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Day 20 through to Day 28 Report
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Posted by Steve at 15th August 2009 at 06:38
Day 20– 515 Miles – Total 5990. Thursday 6th August 09 A monster day this was too. One of the highest mileage days we’ve had, through country side, highly controlled main roads, thanks to our Russian police friends - -a few stops today, but no fines or bribes - -score, and some spectacular scenery. My son Josh will be pleased to know this region, the Altay Region has some major whitewater rivers. They are wide, fast, and very long. It seems to be a tourist area, as many rafters and even some playboaters were on the water. But we need to make the border. When Jess and I arrived here just past 2AM, it was shut, closed, locked up, not even a sentry on duty! But we had made it, giving us a fighting chance to get through on Friday. I’m 6’3” (ok, when I stand up straight), but nevertheless sleeping in the driving seat of a Suzuki Jimny at a Russian border point is VERY uncomfortable. So we got our sleeping bags out and bedded down for the night. Of course no tossing and turning, or wriggling to get comfortable, there is one position to sleep, and it’s the driving position. Day 21– 15 Miles – Total 6005. Friday 7th August 09 At 7, we were woken by the cold basically. Then some other Mongoliers began to arrive. Funniest amongst the group of 6 or 7 that turned up was the Blue Fiat (Team ??). Well it used to be a blue Fiat, with a windscreen and lights and normal bonnet etc. At some point 2000 miles ago in Turkmenistan or somewhere, they hit a Donkey (Mule actually). Sadly the Mule didn’t make it, but the very sick sounding and write-off looking fiat has made it so far. As usual, and we are kind of getting use to it, the rigmarole of getting the order correct to pass swiftly through is a lottery. Our first mistake at this crossing was we had lined up at the wrong bit, so had to move the quarter mile back up the road. Then, fighting the coach party, we had to get the immigration form filled in and stamped. Then we moved back up the road to park for 2 hours until all locals (anyone within 2000 miles of here) get to go through first. The great thing about Russian controls is they are actually quite organised, compared to many. A nifty two hour pass through and we had cleared the Russian side, expecting to travel a short while to the Mongolian side. The drive turned out to be 16 miles up over a 8200 foot pass (yes with another Russian passport check), and then down into the Mongolian border point. For those who keep referring to ‘The Long Way Round’, it is very different now. Those guys did it in 2004, and since then, bright big shiny buildings now exist. Of course with so many people trekking in cars through Mongolia now, the border points are turning into little businesses. The hut in the series no longer exists, and that for us was really sad. Progress is progress and is generally good, but for adventuring romantics like Jess (and maybe me), the old ways that are being superseded means we and everybody else won’t get a chance to experience true adventuring and exploring. Nevermind, we’re technically here in Mongolia. Hooray. We are legally allowed to move out of the control area, but the car isn’t. This is because; we are waiting for the import payments we made to the organisers, to be made to the Mongolian authorities. As its Friday, time differences, cock-ups in language, translations, paperwork and any other reason for a delay, we, along with everyone else here is waiting to find out. The Mongoliers who arrived here yesterday before noon left just after 4PM today. We are waiting. We’ve now been told to come back and check on the paperwork on Saturday, tomorrow, at 10AM. This allows us time to go out of the compound to visit the little town, which may be called Tsaanguur. Along with Americans Domino and Cooter, driving a Suzuki Alto and two or three other teams, we headed off to find the café. This is located in a Ger, or Mongolian ‘house’. A round affair, constructed of a solid wooden floor, door and centre rose, with wooden spars that radiate out from the rose to the