Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
Dangerzone, Kenny Loggins. The traffic into UB was bad (we've forgotten what city driving is like) and despite getting lost...but we made it!! Its 3.35pm on Sat 3 September 2011 and we have just driven 10,600 miles across the world through 22 countries from London, England to UB, Mongolia in a 10 year old Hyundai Accent. Its been an incredible journey. We roll over the finish line, the Top Gun soundtrack pumping from the speakers (as it did when we left Goodwood, England 6 weeks ago). Incredibly, we have had no punctures and basically no car problems! Maybe even more surprising, we never got caught speeding and the total bribes we have handed out...2 Snickers and a tennis ball! First up a shower and a shave (this beard def needs to come off), then I am getting drunk! Wooohoooo!!!!
Tov, Mongolia
Ooh Wee - Mark Ronson - After an absolutely freezing night on a deflating mattress (our third!), we are on the final stretch to UB. Flocks of birds of prey fill the skies and goats and sheep cover the fields as we drive into the sunshine towards the capital (the clouds are amazing). Enjoyed a spot of car roof surfing at 60mph on top of another team's car (awesome fun) and some schoolboy hand brake turn antics before we stopped for a super noodle lunch (in a tea pot, our only clean pan) with a few teams. Can't believe we may actually make it. I thought that during this trip I'd have learnt tons about cars - but I'm still as clueless as I was before! Didn't even get to change a tyre. Guess we shouldn't have taken such a good car! Haha. A convoy of 5 teams are now on our last 70 miles. Showers await! The car behind us in the convoy has no brakes (they are using their gears and the handbrake!) so my previous comments may be premature. Next blog from the finish line...fingers crossed. @
Ovorkhangai, Mongolia
Electric Feel - MGMT. Its been tarmac roads since the last blog. You would have thought that would be easy driving but the Mongs seem to have manually machine cut huge potholes into the road just to keep the challenge up! After days of desert scenery we finally hit greenery and rolling hills dotted with little white gers - textbook Mongolia. Highlights of yday were seeing 2 eagles and 2 vultures feasting on the fresh carcass of a calf and a visit to a pretty Buddhist monastery set in the green hills (Erdene Zuu Khid) - unfort we got there too late to see the inside of the main temple. Bumped into another German team we met in Uzbek at the temple, so camped with them and their English convey. Just as we set up camp 2 Mongs rock up on their motorbike offering to sell us a freshly killed marmot! We had read in the LP that you could potentially catch bubonic plague (!!) from touching marmot skin so we swiftly declined - though the other English guys were only put off by the fact they wouldn't have been able to finish it.
Ovorkhangai, Mongolia
Ooh La - The Kooks. Soon after we hit the 10,000 mile mark, we lunched with an American Peace Corps volunteer in Bayanhongor (she has been there for a year). She hilariously informed us that she found the Mongol men dirty, desperately needed someone to procreate with and was looking fwd to having babies! Neither of us was in the mood so we made a quick getaway. After some discussion with the locals about how much we were willing to sell the car for ($2000 was the offer) we hit the road and caught up with 5 other teams and ended up camping with them. It was a very cold night and an even colder morning. The roads continue to be bad and the frustrating thing is that in parts they have brand new tarmac roads running alongside us which we aren't allowed to use (even though we paid another toll)! Instead we continue on the pothole and ravine ridden, undulating and corrugated dirt tracks scattered with sharp rocks. As a write this we have been allowed onto a tarmac stretch which has clearly been recently built but still has potholes! Wtf?
Bayanhongor, Mongolia
Staring at the Sun - U2. We found a route (albeit not the proper route) and continued eastwards until we found a "road" on the map. The Gobi landscape is relentlessly similar. As the sun was starting to set another large river with several sections blocked our progression. For a relatively handsome fee, 2 guys on a motorbike showed us the way through - we ended up driving through 4 different sections of the river, but made it through. We didn't make it to the next town however so missed another potential shower - I've never been or felt so filthy in my entire life. Camped on the Gobi sand under a blanket of stars from horizon to horizon. Swarms of sandflies joined us for porridge this morning and we were paid a visit by a curious cowboy too. Have some catching up to do today. Ps. Love the way a ger in the middle of nowhere has a solar panel and sometimes a satellite dish.
