We knew this day would come, and we dreaded from the moment we picked up our little blue Panda in Grays. We had to hand the Panda over to the Adventurists to be auctioned for charity. We had grown attached to the car while it was ours since it was not only our means of transportation but also our home, our sofa, our trusty vessel, our storage facility, and our friend. The Panda dealt with a lot on the drive from England to Mongolia—half a dozen flat tires, a ripped-off exhaust, blinky lights on the dash that shouldn’t have been blinky, and parts flying off—but she handled it with finesse. So, for this day, we think photos say more than our words can. We’ll miss Panda, but even more, we’ll miss the friends we made with her and the adventures that we all shared. And, don't forget, we're still fundraising for our charities Cool Earth and the Lotus Children's Centre. To get involved with Cool Earth, click here: http://www.justgiving.com/TeamTurnagain !
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Panda found herself a good spot.
We crossed the finish line the evening before one day earlier than our original target (well, more like a few hours before our target), so we had a day to relax, catch up with our friends there especially our many convoy-mates, and eat a lot. The feasting started with a big breakfast at the Flower Hotel, which was hosting lots of Ralliers and had some wonderful Korean baths that we enjoyed the night before. From the Flower, we moved to the Chinggis Khan Hotel and started the slow unpacking and sorting of the Panda, including moving all of our wet and smelly camping gear past a couple nice wedding parties (apparently the Chinggis is the place to get married in U.B.). It was our day to celebrate, so we didn’t spend very long working on Panda matters but instead went out with our friends to Joe’s Burger. Chase had been talking about having a burger since some time in Russia after his cheeseburger in Volgograd. The picture of his first bite pretty much says it all. After burgers and walking around town, we spent the rest of the afternoon hanging out of the entryway of the hotel, welcoming Ralliers to the finish line and swapping stories from the road. We also finally found an occasion to get out the two bottles of Jacob’s Creek from the Calais Wine Superstore that had been rolling around in the back of the Panda for six weeks. So much celebrating put us in the mood for dinner, and we went to the nearby Hazara’s Restaurant for a northern Indian feast. Several other Ralliers had the same idea, so we went together from Hazara’s to Hennessy X.O. for the official finish line party. Fittingly, we were dressed as pirates. Viva Mongol Rally!
We had not been having the greatest luck with the Panda since crossing the Mongolian border, but our Panda is a trooper. She can do anything, and we had seen her fix herself a couple times already. So, when she wouldn’t start in the morning, we didn’t panic but instead reached into the backseat for the trusty Haynes manual, which suggested that we check and clean our air filter (something we had known we needed to do for about…um…two weeks at this point?). Markus even helped us out with a little compressed air—much better than just banging it on a rock—and soon we were on the road again. After a slow start, the rest of the day went swimmingly; ironically, it was the only day in Mongolia we didn’t have some sort of water crossing. The water crossing, however, was replaced with a mud crossing, which caught both Daniel and the Skoda in its grips. A little pushing and a lot of improved route-finding got us through the tricky area and to a beautiful camping spot for the night. We stopped early, as it could be our last night camping in Mongolia, and we explored the beautiful landscape around us, which made for some great photo opportunities. Stopping early also gave us time for an epic game of catch and some sunset/moonrise beers. Truly, it was convoy magic. Starting Point: N46°01 E100°25
Ending Point: N46°52 E103°25 Distance Traveled: 216.9 miles After an easy breakfast on the roadside, we began quickly gaining elevation again. We had thought we were done with Mongolian mountains, but we had another high-elevation day of adventures to look forward to. As we got higher up the roads became trails and the trails became paths, and pretty soon we had no indicators of which direction was correct. The paths split and came back together like the channels of a braided river, with an occasional path splitting off into the distance on its own. The landscape, though beautiful, was so monotonous at times that it was easy to accidentally split off the main track, and evidently that’s what we did sometime before lunchtime. Once we had eaten a good meal and were thinking clearly again, we spent the afternoon navigating back to the main “road” just in time for a river crossing. At first glace our troop of small cars was intimidated by the Toyota Land Cruiser sitting unmoving in the middle of the current; luckily for us, however, it turns out the Land Cruiser coincidentally had engine trouble in the stream, and for us the water barely made it halfway up our doors! We pulled over to camp shortly after our river, and celebrated our successful day of route-finding and riving-crossing by watching a beautiful sunset with Daniel and enjoying an evening under an extremely bright full moon. Starting Point: N46°20 E97°18