walls, Everything is then covered and lined in a very thick fur/felt/hide. In the centre of the Ger is the stove, heating, cooking unit, and arranged around the outside are some bed/seats, couple of wooden sideboards a cupboard and well really that’s about it. Of course for a while now, when we go into a café, there are no menus, just obliging people who generally just bring us food, which on the whole is most palatable - -yes I said it, the food is ok! The main meat constituent is debatable, either lamb or horse. I think it could be either, as with my palate, I can’t tell. So here we are, 12 Mongoliers, drinking tea, or Chai, Moloko, Cukr (Team milk sugar of course), and I must announce, Jess drank his very first cup of tea ever. Dan Dan DAAAAA. Alert the media. He basically said, he did not know what the fuss was all about! So while we drank tea, the two café ladies set about making around 100 meat based dumplings – from scratch, using 6” square piece of sideboard, a couple of large bowls and the stove. Fantastic, for the equivalent of $5 each, we all ate well. We retired back to the compound, set tents on concrete and bedded down for the night. Day 22– 85 Miles – Total 60??. Saturday 8th August 09 We’re through, and it’s just near noon. The ladies in the customs office have done a decent job, of pushing the paperwork through this Saturday morning, allowing us to make up some time, and even get ahead of ourselves. As we prepare to leave, we are joined by other Mongolier arrivals who will spend the weekend in the compound. This morning’s leisurely start allowed us to put our unused two spare wheels and tyres on the rear of Jimny, relegating the now quite worn rears, to our spare pair. As we’re heavy at the back and generally running in rear wheel drive only, we through it prudent to put on the better grippy new set on the car for the 1200 mile run into UlaanBatur, mostly on dirt tracks. This afternoon, on the start of our drive to UB, we learned why it takes so long to get through Mongolia. With no formal road, no tarmac, just a series of dirt tracks to drive on, we have to pick and choose which track we can drive on and which track won’t kill the car. Only 85 miles in half a day shows just how slow the going can be. Sometimes we’re down to crawling in first; backtracking because the chasm can’t be crossed, braking hard because a hole suddenly appears, or the rattle is so severe anything over 2mph just plain hurts. We came around a rise and the world opened up in front of us. We had to stop there for the night. The rules of the road in Mongolia. - If you’re on tarmac you have to drive on the right, if not drive, on whichever track takes your fancy.
- Always give way to bigger vehicles, as they will not stop if you’re on the same track.
- Beep your horn if you want to overtake, as mirrors and indicators are generally for show only.
- If you’re driving on a road that is currently under construction, don’/t worry, the road builders are used to people driving on the unfinished road.
- (unwritten rule; the track running alongside the road is always smoother and faster)
- You cannot sue the local council or any government authority because the hole you drove in broke your car you drove into it, you a blind idiot.
- Yaks, Goats, Horses, Sheep, Cows all have right of way, as they just don’t care.
- When driving past Gers, you must wave at the kids.
- When coming across a broken down vehicle on the side of a track, smile broadly and wave. There is nothing else you can do, as they are way more adept at fixing whatever is broken than you are.
- In towns, do not copy what the locals are doing, it does not make motoring sense. As nearly all traffic lights do not work (probably never have), just take care at junctions, if there is a space, and no police looking, go for it. If the police happen to be around, then, smile, wave, use indicators and watch for a local to wave you through the junction.
- Lorries and trucks can pile their stuff as high as they dare. Lorry drivers must remember to pack lunch. Live Goats tied to the top of the load seems to be a favourite packed lunch around here. Cars loaded on top of the loaded goods are the responsibility of the driver.
