Found free wifi in the tiniest town ever- Darvi! We are with never mind the panda, 4 idiots abroad, the worst mongolineers and need for speedos. The rat pack have raced ahead but we have heard they have had numerous wheel blow outs, destroyed their exhaust, needed a tow to Altai (from 4 men 7 brows) and are having problems with their fuel line. We may catch them up in Altai tonight. The village idiots are stuck in Khvod trying to repair their car after driving until 2am at night and got 6 flats in 4km, destroyed their suspension and cracked their windshield. 4-idiots abroad have had their own drama we have been helping them through as Adam was told he was not able to fly out of Mongolia to get home as his car had no record of being imported into Mongolia- they sent him from olgii back to the border where they said they would hold him until his team handed over the car, we have since heard he has bribed his way into Russia and is trying to get home. Speedos are naturally having no problems as they are in a 4x4 and clearly taking the easy way through Mongolia. Panda has been going well except for a suspected fuel leak on the first day and the Austrians, the worst mongolineers, are flying through but are attempting to do their own oil change now. We have only had one very bad dented rim, which we got bashed out in the last town and picked up another spare tyre- so we are now travelling with two spares plus one useless bald tyre which is slightly too large. We are taking the roads slow but are having lots of fun, we have gotten lost twice, crossed 5 rivers, flooded our boot, got well and truly stuck in the mud, gotten stuck in the sand, done numerous clutch burn outs trying to get onto on ramps and paths that are simply way too steep for us, and pushed the car out of many sticky situations! The roads are questionable and there are always 6 or 7 options of which path to take as the roads wind trough the Mongolian dessert occasionally crossing over each other. Pick the wrong path or start chasing a seemingly beautiful parallel Tarmac highway, attempting to find a do-able on ramp to the uncompleted road and you can end up hours off track headed to the middle of no where! But no matter where you head the scenery is so beautiful- vast open spaces with incredible wildlife on every plain- camels, yacks, goats, marmots, gofers, wild horses- the list goes on and on. Apparently there are 30 cars retired, 8 on the road and 7 MIA- I hope we have given you some kind of update on the teams that we know are still going!
Posted on: Fri, 30 Aug 2013 04:06:52 +0000
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