Done and Dusted

Essay time folks, we finished the rally yesterday, so it's the first time I've been able to get to an internet cafe since Kazakhstan.

After leaving the Kazakh capital we drove with the other two cars to just outside Semey (the old nuclear testing ground Semey). Had to get a bit of shut eye as we'd been driving for most of the night. In the morning both of the cars we were with had issues with starting. In the end we had to tow start the Lada, but the Suzuki seems to get stronger the longer we drive it. Roads were pretty good all the way to the Kazakh/Russian border, and we made it with plenty of time to cross. The border was pretty efficient, and I didn't have to pay anything. First border since Turkey which hasn't been a pain in the arse in some way. There was some poor team which had been waiting there for three days as the hadn't timed their visa start dates right. Disn't drive very much in Russia, we were all pretty tired, but it was interesting to see how the place looked 'richer' - the roads are in great condition, and there are proper shops. The population is very very drunk as well. Hardly surprising when a good bottle of vodka costs about two pounds. We camped just outside the border city and got woken by a farmer trying to get his tractor past. Dropped off one of the Lada members on Wednesday, and got shown the way to the border by a friendly Russian. Russia turned out to be a lot bigger than we thought. We intended to do it in a day, but at 900km we took nearly two. Did another night drive and ended up having dinner in what we're pretty sure was a strip club. Had all the expected features apart from strippers, but they did a tasty soup. Russia is also really beautiful. We drove through lots of mountains and got up high. Snow has been seen, and shorts are no longer a good idea. Very bright as well.

 Leaving Russia was also not a problem. Surprisingly efficient. Getting into Mongolia was not, and yet again it's the Adventurists being their useless selves again. There were about twenty teams when we got there, and none were being let out. Apparently the Mongolian government aren't that happy with all the shite cars being imported, and decided half way through that all cars have to pay taxes, and the Adventurists were being fairly slow about doing that. Not sure if that's true or not, but the border people were definately waiting for the Adventurists to do something, and they weren't. End result was that we got to spend an absolutely freezing night at the border. It was too cold to sleep even when I was wearing literally every item of clothing I had. Got set free the next day and went to Olgy. The roads just finish as soon as you leave Russia, so you can't take it too fast. We're at the stage where we just ask everyone we see if we're on the right road, and use the compass, as there are tracks everywhere and they mostly look the same. Tried to drive to Hovd the next day, but got royally lost after coming over a mountain covered in snow. There was a bone fide snowstorn going on, with at least two inches of snow. We hear from teams which came the next day that it was up to a foot. The Suzuki didn't give a shit though, and trundled over mountain, snow, river etc. without any worries at all. Camped wild as the path we were following had a river going through it with a long abandoned rally car stuck in it. 

Got into Hovd the next day, brought a massive Mongolian coat, and pressed on leaving the Lada and the Jersey Boys (the Saxo went on ahead at Olgy) behind - no more convoys. Epic drive, but didn't make the next town. Car filled up with dust as did we, as the back windows don't shut as there is a load of rope going through them to help hold the roof rack on. Had to fix the battery as the roads were so bumpy the shook it loose, but zip ties solve all and we pressed on.The next morning we did make the town, got supplies, saw a load of other teams at a designated mechanic and headed further east. Unfortunately Laurie felt a need for speed and cracked the petrol tank open. Zip tiescouldn't solve that problem, so I drove it back to town and paid $80 for a chain smoking Mongolian to fix it. He did an exellent job, but it's still not great to see someone smoking as they drain twenty litres of petrol from your car. All fixed up we drove on pretty late, but not too late as the moon had gone and it's bloody dark.

Next day saw us pull a 14 hour drive and get to the last town before UB. All good apart from a river crossing which got a bit of water in the car. We died, and we had to push it across, but the Spanish ambulance which followed properly died and couldn't be started even once we had it on dry land. The Suzuki is actually indestructable though, and we soldiered on through destert and shit roads. Had a shower for the first time since Olgy, and I had to wash my hair three times before it stopped turning the water brown - so very dusty. The next day the roads were all good apart from one patch, and we blitzed the 280 miles ti UB in no time. Dropped the car off and found a hostel for $5 a night - all good. Now I'm trying to sort China. They only work on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and then I have to get a train to Beijing - annoying. UB not that interesting as most of it was built by the Soviets. The plant which provodes hot water is broken as well, so no showers till they fix it.