Steve Day 23 170/ Miles – Total 6427 Sunday 9th August We made camp last night at the side of an enormous lake with the most spectacular views. Well, when I say the side of a lake, we actually had to drive half a mile or so up the hillside, as the clouds of insects (all of whom appear to have teeth larger than their bodies) make camping too near water an impossibility. The thing about Mongolia that is most striking is its size: This place is truly enormous. I don’t really mean the physical size of the country, although I’m told that it’s the 9th largest country in the world. I mean the size of the landscape. The horizons appear almost limitless. It’s certainly possible to be driving down a valley floor, with mountains on all sides, which look close enough to reach out and touch, yet they are over 60 miles away. There is so little dust / pollution in the air that it’s almost like viewing the world through a crystal. The roads are truly shocking. Alex and Paul in the Blue Fiat call it the Mongolian death rattle, as it’s a real car killer. Somehow, the graded roads have become corrugated, so that deep ridges run across the road at such short periods, that it’s impossible to drive upon them at any speed; the only choice being to leave the roads altogether and make your own. This is why some of the “roads” are hundreds of metres wide with dozens of separate tracks converging and diverging in the general direction of travel. Alex and Paul’s blue Fiat died again today in spectacular fashion, with the front suspension springs shuffling off this mortal coil. Fortunately they were carry a spare, however it took until almost midnight to repair the damage, so we made camp at the side of the road and got eaten alive by the winged teeth that inhabit this part of Mongolia. Jess Day 24 203 Miles – Monday 10th August An interesting day today: We left Alex and Paul as we set off as they wanted to carry out more repairs to their FIAT and we’ve got a deadline to meet. The consistent them with this event is that you meet other teams in towns, at petrol stations, border crossing and camp sites, but rarely on the road. Today was an exception to that rule, we found ourselves racing along (well, 30 mph anyway), with a Romanian Biker, a clockwork Nissan Micra (it has a large wind up key on the boot) and a gaggle of Spanish Skodas. I only know a handful of superlatives, so let’s get them out of the way now: Amazing, spectacular, awesome, astonishing, astounding, remarkable, incredible etc etc … This is the only way to describe the countryside of Mongolia. It’s like nothing on earth and without actually being here, you simply can’t appreciate the grandeur and magnitude of the place. The suspension has broken again, hardly surprising really as the roads, or more specifically the ground we are driving on is very broken, and a combination of sharp rocks and deep ruts. We stopped for lunch at the side of the road and met a Romanian Biker on a BMW F6650GS Daker, who was travelling on his own after falling out with two colleagues he was supposed to be with. Ironically it turned out that we’d met his colleagues just south of Kiev (small world isn’t it). We ended up shadowing each other all day, and stayed at the same Hotel (if you could call it that) and having dinner together. Not a huge amount of miles today as we halted for the day at Altay to get the car repaired, and exchange some money as fuel is very expensive and we haven’t got enough Mong cash to get to Ulaan Bataar. Finding a mechanic was far easier than getting any money. The Banks don’t accept travellers cheques, or credit cards or any foreign currency other than USD (and we’d run out of that). Neither do any shops, hotels, petrol stations etc, and even the rare ATM’s only accept Mongolian bank cards. Very useful this considering you can’t bring Mong money into the country! Judging by the steady flow of foreigners with broken cars driving around town looking for a garage with welding gear, we’d been very lucky to find the one we did ahead of the rest. Mind you, the Health and Safety brigade would have a field day over here. The mechanic had very few tools, so we had to use ours, however he did have a welding kit. OK, so he didn’t have any gloves, or welding goggles, so he sat there cross legged in a tee shirt and his sun glasses, however he did a great job and even fabricated some re-enforcing brackets to prevent the same thing happening again. Total cost, £15.00 Getting our hands on some local currency was a little more tricky… so a big thank you to Andy Maye back in the office, for performing some back room magic and sending money via Western Union to one of the local banks. Steve stayed with the car and the welder, whilst I hotfooted it to the Bank, clutching a wire transfer reference number and my passport. Only to discover that it had closed. The sign above the door clearly showed 20:00 and by my watch is was only 19:55, yet the gate was locked and a security guard was adamant that I wasn’t getting passed. However… as some of the staff were starting to leave, he had to unlock the gate to let them out, so as he unlocked the gate, I played the pushy foreigner card and barged passed him. Fortunately for me, there was still some staff behind the counters, so half an hour later and I left the bank with a pocket full of local wonga. Thank heavens for Western Union, By now, it was dark, so we decided to check into the local hotel, a non-star venue with no facilities whatsoever. Although we did meet up with Mikael (the Romanian