London To Mongolia 2009

[Bazza]

PRAGUE 13/07//09

We have just got in to prague. The roads from boulogne through germany and czech were fantastic. But probably get worse after poland. First night was in france, we stayed on a french farm with geese and donkeys in the fields…nice place. Few beers and a good nights kip. Next day we drove nearly 500 miles and got a hotel off the motorway in an empty and weird hotel… Dan tried some german and failed.. I managed a few words..most odd place and the town was dead. We then went out a beer but we almost got lost, picturing us with no bags as we left them in the hotel and it was dark. Next day we ate a crap hotel breakfast and drove 250 miles in to prague which is quite warm and we are now out for a beer and sightseeing. Tommorow church of bones, then off to poland.

Steve

[Bazza]

15/07/09

We are 1 hour from the polish border. We spent 24 hours in prague to have a good look around.. We loved it. Early yesterday afternoon we made our way to the church of bones. We then got stuck in bad traffic trying to get out due to an accident between a harley and a car. Afterwards We pressed on until 8 pm then found a hotel in a lovely small town. Its been really warm in czech too. The 4×4 has been great on motorway,cruises lovely at 70-80 even full loaded. Will do another update later today.

Steve

[Bazza]

16/07/09

We have made it through the ukraine border with no problems.. They did mess us about asking for a green card but we did not have one.. They were probably looking for a bribe.. They got fed up and waved us through. Roads are really bad but finally found a decent road and now heading for kiev. Truck is good but I am gonna run out of pants soon

Steve

[Bazza]

16/07/09

We finally made it to kiev through some dreadful wheel busting roads… We drove over 600 kilometers with about 400 of them through roadworks and contra lanes. We arrived in kiev at about 9pm but we found it hard to find a hotel, we then had to desperatly find fuel. It took 90 mins to find a hotel, we are wacked out. We have eaten cold tinned food on the road and no evening meal. Tommorow we will try and stay near the border of russia, sort out our stuff. Looking forward to kaz, and the truck has been amazing today as we really pushed it.

Steve

[Bazza]

Russia 19/07/09

Yesterday we spent 7 hours at the border in massive queues, blistering heat with no food and very little water, we then had to drive 300k to a city, we were hungry, thirsty and tired. Today we are heading for saratov and may be at the kaz border for today or get in early tommorow. Last few days have been very hot, road heat got to 48. No more nice hotels from here for a while we reckon. Russian locals are much nicer than ukraines. We found that if you smile and mention chelsea then they seem to like you. No fines or bribes yet, we had one pull by the police but we mentioned chelsea and he smiled and said "good work" and off we went. Truck is good, no problems yet.

Steve

[Bazza]

Kazakhstan20/07/09

We pushed on through russia, stayed in a few small towns. Yesterday we knew we were going to the border so we decided to wack a fair few miles on the clock and do an all nighter. When approaching the town at the border we though it would be a good idea to fuel up. It was 11 pm and the garages were manned by women in kiosks in pitch black darkness. No hope of finding one we asked a local and then the rozzers pulled up and gave us an escort to fuel station. We gave the cops a tip for helping us out. We reached the border at 12 and what a pain… We had to fill out forms that were in russian.. Turns out another team passed through that day and we used their forms as a template… Scarey moment when they searched the car and nearly found my hidden cash. We then had to cross the kaz border control… One guy sat us in his office and spoke crap, we were confused… They then said we had to wait a few hours to mess us around. It was quiet at 3am and were stuck there waiting. We made friends with a guard and he helped fill our forms for us. He also offered us ciggies… Yes he offered us one not the otherway round. In the end They let us through and when we was buying insurance, dan was holding the insurance ladies cat saying that she had a nice pussy, we giggled so much. So we then drove on in to the nearest town looking for atm for cash. We then pushed on to aqtobe feeling real tired. We are in some worn hotel dying for sleep and the loud music outside which was annoying. Yestrday we were stopped 6 times in russia, no fines as we always smiled and asked if they liked chelsea, worked a treat. Today we were stopped twice by kaz guards.. No fines. Ukraine guards were never interested in us. Kaz roads are terrible, beating the suspenion on the van

