Stranded in Mongolia

Crossed the border 4 days ago, but it's not been easy going since. The first full day we drove for 100km until the road vanished completely into an endless nothingness. After careful consultation with the illustrative Mongolia map in the lonely planet it was decided that backtracking was the only option. When we made it into a town there was a festival on because some big Mongol General was in town. Naturally we were invited to sit at his table to watch the dancing and wrestling tournament. We finally dragged ourselves away and made it to the first 'city' Ogli (probably about 30,000 people).

Tried to leave town yesterday, but car broke down shortly after setting off. The Unlikely Lads gave us a tow back in and it was straight to the garage. It was only minor really, the fuel pump was blocked, the vacuum pump on the distributor had fallen off and the boulder sized dent in the sump had broken the oil pipe up to the driveshaft. It's potentially fixable, but we're still waiting. In the meantime we're investigating the cost of loading it into a lorry to Ulaan Bataar and the cost of motorbikes to ride alongside. Should only be 4 days drive to UB, but not sure when that'll start.

In the meantime loving Mongolia, one of the most amazing places I've visited. Loads of teams passing through as well so there's plenty of fun.

Travelling with Alex from team 241, website is as follows, might be some photos going up http://www.241mongolrally.it/

Almaty

It's been a while. After the last message we got offered a lift in Istanbul by the guys from Perseverance, who we hitched with through the whole of Turkey and Azerbaijan. We arrived in Baku to find one of the weekly ferries to Kaz was leaving that day, so we jumped at the chance and got the prone to sinking ferry. After 16 hours at Kazakhstan customs we were finally in Kaz. Since then we have spent 68 hours pretty much continuosly on trains to arrive in Almaty. Still trying to find somewhere to stay but I'm sure we can sort that. There's even some chat about the Opera tonight? Check us out.

I'm meant to be back at work on Monday, so don't know where we go from here, but I'm sure something is sortable and we've come so far it would be a huge shame not to make it.

From despair to where?

Ok so we are in Istanbul, sadly as I'm sure you heard Hyacinth is not. After smoking pretty badly through Bulgaria it got to the point where we had to physically push her across the Turkish border. We spoke to two mechanics, and it basically amounted to two or three days work and a full engine re-build, we were quoted 870 euros for the work and we couldn't see how we could get her back on track afterwards with our non transferrable Turkmen visas starting tomorrow (They imprison people there for overstaying their visa). The reason for frying the engine? At some point the air filter was removed and not replaced so the engine has been sucking dirt off the road since we left Britain and probably before. Bottom line is we should have checked. What a stupid reason to have to leave the rally.

So we have had a day of deep discussion and despondency but hopefully we are now back in the game. Another team have offered to give us a lift, and whilst we still have issues with the Turkmen visas we could fly over Turkmenistan and get away with it, which we couldn't do with Hyacinth.

On the upside Istanbul is amazing. We had a breakneck raxi ride last night, and are staying by the blue mosque. If the car hadn't broken down we were planning to push on past Istanbul without even stopping to try and make it to Turkmenbashi on time, so there are some positives.

Hungover in Prague

All going to plan so far, with incidents kept to minimum. Spent a night in a layby on Saturday, I picked up my necessary 8 hours, while Oli got 2 hours fitful sleep being disturbed by hookers and lorry drivers, he finally left at 5am when someone came and took a photo of him through the drivers window.

Ben has certainly screwed us over with the green headbands, we now have to wear them the whole time just so people recognise us. Turned up to the party without last night and spent hours reintroducing ourselves. Needless to say they are back on, and looking hot, this morning.

Realistically, there's little chance of updating this blog as we go, but we are going to regularly text in to the site. Visit Mongolia in a Micra on the Mongol Rally site where you can see our texts. Either go to www.mongolrally.com then to the on the road section and find our team name and then click on it, or use the address below. Would put a link in but everything is in Czech and I'm confused (for a change).

http://mongolrally.theadventurists.com/index.php?mode=team&sub=display&name=mongoliainamicra

Bananas with honey and greek yoghurt, happy days!

01.56
Yes Oli, just like the Tour de France, why didn't I think of that analogy? I've spent the majority of the last four weeks drinking to excess and eating shit.