biker) and two local lads called Oggi and Bald who spoke passable English having spent a few months at college in Bradford. Oggi recommended a nearby restaurant for dinner, so the five of us sat down to a meal of rice, beef and egg. And very nice it was too. Jess Day 25 223 Miles – Tuesday 11th August Not an enormous amount to report today. Started driving at 08:30 and finished at 20:00, covering 223 miles at an average of around 20mph. Surprisingly we’ve not met any other ralliers on the road today, although I’m told that cars are starting to drop like flies now, which isn’t that hard to comprehend, given the state of the roads and the fact that most people are attempting the journey in vehicles you wouldn’t drive to the shops in back home. The road from Altay to Bayanhonger runs east / west along the northern edge of the Gobi Desert, so the road is mostly broken rocks and sand. Not too hard on the suspension, but slow going. The temperature nudged a maximum of low 90’s, under a clear blue sky. Made camp on a hill near the road, and had a visit from three children from a nearby, who seemed to like our chocolate. We’ve sprung a leak from our Radiator, and Radweld and Radiator putty don’t seem to be able to hold it at bay, so we are going into Bayanhonger in the morning to see what assistance we can find. Jess Day 26 211 Miles – Wednesday 12th August Bayanhongor, in Western Mongolian is the largest town we’ve so far visited. With the usual 12 or more petrol stations, derelict buildings and smattering of shops, we set about finding something to help seal our radiator leak. Stopping in the centre of town, having passed a proper Mongolian monk, in full regalia, and the ‘commuters’ on their way to work in smart office attire (but please do not ask me where the offices were, we couldn’t see anything that resembled an office), we checked the rad and may have stopped. The rad weld might be working, but we could not risk it, so our mission to find something else continued. We followed a local to a tyre shop, who then gave us directions for the market. Here I wandered off and discovered in a shipping container, Mongfords (that well known Mongolian auto spares outlet). I dragged the poor chap to the car, and using sign language, charades and pigeon Mongolian, he sussed what we needed and back at his shop, sold me for 1500 Tugriks (about a quid), some powder called StopLeak! Back at the car the leak may have ceased, so the Radweld took a while to kick in. At least we had something else in case. While I was shopping, some kids with a flat football became the proud new owners of the football we bought in Czech Republic. We cracked on, making good miles, pausing every now and again to take photos of a landscape that just makes you gawp in silence as we don’t have the words. In Arvayheer we got some directions to head north towards Khjirt. Several have said that these roads are closed, but if we can get through then we may get a chance to visit the ancient city of Kharkaroum. The road was open. We made our way 50 kms through a pass that was littered with herds of goats, sheep, yaks and the herders Gers. Khjirt is a weird place. It seemed, with the lines of Gers in compounds, that it was a holiday village, like a Mongolian Butlins. But the town centre was practically closed. We went into a café bar, bought a very expensive Tiger beer, which Jess promptly knocked over and left. Just outside of town we pitched tents, cooked and settle down overlooking the valley floor of Gers. Through the night we heard horses close by. But as sound carries in still night air, they could have been 500 or more metres away. The thought of being watched by a curious Mongolian herder, was slightly disconcerting, but we know that they are peaceful and friendly. Tomorrow we will see if any of the touristy places are worth a look as we close down the final few hundred miles to UB. Steve Day 27 164 Miles – Thursday 13th August The day started well. The campsite overlooking the valley was awesome. We packed and left, then Eighteen miles in, the front right damper mount went again. It took a little while for me to remove it, even with the cheat we picked up a few days before in Altay. As we had proved, with no great disadvantage to handling, speed o r performance, we drove on. As I write this the damper is still in the back of the car! Our intention was to try and see the site of the ancient city of Kharkaroum. This we think was the seat of Chinngis Khaan’s (spelling version number 12), empire in the 13th century. We couldn’t find it, or maybe we were on the wrong road? We subsequently learned that we didn’t miss anything. Uneventful was the rest of the journey. We decided to not make UB today as we would arrive late in the day, and so we camped again 60 miles from the city. This would allow us to roll up in the morning in good light, and savour the arrival. This evening I cooked. For those who know me, this is a rare event –rarer than a blue moon (once every 28.7 years). It was not hard, rice and chicken curry, with only a little burning of the curry on the bottom of the pan! The food on the trip has been outstanding, and a huge thanks to Jess, who loves to cook, has once again done a sterling job throughout the entire trip in knocking up great meals from seemingly very little. The times when we’ve ‘eaten out’, we’ve been very lucky. Only once did the ordered food (a lamb soup concoction in Aktobe), let us down as it was tasteless and ‘old’. In Altay, a few days ago we had a great rice and beef strips meal with an accompanying fried egg. Having a local assist in ordering is always a real bonus. On other occasions we’ve just ended up with pot luck - -and we got away with it. In the evening it rained, coming in sideways. We set the tarp up to act as a big windbreak and just chilled out before turning in for the night. Steve Day 28 63 Miles, Journey Total -7112 miles. Friday 14th August We made it. We hit the UB Mongol Rally finish line at around 1130. Pictures being taken, lots of clapping, other cars parked up, people milling around, faces from the road suddenly appearing from behind piles of dust and debris as they unpack their cars, stories being swapped, and sighs of relief as the trip is all done and dusted. 