We've finally made it to Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia!

Unfortunately the taxi didn't. Our beloved taxi is sitting in the vehicle graveyard in Altanbulag. Hopefully the vehicles will be brought through in the next month or so, but it's still incredibly annoying. We jumped in the ambulance which made it through (exemption on medical vehicles) and made it through ourselves. Have been spending lots of time with Enktabar and his staff out here, seeing the CDPF work that's going on.

Anyway - a largely successful journey, and ridiculously good fun.

 Love to all

 Nick

Well we are 300 km from ulaanbaatar and its all over for me nick and the taxi. We stayed up til 4 am last night and spent 250 us dees fixing her but the god dam mongolians won't let us across the border unless we pay 2000 dollars customs duty. Not an option so we ve left her in the rally car grave yard. Hopefully she'll get clearance by the end of the month.

heading to the mongol border tonight, hopefully get thru tomorrow. Just took the taxi for a wash, hopefully will impress the border guards. No breakdowns!

Hey all, now in a hostel in Irktusk. Taxi is behaving itself exceptionally well, despite the strain of towing the ambulance every now and then. We're hoping to get a couple of days down in Lake Baikal before hitting the mongolian border first thing next week (hopefully the issues at the border will be sorted out by then).

 Really looking forward to getting to Ulaanbaatar, Siberia has been very cool but hard going. 4 days following sign posts for one city is enough to drive you mad, so some much needed R&R over the next few days shall get us back on track.

currently trying to find our way through the traffic of novosibirsk. We spent last night in barnaul wher we met nick from the apprentice in his renault. Onwards to irktusk!

Stopped in astana last night and just had an interview with a kazakh tv crew here in palvodar. Heading to the russian border tomorrow and then to barnaul. Xx

just passed thru kostanay, for supplies and directions. Went swimming in a river earlier, first wash in 5 days. Astana tomorrow we hope!Taxi running fine x

Hello from Northern Kazakhstan,

Apologies for the lack of updates. Day 16 finds us in a town called Aktobe, whose highlights extend to the very internet cafe I'm sitting in now and the Irish Pub next door where I will be going next. We crossed the Russian-Kazahk border two days ago, the Kazahk guards were absolute wankers, but the Russians seemed impressed with my copy of Brothers Karamzov. So far we've been done for speeding twice,not having a copy of the Russian Highway Code, not having our lights on bright enough and failing to see the copper who was flagging us down, and been threatened with imprisonment. Taxi banter remains high however. We've been taking her to new heights. Nick achieved the rare feat of putting air between the dust track and our two front wheels yesterday, whilst I drove the front axle straight into a pothole. The front wing, number plate, windscreen wipers, and wire box are all being held together by gaffer, but she's been getting lots of love everywhere and if everything does fall apart the locals here are so friendly that they'll probably build us a new one.

Until another Internet Cafe

Tom and Nick

day 2 in kazahkstan, its flat, empty and the border crossing required both dollars and some port for passage. Nick had his 21st yesterday in the middle of nowhere. Cab is still enjoying herself.

finally made it to russia yesterday. Border was good, only required 1 bribe (our third). Hopefully make it to kazakhstan tonight. Xx