Leithers in the Mongol Rally 2008
Hamish and Sara's (from Leith) Mongol Rally blog
To Hell In a Hairdryer!
(click here for official site page)
19/07/08:
After a long drive South (from Leith in Edinburgh, Scotland) we finally made it to the start line in Hyde Park this morning. With great pomp we got on the road and it took two hours just to get out of London. STRESS! Got to the tunnel and 30 minutes later we were in France! After a quick refuel we're on the road and have made it to Belgium for the night.
20/07/08:
After a relaxing night in Brugges, we hit the road again at 8:30am. Three tanks of fuel, three countries and thirteen hours later we find ourselves in Klenova in Czech partying...
21/07/08:
Hi all. All good so far on our way to Budapest. Might not get that far today. Long days on boring motorways getting 28mpg! Car OK using no oil!!! Hamish and Sara.
22/07/08:
Hello Leithers! Currently somewhere in Hungary but have had lunch! Can you all bombard Currys with complaints, please, as my week old Matsui MP3 player has packed up. Ta!
Later on 22/07/08:
Hello again - After hours of traffic jams we finally got to Serbia only to be hit with a $200 insurance con! No, no, no. We turned back and headed into Romania. It's cold and wet.
24/07/08:
Hi - baffle in exhaust collapsed today - car struggling to do 40mph! Now in random back street garage somewhere in Bulgaria. Hmmmm noisy! XXX
24/07/08:
Leith Links received no contact today from our intrepid drivers... hopefully we'll get something tomorrow.
26/07/08:
After beıng rudely awakened by an angry, drunken bulgarıan bam at 5am ın the truck stop we had camped ın, we hıt the road wıth an astonıshıng get away speed of 40mph. After a 4 hour struggle we managed to get our collapsed exhaust rebuılt by a bulgarıan drıvıng ınstructor who we found shoppıng ın the local Scot-mıd. Wıth a mad dash to the Turkısh border ın our now super sporty, noısy fıesta we caught up wıth another team, Everybody Yurts. More excıtement was to come as our partners ın convoy suffered a blow-out on the crazy motorway ınto Istanbul at 11pm. Surronded by trucks we managed to get the car onto the hard shoulder to get the wheel changed. Once the boys were ready to go agaın
they shot off leavıng us stranded wıth a flat battery. Wıth a feat of Herculean strength Sara pushed the car down the hard shoulder to get ıt goıng agaın. Fınally we made ın to Istanbul at 1:30am after gettıng lost for 2hrs to fınd our
hostel reservatıons dıdn't excıst. Found a room next door and enjoyed 5hrs of delerıous sleep.
Took ın a bıt of Istanbul the followıng day to get lost once agaın ın the narrow streets of thıs beautıful and hıstorıc cıty where people
always have tıme to stop what they're doıng to help you.
Yesterday was spent gettıng lost (AGAIN!) ın search of a mechanıc to replace our
clutch. Thıs turned ınto a 5hr odessy of tea, beıng taken out for lunch and a
200euro bıll! But we have a new clutch so all=2
0ıs well.
Today we're headıng ınto the turkısh ınterıor on our way east to Iran. We're sure we'll get lost.
Cheers for now!
27/07/08:
Now 600 miles East of Istanbul. Spent the night at family road cafe in car park. Noisy!
30/07/08:
Hi - In Iran after relatively easy border entry. Camping with two other approximately 50K from the border. Very hot during the day but a cool 25C at night!. Reception erratic (I think he may mean phone reception but perhaps not... ed.) Cheers! H & S
Later on 30/07/08:
One very hot day in Iran. Drivers are a little bit silly. Buying rationed petrol is expensive - 30p per litre! Locals pay 6p. Had to pay $40 'fine' to polis for Sara's driving!
02/08/08:
Day 13? After a long drive in 40C heat we struggled to find accommodation for the night and ended up in an apartment in Iranian Leith. You're never too far from home!
Later on 02/08/08:
Driving in Eastern Iran is great - the horn is put to good use! We're being treated like celebs (or zoo animals). Makes us think that Iran is not the usual tourist hotspot. H & S.