Steve

[Bazza]

Aral Kazakhstan 22/07/09

P51:We stayed in a hotel in Aqtobe, really run down, but the city was ok, we ate in a nice turkish restaurant. As we had been up for 48 hours we decided to head back for some sleep… Only to realise there was an outside function until 12.30, so i went out for a beer with some guys who were riding motorbikes to china. We slept well afterwards regardless of noise. Next day we ate the crap breakfast and set off, we hit some nice smooth roads until suddenly whilst doing 80 I hit really rough road and almost launched off the ground. From that we hit about 100kms of off road pot holes the size of the car, it took ages and the truck took a beating but survived. We came across another team who got their ambulance stuck, we camped up and they gave us some nice spaghetti and a chat out in the desert. We pitched up the tent and got our heads down. About 5am a truck pull up outside our tent, we kept still as they were looking over our vehicle tapping our gerry cans, luckily we had already used the fuel in the cans. When they left we found they had started cutting the staps to the cans but they realised they were empty and left. At 5.30 am we left to make tracks and moved to aral where the roads got better and our spirits picked up. We had a look around aral and then decided to get to the next city, on the way out I got pulled for not having headlights on, we were sure a fine was on the cards, but then as usual the words chelsea got some laughs and we were all then laughing and shaking hands in the police station, we even had the cop doing kangaroo gestures, dan could not believe I talked myself out of it. We got pulled again 240km’s away and got asked by the rozzers for a souvenier, I gave the bloke some tetley tea and the gold teeth smile and lots of handshakes again. We are now in a run down hotel and just had a nice meal as I have eaten bugger all all day. Tommorow we are heading as quickly as poss to almaty. The truck is going well, scuff plates are dented but still loyal as ever. In total 8 pull overs, 0 fines, 1 souvenier, 1 tip for a police escort, need more pants too.

Steve

[Bazza]

Taraz, kazakhstan 23/07/09

Early start away from the dirty hotel we stayed at, first impressions were good but in the rooms it was falling apart and when I pulled my bed sheet back there were bed bugs running across. Next day We drove all day to taraz and we have a Nice room. Dan got fined for speeding which worked out about 4 dollars from 75 originally asked. We also got stopped 3 times. Mostly to shake hands. We drank some holy water and had our vehicle blessed by this guy who had gold teeth and is also a boxer… When I shook his hand I could feel loose bones. Tommorow we are in almaty and we will have a day off as we are getting quite tired. So 11 police stops, 1 fine, 1 souvenir, 1 tip to police for helping us with police escort.

Steve

[Bazza]

Almaty, kazakhstan 24/07/09

we have just arrived in Almaty, very busy place, surrounded by mountains. We looked for hotels but was hard work at rush hour. We are now having a day off as we have been working hard since prague, even then it still involved driving. So we are not gonna drive at all and just chill and sleep and eat lots. Eating is difficult so we have both lost weight, the mongol slim fast diet contains no breakfast, small evening meal and lots of driving. I got stopped twice by the rozzers again today, big smile from myself and a handshake did the trick and we were sent on or way. Big moutains too way which looked gorgeous. Lovely mountain roads too. Sunday we are aiming for semey, not sure if it is possible to do in a long day? Heading back to that awful russian border for a nice long wait and being mucked about. One thing is the kazak people are so helpful and lots of handshaking. So 13 police stops, 1 fine, 1 souvenir, 1 tip to police for helping us with police escort.