Ending Point: N46°01 E100°25 Distance Traveled: 180.6 miles We woke up to another incredible breakfast at An Artisan’s Guesthouse and then squeezed in a yoga session before heading out of town. On our way to Karakol Coffee, we passed a parking lot full of Mongol Rally cars and invited the ones that were ready to go to join us. Our last stop at Karakol Coffee was just as perfect as the first—good times with good people. We are so thankful to Aikerim. She said that she didn’t do anything, but she really did everything to make our time in Karakol wonderful just by being there and being her (and in doing so attracting a great group of people). Team Turnagain headed out of Karakol in convoy with the Elephants and the Lumberyaks. Together, we passed some of the most beautiful landscape of our trip. Yes, some of that journey was the most technically demanding driving of the Rally—we took the Panda across a gravel mountain pass that was over 6,000 feet in elevation where cows, sheep, and goats roam about and are herded by the folks living in the surrounding yurts—but those few hours were unforgettable. From the pass, we re-joined the main road leading us to the eastern border crossing of Lake Issyk Kul. As far as border crossings go, it was a good one: all three teams made it across in a fairly timely order, the Kyrgyz guards called us “G-Unit” and “Pamela Anderson,” and the Kazakh guard went through Chase’s passport and pointed to the landscape photos to indicate whether or not Kazakhstan had the featured animal or type of monument. From the border, we traveled across more breathtaking mountains until the sun set. It was our first time driving west, and we were driving into the sunset (either we’re doing something very right or very wrong). Not long after sunset, the Elephants blew a tire, and we had a bit of roadside repair by flashlight to prepare for the last stretch into Almaty. As we entered the city, the Elephants, our lead car, separated from us and the Lumberyaks, leaving us a little lost. As luck would have it, the five star Rixos Hotel was nearby, and they allowed us to use their wifi and complimentary city maps to find our way to the Almaty Backpackers’ Hostel. Now, the décor of the hostel in no way compared to that of the Rixos, but the people there absolutely made our evening—other Mongol Ralliers! We grabbed supplies from a nearby shop and made dinner with the Lumberyaks, which led to a late-night session with the Rally crew. Starting Point: N42°29E78°22
Ending Point: N43°13E76°56 Distance Traveled: 248.9 miles The morning started rather abruptly by waking up in the apartment with people sprawled everywhere. Chase was the first one awake, and he was soon joined by George from the Cads & Bounders. George wanted to go to a Post Office and then to a market to make breakfast for everybody, and Chase thought this was a fine idea. However, it is not always as easy to find a Russian Post Office as one would hope. After wandering around Astrakhan without seeing one, they finally started asking for directions. Unfortunately, Chase and George didn’t know if people really understood what they were asking for; and, honestly, whether they did or not was a moot point because the two English speakers never understood the Russians’ answers. Eventually Chase and George saw a mail truck on the side of the road, and they knew that truck would be the missing piece to the puzzle. The mailman was a very nice man, and finally he figured out that Chase and George were looking for the Post Office. He gave a very long account of how to get there, which was presumably very detailed and incredibly precise; meanwhile, the entire time he was talking George and Chase were just exchanging confused glances. Finally the mailman gave up, opened the back door of the mail truck, and told Chase and George to just get in. The mailman started driving with our two explorers bouncing around the back of the truck, with no idea where they were or where they were going. After a very impromptu tour of the city, the mail truck rolled to a stop in front of the Post Office, and the smiling mailman threw open the back door. We made it! Their happiness was short-lived, however, as the mail truck drove away again. After buying stamps, they were left to