03/08/08:
Day ? Had a mad rush crossing border to Turkmenistan before it closed yesterday. Spent the night in the worst hotel ever. Today we drove through the desert to Uzbek. So very hot! Cheers
06/08/08:
After the weird Turkmenistan, arriving into Uzbekistan is wonderful! Just spent two days in the lovely city of Bukara - very relaxing. Now on our way to Tajikistan. Ta!
09/08/08:
Hi - all OK in Tajikistan. Will find internet tomorrow to regail you with the last few days of nonsense! It was barry...
10/08/08
After the two lovely days in Bukhara we headed up to Samarkand close to the Tajikistan border, another nice place. What should have been (on the map) a wee 4hr jaunt across country turned into a monster day, possibly the toughest drive i have done!
It all started ok, the usual rubbish roads but soon turned into farce. About 160km from Dushanbe, the capital of Tajikistan, the road turned in to a track then back to a road again, then a track etc, etc. When we reached the beginning of the 100km pass over the Fan Mountains we found out it was closed during the day so a Chinese road gang could work on it! When it opened just after 6pm there was a Le-mans style start to be first over the small bridge, what lay ahead was mental. This pass took us over 3000m, the views I'm sure would have been spectacular but it was dark. The road was more a 4wd track with massive boulders, rock slides, very steep climbs and so much very fine dust which got everywhere. The Fiesta really struggled and began to shake itself to bits, the steering began to give out the electrics started to play up. Then we reached the tunnel of doom, i think near the top of the pass. The entrance was flooded with bonnet high
water, we just made it through thinking that would be it but no, the water continued for the whole tunnel. It was so strange, the workers were still digging out the tunnel as we drove through. Really very unpleasant! The descent of the pass was like the assent but downwards! We finally made it to Dushanbe at 1am to tired to think. We had started the day at 9am and reached an impressive average speed of 11mph!!
Friday in Dushanbe consisted of red tape nonsense as we tried to get visa extensions it took a very long time but we think they are sorted but will find out for definite on Monday!
Saturday in Dushanbe consisted of mechanic rip off nonsense, part of the steering was sorted and some of the electrics. We were helped by Jackie Taxi, a local superstar and the best taxi driver in the whole of Tajikistan if you were to believe him. Maybe we are being cruel he really did help us........for a price!!
Today, Sunday, in Dushanbe consisted of mostly sitting on the toilet!!!
Tarrah for now
15/08/08
Hi - all good on the Pamir Highway apart from the rain. We shall be crossing a 4600m pass tomorrow and heading towards the Kyrgistan border. Stunning scenery but not much oxygen! X
18/08/08
After a 16 hour drive in stunning scenery, snow and altitude sickness, we find ourselves in Osh. Unreliable electricity but thunder and lightning at 12pm every night...
20/08/08
In almighty Kazak. The car needs a bit of TLC but all is well. Hope to get it sorted tomorrow. Off out now to eat. Yummy, yummy, more animal fat with morsels of meat attached!
22/08/08
land mines, snowy high altitude passed and stunning views into china!!
Now reached Kazakhstan stayed in Almaty for two nights and heading up the east side of the country to wards the Russian border, through a place called Semey which we have just found out is radio active! Mmmmm lets hope we don't break down. Went to garage yesterday who tightened out steering and suspension up for free then said that the car may only last 2000kms more due to lack of Ford Fiesta parts in this side of the world. These parts are not that important, just the steering and front suspension!
cheers for now.
24/08/08
Hi. In Kazakhstan still on our way to Russia. Will probably cross tonight. Car holding up ok but roads bad. Running beautifully late!
25/08/08
Racing towards the border. We were stopped by a policeman who decided to show Hamish a short presentation of three ladies of leisure frolicking on their sofa - it's a strange world!. Now in Russia after a five hour crossing with only $10 changing hands. Heading towards Barn Owl (???) and then Western Mongolia in a few days - hope you're all well - H & S!