Steve

[Bazza]

Barnaul, Russia 27/07/09

we spent a good day and a half in Almaty to rest up, we snoozed the morning away and was needed. The next day we decided to drive to Semey in one day which was over 1000 km’s of rough roads, some roads were nice rolling hills in the mountains, some plain flat grasslands. We caught up with NAG Mongols and Pommes express. We had a small convoy with the NAG’s but only because they would not let us pass them :)…at that point it was starting to get late and decided to go to barnaul overnight. The road going in to semey at night was aweful… Lights on the truck are poor and was a dangerous experience due to no road markings and stupid dazzling lights passing cars. eventually got to the border at 2am and was out within 3 hours, they rushed us which was refreshing, but while filling out our declaration forms dan wrote a note on the office window for the nag team to see and to wind them up saying we were number one. At 5am we were through and we sat outside the border drinking coffee and were could see the NAG team still on the kazak side. We seemed to have a bit of luck with that border, even though dan upset the border guard by driving through the stop sign. We are now in barnaul and we have driven around 1000 miles almost, so we are a bit worked up. Tommorow we hit the mongolia border. Total stops: 16, 1 fine, 0 bribes, 1 souvenier and today we had 34 hours on the road inc border. Time for sleep!

Steve

[Bazza]

UlaanBataar Mongolia - Mission Complete!!

We left Barnaul in Russia at the crack of dawn. We went to get some fuel and was asked by a local for a wheel brace as his had snapped. We offered to help and ended up breaking our own, so we needed to find a replacement pretty sharpish as we were about to enter full on off roading.

In the next town we asked some locals and they directed us to a local market where a guy was selling them, we were lucky to find one so quickly and without any hassles, so we cracked on towards the border. From Barnaul we estimated it to be 300-400km drive to the border. The roads leading us up to the border were amazing. Winding forest roads with rivers and lots of people camping and a popular spot by russian tourists. The further we got the more remote it became and even more beautiful. Behind the trees were ice capped mountains dominating the landscape. Landscapes then suddenly changed in to a more mongolian plains of nothingness for many miles. We managed to get to the border at 6.30 and we camped behind a small mountain for the evening. Nothing to be seen for miles and such a quiet location you could not hear a thing.

This was the start of many camping nights, so I managed to get the tent set up without having to look at the intructions. A good feed and we were set for the morning.

Next morning we went to the border and met two norwegen guys riding two 1939 motorcycles around the world, they were taking these bikes all the way to north america, through south america then up through africa on a 2 year adventure, we both admired them!

We finally managed to get through russian customs in to Mongolia Customs. On our arrival we were advised by two Mongol rally guys that we could be in for a long wait. We assumed that everything was sorted for us and we would be out in a few hours. Wrong! it seems that we were also set for a 2-3 day wait. Mongolian customs did not have any paperwork on our vehicles and a import tax was required. Although we were never asked directly for this, we were kept in the lurch for until the next day. On the next day at about 5pm We were promised that we would be allowed to leave in an hour (after our 30 hour wait) which turned out to be a lie and they simply went home and left us for a second evening in the cold. By this point a few other teams had joined us to we made a party of it and had some beer and vodka. We pitched up tents at the border too. The compound were were trapped in had no water, food or even light at night, we called ourselves refugees, but then recognised that even refugees would had been supplied water. Mongolian customs were disgusting in how they treat people.

Next day we decided to walk. Dan suggested that we ask for my passport and hatched a plan that we simply need to see the passport as we needed the passport details for the embassy. When the border guard gingerly handed over the passport, Dan snatched it out of my hand and legged it. The guard was not happy at all and I told her that it was my passport and we will not give it back and walked out to the car compound. Other ralliers attempted to get their passport back but with no luck. Anyway, I spoke to an english speaking girl who worked in the office and told her that today we will be walking and leaving the vehicle at the border. She politely informed me that we must leave with the vehicle, but i was adimant that we will be walking out if nothing is sorted pronto.

Half our later a army camoflauged guard approached me asking for my passport. We surrounded him saying “niet passport” and I was hoping that 8 of us was surrounding him was intimidating, which i think it was because we offered a copy of our passport in the end and he was happy with that.

Whithin 2 hours we were processed, we think that what happened with my passport really pushed the buttons and they got their finger out. There was no way we were sleeping another night in a car park, otherwise we would have jumped the fence.

