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Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

Finito. Mongolian roads gave us their worst but she held on to cross the finish line this morning.

From Tashkent we crossed...

From Tashkent we crossed the border in to kyrgyzstan via Osh. The border crossing was surprisingly mundane and we arrived in to Osh  in time for supper and a $3 matress on the floor in an apartment block, in spite of Jolyon's attempt at going down a one way street in front of the inspector general's angry gaze. Up early the next morning; a little too early as we arrived at the famous osh market before most of the stalls had been set up. Slightly annoying but it still gave Ed an opportunity to search for that perfect gift for a certain somebody waiting for him back in the shire.
We cracked on in a north easterly direction towards Bishkek and lake Issyk Kul, making great time. Unfortunately the time was hindered by various speeding violations shared between Rowley and Jolyon, who luckily managed to squirm their way out of it by handing over a few pistachio nuts and claiming ignorance. The tempo was further slowed by some windy mountain roads and by this time time had decided to drive on through Bishkek straight to Issyk Kul.
We set up camp just 5 metres from the water's edge and quickly fell asleep. The next mornings form was of course a swim and hopefully some breakfast on the cooker.  Unfortunately for Rowleys famous noodle soup, the lighter fluid had been misplaced so we hit the road and stopped for bruncheon on the way back to the Kazakh border.
We drove 300km to what turned out to be a closed border, and luckily bumped in to 3 other cars worth of rallyers who gave us the bad news. So, we had to drive back past the lake and through biskek to the other border crossing, stopping for supper further behind than where we left in the morning, so the total kilometres made in the whole days travelling so far was minus 10km.
After supper Ed took the reigns and pushed on back to the border crossing above bishkek, about 200km.
Back in to Kazakhstan after another painless crossing we drove on, stopping about an hour outside of Almaty where we stayed for the night before heading north to semey and in to Russia.
After a night in Almaty we headed north towards Russia. We decided to break the trip up with a night next to lake Sasyqkol - unfortunately the blue on the map did not match the marsh we found ourselves next to so we continued on to Ayagoz where we camped up next to an industrial train line having been flagged down by three Russian hitchhikers where Rowley was able to practice some of his smooth talking.
We cracked on early doors and drove through the north Kazakhstan town of Semey which was a site for USSR nuclear testing no more than a couple of decades ago so we didn't stop to sightsee for too long. The border to Russia was one of the simplest we have had and so we managed to drive through without too many stringent checks.
We pulled up to a lake just north of Rubtsovsk for the night when suddenly we were being harassed by drunk truck drivers. One of them took quite a liking to Jolyon and so we made a quick escape back into town where we found a german restaurant with waitresses dressed in lederhosen which was a welcome surprise.
With a long drive awaiting to the Mongolian border we had a much needed lie in next to a small lake where we were woken by local fisherman catching their day's supply. We had a swim, much to their dismay, and drove on towards Tsagaannuur (the border crossing into Mongolia). We had a brief sleep in the tent in the early hours and then managed to get our exit stamps from Russia and drove through to the Mongolian border. As we approached we were in fairly high spirits. We drove over the brow of the hill and as we descended we saw a whole courtyard of Mongol rally cars - tents pitched and sleeping bags out. Not a good sign! Ed and Jolyon got their entry into Mongolia straight away. However, Rowley as the named driver and self proclaimed team leader could not enter until all the relevant taxes had been paid - this was a painstakingly slow process and we spent 30 hours waiting, trying to keep ourselves entertained. The moment finally came where we were told we could leave and we drove enthusiastically towards the gate - we were denied entry at our first attempt - a missing signature being our problem. We managed to get through and paid for insurance and road tax (something of a mystery as to where this money goes as the roads are more reminiscent of dirt paths). We are trying our hand at our first convoy and fortunately for the other team we were there to give a helping hand pushing them up the western Mongolian mountains. Already the mongolian terrain has taken it's toll on our fiat and our suspension on the front left of the car has broken. We were taken to the car market in Olgii and managed to pick up a new one for $7 and we are waiting for it to be installed. We will have to drive through the night tonight to make sure we have enough time to get there for the 24th. 1600km to go. Lets hope we get to Ulaanbaatar.

Entry...

Entry 6

Tblisi, Baku, Aqtau (via caspian sea), Beyneu, Nukus, Bukhara

Due to serious hooning the night before we had a delayed start to the next part of our journey towards Baku, Azerbaijan. Baku was a city that we expected alot from after it's hosting of the eurovison song contests was widely praised. The 600km trip to Baku we roughly thought would take about 10 hours, but unfortunately due to some unforeseen circumstances we were delayed by 8 hours. The first of these was a speeding incident which Ed thought he had manged to avoid due to our number plate not being on the azerbaijan vehicle system and straight after the flash proclaimed to the car with much satisfaction, "Im obviously not going to have to pay that". This was not to be as 10 minutes later, and much to Jolyon and Rowley's amusement, we were pulled over and a police officer casually strolled up to the car asking for the driver's details. Ed and his driving licence were marched to the patrol tower where he was very nicely asked to pay a fine of €400 which he kindly declined. We managed to get the fine down to €50 and a pack of cigarettes. 20km down the track we were pulled over again - this time we were stopped for attempting a parallel parking manoeuvre and asked for another payoff. Again Ed at the wheel. Fortunately, a local lady who spoke very good English managed to explain to us that they only stopped us to get a bit of extra cash as we were foreigners. We paid €10 in exchange for our temporarily confiscated car passport - a hectic few hours. 

