Ulaan-bataar!! We've made it!! As the car couldn't get past the border due to an unexpected change in customs regulation we had to desert the car, say goodbye to it and gather all the things we wanted to keep. Leaving us with a very heavy load and about 250 miles to UB. Luckily we found a rally rep who took us to sukh bataar and found us a camping ground. We woke at 6, broke camp and went round her house for breakfast and then were driven to the capital stopping off to jump on a nomad's horse and take in the breathtaking scenery. It's incredible how so much can change in half a day of driving. Totally different from siberia and incredibly vast with, from our brief experience, charming and generous people. London to Ulaan-Bataar in a micra; three gap year students exploring the world around them, meeting new people and seeing if the world shares our passion for a good old rave! From Rich, Luke and Scott.

Friday afternoon we arrived in Irkutsk and again had little luck in finding a room for the night, mainly due to the unhelpful woman at the reception desk refusing to register our visas! So after another night in the car we awoke to drive to lake Baikal. The lake is vast, surrounded by some amazing scenery and many tiny villages where we shared some vodka with a couple of locals. Now 200km north of the boarder, planning to enter Mongolia tomorrow.

back making some decent progress,hopefully will get to lake baikal for tomorrow evening,camp and go into irkusk the next morning-stay there overnight to sample our last decent sized russian city.facial hair seems to have reached it's limits,would struggle to make a decent beard out of all 3 of us,but some interesting colours and formations sprouting out!scott never killed a cat

After spending a week on the road and having a good time camping and seeing how many meals we can make around our base ingredients of tuna and pasta we finally came out of the siberian wilderness and landed in omsk to celebrate my 19th birthday and to generally let our hair down, sleep in a bed and eat in a restaurant. We reached the city and were immediately lost. With no clue about where to stay or who to ask. A russian man pulled up next to us and said he'd take us to the center. Once there we told him we needed a hotel but he offered to take us to his house instead. What followed was basically two days of incredible russian hospitality, being treated almost like celebrities fed in sergeis home and shown about by his son john and his friends max and julietta who interpreted the whole weekend. We saw the city, learnt to drink vodka the proper way, played pool and went to a massive club where all we drank was vodka and where we danced like maniacs. Great night even if we had to carry scott back home ha ha. Now were on the way to novosibirsk. Scott [Missing part 08]

After spending a week on the road and having a good time camping and seeing how many meals we can make around our base ingredients of tuna and pasta we finally came out of the siberian wilderness and landed in omsk to celebrate my 19th birthday and to generally let our hair down, sleep in a bed and eat in a restaurant. We reached the city and were immediately lost. With no clue about where to stay or who to ask. A russian man pulled up next to us and said he'd take us to the center. Once there we told him we needed a hotel but he offered to take us to his house instead. What followed was basically two days of incredible russian hospitality, being treated almost like celebrities fed in sergeis home and shown about by his son john and his friends max and julietta who interpreted the whole weekend. We saw the city, learnt to drink vodka the proper way, played pool and went to a massive club where all we drank was vodka and where we danced like maniacs. Great night even though it was a cold tumble home back home ha ha. Now were on the way to novosibirsk. Scott also ran over a cat.

just arrived at chelyabinsk after a short drive from our camp, the most picturesque so far; surrounded by tall forests and meandering rivers where we chilled out swimming and washing in the river for as long as we could bare the cold..About 30 seconds! Our fishing attempt hasnt happened yet, but we d [Missing part 03]

Deep into russia now,baboushka territory!about a day and a bits driving from moscow near samara,and the people finaly seem friendlier!actually got a wave yesterday!till then russian manors had taken some getting used to,barging in the street and aggressive shouting as standard.moscow was amazing,cool to be in a place with such history and architecture.round 2 with the police came about yesterday,but they were as friendly as bent cops can be so no complaints-played dumb but descriptions of 'michael shumacher'with formula one sound effects made it embarrassingly clear.real camping is a nice change,stunning scenery and decent roads are making it a pleasant journey.p.s we have tunes again,radio bought at a street market on route.laters

After a walking tour of riga with a man who had it in his mind that we cared about the architecure of the city rather than it's sad history we went to the museum of occupation to actually learn something about this country. We ventured out to a supermarket literally on the wrong side of the tracks and stocked up on Balzam. Latvia's number one spirit. A dark, gloopy, enjoyably poisonous drink. After having a few glasses of the stuff with a young couple of inner london teachers we headed out to a fun bar with good beer, weird bridges over grated floors and the only dj i've ever seen who, on a whim, wacks out his trombone to give something extra to the mix which made me rave my shoes to literal destruction. After oversleeping by two hours we found the car had been broken into. A small window smashed on the side which we have gaffa'd up and the new radio removed. Its a bit of a blow but i suppose we're lucky they didn't take anything else. We reached the russian border at 8pm and after 5 hours of slow queues, hard faced officials with ridiculous hats and endless lines of lorries we were through. After an hour of driving in dark fog we stopped the car and caught a few z's. Currently we are about 550k from moscow and pretty damned determined to get there before nightfall. Later on! R.

Yesterday did a solid 15hours on the road, most we|ve done so far, travelling from Krakow to Riga Latvia. Did not realise the whole length of Poland would be single track roads going through many towns and slowing us down to the speed of the biggest idiots on the road. First motorways came along in Lithuania, and not long aftar this the law was on our case! Entering Latvia we were stopped by the |no trouble| police for speeding, 1 am in th morning with no cars on a dual carriageway going 55mph in apparantly a 40. The 80 lats fine, about 80quid, was negotiated down to 50Euros, but definately worth it to see Richards face in the back of a Latvian Police Van!!!! Chilling here today and might go shoot some AK47 or at least go do a tour of the place! Laters

After another interesting night in prague we set off at 10 30 on the road to krakow. The drive was thwarted by rain for most of the journey but atleast it cleaned the car a bit. Reached krakow at about 6 30, found a hostel, went to the main square and had the most polish meal we could find: potatoes, mushrooms, sour kraut with bacon and the tenderest pork belly we had ever tasted. Contented we returned to the hostel after watching some crazy polish pop star performing to some appreciative fans. Rose at 7 this morning and are currently about 130k away from lithuania. Were hoping to reach Riga tonight and have a day of enjoying the last of eastern europe before the epic drive through Russia. Oh and i accidentally poked a hole through the coolant tank with my finger somehow. Gaffa. Later on!