Govi-Altai, Mongolia
The Masterplan - Oasis. When we arrived in Altai there were lots of teams at the mechanics - some vehicles were in bad shape incl. an ambulance that had destroyed its entire cabin area (it had been rebuilt into a pick up truck). We caught up with a couple of teams we had met earlier in the trip and then headed out again...only to be stopped by a cop (not sure why). We camped (with Chris the German) in the freezing cold out in the vast flat steppe in sight of a small hill topped by an Ovoo offering. Peanut butter porridge again this morning (yum!) In the company of a random dog (it belonged to a broken down car near us on the road). After jazzing up the car wheels with some red and yellow paint, we headed to the Ovoo hill where we bumped into some Mongolians in traditional dress (so photos all round) and Parthiv then made an offering for a safe journey. A couple of hours later we realised we had somehow strayed quite far off the main route and on a path that wasn't even on the map! No wonder we hadn't seen any ralliers all day!
Govi-Altai, Mongolia
Another day in Paradise - Phil Collins. Yesterday afternoon after the river crossings, three of the teams we were convoying with got punctures, one car's roof rack completely ripped off (cracking his windscreen) and we didn't even notice that one of the wheels bolted to our roof had fallen off!! Luckily one of the other teams picked it up for us. Its amazing - 9000 miles driving around the world and the cars are fine; a few hundred in Mongolia and the cars are being annihilated. Despite overcast skies all day, the sunset was spectacular, and we set up camp in the middle of the flat Gobi desert with 3 other teams - the Aussies have apparently had only 4 showers the entire trip and one of the Scots only passed his driving test 3 months a ** some text is missing **
Khovd, Mongolia
So this is our 9th day without having washed! Talk about roughing it! We feel and look disgusting and are completely covered in dust (as is everything we own). By not making Khovd last night we missed out on that crucial shower. When we got to Khovd this morning, we saw loads of rally cars at the ger camps (lots were badly messed up though) - annoyingly if we had gone for another 45mins last night we would have made it! Back on the road in our vibration machine, bandana's wrapped around our noses and mouths, under overcast skies and accompanied by dust clouds. The destruction of the underside of the car continues. Can you believe it - we just had to pay a toll to use the dirt path! Sas, watch out for the herd of camels ahead! Have just forded two knee deep rivers as the bridges haven't been completed (and lost of number plate!) Now convoying with a few other teams. Car taking a beating but soldiers on. Feels like a proper rally now. Dust everywhere so can hardly see out of the window - like driving in a dust storm.
Khovd, Mongolia
Me against the World - Tupac. We were aiming to leave Olgiy at 9am, but the Alip family were reluctant to let us leave and put on a full breakfast - fish, chips and eggs! We eventually pulled out after photos, hugs and goodbyes at 1130am meaning we had a lot of catching up to do to get to Khovd 222km away. The scenery was breathtaking, the sun was out all day, but the dirt tracks were horrific - a lot of off-road - on sand, boulder fields and steppe...and we had to ford 3 rivers (which were anxious times)!! Not easy in a low slung hatchback when even the jeeps were all breaking down en route. In 8 hrs of driving we only managed 120 miles - averaging around 20mph or less (though we hit 65mph at one stage) meaning at 8pm when darkness hit we had to pull over the side of the road and camp. Everything is covered in dust. The dry desert landscape goes on forever and there is almost no human life - though when you hit a ger settlement all of the kids sprint 200m to the road to say hello (we have just bought a big bag of sweets to give out)!@
Bayan Olgii, Mongolia
The road we took...well, there wasn't one, so Parthiv had to drive cross country in our low slung non-4x4 over the worst surfaces he's ever driven on. Although he was complimented on his driving skills by our hosts, we scraped the bottom of the car several times, heard a few bangs on the bottom and got stuck a few times too (the car doesn't like uphill sand). However the journey was worth it, and the car made it in one piece (unbelievably). The eagles were absolutely incredible! And huge!! We were invited for tea into the eagle hunter family's house and he proudly showed us his photo albums and medals (he also has a pet wolf!). We have been in the presence of distinguished individuals these past couple of days (our host is a famous and distinguished Khazakh Mongolian and the eagle hunter has starred in cell phone adverts!). We also "helped" build his ger (they were just moving to their winter home). We were then invited to his neighbours for fresh mare milk (interestingly salty). The Kazakh Mongolian people are incredibly hospitable!