Indeed the Rally needs so little preparation by comparison that we've left everything to the last week to sort out. My driving license arrived today, I found my travel insurance details, I was told the brakes would cost me £238 to fix and I'm still looking for a stove to cook our baked beans on.

Either way, we're now 36 hours from departure, I'm still homeless, still drinking. I've got a car and a rucksack, and two mix tapes (lovingly prepared by fans) to help us on our way.

Just debating whether or not to have my hair shaved. And if I do, should I go grade nought or three. Tough call...

02.34
Turns out that it wasn't such a decision after all. My thanks to Mr Ravenscroft for an expertly driven grade three.

Departure now 35 hours away, I think I'll go and have some cheese.

It's just like the Tour de France

3 weeks facing unmentionable hardship, covering vast distances and powered only by caffeine and medically perscribed ventolin inhalers. Coops is clearly the Puncheur, the guy who makes long solo breaks, travelling by himself and taking on the rest of the field. I guess I'm the time trialler, good under pressure but it's all or nothing, success or failure. Thankfully in Hyacinth we have the trusty Domestique, putting in the hard yards day after day and letting the other two of us do our stuff. So there you go, will there be a day of glory on the Mongolian equivalent of the Champs Elysee? We'll have to wait and see. Can we get le Tour on our in car radio, doubtful...

We're progressing well for Saturday. We pick up T-shirts tomorrow, money is ordered, we're all packed. Good stuff.

4 days to go

I finally made Hyacinth's acquaintance on Saturday and what a fine car she is. She smells faintly of dog, but hell so does Coops. Final arrangements are taking shape, we may not have rebuilt the engine like some teams have, we have on the other hand made some fetching decals out of sticky back plastic, very tasteful they are too.

So arrangements for Saturday are as follows:

Saturday 21st July
North Carriage Drive, Hyde Park
Start: Teams in place by 11am
Speeches: 12 Noon
Mass departure: 13:00 – 13:30

It would be great to see as many people there as possible, so try and make it. It's likely that a few beers may be consumed on friday so get in touch with Coops or I if you're available.

Sump guards

Glastonbury - what an awesome event, but I'm very glad I didn't take Hyacinth along. I think that amount of mud could have been the death of her.

Instead she took a visit to Queen Street Motors (Taunton's finest car fixing up establishment), for further inspection prior to the attachment of a sump guard, which we had been relaibly informed was an essential addition for the wilds of Central Asia. However, Mr Mechanic (convenient name given his job) decided that actually a sump guard wasn't what we were after. In fact all we need to do is fill our tyres with foam and it's job done Mongolia here we come.

One of the trials of knowing nothing about cars is that each bit of advice sounds very good. Firstly, Mr Pro-Sump Guard puts forward his case, to which I nod in agreement, not wishing to challenge his greater expertise then Mr Mechanic comes along with a counter argument that seems equally reasonable. Now I'm utterly confusecd, know even less about cars, and don't really know what to do.

Any advice welcome.

Just by the by, did I mention how good Glastonbury was?

Lists

Rally activity should now be firmly at the top of my list of priorities, with less than 6 weeks remaining and no tax, insurance, driving licence, vaccinations or sun cream it's time for some serious action...


Unfortunately, life keeps throwing metaphorical spanners in. A 24 pub crawl last Saturday made light work of a perfectly good two day break from the slave trade in which I currently operate and, with Glastonbury only a few days away, I'm seeing some further write-offs in the free hours to launch column.


I am, at this stage, sensing panic from our host of regulars. However, fret not. As Mr Benjamin Thompson will tell you, all of life's problems can be carefully managed through the production of a few simple lists.

The real beauty of lists is that all you need is a pen and paper. Meanwhile fitting a sump guard requires two steel bars, a sheet of steel, four bolts and a welding torch. I know which I'd rather do. And having written a list you get the same sense of achievement that you've stepped closer to your goal. You'll feel more organised and on top of the task ahead, whilst, to use the sump guard example again, you're only going to feel tired and probably a bit dirty.

As such, I have carefully crafted three lists this weekend, so that I now feel perfectly in control of the situation, and I haven't needed to move from the sofa. The Rally preparation is in safe hands.

