Goodbye Clint

Team Rockape — Mon, 30 Jul 2012 05:53:04 -0400

We woke up this morning to a site we hadn't seen since driving through Belgium, rain. After breakfast we went round to the Go Help offices and introduced them to Clint, the Mechanic there was suitably impressed, he couldn't believe how clean he was. Migah arranged for us to visit the Book House, as we drove out of the city it quickly became apparent how poor the area was that we were visiting, the houses become much smaller and more like shacks, there were no big shops as there are in the City, in fact I don't recall seeing a shop. On the journey there we saw people stood by the roadside arm outstretched holding jars, apparently they were trying to sell mushrooms or nuts picked from the mountains, one man just had two bags of mushrooms, the rain was hoofing down and he was soaked, I can't imagine how desperate he must have been for a small amount of money to stand there in the pouring rain while cars splashed past him, it was pretty heartbreaking and I found myself struggling to stop the tears as we neared the Book House. When we walked in however we saw a few children around mostly playing with jigsaw puzzles, they only had about half a dozen and they were very old and tattered, some had bits missing off them but they amused themselves by completing the puzzle, taking them apart and repeating over and over, no complaints, no moaning that they were bored, no moaning that they couldn't get on the Internet or their PS3 wasn't working, because they probably have never seen a PS3, these poor kids are so destitute it's beyond me, and I have to be honest, these kids were not all smiley and happy with their lot, they did not complain but there was something missing. When we decided to take part in this trip our aim was to bring an ambulance to the needy and we didn't really concentrate too much on the other projects, I regret this enormously and wished so much that we had brought more with us. For me today's visit has cemented a firm commitment to continue to help these children, and we are currently sourcing some educational books to be delivered to the offices in UB for distribution where needed. I am only telling you this becaus I would advise anyone thinking of doing anything at all for a Charity to stop thinking and go for it, most of us are very fortunate and have plenty of everything we need and a whole lot more, life isn't balanced or fair, but think about it, anyone of us could be on the other end of the scale. Thanks to everyone for supporting us and watching our blogs, it means a lot to us, this is our last night in UB and we are now going to have our final traditional Mongolia dinner and a few beers, no more driving! We are also proud to let you know we were the first vehicle to arrive! : ))) I know this is not a race but still............... Huge thanks for Chris's awesome driving skills, we wouldn't have arrived here without any repairs otherwise, and now for the final time. Bye from Teamrockape

Teamrockape

Ulaan Bator,

Team Rockape — Sat, 28 Jul 2012 12:46:04 -0400

Well we have arrived in UB and what a surprise, we knew it was a large City but after travelling the last couple of hundred mies on fairly okay tarmac as soon as we hit the city it was back to potholes and dust! We booked into the Ulaanbator Hotel which by Mongolian standards is pretty good, got a nice suite and just finished our dinner and a bottle of Moet to celebrate our arrival, it's 1.50 am ( I think) and the traffic is just as busy as if it were 6.00pm rush hour. The hotel is in an area which is very upmarket, L Vitton is just around the corner and lots of other very well known designer names, very different to the humble and basic way of life that we have experienced on our 4 day journey across Mongolia being a big softie I cried as we neared the City, tears that were of sadness as we would never see the happy faces of Mongolian people as we drive past their Gers, every single person we saw waved and the children ran over to the ambulance waving and shouting Hi, how are you, I don't know how they are educated in the country but it is very well done. We have seen some incredible things on this trip, it's been a mixture of emotions, and mostly ones of great joy, everyone we came across has been generous and friendly, we have had a smooth drive, a bit of problems with the brakes but no shocks, no punctures and no FINES!! We bought loads of cigarettes and alcohol to use if needed, English Tea, sweets etc, we gave them all away to the Country people. We have been very lucky to have met so many amazing people and had such a run of good fortune, I can honestly say that Mongolia is the most beautiful, and breathtaking country that I have ever been to. We have not been able to contact The Go Help Team here in UB as yet so once we hand the vehicle over I will write our final blog. Many thanks to those who have been supporting us on our journey, goodnight for now, Dee and Smiler xx