29/08/08
In Mongolia! No roads nor road signs and several routes to choose from. Where do we go? Let's off-road fiesta style... 1500K to go... H & S!
31/08/08
Hullo! Still alive in Mongolia, the roads are a touch silly but the scenery is spectacular. Can't really describe it (why not? It's right there in front of you... ed.) Car slowly disintegrating doing 70km per day. 1360Km to go!
03/09/08
Hi making good time through the centre of Mongolia. Had the exhaust fixed by some really drunk locals yesterday. They could hardly stand! Very surreal. Amazing driving... X
05/09/08
Just left ger camp by the beautiful Great White Lake. Magical place but freezing cold as we woke up to a frosty moring. Still travelling with blue Fiesta. H & S.
08/09/08
We are in Ulaanbaatar. We made it!
11/09/08
HA HA HA AHA WE MADE IT!!!!!
At 4pm on the 8th of September we and the team Bee Lucky girls in their blue Ford Fiesta rattled and rolled to the finish line at Dave's Place in the centre of Ulaanbaatar.
It was really quite emotional, the strangest thing though was the fact we stopped for the last time. The adventure was over.....
We left Leith on the 18th July to reach the start line at Hyde Park for the 19th and 51 days later ended up by some miracle in Mongolia. In that time we
drove 9487miles,
through 18 countries
reaching 4655m above sea level
did av 186 miles a day
at an av speed of 23.25mph
used app 1700lt of varying quality fuel
at an app cost of 800 quid
making 26mpg
got the exhaust welded twice
got stuck in sand twice
replacing 1 clutch
welded 1 spring
bribing 1 Iranian policeman
getting only one slow puncture
& losing half a sump guard.
It was just like driving to the shops!!!
Our great adventure couldn't have happened without the help of our lovely lovely sponsors.
A lot of joy and happiness goes to Billy and Jane at Renroc for donating the car, Mike and Anna of Swedish bar fame and their lovely customers,.Chris Leslie that rather good property services man and carpenter, Archie at Leithlinks for putting up with random very early/late txt updates and, of course, not forgetting....Martin Day, an Aussie bloke who is as mad as a cut snake! And all those who donated monies on our website. Thank you.
So what next? We don't know, China seems quite difficult to get into. How do you get out of Mongolia? Can we climb Everest in sandals?
We leave you now with this wee quote:
"For my part, I travel not to go anywhere,
but to go.
I travel for travels sake.
The great affair is to move."
Thanks to all who donated money on our 'will we make it?' website! We are very grateful indeed!
Cheers Hamish & Sara.xxx
24/09/08
After spending a week faffing around Ullaannnbaattarrrr Sara and I finally got ourselves down to the Mercy Corps office to see if they needed a hand. As it turned out they needed a photographer to shoot some traditional stuff down at the biggest yearly market in an Aimag 7 hrs S.west of the capital.
Off we went on a rather surreal trip of taking photos of gold medal winning sheep, horses, camels and carrots!! Think of it as Mongolias Olympic agricultural games! During the trip we consumed copious amounts of Airag (fermented mares milk), dried curds, camel cream and a rather strange tea made from off milk, water, animal fat and one tea leaf. It wasn't Tetley!
Day 2 of the trip found ourselves being introduced to a government minister as "professional photographers from Europe working for National Geographic"! Cue rather bad photo of three really important dudes!!
After that we were accepted into the inner circle of really important people and were whisked away to take photos of the red tape being cut on random buildings where the paint was still wet and no-one really knew what they were for!
By the end of the day even the local mercy corps staff had convinced themselves that we were top-notch national geographic photographers and before even seeing the rather poor quality shots were talking about using them in the local airport to welcome visitors to the area!! Opps.
After three nights of being put up in the local quality hotel we decided to cut and run before anyone found out we were impostors!! They have the evidence though!
On thursday we will be saying cheerio to mongolia and heading to the paradise that is Thailand........sunshine, beaches, tropical storms, flooding, and an state of emergency due to political unrest that was only lifted last week!
cheers for now
Hamish & Sara. |