On we went hoping to reach Baku for supper. Needless to say a recurring theme was starting to appear as we didn't make as soon as we'd have liked - It took us until 6 am to finally arrive in Baku after yet another through the night drive on something that resembled more of a potholed dirt track than the main road to the countries Capital.

After booking ourselves into a hotel for 6 hours we made to the port where we immediately found out there was a ferry to Aqtau leaving that day to our great pleasure-but not for others as some strong words were aimed jokily  in our direction by another Mongol Rally car who had been waiting at the port for a week for the ferry to Turkmenbash, Turkmenistan, and it still had not arrived.

After an afternoons wait in the port and incessant replies to our questions on when this boat would be leaving we were told 'one hour, one hour' (we guessed this was the only time in English he knew) we eventually paid, directly to the Captain which seemed a bit circumspect, and got on at 7pm. Even with the good news of getting on the ferry this was soon to disappear. We had been previously been told that there was no food on the ferry and had tried to stock up as best we could, however, due to a fear of missing the ferry if we left the port to get more, we did not buy sufficient amounts but this we had prepared ourselves for. As we waited in the mess hall in the bowels of the ship all evening and most disappeared away we were left without a cabin in something that would fit the imagination of an Azerbaijani cargo ferry to Kazakhstan-mosquito infested, smokey, dingy with a few fat truckers left arguing with each other. This was the picture for the next few hours as we were unable to communicate with the crew officer on where we were supposed to be sleeping. We soon began preparing for a night and on top deck and along with the prospect of having limited provision Team Blackout morale was at a bit of a low. After finishing a bottle of Georgia's finest wine that we had left over we decided to have a look around the boat only to discover a spare cabin a few levels down. It was only later we discovered that this is what we supposed to do all along, how we were supposed to know this we don't know. The next morning the crew officer woke us up offering us a cooked supper that evening, to which we duly accepted. Things suddenly began to be looking up.

It took 3 days to get to Aqtau and as we pulled into port early Saturday we were looking forward to getting on the road as quickly as we could-but once again this was not to be. We were woken at 6am to leave the ship. This was delayed until 1pm due to a truck bursting it's petrol tank on level above our car thus trapping our car in. Then we moved to immigration thinking this would be over shortly and we still hopped to be able to get to Byneu for the night. It took us until 7 to leave immigration with endless searches, checks, the weight taken of our car, a 3 hour wait for the customs officer to return from 'a trip into town' and even one policeman trying to get Rowley to give over his Iphone to let us in to Kazakhstan which we politely declined.

By this time it was too late to try to get to Byneu so we headed into town in search of lodgings for the night. Luckily an American couple pointed us in the direction of a beachside hotel in which we stayed in a penthouse suite for £45 between us. Unfortunately our memory of Aqtau was tarnished by our choice of restaurant that night as apparently they provide special prices for tourists that turned out to be more expensive that the penthuise across the street. 

7am next morning we were on the road........in the wrong direction - for 4hours we were driving off the main road and on random dirt tracks that we believed to be legitimate means of transit, they were not. Disheartened to say the least we did eventually manage to get back on track but were way behind. We smashed through the good roads while we could but unfortunately hit a few bouts of disaster from the hours of 7pm - 8pm the next day. The account is as follows: (from Aqtau to Uzbek border)

7pm - puncture our first tyre on day one of the awful Kazakh roads. Roof rack falling off.

9pm - supper at roadside hotel and restaurant.

10.15pm - locked out of car fetching wallet.

11pm - local wheeler dealer breaks in to our car for us (no damage, job well done)

11.30 - bed but not much sleep.

6.30am - on the road again.

3pm - stop for lunch. 

5.30pm - rear chassis guard ripped off by deep sand - 2 hour excavation.

Finally a at around 8pm we reached the Uzbek boarder: more waiting. 8 hour border crossing sharing wine and biccies with a brace of Belgian lads (on the rally) who shared in our plight.

At around 4am after an extended border crossing we pushed on through the night for an hour or 2 until none of us could stay awake and spent a night in the car on the side of the road until 7 where we departed again for Nukus. After stocking up on food, at a restaurant that strictly served dumplings, and fuel we headed straight onto Bukhara.

