Week 3 no pics though , the computer won't let me

jeremymarksuk — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 01:33:19 -0400

Monday

Got around 12 and drove wayne to the airport to catch a flight to almaty. Saw team first gears car in the car park so ileft them a note. Would be good to find out how another team are getting on.

Back the hotel we had lunch in the little café at the back, good food and an english menu, which means that we didn't have to guess to much. The waitress also had good English. We recommend the café wholeheartedly. It is behind the Hotel Altn Adam.

We then spent 2 hours walking around trying to find a decent hotel room for 2 nights. In the end we went to the Grand Park Esil and checked in around 5-ish, the dash for the showers was site to behold.

We went out at 9 to find something to eat and ended up at a place called Ali Babas, well worth a visit. The food was good and the service was excellent. One word of caution though, DO NOT try the camels milk no matter how adventurous you feel. It tastes sour and sharp but most of all it was fizzy! A nice walk along the riverside which has fountains and lights aswell as a great view of the new buildings under construction in the central section and finally to bed. There have been some amazingly heavy rains today and a cloud burst while we were in the restaurant had left a lot of standing water.

Tuesday

Wake up and have a shower, sounds like a small thing but it is very welcome. Have a sumptuos breakfast and head out to find the Presidential memorial hall/museum. After a couple of hours we give up and just go site seeing and there is a lot of sites in Astana. Mostly large buildings declaring how good the country and the president is. Some are nice others not so nice, we went up the tree of life tower and looked around it is obviously a huge project and apparently takes up 8% of the GDP of Kazakhstan. Astana is well worth a visit and I would like to come back here.

Trying to get a taxi to take us back over the river to the hotel proved to be a dead loss, so Fred went into the Diplomat Hotel and using his best British voice asked them to order us one if possible. Thery ordered us a car driven by Damon hills Kazakh grandfather. We had to lift the seats to find the seat belts but we did, we ended up at the same café for a late lunch and then we looked for car parts. We spent the eveing hanging around the hotel and generally making a nuisance of ourselves, we went into the pool at 11pm for a final dip. I got a phone call from Wayne earlier and tomorrow we have to register apparently he had problems leaving the country.

Wednesday

Up early go to the immigration office, we speak to an officer there who gives us a right going over but does allow us to register, Fred and Hugh’s visa invitaion swing it, they applied directly to the embassy in london themselves and the visa states they are invited by the Kazakhstan Embassy London back to the hotel and repack the cars, this seems to to take longer each time, I need Waynes organising skills for this I tend to jus throw everything in the back and shut the door. We also clean out the cars again, the amount of dust is simply staggering and it is causing unforseen problems with the electrics and dashboard gauges.

We finally set off at about 4pm ish and as is tradition we get lost on the way out, I ma following the skoda and at one point Fred decides to use all the on and off ramps at a junction in the end he finds the right road and rather dizzily we head off up the new motorway. After about 30kms we stop not at the side of the road but in the middle, another police checkpoint, details taken, laughter received with good grace and away we go.

Finally set up camp off the road late and go to sleep, the camp routine is getting good and fast, unfortunately I am not as fast at getting a brew on as Wayne and the skoda boys are catching me up.

Thursday

Another undisturbed night, up nice and early and on the road, we stop for lunch in the heat beside som Pylons of the road, as we get out of the cars I think the grass is very sharp, when Hugh gets an electrical shock from the Skoda w2e take to the cars and drive off at high-ish speed. Apparently the electrical cable were building up static to a very high level. We finally reach the kazakhstan border in the late afternoon and after a brief border check of the cars we decide to head through. While we are being processed in the kazakh side, which is as good and helpful as always in kazakhstan, another team show up. The Lost Vikings are the Swedish team and have been on theroad for almost 8 weeks now and are a little crazy, most Swedes are though.