Stats:

Showers - Richard 12, Laurie 11, Joe 10.

Car damage - Minimal. No flats. One grumpy morning, two time outs in the water, one cracked petrol tank (easily fixed), one loose rear bumber, one restless roof rack, everything else was perfect.

Bribes - Two. One for $1, another for a packet of horrible Kazakh fags.

Scams - Three. Turkish/Georgian border (truckers), Georgian/Azerbaijani border (border officer), Azerbaijani ferry).

Police stops - Richard 3 (All Kazakh, got fined once for speeding in convoy $50 between seven people), Joe 2 (Kazakh, Russian - no fines), Laurie 0.

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getting a burst petrol tank repaired by a chain smoking mechanic. All laurie's fault.

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drove through a snowstorm yesterday, got lost, but made it to the town. Roads get better apparently.

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chilling in mongolia. The adventurists are still tools. Very very cold. Had a bit of snow.

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hit russia yesterday comrades. Vodka is 2 quid a bottle.

Kazakhstan

New update now. Been a long time since I've had access to the internet. Once into Kazakhstan it took about a day to import the car, but it didn't invilve any money (insurance was about $2). Kazakhstan looks amazing, and because it's so big it looks amazing in all sorts of different ways. We've been driving through the desert with massive bits of rock just jutting out of nowhere all levelled off to the same height. The roads in the South have been absolutely shit. Because it rained really heavily one night it filled in all the potholes so you can't see how deep they are. We could easily park the car in some of the. We've been driving off road for a lot of the time simply because it's smoother, but after the rain it meant a lot of mud, and the car decided it's not a fan of water. It conked out twice because of the water, and refused to start one morning because of the cold, but we coaxed it into life and all is dry inside it now. Before the rain came my main worry was the dust as each car kicks up a huge plume of dust and Suzukis aparently don't like that. The inside of the car is covered in the stuff.

Still the roads are much better in the North - just like home, and there haven't been any serios problems with the car, apart from the roof rack now being held on with rope, and the rear bumper is now held on with zip ties (amazing). At the moment we're in a convoy with two other cars, both of which really know their engines, but we're currently in the capital as one of them (Saxo) has busted the rear suspension - it's currently wedged up with a piece of wood wraped in ruber./ Been stoped three times by the police, but still haven't had to pay any fines - they just seem curious. The Kazakhs are lovely, and nice change from Azerbaijan, and they seem to love the devils curls. Laurie is still sleeping lots, and Joe is as big as ever. We hope to make the Russian border by late Tuesday evening. The roads are supposed to be good, and it'll probably mean another night drive. Russia/Mongolia will take at least a day, so we'll probably start our drive in Mongolia on Friday.

And the reason we're where we are is because of Baku, and we didn't just go through Russia and possibly drop down ro Kazakhstan. For the route we're taking we're pretty far ahead.

Hope everyone back home is well - Rick.

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in Aktobe enjoying a burger and our first shower in four days. Still doesn't beat the record on the trip.

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longest border crossing so far. Only just left port. Classic post soviet efficiency.

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just leaving baku. Place is shit as are most of the people.

Baku

So we hit our first major hitch of the journey so far. As some of you know Joe was a late addition to our team as the guy who was going to be in his team broke his leg and couldn't go. This was clearly too complicated for the Adventurists to deal with and they failed to put his name on the list of people allowed into Turkmenistan. As a consequence we're sitting in the shithole city of Baku (hot, dusty, windy, unfriendly) as we now have to get the ferry to Kazakhstan and miss out Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. Even more annoying as we arrived the day the ferry to Turkmenistan did and had to watch it go.

We're not really a fan of Azerbaijan. The people are just plain unfriendly - nothing like the Turks or the Georgians - and they try to rip you off at every point. We have no idea when we'll be on the ferry to Kazakhstan. There's another team in our situation, and they've been waiting four days, so hopefully it won't be too much longer - word on the street is it'll be Friday, but you never know here.

In other news my phone has decided to dump all the charge in its battery, so until I can charge that up somewhere I can't be contacted. The car had its first proper work out over the Georgian mountains - definately not road no matter what it says on the map - but it made them its bitch. No worries there despite it just being stones and rivers over the road. Joe has the worlds best 'beater' tan, Laurie still hasn't grown something which you could actually call a moustache, and I still haven't had to bribe anyone.

Hope everyone's well back home - don't know when the next update will be.

Rick