meander through the city on foot and hope to find the apartment again. Luckily, by walking through the city they found a market where they purchased 32 eggs, a pound of bacon, and a loaf of fresh bread; upon their triumphant return to the apartment, Charla (who had since woken up) joined George in the kitchen to make a massive breakfast feast. Post feast, Charla and George took off with James of the Thunderyaks to meet the Drama of Llama, a team of travel bloggers who had had to abandon their car in southern Russia (perhaps more aptly named Drama without Llama?). Once our crew was more or less together, we arranged for our cross-town journey to the next apartment—conveniently a much larger one for our growing group, which now included us, the Thunderyaks, the Cads & Bounders, Drama of Llama, and Elephanto Equitemus. At the apartment we met up with Igor and Nadia, who prepared an incredible dinner for everybody. It really was a day of feasts, as they made delicious Russian food—fish, veggies, salads, meats, and so many wonderful things we can’t even list them all. That night, we officially celebrated Igor’s birthday with a cake! Then, to our surprise, Nadia and Igor surprised us with giant pens and magnets that featured landmarks of Astrakhan to remember our time there (like we could forget!). We were lucky that night to also receive the official mascot of our team: a stuffed panda that we named Bertha who sings in Russian when you squeeze her hand! Our party went on late into the night with a speaker system and laser light show brought in by the one and only Sitting Thunder. Starting Point: N46°22 E48°03
Ending Point: N46°80 E48°00 Distance Traveled: 6.8 miles
Our new friends approve of the Panda!
The sunflower field was a perfect place for the night judging by just how late we slept in the following morning. Once we got back on the road, it was a smooth drive until we hit the bumpy, pothole-dotted roads into Volgograd. Based on our arrival, Volgograd appeared the friendliest city to the Mongol Rally that we have passed so far. Driving along the main road into downtown, a man pulled up next to us honking and showing off a shirt that we couldn’t read. We’re assuming it was an old Rally shirt or one from a team because when he got close enough he gave us a thumbs-up and shouted “Mongol Rally!! Yeah!!” A few moments later, another car pulled up alongside and asked “Mongolia? We’re from Uzbekistan! Awesome!” Then, they threw us some beads with a spider carving for good luck on the journey. We knew we were in for a good time in Volgograd. Traffic wasn’t our friend at first though as we cruised around looking for a spot with Internet. Eventually, we made our way slightly out of town to juice bar in a mall. Once online, we saw that two other teams were still in Volgograd, so we turned around and headed towards the hostel where they were staying. Finding the hostel (through an archway, along a garden, ringing up from a steel door, taking the elevator to the fifth floor, and finding a door with an owl on it) was difficult but worth the effort once we met Lorenzo and Emanuele of Team Rougher Dan Khan and James from the Thunderyaks as well as Ting traveling from China. We went out to dinner nearby at a pub the first two found the day before. Though it took us a while to navigate the Russian-only menu, we did so to great success and enjoyed our first hot meal since leaving Moscow.While Lorenzo and Emmanuele worked through some of their issues with their car and its massive engine problems, James joined us out in the park for a beer. That night, however, was no ordinary night in the park. It was an evening of celebrating the Russian Navy! We had seen blue and white flags all over town as we were driving in, and suddenly it all made sense (we had wondered if the flags were for a football match, graduation, or if we’d accidentally found ourselves in Chechnya with an uprising starting). Soon, we were surrounded by a big group of friendly Russian soldiers who explained the holiday and really liked to shout “Russian tradition!!” Once we had all finished our beers, we went for a walk in the park to a café for another round. Conversation was all over the place in a mixture of languages, but the excitement and comradery was unforgettable. Starting Point: N51°47 E41°47