We thank the kazakh guards and move onto the unsmiling russian side. This is always the hard and expensive one. We are processed quite quickly and then suddenly everything stops and we have to wait around again. This is standard and we know that it is because they are trying to work out what to charge us for. After a couple of hours it is my turn, I already have insurance and a guard has changed my money for me, pretty good rate to, so I have nothing to pay. When I get into the office though I am asked to pay 200 roubles for the car import document. I know this is a free document and they are only trying it on because I already have insurance. I just keep saying no over and over until the sullen woman doing it goes to get a border control officer, he says 200 roubles and I say no, I point at my passport and show him the entry stamp from my earlier visit and finally he lets me have the paperwork and they wave us through.

It is 10.30pm by now so drive to the nearest town for fuel. The first garage we try is lit up but has no one there except a largeswarn of insects about 10mm in length that attacks us assoon as we get close. The camera flash makes them angry! So abandon garage and head for the next one. We finally stop to sleep in a truck park at 1.30am, sleep in car as no tent pitching here.

Friday

Up and away early to drive to Omsk. Finaly arrive about 11-ish and promptly get lost. We spend about an hour driving round asking peple for diections until we give up and head for the main road again, this promptly leads us to the centre of the city.

We stop and change some dollars and get lunch in fast food place, vip chicken. We all eat 2 meals!!.one of the swedish team goes of to the bank to arange for us to exchange our kazakhstan money, after a lot of argy bargy he gets the bank to open the till for us.

Finally we leave the city or at least try to, it is soviet nightmare of one way

roads and no street signs. With lots of help from other cars and pedestrians we finally get onto the right road.

Drive hard towards Barnaul, we pull over and camp and Fred has a shower the Swedish team goes on from here as they have to be in UB by the 1st of August. We camp overnight with thousands of mosquitos, hopefully not a sign of things to come?

Saturday

Get up early, everyone bitten and tired. Drive to Barnaul, we stop for lunch at a truckstop café and our cars get a lot of interest. This road is good tarmac but crazy drivers, we are all very twitchy now and it gets worse as the day goes on. They seem to mostly new cars on delivery with transit plates in the windows. The Skoda Boys have had few near misses and I ave literally traded paint with a people carrier who cut me up really badly, the Suzuki now has silver streak on the front bumper.

We head into Barnaul and try to find somewhere open to get the car parts that are needed for the Skoda, no luck but we find a supermarket and go nuts buying nice stuff. We get directions froma car shop to another car shop but we cannot find it so we stop at a mobile phone shop and the manager hops in his car and takes us across town which takes 20 minutes and just drops us off and drives away. Unfortuantely the car shop is now a food wholesalers so no parts there. The man who owns the wholesaler tells us that everywhere is closed and asks us where we are going, when we say mongolia he gets a map out to show us the best way out of town, then he decides quite rightly that we will probably get lost. Barnaul is a very spread out city and the road we need is along way south. He jumps into his car and drives off with us following and just keeps driving and driving for about 30 minutes, we then stop at a toll booth which he pays for us and he keeps driving for another 10 miutes before he pulls over to give us directions, he has written a list of towns and roads both in english and cyrillic for us to follow. We like him very much, he does not except payment or gifts and just hops into his car and heads back to work.

We drive on for a couple of hours and look for a place to stop, at one point we pull off the road and see a man pushing a car up a very long hill, he looks so beat that I go and offer to tow him up the petrol station. The fact that we do not speak russian confuses the issue so we just attach a tow rope and tow him up.

We find a camp site in some deep woods about an hour later. All of us are very nervy and jumpy due to the traffic and driving also there are a lot of right hand drive cars here, we think that they most be Japenese imports.

Sunday

Firsst time we have been disturbed while camping, I woke up at 4.30 to see a work truck go by at the end of the track within 10 metres of the tents, the truck went up and dropped someone off and then came back. I wake up Fred and Hugh who are oblivious to this and we pack up the tents and then have breakfast. No one comes back but we move on early.

We are all tired and starting to make mistakes so we stop at 10 and take a break and then drive on until about 4 pm when we make camp early and call it a rest day.

Team Ocelot

now moved through to Olgiy, staying 2 days. (Olgii, Mongolia)

jeremymarksuk — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 08:38:43 -0400

now moved through to Olgiy, staying 2 days. Need to get car parts again. Staying at hotel duman. "best hotel" no water in shower but at least a bed.