Sorry for delay and bad grammar, written on bumpy roads and have only just fou d some interenet in Bukhara.. This evening we make to Tashkent.

, Azerbaijan

Waiting for the ferry to Aqtau. Sorry for the lack of photos but haven't been able to upload anywhere. Will try and sort something out.

Entry 5 (30/7/12 - 1/8/12)...

Entry 5 (30/7/12 - 1/8/12) - I know this is one of the most followed blogs online througout the course of 2012 so we are extremely apologetic to all ouor dedicated followers for the delay in postings. Eastern European internet speeds are not quite up to scratch and updates from mobile devices do not work.

We are now in Tbilisi, Georgia after a 32 hour non-stop trip from Turkey. The further east we seem to go the more chaotic the driving gets. Over-taking on the hard shoulder and blind corners is very much the norm. We've had some very close encounters. 

Having arrived in the Georgian capital late on Tuesday night we decided to treat ourselves to an surprisingly good meal, which was a welcome change to the ham and cheese sandiches we usually find ourselves eating.

We are now about to head off to Baku, Azerbaijan where we hope our wait for the ferry to Aqtau, Kazakhstan will not be too long.

Posted by Ed at 1st August 2012 at 07:49

Entry 4. Budapest - Romania - Bulgaria - Thassos (Greece) - Istanbul 

 

We found ourselves in an incredible city that all 3 of us thoroughly enjoyed and although it was the place of some  unfortunate and expensive misdemeanours which can probably only be described as lacking intelligence. We had our car parked outside the hostel, which the Hungarian parking authorities did not take a liking to and so our car was clamped. This monetary burden and the fact that our car could not move allowed us to settle into a large lunch in a sunny Budapest square. However, the following day, ready for departure, we strolled to our car parked on the next street to find that it has been clamped again and irritatingly we were in the same situation with only ourselves to blame.

We set out on our journey down to the Greek island of Thassos, avoiding Serbia and heading through Bulgaria and Romania. It turned out to be a 24 hour trip door to door including 2 ferries, a  strange Bulgarian boarder crossing and far too many pot holed roads. We had a 3 day stint in Thassos where we ate too much feta and drunk too much ouzo. Unfortunately during our time there Jolyon's phone was stolen and in retrospect we had a entertaining 4 hour stint at the police station until sunrise. The golden beaches and the secluded rock pools were a definite highlight. The next stop was Istambul where we had an overnight drive through to turkey which was dominated by a long and tedious customs and immigration control where it seemed we knew more about what was going on the they did. We continued to a lay by where we pulled over for the night and had a gruelling, mosquito infested attempt at what some call sleep. With Ed on the roof of the car and Jolyon and Rowley cramped on the inside we decided to push on into Istanbul where we were heavly over charged for the use of the Turkish toll roads  and caught unawares by the aggressive driving techniques of the Turkish nationals. We got lost in the windy roads of Istanbul and managed to get to our hostel where now find ourselves looking forward to a trip to the infamous Turkish baths this afternoon

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Tstanbul, Turkey, Shaving and bathing...

Tstanbul, Turkey, Shaving and bathing Turkish style

Thassos old town, Thassos, Greece...

Thassos old town, Thassos, Greece New building in an old town

Hostel Goodmo, Budapest, Hungary ...

Hostel Goodmo, Budapest, Hungary

Entry 3: Berlin, Prague,...

Entry 3: Berlin, Prague, Auschwitz, Rabca , Budapest Wednesday 18th-Monday 23rd

Problems in Berlin now seem far away. We are in Prague staying in an interesting hostel on the top floor of a derelict building. Once we left Berlin we headed south and drove all afternoon in relief of knowing our engine was at last fully functional, although the creaking from the back did continue. In 2 days in Prague we squeezed in a surprising amount and enjoyable evenings were spent sitting on the square until the early hours drinking-although I advise anyone who finds themselves in a similar situation to avoid the Czech wine.
It was at one of these evenings that we decided it would be worthwhile to go and visit Auschwitz. We had considered it after being inspired by the visit to the Memorial and Museum to the Murdered Jews of Europe in Berlin but it was here we decided to go through with it. Although it would amount to us basically driving 2 sides of a triangle  towards Budapest we felt that it was an opportunity not to be missed as we would not really have another chance to go for a long time.
We drove there on Saturday morning and spent the day looking around the old concentration camp. It was eerie and creepy walking around it but we are very glad we went.
A long drive to Budapest ensued and we ended up stopping for the night just over the Slovakian border in a strange town called Rabca. After sharing several rounds of vodka with 2 men called Hans and Rechovik we felt we were sufficiently night-capped to go and sleep together for the last night in the car. It was cramped and hot and won't be done again for a while I fear as next time we will take the effort to set the tent.
We headed off first thing in the morning without much sleep had by anyone and headed to Budapest where we now find ourselves, gearing ourselves up for the 17 hour drive to the Mediterranean coast of Greece.

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