Where are they now? see the Team's progress on their map

Tuesday 17 Aug 2010 13:33
On behalf of our team we would like to thank everyone at go help and the organisers of the rally. Also everyone who has sponsered us or the charity, it means alot. If you have been following our blog also thanks, there might be more to come. Not sure when but see you in blighty. Sam jack chris and tom
Tuesday 17 Aug 2010 13:18
Handed over the ambulance to the lovely people at go-help. Went to the ultimate black-market shop afterwards which was about the size of 6 football pitches! It was an endless sea of shops and stalls, and it sold everything from cars to gers to t- shirts. It feels amazing to be here at our final destination. And now we can just sit back and enjoy the city b4 getting the plane home
Monday 16 Aug 2010 12:18
We are at the finish line. After a difficult boarder crossing into mongolia. And with the russians paid, charmed, and blagged to enough to leave the country without proper visas. After a night at the boarder we tried to get into mongolia the following morning. But things didnt go to plan. After being ignored and turned away from several officials we decided to try and run the boarder. This did not work! A big man came out and took our passports off us untill a lady came to photo the van and finaly let us through onto the open tarmac of northern mongolia. In ulaanbaatar we met some english very friendly fa [Missing part 05] [Missing part 06]
Saturday 14 Aug 2010 15:18
We made it to mongolia. We are stuck at a hotel on the mongal side of the boarder. But with no ambulance. It took so long for the russians to sort out our out of date visas that by the time we got to the mongolian side they had all gone home. So they have our ambulance untill tomoro morning, when we take it through hopefuly. Although we think we need a 'vehicle passport' that we were meant to get from gohelp at the launch, but we dont seem to have it. If anyone can help us to find out if we should have got it, or if anyone could tell us dulguuns number or one of gohelps mongolian contacts it would help us out a treat. Hotel is a bit plain, no en-suite but you get what you pay for when its £2.50 per night per person!
Friday 13 Aug 2010 15:03
Managed to find an atm to get some money. Got petrol and a load of supplies for the last leg of our trip, including chocolate for the first time in weeks!
Friday 13 Aug 2010 12:03
Got into a traditional russian vodka shots drinking episode with some locals the other night. A few bottles later and we ended up watching the football in the grimey hotel room. The russian match though, not the english one. The morning brought with it the inevitable hangovers, but we eventualy managed to get on the road. We spent the last of our rubles on petrol so if anyone knows a bank in irkutsk region of siberia that changes dollars....?!? At least we havent had to bribe any police so far today, which is a double relief as our visas ran out 2 days ago. Woke up this morning on friday the 13th with a flat tire. Simple change and we are on our way to lake baikal, the deepest and biggest lake in the world where we will be camping.
Wednesday 11 Aug 2010 14:03
We got waved down by a random soldier today, only to find out he wanted a lift 50km down the road. He didnt talk much, and sam n chris in the back were slightly scared of his weaponry. Sam did manage to ask which football team he supported though. We have decided russia is the most miserable country so far. The people r miserable and never smile, and everything is run down. We came to kansk to stay the night, only to find that kansk is actualy the arshole of russia. We still managed to find a hotel that had secure parking. Its run down and has 1 toilet and 1 shower for the whole floor. Oddly enough the people here are by far the friendliest russians we have met. Mainly because they actualy smile and try to hold a conversation with you. Its actualy a relief to find such a pleasant hole!
Tuesday 10 Aug 2010 10:33
On entering russia the scenary changed instantly to green pastures and trees, rather than the sandy wasteland of kazakhstan. When we stopped for the night we got chatting to some drunk locals, who seemed to take offence to us being tourists. When they drove off we decided to drive into the night in case they came back with some friends. We did however managed to find a secluded spot to hide and sleep untill the morning. The roads are improving and the temperature is dropping by the hour, which is a relief to being bounced around in the 40 degree heat. However driving further into siberia could mean we start longing for some hot weather again.
Monday 09 Aug 2010 05:33
Camped in a truckstop between the open steppe and a mountain range, the other side of which are the vast plains of western china. An early start and we were able to get the full 500 miles to semey before dark. On the way we bumped into a fellow brit who was traveling on his bike, so we stopped with him for lunch in a restaurant, where sam ordered a snikers which was served on a plate and sliced into small pieces kazakh style, very nice! We managed to get two rooms in a massive old run down soviet hotel. Spookily there were more staff than guests, but it had proper hot water showers and was dirt cheap
Friday 06 Aug 2010 16:33
Woke up early, only to find the lady who took toms license as a deposit last nite wasnt there. She turned up at 9 though and we were on our way for a long drive. Managed to get within 100miles of Almaty and parked up outside a posh restaurant, where a wedding was going on. We joined in with our lights and sirens, and made friends with some of the drivers. But it is an early night unfortunately as we all feel ill due to some dodgy gulash yesterday
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