The Birthday Bus (Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia)

Scott — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 06:50:42 -0400

*** Ulanbaatar - we made it ***

Well guys after 7 days on 3 trains and the remainder of our determination, we are finally here. The city is great and we have met loads of nice people. Spent our first day catching up on sleep after arriving at 6am local time. Our B+B is costing £1.50 a night so not too bad here!!! After coming in on the train and not really seeing much due to it being dark we decided to do something out in one of the national parks here. We spent a day horseback riding and camped in a nomads ger ( big tent like thing ) and then another day after that riding again. The scenery was amazing, there are no words to explain it you will have to look at the pics. All that, including 4 meals each and a car with driver and fuel, came to £55!!! We were amazed how cheap it was. Went down to the orphanage yesterday evening when we got back to see what we could do for them. They asked us to help out in the office today with some translations, they needed proof reading and tidying up. We are also going to the orphanage tomorrow to meet all the children and see what can be done there. Apparently they like football and basketball and just entertaining them for a day would be most appreciated. The rest of the guys from our convoy should arrive tonight, their car got destroyed bythe Mongolian terrain and are coming by bus. Will be nice to sit down and have a beer with us all at the finish line ( half litre is about 50p!!! ).

Well we shall update again once we know about our return journey. Scott is working on getting some decent photos on the site for every one to see now we have reasonably good internet. Keep checking there to catch them when they go on.

For now, hope all is well back home and hope to see you all soon.

Scott and Mark.

The Birthday Bus

Ulan Ude. (Ulan-Ude, Russia)

Scott — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 05:50:20 -0400

Ulan Ude.

The Birthday Bus

well guys we made it 2 novosibirsk. (Novosibirsk, Russia) UPDATED

Scott — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 04:59:17 -0400

well guys we made it 2 novosibirsk...just. The train was a nightmare. Felt like outsiders 4 most of the journey but accepted after a while. Now on the train 2 irkutsk which should take about 30 hours. Hopeful of being in UB on tuesday night/weds mornin.will update soon x

*** UPDATE ***

WE MADE IT!!!! sat in an internet cafe in Ulan Bataar 'city centre'. Not seen much yet only our first morning here after arriving at 6am via train. Going to go find where the orphanage is and speak to the guys from our charity, see what we can get sorted. The rest of our convoy should be here in a few days as long as their car holds up to the terrain. Some really beautiful scenery out here but i don't think the cars will appreciate it as much! Found our selves a nice little hostel to stay in, so expensive here.. $3 ( one pound fifty ) for B&B!!! that means we can stay here for a week for a total cost of $21!!! haha it's sooo funny how cheap it is. not much money left now but hopefully if food is as cheap as our room we should be ok. once i find a uk plug adaptor i will charge the laptop and bring it down here to update all our photos. some amazing shots of Siberia aswell in the mountains.

well have to shoot my time is running out. phones are only switched on briefly now to save battery but we will make a few calls once we get sorted. Hope all is well back home, not too long and we will be making our way back.

Scott and Mark.

The Birthday Bus

We are back in almaty, Micra was dead and had to sell.

Scott — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 14:21:11 -0400

We are back in almaty, Micra was dead and had to sell. Got a lift in our convoy and that car bust aswell. Typical. Hitched a ride back in a plush merc. Now sleeping in train station for 2 days for train to ulan bataar. Goin to complete our goal and make the finish line. Should be there in 7 days. X

The Birthday Bus

Well guys we were in toshkent for a night n half a day. (Tashkent, Uzbekistan)

Scott — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 22:58:59 -0400

Well guys we were in toshkent for a night n half a day. Met some amazing people the best country for that so far. Came thru the kazakhstan border last night n are on our way to almaty. There we'l find out whether we can get into russia or not. Will let u know when we find out x

*** UPDATE ***

Well guys, we may be in a spot of bother. After the car set on fire ( don't worry we are all perfectly fine ) i spent 6 hours workin on her and got it running on two cylinders. Basically the car is dead. We can continue in the other cars in our convoy but we need to get rid of the micra. We can't leave it in kaz and we can't get it out ( 3-4 days to the nearest border and towing on these roads is not an option ). We really don't know what to do about it. Determined to press on and still make mongolia as i say in the other cars or hitching rides/trains/bus. We will upadte again as soon as we can and let you know the progress. I have to shoot off sorry, things to sort out.