On our way out we managed to buy our insurance and fly out of there and pushed on offroad until dark. We pitched up in a really nice secluded spot overlooking some mountains and lit a log fire to keep the mozzies away. We were really happy as we were moving forward. We had a good feed and a chat, it was a good night.

Next morning we packed up and headed off to the road we left the night before. We spotted some telegraph poles and thought we would detour but keeping the telegraph poles in our sights. We aimed through this large mountain gorge, a narrow gap between mountains which had a really aweful road which was hard work getting through. There were locals living whithin the gorge and they kept mostly goats. They were quite suprised to see two weserners drive past in our old 4×4 on some really impassable roads. It took a couple of hours to drive through this gorge and we were both knackered at this point and continued to follow the telegraph poles to a local village. The village was pretty poor, but the locals were friendly and everyone came out to see us and many friendly faced. We managed to get a location on a map and realised that we need to drive some distance to get around the mountain to the other side and therefor we drove to Altai using a much harder route to the main road we left. We drove all day to get past the mountain range which set us back half a day.

At about 4pm we stopped in a local town to see if we could change some dollars and get some fuel. Driving through the town (called Tonhill i think) we found a bank. We walked in to the bank to find no one there, strange we walked through the banks office with no one in sight, not the most secure banks i have ever seen. Outside it was also deserted, no one in sight. We headed towards a local shop and found 4 locals sitting inside having a drink and food. They were most welcoming and sat us diwn for some beer and a small bite to eat. They then started calling friends telling them that they have westerners in their shop, they were most excited and we found ourselves talking to people on the phone. We were however in a hurry to crack on and we managed to get our dollars changed by the shopkeeper and a can of beer each. Outside we had a photo moment and the shopkeepers son came to see us, a nice guy, a famous mongolian actor who was dead friendly and managed to get us some diesel. Dan had a ride on someones motorbike and another guy had a drive of our truck. After a few more swigs on someones beer we had to say our goodbyes and leave. We really needed to get back to the main road.

We drove on further for a few more hours, and we started to get longer smoother tracks for a while which allowed us to gather more momentum, in mongolia there are loads of tracks and its hard to know which one to take as most run parallel to each other, some fork off. On one track was us and on the other side was a small curtain sided van bombing along at a pretty great speed. We drove a few km’s besides each other but then noticed the track seemed to fork off and we were not to happy about our direction. So we headed back to find the track the van was on. We managed to find the track and bombed down to catch up with the van. 10 Minutes later we come across the van on its side, it had lost control and buried itself on its side in the sand. The four occupants were a oldish guy with 2 women and a child. They flagged us down and we stopped. I got out the first aid kit thinking i was doctor kildare but then realised I am not in to blood and stuff. One woman had a really bad cut and the child had a cut on his arm. They were not that bothered about us helping their cuts so the first aid kit got put away. Also they did not want a lift either, but did ask if we could give a note to anyone and hopefully someone call a relative. We agreed to do this and we managed to find someone after the third attempt to call someone to notify them that they were in trouble. We hope they were found ok in the end.

That night we camped up with a stoney desert, we were pretty wacked and had a feed and went stright to bed. We only had a 2 hour drive to the main road next morning before we were back on track.

Next morning we packed up our gear and came across scorpions under our tent, good job i had stuff my shoes with socks for that reason.

We moved on to get back to the main road. The truck was not in the best of shape, we noticed she was very low on the back, and when dan took a look to noticed both back springs were snapped. Not good news, so we gingerly made our way to the city of Altai and found a shady spot to do some repairs. We parked outside a government building and used their paving stones to jack up our car body to remove the old springs. Luckily i brought 2 new springs with us and whithin 2.5 hours both srpings were swopped. The locals were quite impressed and asked dan if he was a mechanic! Must say Dan did a brilliant job!

