Wales to Mongolia, Timbuktu and now Azerbaijan

Let’s get the Borat jokes out of the way quickly! We now find ourselves in Altyrau, Kazakhstan, on the north coast of the Caspian Sea.
Having set off from Mariupol on Friday we passed a nice hour or two on a sandy beach on the Black Sea. We then drove to the Russian border. We had a little trouble with the Ukrainian guards who found that my passport had not been stamped into Ukraine. They solved the problem for a $30 bribe (knocked down from $50). We later found other people had experienced exactly the same scenario – perhaps not so accidental as we first thought.
The Russian frontier took ages – lots of paperwork and traipsing back and forth between offices. But it only cost about $10 in tourist taxes, and we were through by about 3:30 am. We drove for a bit before finding a “campsite”. This was a collection huts which were for rent. They were a bit grim but nonetheless a welcome sight. After fighting our way into Russia and half a bottle of vodka, sleeping was no problem!
Next day we drove hard. We passed through many police checkpoints, but amazingly they showed little interest. If we did get stopped, the most they wanted was a quick look at our documents. We reached Volgograd in the evening, had some food and then set off for Astrakhan. Before long, and just as we were beginning to wonder if everyone else had given up and gone home, we caught a Fiat Uno on British plates! We pulled over and met Tom and Olly, heading exactly the same route as us. From then on we have traveled in convoy – all glad to have a bit of company I think.
We camped at the side of the road that night and drove through Astrakhan to the Kazakh border in the morning. Getting out of Russia was relatively painless, but the Kazakh frontier was 10km away through no-man’s land, and getting there involved negotiating a few miles of gravel and a ferry across the river. We met some guys waiting for the ferry who were very friendly, and gave us some watermelon in return for a few British pennies.
By mid-afternoon we were in Kazakhstan! There was a marked change in the land at the border. We drove over very bumpy (but tarmac) roads, through desert and past camels. At a couple of places we found the road blocked off due to roadworks and were forced to take a sand or gravel track around for a few miles. All good fun and the car has stood up to it well…so far!
We arrived in Altyrau last night where amazing things started to happen. Somehow we managed to walk into the most expensive restaurant in town knackered, unshaven and smelly after a couple of days’ hard driving. There we fell in with some local guys and an English chap who bought us a drink. Halfway through our meal, Olly got called to one side by the waitress who told him that the manager of the hotel had a “cottage” and wanted to put us up for the night for free. It sounded a bit dodgy but all took about five seconds to decide we didn’t care at that stage, and gladly accepted his offer.
When the time came to pay we were told that it was all on the house and given another round of beers! In the meantime a belly dancer kept us all entertained, before some of the other customers took to the dancefloor. One that sticks in my mind was a guy who looked like Manuel from Fawlty Towers and danced like a lunatic!
When we left the manager came with us to show us to his house. Let’s say it was not what I’d call a cottage – it was a mansion. We were given the tour which took in the lounge, kitchen, bathrooms, bedrooms, giant TV, games room (pool and table tennis) and (wait for it)… swimming pool and sauna! In short, everything we could have wished for after a day driving across a desert.
We made ourselves at home and took full advantage of the facilities, assisted by our servant for the night Joderick (spelling?). Talk about landing on your feet…

Today we will leave Altyrau for Actobe. Our initial plan was to cross into Uzbekistan to the southeast, but we have heard of trouble and unrest in Afghanistan and neighbouring countries, and been strongly advised by several people to change our plans. So we will now aim northeast before dropping down towards Almaty. We have met two yellow minis of lads from Essex who are following the same route, so we may end up in convoy later. This may be the last update for a while!

Dave.

Time for an update after a few days without any sign of the internet.

We’re now in Mariupol on the coast of Ukraine, about 80km from the Russian border. Having left Budapest we drove to Romania, meeting three other teams along the way. We crossed the border in the afternoon and were struck by the clear decline in wealth compared with Hungary. The towns were sprawling, with beggars coming up to us at traffic lights. The countryside, however, was beautiful. We passed through a lot of farming land where horses pulled carts of hay along the roads, often with families sitting on the top. Some had no lights, which made night driving particularly nervewracking. We drove late into the night over the Carpathian Mountains of Trannsylvania. It was very atmospheric as the road wound its way through the pine trees and mist! We eventually stopped for the night just past Suceava for a few hours’ kip.

Next morning we drove to Iasi and crossed the border into Moldova. We had to buy visas at $30 a pop, but there were no real problems. The country appeared poorer again, but the vegetation was lush and it was very pleasant to drive through. We stopped for lunch in Chisinau and promptly got lost as soon as we set off again, but eventually found the road to Odessa.

The next hurdle was to enter the unrecognised state of Transdniester in the southeast of Moldova. This involved a border crossing as official as anywhere else.  We also had to pay a few dollars in various taxes and fees (possibly made up on the spot). The guards were interested in our car and our journey. Once through we crossed the capital Tirapsol, where I had my first proper run-in with traffic police ever! A copper with a radar gun caught me doing 64 kph in an alleged 50 zone (there were no signs and the road was wide but it was built up). He asked for $30, but I managed to haggle him down to $24. I suppose it’s better than the UK equivalent of 60 quid and three points… Once I had paid he was quite happy and sent us on our way with a smile.

