Blogs from the Teams

UlaanBaatar..........still!!

Well I'm still stuck in this horrible city of alcoholics and pick pockets! UB is the absolute opposite of the whole of Mongolia and I can't wait to get out of here!
So what's happened since my last blog? Well, I've done lots of clothes shopping as I had donated everything to the CDPF charity.  read more »

The van was promised to take 48 hours and it ended up taking 80. It rarely went over 35km an hour, had flat tyre after flat tyre, massive mechanical problems, and ran out of oil twice and petrol three times. Squashed in were 19 people in a 11 passanger mini bus. Throw in a drunk, singing Mongolian half way through the trip and suddenly you have a really frustrating few days.

 However, we were in Mongolia and the spirits couldn;t stay low for too long. The trip took us through some beautiful landscapes and we were sharing the van with lots of students who were all going back to uni. We met a really kind young French couple who gave us food when we had no money, stayed the night in a gerr and had a races with the other van drivers.  read more »

Mongolia at last! The white warrior and the red dragon finally made it. Once the road from the border came a sudden end we were left to guess which tracks to take and judge where we were only by a compass and the map. Mongolia is incredibly beautiful. The newly patched up white warrior lead the way as we climbed a 3,000m mountain in the first few kms. The red dragon (slipped her off the auto and into 2nd gear) just took in in her stride. Literally the car can do anything. Pot holes, sand, 70 degree inclines, mounatins, deserts, probably even snow. She is better than any 4x4. The first part of Mongolia promised so much fun but unfortunately our luck was about to turn.

Barnaul, Russia. The white warrior needed some work done to her after the Kazakhstan roads so we checked into a hotel for the night. Showered and ate some food and relaxed before the push to Mongolia. Woken up in the morning by the mechanic charging into our room with a bottle of wine - the car was ready and there was a party forming outside the hotel with the mechanics and anyone else who wanted to join in and drink vodka and listen to pounding russian russian techno at 8 in the morning.  read more »

HI everyone

 I dont know if its the same for everyone but after that journey, life just seems dull. Im now clean and the sand is out of my ears. But yet id give anything to be back out there on the road. Its true what people say travelling is adictive, its like a drug but this one just messes with your asspirations. I want more from my life now. So I suppose it begs the question whas going to be next, well I think I speak for everyone when i say id love to do the Mongolian rally again, with some fundamental changes, i.e. sponsorship and lots of it.

So id love to hear from people regarding what they think the rally has taught them about themselves, and where they see themselves going in the future as a result of this.

...haven't got used to the Russian alphabet yet, and are still referring to place names using letters such as "Capital Backwards N" and so on... sigh. Panda doing ok, but has definitely seen better days. Fingers crossed we'll get to the Mongolian border in the next day (hopefully) or two (probably).