We arrived in Mongolia on Tuesday at lunch time and could easily have been in UB that evening. It would have been a shame not to experience the Mongola countryside on the way though, so me, Tom and the two Daves we had bumped into in the middle of the Siberian forests set up a campsite in the hills and got a campfire going under the stars and played a little golf from the top of a massive hill. The first annual Mongolian Open?
The scenery here is spectacular in a different way to the other countries we have passed through. Less dramatic but almost totally unspoiled. Wild horses, meandering rivers and gers all dot the landscape. We're disapponted to not have entered from the western border as we don't get to do any off roading from the northern route. We may take Molly out west into the Gobi over the next few days, if she feels like working!
We started to have a few mechanical problems on our way into Mongolia, with the engine cutting out whenever the revs dropped low. Not too much of an issue, but very annoying to stall at checkpoints and then struggle to get going again. We think we stalled at least 40 times driving through UB.
We got to Dave's Place (the checkpoint) yesterday afternoon at about 2pm after shredding a tyre on some rocks halfway to the capital. Thankfully Dave and Dave gave us their spare off road snow tyre which was able to get us the 60km we needed. We we're 16th to arrive in UB, and the first of the Caspian Sea southern routers which was a surprise. We had been convinced that Smith Monkey Madness were a day ahead of us but later foud out that they had stayed 2 nights in Novosibirsk after seeing how attractive the women there were!
A beer was awaiting us on our arrival along with many other teams, and a game of cricket was organised by the owner of the Taj Mahal restaurant. Operation Panda were easily the best cricketing team there, taking three wickets and scoring about 20 runs between us. We lost, but claim a spiritual victory over the other team because they were so crap at bolwing that it made it impossible to hit the ball. After such a long drive the game of cricket was pretty surreal.
We've got a guesthouse to stay in and will probably be spending most of our days eating and drinking around the city. Teams keep rolling in which makes for good banter. Everyone has some mad stories of what has happened to them en route. Hopefully we'll be able to get another Russia visa and some train tickets soon and start to head home!
In summary... we've only gone and bloody done it!
10 comments:
Fantastic news and congratulations for reaching your destination, incredible!! Well done Molly, she's really done all the hard work, you two just sat there and enjoyed the ride. She deserves an oil change at least!
When I think back to that Friday, the day you left, and the mad rush to tart Molly up for the journey, I really began to have my doubts! Were painting the wheel caps, bolting spot lights to her roof (which weren't even wired up to work), creating a home made roof rack and tinting the back windows, really going to make any difference to the car's performance?
Well now I have no doubts and you,ve gone and done it! So all that hard work paid off, amazing!
Enjoy a bit of relaxation and a few beers and we look forward to seeing you back home soon.
Love and best wishes for the trip home.
Richard and Vanessa.
Woooooo! Well done! Good effort chaps. Mongolia sounds cool and Im looking forward to my postcard......off on holiday for two weeks so expect you might be back quite soon after that so will see if you venture to London from Peterborough xx
oops by the way that last one was from Holmez xx
What can I say? Jealousy? Schadenfreude? Whatever it was I just never thought you guys would manage it. I was about ready to chalk this up to one of Tim's hairbrain schemes that would never get off the ground.
Well done, and the journey isn't over yet so make sure nothing bad happens to you on your journey home. Try the mongolian hot-pot, but just remember to cook the meat for a long time before you eat it.
Well done boys, well done.
Si
Thanks for the kind words people! We might end up being here for a while. Apparently Russian visas and train tickets aren't that easy to get hold of. Place is great, dropped Molly off at charity earlier. A truly sad moment.
Hoorah for Molly, England and St. George!
I don't know, all these doubters coming to the surface now, we had complete faith in you from the start...
D & H Pinocchio
Wellity wellity wellity!
What an epic adventure and what an inspiring success!
Well done to both of you, not many people can say they've done what you have achieved (not sure how many would want to, but that's another matter...). Enjoy the relaxation - it's clearly been hard earned :-)
All the best for the journey home,
Matt and Dom x
P.S. Excellent use of the word "meandering" in the last blog.
Well done chaps sounds fantastic. all that way with all that tom - unbelievable
Love Linda, Simon, Clare and Katharine xxxx
Great to hear from you again lots and lots of family friends say well done to you both- Di and Dan, Chris and Nick, Chris and Karen, Alan and Jackie, Glyn and Gill, Doug and Lesley, Aaron ( who say's he's doing it next year - and something about a 2CV) Lynn and John to mention but a few. Many have been following your progress with slightly larger atlases than yours!
Sorry to hear you are having trouble with the visas for Russia, though Beijing and the great wall is a mere stone's throw for intrepid travellers like you. (Not to mention the 'snow fields of New Zealand’!!) Will you actually come home or is this a ploy to get out of working for a living?
Look forward to hearing how the trekking went on Mongolian ponies- Genghis Khan rides again! I can't quite imagine ponies large enough for you two, did your feet drag on the ground??
Oh yes and have you tried the 'emergency food' packs yet - what were they like? or are they for when you really have run out of funds?
Lots of Love
Vanessa xx
Hey Mum,
The food packs were amazing, we meant to write and say. Had them in a freezing cold lorry stop in Siberia and were totally amazed when we found out they only need cold water to heat them up, tasted so good. Thank you very much for those, we both said they made up one of the best roadside meals we'd had on the whole trip. Brilliant gift, thanks!!!
Love Tom
x
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