Teamrockape

Gobi Clint Gobi

Team Rockape — Fri, 27 Jul 2012 00:17:20 -0400

Hi folks, we are currently in Altai, just stopped off for cash and fuel after spending the night in the middle of the central Gobi desert, what a beautiful place to stay, the mountains in this area are amazing, the roads in Mongolia are shocking, far worse than we expected, both sets of front brakes went yesterday and Chris had to do the best he could to repair them, we got airborne several times yesterday as well, poor Clint, he drove all the way across Europe, Russia, Siberia with no issues, now he is getting hammered. This morning we were woken by the sounds of an Eagle mooching about on top of the Ambulance, when we first started seeing them in Russia we were amazed, now it's an everyday sight and there are loads of them! Well we must push on to our next destination, we have already had some guy with a dodgy looking glove on his hand and blood all over his face leaning in the car, no idea what was wrong with him but sadly can't help him as we can't speak the language. Will try and blog from the next town whenever we get there, love from the Gobi xxx

Teamrockape

Mongolia at last

Team Rockape — Tue, 24 Jul 2012 11:47:34 -0400

Well we arrived in Mongolia last night, too late for the border so we set up home just near the gates so we could be ready early in the morning, unfortunately the Russian side did not open until about 9.30, we had to pay a fine at the Immigration Office as we had stayed longer than 7 days and not had our card stamped, still this is the only fine we paid as we have managed to avoid the Police fines through the whole journey (so far) the Mongolian side of the border was weird, we exited Russian and drove for about 30 minutes in what we assumed was no mans land, then we saw a final Russian post, a further 15 minutes down the lane we saw the Mongolian office, first Clint was sprayed for bugs, then we had a short visit through passport and immigration control, but the vehicle import part took ages, 7 hours, the first hour seemed to go quickly, lunch time was approaching and suddenly everything halted while they tootled off for some Marmot stew or something ( we expected this to be fair) but the next 5 hours were a bit of a drag, we came across a couple on Motorbikes who were driving from Southport to Australia where the were emigrating to, hope we see them again on our journey, it was good to speak to someone else in English! We are currently in a hotel with WiFi, hopefully get a Mongolian Sim card tomorrow, very knackered and slightly traumatised after driving up a mountain through the mud because the road had been washed away today in heavy roads, mint! Night all xx

Teamrockape

Last night in Russia?

Team Rockape — Sun, 22 Jul 2012 09:14:04 -0400

Evening folks, we had a good drive today through Barnaul and down to Gorno Altaysk where we are camped for the night by a beautiful flowing river at the foot of the start of the Mountains, the drive was really good, the roads were excellent, just normal Tarmac roads, I suppose some of the last we will see for some time! We stopped in Barnaul for some supplies and it seems like a nice city, most of the Cities we have been through are built surrounding one of the many rivers throughout Siberia and the locals make it their daily enjoyment, having a swim, you often see them queuing up for buses in full swimwear! Far more liberal than us Brits, but we are a funny breed! We drove through the town of Brysk which was apparently rather affluent, very different to some of the areas we have seen recently, and there was a very large police presence, we saw more through that area than we have on the whole trip, (we did not get stopped however : )) Just be warned if you are travelling through this area, we at hoping tomorrow to make it to the Mongolian border, the drive is not too far but we are going into the mountains so no idea what the roads are like, will report back! .......

Teamrockape

Smouldering Siberia

Team Rockape — Sat, 21 Jul 2012 08:54:54 -0400

We drove from Omsk to Novosibirsk today, the landscape was pretty much the same all the way, miles and miles of forest, the temperature was 43 degrees in the shade and pretty uncomfortable - Dee has been bitten and yet again got bloody poisoning, still got antibiotics. For pretty much the last 250 miles of the journey there were fires all over the forest and as far as the eye can see the air around looks like it is foggy because of the smoke, as the area is so vast and sprawled out its hard to know whether anyone can do anything. Some of the landscape looks like it could be in the UK, except for the Eagles flying about so frequently. Just called in for some Pizza and now trying to find somewhere to sleep for the night, neither of us had barely any sleep last night due to the noisy town of Omsk!