7112 miles from the Goodwood start and then through France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Czech Republic, Poland, Ukraine, Russia, Kazakhstan, Russia and Mongolia. The last section in Mongolia was 1122 miles, with only 120 odd miles of tarmac road. We had five ‘breakdowns’; the radiator leak, metal failure on the front right damper mount twice, rear right damper mount once, front right damper mount once and the complete loss of the brakes on the front right (I mean the brakes themselves are somewhere on the road in Kazakhstan), which were replaced by a modified set of Mazda MX6 brakes. Good things we brought included the rear spots, iPod, good stereo and the fridge. Things we dragged all the way here for no reason, the vehicle spares. But then we didn’t know if we would need them or not. For both me and Jess, our favourite country was Mongolia, our worse country was Ukraine. We had to pay no bribes and one ‘fine’. The fuel in Mongolia is a lot more expensive than we were told it was. The only plastic that works in Mongolia is Visa Debit, without it, you’ll struggle to get money - -and American Express Travellers Cheques do not work. After a nice pizza meal, we headed away from the finish to get a hotel and begin the un pack. We managed to unload a load of gear straight to the Christina Noble Children’s Foundation, things like camp beds, chairs, cooking gear and food. We’re told that because our car is in such good nick, it’ll fetch 5 to 7 Thousand Dollars at the charity auction in a couple of months. This is nothing but a good thing. We’ve arranged to meet up with some other teams later at the Irish Pub – yes even UB has an Irish pub! After checking in and having a few power snoozes, we met up with, amongst many others, Alex and Pete from the Blue Fiat. These two made it to UB in a car that does not resemble a car anymore. The front suspension held! However the rear suspension springs collapsed, the exhaust is held on with spit, the gears are failing and the brakes do not work – it’s a total total wreck. They worked incredibly hard for the last couple of weeks, overcoming all manner of problems to come out with everlasting memories, stories and experiences that put us to shame. Alex and Pete, proper Mongoliers -outstanding. So I think this is the last Blog entry. We’re booked on the first flight out with seats, UB to Moscow then to Heathrow on Monday. The time left here we’ll reminisce with other teams, relax and get our work heads on again for next week. Thanks for reading, it ‘s a pity though, that we cannot express properly in words the scale and beauty of what we’ve seen and done – so get off your butts and do it yourself. Steve.
SMS Update
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Recieved by SMS (Location: Ulaanbaatar - Mongolia) at 14th August 2009 at 06:39
- arrived Ulaan Bataar 12:00 local time 14/8/09 - 63 rd team to arrive, a large percentage of which came on tow trucks. Great atmosphere at the finishing line, lots of very releaved people... Going to a stag night tonight, and the leaving party tomorrow night before flying out on Monday. Feels good to be here after 7111 miles from Goodwood and 27 days - Jess
SMS Update
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Recieved by SMS (Location: Altay - Mongolia) at 12th August 2009 at 09:13
It,s hot dusty, massive dusty, hot and massive.
SMS Update
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Recieved by SMS (Location: Bayankhongor - Mongolia) at 12th August 2009 at 01:34
- a few miles east of Bayanhongor. possibly heading for Tsetserleg if the road is open. radiator sprung a leak last night, temporary repairs holding so far... Should make UB sometime Friday - Jess@
SMS Update
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Recieved by SMS at 11th August 2009 at 02:17
- 09:00 local time 11th august, car now repaired, leaving Altay and heading for Bayanhongor. Had a good night last night with two Mongolians lads who have lived in Bradford and a mikael a Romanian biker who's doing the trip on his BMW F650...jess
SMS Update
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Recieved by SMS (Location: Altay - Mongolia) at 10th August 2009 at 11:52
- 18:47 local time- car with mechanics getting the front left suspension repaired.. Suspension gone again... Biggest problem is money. You can't bring Mong money into the country and the banks won't exchange anything but USD cash... they won't accept credit cards, travellers cheques or any other currency . No shops, garages or hotels accept anything other than local money, and we don't have much left :( - jess@
SMS Update
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Recieved by SMS (Location: Khovd - Mongolia) at 9th August 2009 at 10:04
making half decent progress, AWESOME country .