Oli and Coops practice travelling arrangements

Left Lion Interview

Attached is the link to the Left Lion article, many thanks to Jon Rouston alround good bloke and fantastic photographer.

http://www.leftlion.co.uk/articles.cfm/id/1810

In addition to being a part time journo, he's also got his own photography company if anyone needs wedding photos or such like I would strongly recommend giving him a call. He also knows an awful lot about the failings of a market based economy if anyone is researching a thesis on anarcho-syndicalism.

www.jonrouston.co.uk/

Unfortunately this one is neither witty nor engaging, but at least I finally got round to writing to something

Good evening, I hope you're well. Apologies that I've not written for a while, but to be honest with the recent workload I've barely had time to respond to my fan mail.

Unfortunately the lack of blog activity is representative of a lack of Rally activity, which will need to change soon in order to get this show on the road.

Having said that, today has been a good day. You'll soon be able to read our first article after Jon Rouston from the Left Lion agreed to interview us. With the car out of reach and no other suitable props for the photo shoot we had to use our imagination, in the end settling for the obvious settings of a childrens' playground and a scrapyard. It was an awesome day out, and hopefully we'll have some photos and a bit of good publicity as well.

We also received our first response to our begging letters. One of our obvious targets was Halford's and we were holding out for something big. So when the package dropped through the letterbox this morning, we were understandably giddy with excitement. Oli ripped off the packaging like a greedy little tyke, eyes bulging with anticipation... it was soon clear that it wasn't the lego space station he was after. In fact, not only was it not the lego space station, but it wasn't even a sodding spanner, which would have at least been of some use. No, Mr Halford decided that what would really help us get to Mongolia was a healthy dose of spray on fabric protector and rub on alloy wheel protector. Interesting.

However, we do thank them for at least acknowledging our letter and to be fair if it was sent by someone with a good sense of humour, then fair play, it did make us chuckle. Additionally, if anyone is after these products, we will happily part with them for a small charitable donation.

Anyway, I'll try and update you again soon. Please feel free to comment and slag Oli off, it would keep us amused. Also please go to the charity page and donate some money.

Flymo if you're reading this

So you fire up your computer on a morning and think to yourself "Hmmm, I need to reply to that e-mail I ignored yesterday, and then prepare for that meeting at 11.00, but first up I'm gonna have a little looky at what the Mongol rally boys are upto" and what do you get? Bugger all.

That's my way of apologising for the paucity of posts recently and the shortage of news. Coops is in Notts this weekend so I'm trying to recky some locations for an interview we're doing with one of the lads from Left Lion - Hyacinth is currently in Taunton and I can't find a Starlet anywhere else - people in scrap yards actually laughed when I asked if they had one - I imagine this is becuase they are so relaible nobody ever scraps them...possibly. Might have to think about a new angle for the photos if we can't track one down.

Anyway we're also writing out to the sort of organisations we want to be associated with to see if they'd like to get involved in the fun. Flymo if you're reading this, you don't return my calls, you ignore my letters, we love you guys....

I will try and stick some of the press coverage we get up in one of the sections, so you can laugh at my limbs and coops' flame.

1000 hits

So we have just edged past the 1000 hits mark. If I can find out who was the 1000th visit I will sort them out a T-shirt. Anyone want to claim it get in touch.

Letters are going out as we speak, and we should have Mongol Rally Top Trumps up any day.

Sponsorship Incentives

See the Charity section for the full range of excellent products that could be yours if you dip your hand in your pocket and sponsor us for our long trip to Mongolia. Know anyone who could supply us with useful travel equipment we'll put their logo on our car? All help greatfully accepted.

Arise Hyacinth - honorary Micra!

The more observant of you may have noticed that Hyacinth is infact not a Micra. Now for some teams this would present a challenge, but not to intrepid souls like ourselves. Coops seems to think the fact our car isn't a Micra injects much needed humour into our otherwise trad name. I tend to feel that modern life enforces too many conventions and rules limiting our ability to achieve amazing things. Would Richard Branson have circumnavigated the globe in a balloon, would Scott have been the first man to the Arctic if they had bowed to such rules? Ok, so you may say that Branson failed repeatedly in his balloon, and Scott wasn't the first man to the Arctic.

To which I simply say we couldn't find a Micra in our price range, and we were scared it wouldn't get us there anyway. Arise Hyacinth - honorary Micra!

Vote Labour on May 3rd....and Logos arrive!