Teamrockape

OMG OMSK

Team Rockape — Fri, 20 Jul 2012 14:11:02 -0400

Well today we drove from Kurgan to Omsk, we were planning to go via Kazakhstan but a local we met in Sim advised us not to, and to be honest we were wondering whether the next border crossing would be as easy as he one into Russia (despite the interview we had to have it was a pretty easy) so we followed the E30 via Ishim, which equated to 525 miles and about 9 hours driving, the roads for the best part were lovely, for some of the journey however they were horrific, dangerous and once we reached Omsk absolutely crazy, two lanes on either side (officially) but basically wherever a car would fit, they drive, we saw 5 different cars getting repaired in the centre of 4 lanes of traffic, people just wandering over the road during Friday rush hour, such a busy place, we are staying in a hotel near the river side, which has a beach and as much night life as you would find in any popular holiday resort, Friday night has certainly brought out all the colour and noise and hustle and bustle, if you want to see a fun side of Siberia, this is the place to be it seems, well it's now 1.20 am and we have an early start so I have to get my head down, just hope we can sleep through the car alarms and the pipping of horns ( they love to do this) and the music and shouts !

Teamrockape

Siberian Slumber

Team Rockape — Thu, 19 Jul 2012 14:48:26 -0400

Just settling down for the night in Kurgan, nice steady run over from Chelyabinsk, managed to find a hotel in the City, Suite with mini bar etc, Aircon WiFi, lots of lovely toiletries slightly different from the truck stop from last night! Just watching Top Gear in Russian, funny hearing JC dubbed over in Russian.

Teamrockape

Arkwrights Emporium

Team Rockape — Thu, 19 Jul 2012 07:34:56 -0400

I am still amazed at seeing the changes as we travel East, the local people have gone from the strong chiselled looking Russians to the "Reindeer People" who are Yukaghir people, from the Urals which is where we have just driven through, the locals here have features that are similar to Eskimos and we are trying to learn their roadside body language, we have seen them stood in the busy service areas waving their arms from side to side at low level but cannot understand what it means, they are certainly very interesting people, the service areas have rows of shacks which sell a variety of items everyone would need on such a busy highway, truckers items, seat covers, fans, mini DVD players, wipers, and of course any other bits like giant cuddly bears, Onyx ornaments, tools, inflatable beds, inflatable sharks!! Kites, boats, knives, guns, tasers, tasers shaped like a mobile phone (awesome), pictures, statues of Jesus, jewellery, things for making moonshine, homemade honey, you get the picture..........

Teamrockape

Lemonade and Suvlaki!!!

Team Rockape — Thu, 19 Jul 2012 06:56:08 -0400

Hi folks, well we have just have a beautiful drive through the Mountains from Sim, en-route to Kurgan, we spent the night in a truck park, there are lots on the main routes, we thought this would be safer than any roadside layby as there are bears in the region and the whole area was a mass of deep forest, pure bear country. Chris managed very well actually to communicate with the driver next to us and we had a beer with him, he offered us his place to stay over the next few nights if required, very good guy. We asked about bears in the area as he parks there regularly being fairly local, only to discover the owner of the truck park had a capured bear which he kept in a cage on the car park! That is another story, well we are now in Chelyabinks having stopped off to change money buy more dressings and eat food, which we are delighted to say we have found a cafe with an English menu but serving Suvlaki! Excellent, still loving the whole experience, havent wore make up since I left UK, or straightened my hair, it's like bloody straw! Don't give a buggers about that though because this trip is fantastic, would recommend anyone doing it. More tomorrow, off for munchies x

Teamrockape