Team Ocelot

Just having breakfast after going through the russian border last night.

jeremymarksuk — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 22:22:52 -0400

Just having breakfast after going through the russian border last night. Loads of waiting around and people trying to get money for nothing. Heading for omsk

Team Ocelot

Camping again, this time at buraby lake, beautiful landscape horrible town so we stopped outside.

jeremymarksuk — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 12:46:53 -0400

Camping again, this time at buraby lake, beautiful landscape horrible town so we stopped outside. There's a mosquito in here somewhere. Russia tomorrow.

Team Ocelot

Week 2

jeremymarksuk — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 02:06:14 -0400

Sunday

Pack up and head down to border at astrakhan, with the Team 'A Camel would have been faster' or as we call them the Skoda Boys, camp over night. All peaceful.

Monday

Got lost leaving Astrakhan, so far an unbroken record of getting lost when entering or leaving a city, the sign to the border direct you into the centre on the main road and then just stop. Guess work is just not cutting it with the drivers here.

The border is very hot in the high 30's and we are kept in a queue waiting for ages to go through the gates. We met a group of Swiss and German people who are doing the same trip in completely rigged out Landrover 110's and and a Landcruiser, our cars cause much merriment but I get a donation of 30 euros from Esther Schonbacher for save the children so thats good.

Finally get into Russian section of border and go through without much trouble or grief, dive through no mans land to the Kazak side and queue again.

Fun on the Kazak border control, after waiting for about an hour we get sent in to do the paperwork. Wayne and Hugh go into the main building as Fred and I are directed to the little vehicle shed, the officer inside takes our documents and then makes stamping motions which we nod at, then he asks for a present, he wants a bribe either money or a knife or something. The sargeant witt him shows us a really nice lighter some has given him, we can hear the Swiss people getting a little louder on the other section of the border. With big smiles we explain that we are doing a chrity rally and do not have anything to give him, this goes back and forth with fred and I laughing and getting a little louder each time, finally a senior offficer starts to walk across to see what all the laughter is about, as he comes round the corner I throw a 10 dollar note through the window to the guys inside, the senior officer pushes up to the window and scowls inside at which I get told ' no dollars, no dollars' and the passport gets the stamp and thrown back at us, yes a little win for us.

We then spend the next hour wandering from office to office to get insurance and change money and get documents stamped and checked. Finally one last stamp and we are away.

We drive for a while and then camp out on a beach beside the Caspian sea and watch the sun go down after a swim and a wash in the sea, cool and lovely and refreshing. This is what this trip is about!

Tuesday

Drive hard on ok roads for Altrai/Gurjev and get lunch and directions, finally leave city after getting lost twice. Drive on tarmace for a while and then it strats to be bad roads!!!. We stop to get fuel in a small town and it is manic, with cars everywhere and every driver leaning on the horn. We get some serious abuse from the russian guys who pull in behind us because we are reversing into the pumps as that is the only way to get the hoses to reach. They see the funny side when we point out the problem and laugh out loud when they understand what we are doing!!

Drive on and camp behind a berm just off the road, no problems so far with being disturbed.

Wednesday

Hot by 9 am have a decent breakfast and do maintenance on the cars, get on the road early ish.

Roads are non existent now it is just a sand and mud track for the next 200km beside the heavily damaged road. Very slow going and incredibly hard work and tiring. It is just more and more dust. Our stereo has given up and the car is making funny noises, which are a little worrying, at around 7.30 Wayne is driving when we clout a rock with the exhaust while climbing out of a dry river bed. Neither of us saw it and it is just one of thos things. The skoda boys have also badly damaged the exhaust on there vehicle and we both pull off the 'road' and camp out for the night, we are working on the cars until about 11pm to get them fixed.