Ending Point: N48°42 E44°30 Distance Traveled: 294.8 miles We left the Ganza house after a quick breakfast so that we could meet another Ganza, Alexey, at the Fiat garage. The directions we plotted in our book of Moscow maps were perfect, and we arrived on time (Nikolai is much better than Google Maps, if only we could take him with us to Mongolia!). Only in Russia do you take your car in for an oil change and then have an offer of a suspension check. They were especially keen to check the suspension because we were planning to leave the city going east. While the car was being serviced, we went out for coffee with Alexey. Charla and Alexey had not seen each other in over ten years since Christopher and Olga’s wedding (Charla’s cousin and Alexey’s sister); there was a lot to catch up on! Once we returned to the dealership, all was relatively well with the car, and we set out on the ring road to leave Moscow. The drive out of Moscow was somewhat long, as the city seemed to never end! Eventually, we left the realm of the Moscow city map book and started crossing fields of sunflowers. The road surfaces varied quite a bit in the stretches between small towns, but they were fantastic compared to those in the Ukraine. At one of our stops, Chase befriended a group of gas station attendants who were interested in Alaska and our comically small blue car. Our drive also took us through a surprisingly colorful town called Tambov that we could have certainly spent a little more time in were it not getting late in the evening. Appropriately, the day ended in a sunflower field where fireworks from a wedding nearby provided our evening entertainment. Starting Point: N55°40 E37°19
Ending Point: N51°47 E41°47 Distance Traveled: 446.1 miles After three and a half hours of sleeping soundly in the Panda on the roadside, we woke up to Faye tapping on the window about an hour before sunrise. Good morning! As the sun was rising, we found our way back to the main road and turned east to Odessa. As we passed through Tatarbunary, Pandaland dropped back down to one as the girls stopped at a garage to try and get their car fixed up. As we continued on, we wanted to avoid entering Moldova (and thus re-entering Ukraine) at all costs. Oddly enough, every main road connecting Odessa to southwest Ukraine was through Moldova; luckily for us there was one minor coastal road that would stay in the country. Let’s do it! Even by Eastern European standards, this road ranked poorly. On the side of the road there was a wide off-road path that had been created by people who chose to drive off the road rather than face the potholes; on the side of that was a second off-road path that had been carved by people who didn’t want to face the potholes or the mudpuddles of the first path. Factor in all the heavy truck traffic (because truckers love avoiding border crossings), and it was an adventure of a road. The nice thing about the road is that it did allow us to cruise through a few beautiful beach towns along the Black Sea. By the time we got to Odessa we weren’t really interested in exploring the city anymore, and decided to get out in the country. We headed north out of Odessa and just kept on driving. By four in the afternoon we realized we had been on the road for over 25 of the last 29 hours, and it was time for a well-earned break. By exploring the town of Bila Tserkva, and with some excited hand gestures from a Ukrainian woman at a Lukoil gas station, we found ourselves the City Park Hotel; luckily for us, City Park was so interested in the Mongol Rally they offered us a cheap rate for the night, including a light breakfast. (Two ragged Americans with a good story must be a lot more interesting than their usual clientele of Ukrainian businessmen visiting their satellite offices.) Across the street was a delicious restaurant, and after a bit of dinner (well, maybe a feast) we chose an early bedtime and called it a night. Today's lesson: Food and sleep are very important. Also, things often look better in daylight. Starting Point: N45°35 E28°35
Ending Point: N49°47 E30°06 Distance Traveled: 453.3 miles After a late night on the beach with our friends from Pandaland and the other Rally teams that we had met on the Transfagarasan and those we has not seen since the Czech Out and Euro Launches, we decided we needed to take a day off and enjoy the beach (and to plan for the next phase of the Rally ahead). We started with a morning swim, where we found the Phileasfog Reformers still on the beach and not en route to Turkey. Joining up with Iona and Faye, we went to a local café for breakfast in Mamaia, the bigger town next to Oha Beach (somewhat reminiscent of Miami and Las Vegas). The usual hilarity of Pandaland ensued as we laughed about the night before, including noticing how many of us had been stamped (and still had stamps on our arms, legs, and even faces in some cases) by the Phileasfog teammates. Following breakfast, we said goodbye to Justin, Andrew, Simone, and Miriam as they set out for Bulgaria then Istanbul. We were sad to see Pandaland’s borders shrink, but we knew it would happen and enjoyed the rest of the day with Long Time No Sea and other Ralliers who lingered behind for another beach day. Starting Point: N44°16 E28°37
Ending Point: N44°16 E28°37 Distance Traveled: 17.2 miles |
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