We've made it-sort of...
Submitted by Balfour on Wed, 06/08/2008 - 7:17am. So we've made it-sort of. The night before last we were in invited to stay in the house of a cafe owner whilst still on the russian side, he was a really nice guy and we've been told he has already put up a framed picture of us. When we arrived at the border we saw two other rally cars that had been abandoned-which was a pretty worrying sight. We were told that as long as our cars were on the list we would get in fine. And then there seemed to be a problem, we had no idea what was going on, and after much confusion including a meeting with a representitive from the wrong rally we were told that we'd have to leave the car and stay in a nearby hotel for the night. At this point the head of the CDPF turns up, he forces us to drink through 2 bottles of vodka and then took us out to a local disco. We were assured that the next day he would recieve a document and that everything would be fine. The next morning we were invited to have breakfast at the family house of another CDPF rep, it was brilliant to be invited into a typical house we were supplied with milk from about 5 different animals, forced to take snuff and supplied with yet more vodka, all before 11oclock. We then got to milk a goat and get beaten at basketball by local teens. After politely turning down the offer of internal organs we headed to the Sukhbaatar customs office where it was established that we were more or less buggered. Long story short mongolian customs aren't letting any cars though the northern border at the moment. by this time the team normalski nomads had arrived at the border too, we had the choice of waiting for something to change or leaving our cars at the border and riding to Ulaanbaatar in the Pink Ladies' Range Rover. So 8 of us piled in and 5 bumpy hours later along with several Vodka stops we made it to the city. We've been told that the charity will definatly recieve the car. It was a shame to not be able to drive the last stint, but we have driven to Mongolia.
So now we have our flights booked, an absolute bargain at $800, flying from UB to Beijing and then onto London Heathrow arriving at 17.15 on the 11th. All we have left to do is ride camels, wrestle with locals and buy some lovely boots.
Hopefully when we get back we'll be able to fill in the missing periods in our blog. See you soon guys.
xx x xx x xx
More blogs from this team
Date | Message | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 47 weeks 3 days ago | So we've made it-sort of. The night before last we were in invited to stay in the house of a cafe owner whilst still on the russian side, he was a really nice guy and we've been told he has already put up a framed picture of us. When we arrived at the border we saw two other rally cars that had been abandoned-which was a pretty worrying sight. We were told that as long as our cars were on the list we would get in fine. And then there seemed to be a problem, we had no idea what was going on, and after much confusion including a meeting with a representitive from the wrong rally we were told that we'd have to leave the car and stay in a nearby hotel for the night. read more » | 4 | |
| 47 weeks 6 days ago | 200km from the mong border, we can nearly taste sweet success. Roads have been tough and beautiful. cross tonight, camp out then do the final stint | 0 | |
| 48 weeks 1 day ago | today's the one rainy day we've had so couldn't see the eclipse. Making great time roads good. Hope to be in mongolia in the next 2-3days. X | 0 | |
| 49 weeks 6 hours ago | had a great day sightseeing in astana yesterday. A well needed rest stop. Split up from the boys today-they're goin south and we have our sights on ulaanbaatar. Still with lance in the micra. 2 cars means better pace. We think we'll be able to hit semey by tomoz night. X | 0 | |
| 49 weeks 1 day ago | made it to astana last night. Goin has been slow due to convoy car probs. Spent last night in a kazakh niteclub. Tomorrow we hit the road towards semey. X | 0 | |
| 49 weeks 4 days ago | Hi everyone, we're in Qostanai today. After leaving the hotel in Oral we got to the other side of town before the Hi-Lux boys decided to break down, so after a trip to a local garage we were on the road. Things have got a bit wild, we saw camels and eagles. Whilst taking a rest at the side of the road a local pulled over to talk to us. As it turned out Boris was heading the same way as us so he said he'd guide us on the terrible roads. We camped by the side of the road, as it turned out Boris used to be in the Red Army and is now involved in a slightly illegal occupation. Good guy. He made us get up at 4 in the morning and hit the chalk and sand road, first Boris got stuck and had to be towed and then the golf. We've got some wicked footage of that. read more » | 0 | |
| 50 weeks 1 day ago | After a few really long days of driving, hot nights sleeping in the car and very little food we've reached Kazakhstan. Last night we hit the border, it took over three hours to do both sides and could be described as somewhat shambolic it was the most easy going to date. Interestingly enough whilst driving in that general direction yesterday we met a French convoy making a similiar trip to us-the border seemed to take them longer. read more » | 3 | |
| 50 weeks 2 days ago | after a couple long days of driving and nights sleeping more or less rough we're on our way to the kazakh border. Missing showers and cool water. X | 0 | |
| 50 weeks 2 days ago | 0 | ||
| 50 weeks 4 days ago | Hello from Belgorod everyone. Firstly I would like to apologise for not blogging anymore but we haven’t had many chances. read more » | 1 |
Pink Ladies to the rescue again! Just call us the Pink Ladies International Rescue service
. Glad you all arrived in UB safely in the end.
Lou
Well done lads, looking forward to seeing you home safe and freshly washed.
Lots of love
Mum & Dad
Hello Tom and Phil great to hear you made it to Ulaan Baatar. What a shame you didn't arrive with the vehicles can't believe the problems at the border. I suppose i was lucky and crossed at the right time on the 29/7/08. Do us a favour and tell Lance i am really chuffed he made it as well.
All the best
Bright Eyes