SMS Update
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Recieved by SMS at 7th August 2009 at 06:22
- crossed the Russian border at 12:00 local time, currently in no mans land between Russia and Mong. Met up with a lot of teams at the Russian border, including one team that hit a donkey in Iran and now have a trashed fiat with no windscreen... should be a fun party in no mans land if we can't get into mong until Monday... Jess
SMS Update
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Recieved by SMS at 7th August 2009 at 02:50
- driven 510 miles since setting off this morning (well technically yesterday)- 02:20 local time Friday morning, sat in car at the Russian / Mongolian border (the western one) as the border crossing is closed... Hope it's going to open tomorrow, all though by all accounts there is a 24 hr process to enter Mongolia, and they close for sat and Sunday, so we may have to wait for 3 days in no mans land :( - jess
Day 15 through 19 Report
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Posted by Steve at 6th August 2009 at 08:59
Day 15– 242 Miles - Saturday 1st August 2009
The day began well and ended brilliantly. Our aim over the last couple of days was to get to Astana for tonight, and it looked like we could make it. As we got closer, so did the increase in police presence and necessity to be checked over. The roads were mostly manageable, i.e. we could do 40 to 50 mph quite happily. We also had the usual 10 or 15 miles of track every so often.
Nevertheless, we made good time, until….. Police checkpoint number 4 million and three. These guys wanted money, simple, plain, obvious. Sadly for the ‘Laughing Policeman’ on the other side of the desk, I played the complete idiot: one having no understanding at all of his sign language, his attempt at English or in his attempt to make me understand Russian by repeating it over and over or by saying it slowly- -I wasn’t playing.
In the end, he lost his temper, slammed all my documents on his desk, and asked for my RayBan sunglasses I was wearing. After he tried them on and to his disgust found they were not prescription lenses, he threw them back at me and shouted “Go!!”.
I left.
So no bribes there then. HA, I now have to maintain my 100% record on this. I don’t mind, or won’t mind being fined for doing something thing wrong, even a made up fine –‘cos at least they were ‘working’ for the money, but a pure bribe, they can kiss my…….
Well we hit Astana, found the best hotel, a Radisson, which we couldn’t afford!! We couldn’t afford a Radisson! Yeah, $410 per room per night. So we found a cheaper one next door, which was great. Laundry, pool, sauna – lovely. It had been just over a week since my last shower/full proper wash and cleaning, so I was looking forward to this. We bathed, ate, had a beer, ate some more (Pizza this time), another drink and bed.
One thing we had to get done was to get registered. Our immigration cards stated we had five days in country to either leave or be registered. Monday would be day 5 for us, so tomorrow we would need to check if we could get registered before leaving Astana. The penalty if caught could be disastrous whether fined in time lost travelling or in money.
Steve
Day 16– 251 Miles - Sunday 2ndAugust 2009
Late start today as we made the most of the opportunity to look around Astana, which as it turned out is a really nice modern city. The city centre appears to be no older than five years and comprises ultra modern shopping malls filled with designer shops and the usual myriad western fast food outlets.
Had lunch at KFC before heading out to the A344 for Ereymentaw and onto Pavlodar.
The countryside around this part of Kazakstan is somewhat dull: Vast plains of course brush extend to the horizon in all directions, under a leaden sky heavy with storm clouds.
As we head east the weather worsens, so we called it a day at a picnic park just off the main road.
One feature of Kazakhstan (in fact it appears to be a feature of much of Soviet dominated lands), is the absence of fences. This makes for a tremendous feeling of space, however it also means that cattle and wild animals are free to roam at will; which for the unfortunate driver of an Audi ahead of us, meant the death of his car, as well as the cow he hit at speed.