You may be wondering why it's been so quiet recently. Coops had the first part of the 'Holy Trinity' of events for 2007 with his final Actuarial exam, but the second part comes on Thursday with the local elections with which I have been embroiled in terms of pulling things together. Thankfully we are now nearly there, which will leave only the concluding part of the Trinity - Mongolia.

Thankfully things are moving along better than we hoped. We now have a car, a website closing in on 750 hits, and now a range of quality logos - take a bow Mr Joe Robinson - contact details in the Hall of Fame. I think you will agree they are awesome. T-shirts and Badges coming soon.





Awesome!

A little fairy tale to brighten your day

At about nine fifteen on Monday night I'm walking in the door after a bad day at the office, groceries in hand, preparing for the joys of yet another Newbury evening in front of the tv, when Oliver calls. Reluctantly, I answer the phone with an indistinguishable mumble. Oli's excited, again. We've all been here before, the enthusiasm, the optimism, it doesn't mean a thing. But, for a change, it's sounding plausible. "Toyota Starlet, one owner, £195, nice sounding bloke, interested in the Rally, MOT until August..."

He's got me interested, but I'm still sceptical (this is Oli), so I call Dean who's selling the potential steed on behalf of his auntie. Dean's been on the website and loves the sound of the event (later I discover this is jealousy) to the point that he's turning away bidders in order to sell this little gem to a life of freedom on the Mongolian plains.

Next thing I know it's Tuesday night and I'm walking out of Taunton station to see this dream machine. And, what a dream she is! Radiant, despite the overcast sky, and eager. It was the eagerness that excited me, here was a girl that wanted to go to Mongolia, maybe even more, she wanted to see the world. It was a bit uncomfortable with Dean there, we wanted to spend time alone, get to know one another, but instead we had to make do with whispered compliments and secretive flirting. But, I knew she was the one.

Anyway, back in the real world, Dean and I drove, we ate fish and chips, we talked. Turns out he knows some useful contacts, t-shirts, mechanics, it's all just too good. An hour later I paid him the money (which felt slightly wrong, I don't normally pay money for girls, but you have to understand that it was the price of her freedom), and the fairytale was complete.


So, ladies and gentlemen, may I present to you, Hyacinth!

Check out the eagerness...

...the power... ...and...

...what on earth was Dean thinking taking a photo of the keys in his hand?!

Dean will be taking his place in the Hall of Fame as a top rate hero, though he may choose to put photos of his girlfriend in his place, better looking!

Everyone has a view

When you tell people that you are planning to drive to Mongolia everyone has a view. For some this is a simple view that you are head-mental but it does seem to capture people's attention in a way other things don't. I had an e-mail from a friend of mine about her husband and a mutual friend of ours yesterday and apparently despite having not seen each other for about three years the Rally is their major topic of conversation. I like that.

Anyway, above and beyond the general chat and suggestions there has been some hard canvassing on behalf of certain cars. The Micra is widely seen as reliable with a good engine and has gained support from my Dad and girlfriend. The 2cv is an unconventional choice but Coops' Mum seems keen partly I'm sure as someone has offered her one free for our use. The Daihatsu Cuore has also been described to us by a car salesman (who didn't have one to sell at the time) as the most reliable sub one litre car out there - only three cylinders if you are interested. However the most intriguing lead has come when Coops and I have mentioned to people who have actually been to Central Asia (Coops has in fact been before not that you'd know from his insight, which amounts to it's nice and take photos to show people) who have both said without cars even being mentioned 'So you're going in a Toyota Starlet". At which point we explain our team name is 'Mongolia in a Micra' and they shake their heads ruefully. Anyway there might be some news on the car front in the next couple of days....

Feedback welcome

As you will see from some of the additions on the left, Oli thinks he's funny. Clearly I realise this isn't the case, but he will never listen to me. So, please add your comments to this or any other posts letting us know what's good, what's not. Whether it's inappropriate or just plain stupid your feedback could stop him before he gets too out of control.

Don't judge me here on a Saturday night, I'm trying to busy myself now the exam horrors of the most boring qualification known to man are over. But, since I am here, I might just follow up on a couple of Oli's updates:
Car - we saw a clapped out heap of **** today, decided not to bother. With cheap Micras hard to find we may change tack and get a Suziki. This has the added benefit of turning Oli's dull team name into something at least mildly funny.
Visas - all sent off, and now we just wait and hope, anyone with a god, please pray to him/her.
Fundraising - Oli blames me for being fancy with this blog, if I may turn this round, I think it's actually his stupidity.