We reached the Ukrainian border and had to pay more fines to the Transdniesterian guards for generally looking a bit foreign. The Ukrainian guards were great, however and gave us no problems. We had to buy insurance though, as they wouldn’t accept our green card. Whilst Jim trooped off to the office, I chatted as best I could with four or five guards. They were very interested in us and asked about the countries we had been through. They were fascinated by my pound coins and a couple signed the car. Then Jim came back with the news that the minimum insurance we could buy was for 15 days, and it would cost $117! The guards were astounded and sympathetic, but powerless to help. After an hour or so of arguing, we paid up and were on our way.

We drove to Odessa and got very, very lost - there was very little in the way of signposts and they seemed to point in different directions. Eventually we saw a sign that even we could read - the Golden Arches - and suddenly remembered we hadn’t eaten all day. After the nicest BigMac in the world ever, we went to the station and we approached by a couple of women offering a room (legit according to the Lonely Planet guide!) Jim hopped in a taxi with one and the other jumped in the Lancia, which is how I found myself chasing a Lada at incredible speed through the streets of Odessa at midnight with a middle-aged lady barking instructions in Russian. I felt like I was in a straight-to-video action film, but it was tremendous fun!

The room was great, and we reflected on the day the Mongol Rally really started over a beer.

Next day we headed east again. After a struggle we got out of Odessa and stopped near the Black Sea for lunch. We (I) were stopped by the police twice more in one town. They just wanted to check our documents and a pound coin once more oiled the wheels.

We drove to Melitopol hoping to stay the night, but it was so bleak that we decided to press on. We were able to buy supplies though (bread, water, beer, vodka). We made it to Mariupol which is much bigger and a bit more pleasant. We found a hotel with the aid of a taxi driver and slept for a long time.

We will hit the road again this afternoon aiming for Russia. Our visas are valid from tomorrow, so we’re going to try a sneaky midnight border crossing. This could go one of two ways…

Dave.

Made it to Budapest!

We’ve followed the motorways from Prague which, though slightly bumpy in places, are quiet, straight and quick. We stopped just south of Brno for food and then continued towards Bratislava. After buying a motorway pass we proceeded to cross the western edge of Slovakia in 55 minutes, and we arrived at the official and slightly daunting-looking Hungarian border to be greeted by a grinning guard who told us that we were fourth!

We drove straight to Budapest and have just parked the car in a multi-storey and found a cheap hostel for the night. Guess it’s time to start drinking again

Dave.

Hello from Prague! We’ve heard of teams with suspension problems, overheating and clutch failure, but we have no problems to report yet (watch this space…) Here’s the story so far:

We arrived at the launch in Hyde Park on Saturday and were greeted by around 200 other crap cars all raring to go - quite a sight! The first mission was to collect our passports from the rally organisers (not seen since May). Thankfully, both were present and correct - complete with colourful visas from most of the former Soviet Union.
We then hit the road at about 2pm - and promptly got stuck in a traffic jam straight out of the Italian Job. Our intented route had been closed off for a protest march, so we had to find an alternative. After two hours of crawling we finally reached the A20. Then it was foot to the floor time to make it to Dover for our ferry at 6.
We docked in Dunkerque at 9 and set about conquering Europe. As I had had the pleasure of grinding the gears through the London chaos, it was Jim’s turn to take the wheel. We sped through France and Belgium, stopping once for petrol and only slowing for occasional periods of very heavy rain. Around 2:30 we pulled into a motel in Luxembourg and called it a night.
The next morning we were on the road before 8 and made good progress into Germany. However, just past Mannheim the traffic ground to a halt. We were stuck for around 2 hours, in which time we advanced three miles and switched the engine off more than once.
Once on the move again we made steady progress through the remainder of Germany and into the Czech Republic, arrivng in Prague about 6pm. We parked the car, exchanged stories with fellow ralliers and went to the party for a well-earned pint or five!

We’re about to hit the road again, heading for Slovakia and Hungary. That’s if we don’t get trapped in the underground car park.

Dave.

We’ve spent the last week or so preparing the car, and it is now ready to go!  As well as giving it a good service we have fitted a roof rack, spot lamps and a sump guard to stop Mongolian rocks from breaking our engine!  The car has also been to Semaphore in Cardiff to have all the sponsors’ logos put on it, and they’ve done a good job - looks like a proper rally car now!!

We are planning to leave Wales on Friday morning, and will be staying in London overnight ready for the official rally launch in Hyde Park on Saturday.  Many thanks to everyone who has helped/sponsored us  - we have been overwhelmed by your support and really couldnt have got this far without you!  Hopefully we can get all the way to Mongolia and send you some postcards!!!

Keep an eye on the website as we will be adding to this blog whenever possible, hopefully with some photos if I can get my camera to work;)

Jim