speak soon guys

The Birthday Bus

Weve just been given a police escort! (Turkmenabat, Turkmenistan)

Scott — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 13:32:29 -0400

Weve just been given a police escort! We got lost trying 2 get out of turkmenabat, and after 15 mins talkin to a policeman n taxi drivers, a police car turned up and escorted us out of the city with the lights flashing. Ashgabat was amazing pics will b on the website asap x

The Birthday Bus

Hey guys! (Turkmenbashi, Turkmenistan)

Scott — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 09:25:02 -0400

Hey guys! Well 21 hours after dockin in Turkmenbashi weve finally got on the road again. Just filled up with petrol what a rip off £4.50 for a full tank haha! Heading towards the capital ashgabat 2nite. Not allowed 2 camp so must find a hotel but its 600km away! Will update when we get there x

The Birthday Bus

More bad news.

Scott — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 11:19:35 -0400

More bad news. Typhoon kicking up on the other side of the caspian our boat is now anchored off coast of azer. Could be here a few days til the storm clears. The boat is so shabby and smells really bad. Not goin to be nice. Just want to get back on the road. No shower for 5 days whilst on car park and none on boat. Really not good we need one so bad especially in this heat!

The Birthday Bus

We are out of azer!

Scott — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 03:49:09 -0400

We are out of azer! Finally got a ferry after bribing a truck driver to take his trailer off for us to get on. Will update once we hit the other side.

The Birthday Bus

Hey guys mad day in georgia other day. * UPDATED *

Scott — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 08:00:26 -0400

Hey guys mad day in georgia other day. Entered in evening and got stuck up mountain in rain and Fog. So rocky we all got wedged at one point. We had to get towed! Took us 6 hours to get into azer. Absolute nightmare. The border was a joke with every other person askin for a $25 'present'. Really Ticked us all off. Heading to baku now for ferry. Will update you again later today.

*** UPDATE ***

Hey guys what a horrible few days. We are stuck in Baku - Azerbaijan. Took us 6 hours to get in here after being ripped off and the country is just naff. Every one here is out for your money. For the 10 in our convoy we went to eat and agreed $100 for the lot. After eating they dropped a $150 bill on our table. After much arguing we had no choice but to pay. You ask for directions from the hotel to a garage and they say they will jump in the car and show you. Then when you get there they ask for a $15 taxi fee or they wont show you back to the hotel. Really just want to leave but we can't. After problems with our visas for Turkmenistan due to a lack of communication between embassys we missed our ferry, we actually watched it set sail without us. We have been here 3 days and will be here another 2 at least. Every one of us just wants to get out. The Swiss lads have had to bail, their car is beyond repair, such a shame. We have made up a bigger convoy now with some lads from london area, been camping in the ferry port now as the cars are imponded there. They can't enter azer as their docs have expired but we can as we have 30 days here, that means walking everywhere. The micra is doing ok, no major probs yet. We just need to get on this ferry and hit the road again, being sat still for a day is bad in so many ways. Oh and we are also being ripped off $200 for a ferry ticket, they know we need them and cant go on without, won't even budge on the price. This country really has pushed many ppl to their limits in many respects.

I will likely update again before we leave, off to buy food and water as we have used all our supplies camping in this grotty ferry port in no mans land between countries.

Hope things pick up, this is really dragging the moral down. There was about 30 rally cars here that are trickling out as time passes and each ferry passes. Some have been here 6 and 7 days, can only hope we escape before that.

Speak to you all soon guys

The Birthday Bus

The Birthday Bus (Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia)

Ulan Ude. (Ulan-Ude, Russia)

well guys we made it 2 novosibirsk. (Novosibirsk, Russia) *UPDATED*

We are back in almaty, Micra was dead and had to sell.

Well guys we were in toshkent for a night n half a day. (Tashkent, Uzbekistan)

Weve just been given a police escort! (Turkmenabat, Turkmenistan)

Hey guys! (Turkmenbashi, Turkmenistan)

More bad news.

We are out of azer!

Hey guys mad day in georgia other day. * UPDATED *

well guys we made it 2 novosibirsk. (Novosibirsk, Russia) UPDATED