyres. Eventually though, it did lead to a GIANT lake. The Swiss went to talk to some local fisherman and the rest of us went for a swim. As we were swimming, we heard a boat coming closer. It was the Swiss with the fisherman! They were given some fish and we all found a place to camp, made a huge fire and had the freshest fish of our lives. We're now back on the road again in a giant convoy of 5 cars and 14 people and hoping to get near the border today.
Almaty, Kazakhstan
[Chris:] Oh Kazakhstan! The most ridiculous bureaucracy by far. We have a card that must be stamped if we are to stay in the country for more than 5 days. Since we already have a 30 day visa, this seems ridiculous even in itself. But it gets worse! We had to go to the migration office to fill out a form in Russian and wait till 6pm to get the card stamped. As a result, very little progress made today but we had an amusing afternoon eating weird Chinese food, playing games in an Internet cafe and browsing a nearby market. Happy to be back on the road again! Now heading north for Russia.
Almaty, Kazakhstan
had a great night out! We walked around the local area and got some food then headed off to seedy club number one. It was very quiet and expensive but we played some pool until about midnight. Then we went to the copacabana which was totally rammed - there was live latin music and everyone was salsa dancing away. We all got on the dance floor and embarrassed ourselves royally! Drinks were still expensive but it was a great night. This morning we're going to get some visa thing stamped then a big push north! x
Secretly hopes the car will break down and he'll have to ride a camel into Ulaanbaatar humming the theme to Laurence of Arabia.