Jess
Day 17– 272 Miles - Monday 3rd August 2009
Not a great day for distance today. Our Jimny broke again. The rear right suspension dampener fell off. So we had to find a garage in Pavlodar with a welding kit.
The repair cost the princely sum of £10.00 and took half an hour or so… if I didn’t know better I’d swear the mechanic who welded the suspension back on, was the brother of chap we met in Elisa who repaired team Slip Streams car: Looking every inch the T54 tank commander we’ve come to expect.
These chaps are so helpful it’s amazing: As our immigration paperwork is only valid for 5 days (and today is our fifth day in Kazakhstan), we asked the office wallah’s at the garage where we might have our papers stamped and not only did the office manager drive us to the customs office across town, he also filled in all the paperwork for us.
Having repaired the car, and re-authorized the immigration papers, we set of for Semey, with the hope of entering Russia just east of Leninogorsk.
Made camp in a field which looked like it wouldn’t be out of place on Salisbury plain, just west of Shamanaikha, The weather is much the same as England, which I suppose is hardly surprising as we are at the same latitude, so mid-seventies and rain are the order of the day.
Day 18– 323 Miles – 5377 Total Miles so far - Tuesday 4th August 2009
Well, that was a fun day! We drove over 300 miles and ended up back where we started, broke the car twice and discovered that the 4WD doesn’t work.
There is one road out of Shamanaikha, or should I say that we thought there was one road out of Shamanaikha, which was why we drove just under 40 miles in the correct direction, only to find out that the road ended in a village somewhat similar to the one Borat claimed to hail from.
We’d been chasing a thunder storm since we set off, and we caught up with it in the village at the end of the road. The heavens opened, thunder cracked and lit the sky, and the mud road turned into a swamp. No matter how many times we engaged the 4WD lever, and how much we span the wheels, the car was well and truly stuck. It took a local chap in a beaten up Russian car to come to our rescue and tow us to firmer ground.
Deciding to head hack to Shamanaikha, we realised that the steering wasn’t right… which was when we discovered that the front right suspension dampener had fallen off. Or more precisely, the bracket holding the dampener to the front axial had snapped. So, once again, we found a mechanic who looked like he could repair a tank in his sleep, and paid the princely sum of £5.00 for the repair job.
We then found the correct road, which ran parallel to the one we’d been on in the morning (one was on the other side of a river from the other) and set off for Leninogorsk on the eastern border with Russia. The map clearly shows that the road exists, so we were a little annoyed when, after 150 miles on dirt tracks, there was a large barrier stating that the road was no longer open. This was confirmed by two very bemused looking chaps in uniform who told us to turn around and go away.
On the way back to Shamanaikha, we caught up with the thunderstorm we’d found earlier. This made for interesting driving as we the roads in Kazakhstan don’t have edge markings, or cats eyes, so the driving rain and fogged windscreen made it very difficult to pick out the road in the inky darkness.
Half way back to Shamanaikha the brakes failed, so with 70 miles to go, on little better than dirt tracks, we had no means to stop.
Joy of Joys… Jess
Day 19– 89 Miles – Wednesday 5th August 09
Managed very few miles today: We started early enough, but as we had no brakes we had to find a garage before heading off to find an alternate border crossing point into Russia.
The garage in Shamanaikha was a little surprised to see us again, and we were somewhat surprised to discover the reason for our lack of brakes, was due to the fact that the entire brake assembly on the front right, had fallen off! All we had was a brake pipe… and nothing else. I’m definitely coming to the conclusion that this car is made of chocolate and not really intended for any form of off-road activity.
As we had to have a new brake assembly fabricated from only parts available in town (those of a Mazda MX-6), it took three hours before we were on our way to the border, which as it turned out was less than twenty miles away to the north.
Having spent so long in Shamanaikha, we’d now acquired celebrity status, and the local press (along with an interpreter) wanted a chat before we could get on our way… which delayed us for another half hour or so.
Border control was it’s usual self, with mounds of paperwork, and people to check everything a dozen times, and then double check that the checkers had checked it correctly. As such it took three hours to leave Kazakstan and four hours to enter Russia, which effectively killed any possibility of eating lots of miles today. We’ll have to have a monster day tomorrow.
Jess
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