Thursday

Drive on slowly to Aqtobe, finally get to tarmac after about another 150 km of dirt and dust, we get to Aqtobe at about 7pm with the Skoda boys trumpeting along as the rear box on the Skoda is hanging off. We pull in to look at the map and a big Lexus 4x4 stops in front of us. When we move off it follows, at an intersection it pulls up along side and the driver shouts to ask if we want help? Yes we shout in reply as by this time we are lost. It turns out that Gena is in the tourist industry and in true Kazak style goes out of his way to help us. He shows to a hotel but it is not great so he offers to show us to a different one out in the hills. He call his friend Perry to translate who turns out to be in the peace corp from the states. By the time we get to the resort it is past 9pm. They stay for a drink and tell us our intended route is over really bad roads, worse than we have been on. Change of route is agreed.

Shower and air conditioning feel fantastic, I recommend the Tau resort in Aqtobe.

Friday

Hugh and I go into Aqtobe and try to source exhaust parts for the Skoda. The hotel have provided a guide at no cost who takes us to a car parts warehouse which is full of small shops. Unfortunately we cannot get a part there. Another guy jumps in the car and with a slightly inebriated yell and point explains rhat he knows where we can get it welded, so off we go. After 10 minute drive we pull up out side a very dodgy looking backstreet garage with some very hard looking men hanging around. Our guy then goes in and has conversation and russian guy comes out and looks then goes back inside. We have no idea what is going on and get a little worried when they come back with 3rd guy who is kazak. He then just asks us what is wrong in very good English, he looks at the car and asks if we can wait 20 minutes. After about 10 mins he drives the car in and onto a lift, the lift the car and much teeth sucking ensues. All very familiar if you go to a garage in the UK. We are outside when an audi pulls up and another russian guy gets out and goes in. Turns out he is the welder and the kazak guy who is the bosses son and therefore the boss has called him in from home. By this time much hilarity has benn had from the explanation of what we are doing and whee we are going and we have about 20 guys around the car. They check all the wheel bearings and tighten suspension bush on front. They offer to take out and replace all the bearings and bushes if we want. All thiss time the welder has been busy under the exhaust and is going great guns in getting it fixed. Sparks and flames everywhere. A small fire when the underseal caught alight was dealt with by bottle of water.

I spent some time talking to Arski who could believe what we were doing and in the vehicles to. After the welding and the wheel work came the bill. When we offered to pay it was refused with a 'its for charity and you are english and we are kazak and we help each other' we drove our guide back to the car parts warehouse and asked for english money as souvenir. We showed him what we had and he took a 1p piece and a 2p piece. Total cost of fix 3p, 2 cigarettes and half a bottle of water. Try that at kwik fit?

Left late friday and camped again, god roads though heading towards Astana the capital.

Saturday

Driving day, good roads mostly and hot. Got lost in a town called magat? And ended up at the kazgas plant where we met Russian guy who immediately called his friend for help with directions. Saul came out from the plant along with half a dozen others and helped us find the right road. Met a chap called Touché from the company Reddal one in the US who isworking on reducing the pollution from the plant. Nice to hear as Kazakhstan in some places does not look healthy. Back in the right direction after several miles on dirt track which is apparently the main road.

Camp out that night in stand of trees, first large green trees we hve seen in a while.

Sunday

Start the long drive to Astana on good roads, stop for lunch in Qostany and get lost both going in and out. We decide to press ahead as the roads are supposed to be good. At about 2am the vanishes and we are back on mud only this time it is pouring with rain, dark and a main truck route.

After hours of driving on tracks and through standing water we are all exhausted, unfortunately there is nowhere safe to stop. We fially arrive in Astana at 5.30am and immediately get pulled. The police just want money, initially $2500 and we finally settle on £35. 10 minutes later we get stopped again, we are obviously an easy target. Fred jumps out and immediately goes in with the guide book and keeps talking and pointing until the police escort us to the hotel and then leave, no bribe for them.

We sign in and finally crash out for few hours.

