Good News from CNCF

It was great to receive the following email from Tom, organiser of the Mongol Rally yesterday. Whilst in Ulan Bator we were saddened to meet a number of homeless children living in the city's sewers. Thankfully, one of them has been picked up by the Christina Noble Children's Foundation...

A quick message to all those who made it to Dave's place this year. A load of you will have met the incredibly charming little street kid (his real name is Batbold although he was nicknamed Franco) who was sleeping rough around Dave's place. Many of you looked after him for the time you were around and he was having a great time. As the time wore on and the ralliers grew thin on the ground he was looking pretty dejected. Great news however, Dave contacted CNCF and they came and picked him up two days ago.

It seems he does have a family but they abandoned and possibly abused him. CNCF have been fantastic and have found a space in their Ger Village. This means, he will be looked after, fed, given a bed and a "Ger Mother" until he is 18. He will receive medical care and a great education. Basically the little fella is sorted for life! CNCF will contact his parents with social workers and access the situation. If it is deemed safe, there was no abuse and the family want him back he will be helped back into his family, which is the the best place for him. If this happens he will be monitored and supported by CNCF to ensure he he is safe and happy. If not he will be looked after in the village until he has grown up, safe and cared for.

So thanks to all who took care of him while you were around and it was this that brought him to our attention and got him into the village.

I dropped by today to see how he was getting on and attached are a couple of pictures of him in his new home. The first is him and Eamon (CNCF director) and the second is a picture of him in his ger.

Thought you might like to know how our little chum is getting on, and CNCF will keep us informed of his progress over the years.

Cheers, Tom

We're back

We've finally made it home safe and sound after spending a lot longer in China then we ever anticipated. It came as no surprise to us that it costs twice as much for the 2 hour train journey from Heathrow to Peterborough as it does to go from Beijing to Shanghai (12 hours overnight and about 10 times the distance)!

The event had raised over quarter of a million pounds before we even set off and will undoubtedly continue to have more money coming in over the next weeks. We saw first hand in Ulan Bator that there was a great need for charity support and are sure that all of the money raised by the Mongol Rally can start to make some big differences.


We have so many people to thank for making this trip a success. Everyone who has contributed, whether it be financially or by providing support or a service has been an integral part of the team. Particular thanks need to be extended to the following...

Roger's Bodyshop, Crowland - Before the rally our 150 quid banger was out of action with a failed alternator and didn't look in such good shape. Roger and Richard, it is testament to the quality of your work that the repairs you did managed to last nearly 10,000 miles and delivered us safely to Mongolia.

Heltwate School & Sir Harry Smith School - Your assistance in raising money for the two charities was vital and special thanks go
to all the pupils and teachers who were involved in making the rally the triumph that it was.

Continental Tyres - For sponsoring the team by supplying a full set of Eco Contact tyres for Molly. We had two blowouts on the way to Mongolia and neither of them were the Conti tyres! In fact they were still in excellent condition when we reached UB which says a lot about the exceptional build quality.

Collins - The Collins Mini Atlas (2003 edition) is perhaps the finest navigational tool known to man. For thousands of years we have been looking for the best way to find our way around the world, originally using the stars and sun and more recently with the internet and global position systems. All are now obsolete. If you don't own a mini atlas of the world you should definitely pick one up. At very least they have some interesting information on world climate and the oceans. Useful for passing the time on long car journeys.

Ben Shaw - Considering you didn't know us all that well it was great of you to let us stay for over a week in your apartment. You have a place to stay in Peterborough should you ever need it... Travelodge.

Other Teams - Felix Joseph and William Mark for the company, kettle and easy perks. Dave and Dave for the Volkswagen Polo snow tyre and 10 litres of fuel on our last day. Anyone who lent us local currency or bought us food/drink on the way.

So that concludes Operation Panda... We'll get a picture online for every post soon and setup a gallery so you can all see more of what we got up to.

Thanks again,
Tom, Tim and Molly x

Ni Hao!

We've been living the high life (literally) in Beijing for a week now and are really grateful to Ben for his awesome hospitality. We're on the 20th floor of one of the many posh appartment buildings in the Pingod development, with such luxuries as a bed, separate bathroom and dvd player!

This city is crazy. It seems to sprawl endlessly in every direction, but it could be a trick of the haze since it is impossible to see any further than half a mile into the distance. We've been shown some excellent local cuisine, great bars and have also been out to the Great Wall which was incredible. It's nice to have the time to be tourists after rushing across the rest of the world and not seeing everything we had wanted to. We visited the Forbidden City last week which gave us our first real taste of Chinese history. It really was a stark contrast to the hustle and bustle of a city which is changing so fast.

After a little digging around we have managed to find very well priced flights that leave from Shanghai, so the Operation Panda team will be heading home tomorrow after.

See you soon x