We'll keep you updated.

Latest News

Well the planning for the rally rumbles on like a woefully underpowered super-mini across the Turkmen desert. So what news?

Car - We still don't have a micra, but we're getting closer I have actually rang a couple of people about them. Anyone who knows anyone disposing of a micra let us know.

Visas - Jesus Christ. I was up till 3 trying to sort this last night. Hopefully they won't come back to us with a hoast of corrections in red pen.

Logos - nearly there should be with us after corrections any day

Fundraiding - Hhhmmm. A wee bit slow we're hoping our incentive based approach will bear fruit however Coops did the fancy bits of the blog and I can't work out how to sort it.

Everything else - Well I nearly bought some jerry cans on ebay without luck.

Hopefully Coops passing his actuary exam tomorrow and the local elections being a resounding success in May will allow us more time to tackle little details like cars.

Visas

So we now have the document to apply for our visas, all 37 pages of it, with visa fees weighing in at a hefty £400 each. Slightly more than we're hoping to spend on the car. Some particularly interesting warnings. "DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES LEAVE YOUR CAR IN TURKMENISTAN. EVEN IF YOU HAVE TO PUSH IT OUT.". The £78 it'll cost to spend 8 hours crossing Azerbaijan is a wee bit galling but we'll live.

High Praise for the Micra

In the What Car? Used Car of the Year - best supermini upto £3000 category they had the following to say about the Nissan Micra

"The only question here was what would be the runner-up, because at this price, nothing can touch the Micra. The Nissan’s reliability is beyond question: phrases such as ‘bulletproof’ and ‘just keeps on going’ rang around the room as our judges ran through the Micra’s talents. On top of that, it’s fun to drive and cheap to run. You can expect well over 40mpg from this 1.0-litre engine, and it has enough poke to mean there’s no point buying the bigger, more expensive 1.3."

They didn't speculate on its ability to tackle mountain ranges, sinking ferries and deserts but 'Bulletproof' well we'll see.

Only now got to compare it to the What Ice Cream Van? award winner in the sub 1 litre category.

Mrs Cooper

Who would have thought that my mum would be our biggest supporter. She swiftly told the whole street about the event and I reckon it's only a matter of days before the whole town's involved too.

I was greatly impressed by the urgent voicemail on Saturday night when she reported an opportunity to pick up a nice little 2CV with only 62,000 miles on the clock, "...it doesn't exactly fit in with your team name, but it's got far more style".

Thanks to Oliver

Thanks to Oli for securing us a spot in the Mongol Rally. I do, however, feel slightly perturbed at having to follow up my drunken banter with actions.

So, what next?

1. Route planning. Really tricky if you listen to the Foreign Office travel advice jargon about kidnapping and death. If not, then surely it's just a case of picking up an atlas and joining the dots?
   
2. Buying a car. Oli's mentioned this already and it should be easy once we've chosen between Micra and Ice Cream Van. Though with Oli's growing determination for the latter we may be fighting this one out in the scissors, paper, stone arena.
   
3. Securing sponsorship. May be slightly harder, but by offering some unmissible advertising opportunities and selling off Oli's vital organs we should be able to raise our cash. Any takers?

Now all we have to do is buy a car

After missing out on a place on Friday sitting up till 12 last night bore fruit as Team Micra secured a place in the melee that is the Mongol Rally.

Having initially happened upon a Micra as the conveyance of choice I'm now starting to think that an Ice Cream Van may be more appropriate. Presenting as it is does the possibility of supplementing our petrol money along the way and also allowing us to regale passing herdsman with mobile jingles. We may struggle with the 1 litre limit but we can but try. Ebay it is then.

Oh dear!

100,000 hits in 5 minutes and no place for the under prepareds representing the Micra contingent. All we can do now is wait and fight, otherwise it'll probably have to be Tenerife for our holidays.

The adventure begins

So here we are woefully unprepared for a voyage through Central Asia but keen as the proverbial mustard.

Our attempts to secure a place on the rally on Wednesday were thwarted by an underpowered server (rather than an underpowered hatchback - more of that later I'm sure) so tonight at seven will see us hunkered down and fighting it off the rally hordes aiming to get a place on this years rally.