Team Ocelot

Team Ocelot

jeremymarksuk — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 13:06:26 -0400

Saturday 19th

Team Ocelot

Team Ocelot

jeremymarksuk — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 14:26:17 -0400

Bad day, 3 mechanical failures between 2 cars, broke the exhausts on both, 11pm and both teams cars still on jacks

Team Ocelot

Weekly Update

jeremymarksuk — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 07:23:50 -0400

Team Ocelots trip started out in Highbury Fields Islington along with about 40 other competitors and hundreds of bemused onlookers.

Driving a heavily overladen Suzuki Vitara into london is not an experience to be forgotten in a hurry. we finally got the Islington for the launch, Wayne immediately made a friend for life with the team that parked behind us by spending an hour fixing their electrical problems and making sure they actually had some, I found the nearest Starbucks!

After the traditional Naddam celebrations which were our send off the teams all headed south towards the the channel tunnel and various ferries. We alongside about 10 other teams were using the the channel tunnel to cross into France and the bemused looks and disbelief after we answered the standard so what are you guys all doing then was at first amusing and then slightly worrying as the realisation finally dawned that were are going to be away for weeks travelling through Europe and very far beyond.

After reaching France we stopped for fuel and fell behind the other teams, at around the 2 am we stopped again for fuel, not sure which country, and while having a refreshing cup of coffee some of the other teams turned up, apparently they had gone from the ferry to a french shopping complex in Calais to get supplies only for it to be shut, The French do not exactly have a Tesco 24 hr shopping experience. At this point we said our goodbyes and headed directly for Berlin as this was the most direct route to Kiev. We stopped in a German service station and tried to catch a little sleep only to woken by a coach load of Polish men all stood around our Car talking loudly and having a cigarette, one even banged on My window to ask what the stickers meant, thanks a lot for that.

After about 4 hours we got on the road and stopped for breakfast and a shower in another service station, and more fuel! we then headed for Berlin which is really close on a map and a very long way away on the road. We finally got there at about 5.30 on Sunday afternoon and found our campsite and set -up the tents, very efficient and clean site, which we now realise is a rarity. We drove into Berlin and got pictures of the car at the Brandenburg gate and Checkpoint Charlie, Wayne arranged with the people at Checkpoint Charlie that we could put the car in the centre and take photos, the words Mongolia and charity really work wonders.

Monday

Onwards towards Poland and our first challenge, bad roads surly people and very strange currency. We stopped at the Polish Border and got some currency changed, surprisingly the rate was very good, we only saw one place better in our trip across the country. The road from the border for the first 20 miles is just horrible both in its condition and in the fact that it is lined with 24 hr bars and prostitutes. The people were less than friendly and the coffee was terrible everywhere we stopped. I had an argument, well I got yelled at by a woman because I wanted to use the gents toilet in a service station, strange man using the men's, apparently so did she so all the men in the queue had to wait. I used the ladies instead which was much cleaner anyway.The weather turned nasty in the Evening so we car camped in a truck stop. We were making a brew in the morning when the 2 vans next to disgorged there contents, about 20 Romanian people from babies to old grannies, all smiling and laughing. they even offered us some breakfast but we were just packing up to leave so we declined , they looked relieved about that. They did know the word Mongolia on the charity sticker and also London and with much arm pointing and brrrrm brrrm noises they realised what we were doing.

Tuesday

Moving onto the Ukraine and our first real border crossing, simple to say and in reality simplish to do if you just take your time and smile a lot. the Border police were understanding and helpful to us filling in the form and spoke good English, Stephanie the guard looked at our passports and visas and asked where we were going, after we said Mongolia she came out to look at the car and then went in to get her co-worker who came out and looked at the car at which point the laughed so hard she could barely stamp our immigration cards. we could still the words Mongolia and laughter at the customs post 25 metres further in. The border crossing we used to get into Ukraine appears on the map to have a motorway, it does, it just isn't finished yet, we drove on it anyway because the last checkpoint guard pointed us on to it after we showed him the map and asked for Kiev. We discovered though after about a kilometre of shouts and arm waving that we should be on the other section to our left which was finished-ish. Due to my need to get my Uzbek visa from Kiev we agreed to push on. Unfortunately we were stopped for speeding after about an hour and it cost us $50 USD in "fines" a completely faked stop but they saw the car and that was that, it was shakedown pure and simple.