Whilst changing the springs we noticed the rear diff was leaking a lot of oil.Something else we really needed to keep an eye on.

we pressed on that day over some tough slippery sandy roads, over a few mountains. The weather got quite bad, very windy and we had to keep all windows shut because of sand being driven in the car, then we came across a sandstorm, we could not see a thing and quite scary as we were driving at about 5mph and came across a river. We crossed the river but could hardly see a thing. We had to stop to prevent ourselves getting lost or crashing in to something. Finally it cleared over a little and with confirmation from a truck driver we managed to get back on track.

that night we camped quite near a town, near a road and dirt was realy setting in to us, our truck stank of road, desert and 2 smelly blokes. At this point my hair was so dirty that i could not even put my fingers through my hair and was stuck up like a clown.. we were a right mess because we had 3 days at the border too. So we were very very keen to get to Ulaan Bataar so we could get a full wash!

Getting to sleep that night was disturbed by blkes on horses surrounding the tent… I was too tired to worry about it.

Next morning we got up at 6am and moved on very quickly to press on! We had to stop for Diff oil which dan topped up. We then came to the last town before UlaanBataar and we again needed cash for fuel and food. The banks were useless and full and queue dodgers which really annoyed me. We did however managed to get a good feed at a chinese restaurant. Some authetic stuff too, not english crap. This was the best meal we had in many days and went down lovely. We were also told that ulaanBataar was only a 5 hour drive away and we were dead happy with that. It turned out that the next 300km’s was brand new road and was a releif as we were keen to get to UB while it was still light.

We did hit some bad roads for about 40km but that was shortlived and we glided in to UB feeling really happy with ourselves. Ub was very busy city, but we managed to get ourselves booked in to the Chinggis Khan hotel, this was embarresing walking in to a lovely hotel looking like tramps, literally!! and smelly!

The shower was the best shower we have ever had, the dirt that came out was incredible!

We spent a couple of says in UB, we went to hand our truck over to GoHelp and Dan got in to trouble for not stopping when a policeman asked him too, was quite funny as I have never seen a cop run so fast, picture the cop in terminator II running, that was him. We convescated the truck keys and we had to get a GoHelp interpreter to get us out of trouble! It was funny though.

Truck finaly got handed over which was a sad day, but a good cause.

Our final night we feasted on more chinese food and beer.

Total Police Stops: 18

Total Fines: 1

Total Souvenirs: 1

Total Tips: 1

Total Police chase by a running cop: 1

Bribes: 0

Punctures: 0

There was a lot more to the adventure than what was documented here, too much to remember, but we had a fantastic time and one heck of an adventure!

[Bazza]

thread now open for comments :D

[Bazza]

sounds like an epic adventure Steve

we await for a deluge of photos

[aido]

Sounds like an epic journey!

I'm not going to mention the ladyboys

[Ruud]

Incredilbly interesting adventure. I enjoyed every word of it :)

[Monster-Mat]

any pictures....

[Steve]

have some piccies soon and hopefully enough of some video.

there was one thing we never blogged that was quite funny

we were driving along and we came across a line of Gers (round tents mongolians live in) as we approached a load of kids ran out trying to stop us, we stopped and they were trying to flog us some white liquid in a bottle.. we think it may have been mares milk. We said no thanks but instead we got out a big bag of sweets, I started handing them out but there were so many of then I just gave the whole bag, they scurried off with loads of lollies. Then some adults came over shaking our hands and asking where we are from (suprising how many know a bit of english) one spotted my high visibility jackets in the glove box and gave the thumbs up... I gave him one and everybody was laughing and clapping while he paraded around in it. I gave the other one away and we have a feeling that the only people who wear these are police, so they may use it to stop people we reckon!!

Also time to report on the status of Lexus in these countries.

Suprisingly enough I can safely say that Toyota and Lexus rule the roost in the capital of Mongolia, I have never seen so many LX's in one place! But very rarely saw BMW or Merc. Lexus is Top seller along with Landcruisers.

Either Russia and Kazakhstan also had loads of Lexus. Again i reckon highest seller of luxury 4x4.

I did spot an altezza in a small run down mongolian village, how they hell it copes with the bad roads beats me.

[Steve]

oh yeah, anyone thinking of doing it for next year then should look at this, the the entry fee is now £50 for a limited time (we paid 300)

http://mongolia.charityrallies.org/