We stopped for food and played the point at the menu and nod game, barbecue pork and salad very nice with drink about 2 quid.

At about 7pm we got stopped again fro speeding this time with me driving, and it was a legit stop I passed a 70kph sign doing 94kph mainly because it was a good stretch of road unlike most of the roads in the Ukraine. this cost us 100 of the the locals currency which is about 10 Quid apparently this is "protocol".

Wednesday

We arrived in Kiev at about 4am and car camped until the Embassy opened, I can recommend Kiev as a loud, brash, materialistic brand oriented tacky city. Kiev has some spectacular buildings and is a cultural centre that is being destroyed by the march of new money and brand. the big 4x4 has become the status symbol to have and does prove useful as the roads are rubbish as they tend use the payment as a short cut and at at speed as well, terrifying to watch a a huge SUV plows past you on the inside or even on the pavement with completely blacked out windows and driver using the phone. Getting visa took about an hour and then we headed out of the city taking a little tour as we went, completely unintentionally. we stopped early as very tired and found a strange campsite type place, the lady was very friendly and we got a twin room on suite for about 15 quid, bargain, clean tidy and everything worked. After a walk around we had dinner at the local cafe and caused great amusement by picking stuff randomly, very nice though.

Thursday

Pushed through to the Russian border, the distances are huge and the roads after Kiev have got steadily worse with the car bouncing banging all over the place absolutely horrendous. we passed through the border with the usual formalities this time a $50 usd "simplification" fee at about 2am, the fee did the trick and we were out within the hour all sorted and done. Again bad weather so we car camped for 4 hours.

Friday

Heading over to Volgograd, a couple of police stops mainly curiosity I think, no fines yet.

The country here feels really big, it is hard to explain but it just feels massive. The roads are much better here, at least the motorway is. When we stop people are friendlier and much more curious about us and what we are doing. We bought a Map at one service station and the Lady was quite excited because there had been other teams in earlier that day it was good to know were not on our own. Need to look under the car and fix whatever has come loose on the Ukrainian road though the noise is really bad every time we hit a bump. Driving across the country there seems to be massive mining and factory complexes every so often. these are very isolated and strange looking so we press on. We have seen several train loads of Tanks today and some huge sculptures of tractors tanks and military equipment. All soviet era and still standing as are the town name signs.

We roll into Volgograd at about 5pm and what a change a new border makes, it is still a shallow materialistic city bu the people are smiling and friendly and helpful, we are directed to the Hotel Volgograd which is in the centre and it is very nice, the twin room wee have is very out dated and needs renovation but is half the price of the nicer modern rooms but everything works that's fine.

Saturday,

Amazingly 2 other teams have turned up here, the blog does work, they have very similar experiences to us including the speeding fines and both of their cars have been hammered by the Ukrainian road. relaxing day walking around and seeing the sites as well as watching about a 50 wedding parties turn up at the eternal flame memorial outside the hotel for a blessing and photos. fantastic to see.

It is said that Russian women are some of the most beautiful in the world and the women from this area especially, well this summer with the sultry heat and sunshine short shorts and the hottest of hot pants are in fashion and I must agree the women are beautiful. We bumped into another English guy here who is down from Moscow for the weekend and speaks Russian so we have managed to eat and drink and have good time with named food drink!

I think the biggest difference here to the Ukraine and to Poland is the fact that Russia has a massively growing economy and people can make a lot of money here and do not feel like 2nd rate EU citizens. more than anything they smile a lot, unfortunately the smile usually contains gold and silver fillings but it is still a smile and a heartfelt one. I am looking forward to coming back here with my family.

Sunday

Packing up and preparing to move on to Astrakhan and into Kazakhstan!!!!

Team Ocelot

Team Ocelot

jeremymarksuk — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 03:57:44 -0400

Test global sim 0037259815512

Team Ocelot

Team Ocelot

jeremymarksuk — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 00:51:27 -0400

Team Ocelot