Donski Rally Report

7/19/14

Team Plan F launched our Mongol Rally run in London late in the day on Saturday with a midnight ferry crossing to France. We then headed to Germany where we camped on the Danube River and took a train into the city of Munich to check out the town and pub where Hitler got his start. We motored through Austria to Croatia where we stayed in Zadar on the coast and soaked up some history left behind by the Romans around 300 AD. Next we rolled through Bosnia and Serbia as well as Bulgaria on our way to Turkey. Evidence of the war was present on buildings in the town with bullet holes showing everywhere. On the outskirts of Bosnia we ran across some British peace keepers rolling through town. Once we made it through Istanbul and a six hour traffic jam we headed southeast to Cappadocia to see the ruins and ride the famous hot air balloons. Up at 4 am to see the sunrise from a balloon and that proved to be worth the effort. From Turkey we drove around the Black Sea to Batumi, Georgia and then on to the capital city of Tbilisi.

7/30/14

Azerbaijan
We met two guys named Ronal and Russell who are Azeri while waiting to get through the Azeri border. They picked us up and took us for a great tour around Baku. We went to the Maiden Tower which was built in the 3rd century and used as part of the city’s defense system.  We also visited the Khan’s castle which was used by each country that conquered this area. The Turks, Iran, Russia, Mongolians, and Armenia all took turns taking over the lands here.
After our walking tour we went to dinner in a local restaurant where we met Ed (one of Sarah’s internet friends) and his wife. Dinner was amazing with plate after plate of Azeri national foods brought to the point that we didn’t have room for anything else on the table. Meats and vegetables and more meats and sausages and more meats continued to show up with the much needed vodka as a helper to continue eating. The Azeris really like their BBQ and vodka. Fortunately we kept them to one bottle with several beers so not too much damage was done to our overall health.
After dinner Ed and wife took off and we walked along the promenade on the Caspian Sea and then off to a pub for a night cap. After the pub we headed back to our hotel which is named after an old British TV show “Fawlty Towers”. This morning Ronal picked us up and took us to the Embassy to find it closed. We were certain it would be however we had gotten conflicting information and had to check. No luck there. It will be open on Friday. So we went to the port to check on ferry schedules to find that there are no schedules only vague assurances of ships leaving in the next several days possibly. We should have thought of this and had the guys get multi entry visas for Russia. Easy to forget how inefficient it can be to traverse places with little infrastructure.
After the port Ronal took us to an old eternal fire site that was used for centuries as a religious site because natural gas came out of the ground there and provided the compound with cooking capabilities. Amazingly around 1840 a German fellow came along and found oil. Played menu roulette at a local restaurant and Gilby won with a dish that was like a scoop of chicken salad with four BBQ flavored Pringles potato chips displayed around the edges. My salad lacked several advertised items however it had a few that I am not sure what they were. After lunch we took a nice nap to get out of the heat. We are planning to wander around town again this evening as we wait for Friday and hopefully a resolution to this wait to get back on the road. Later we spent some time sitting on the stoop listening to Alan play guitar and having a beer after feeding and watering a small starving cat. All is well.
Aug 2 2014. Turkmenistan 10:00
160 miles over the Caspian Sea. 37 hours. John of team rotten eggs made a fishing lure from a needle and chip bags. Alan played guitar for the captain and Simar in the wheel house. Played a quiz game and watched Zombiland. Had a nice chicken and potato dinner made by the ships cook Misha. Watched the night sky with stars and the sea with burning oil wells.

Went through customs and had the fine tooth comb treatment. They were really enamored with my Pepto Bismol. Three hours and they still haven’t touched the cars. Got out of the port finally and headed to Ashgabagat which took way longer than expected. We rode around the city lost looking for a hotel. Found out the presidential palace is off limits. A local guy led us to the cheap side of town and we stayed over in a fairly nice place. Had team rotten eggs over for tuna on crackers and a bit of hot vodka. Slept. In the morning banking was completed and we found that the hotel wouldn’t take their own currency only USD. FML. Took five hours to get to the gates of hell. Ran across six or so teams waiting on the side of the road with a four by four. Tried to follow but ended up paying the guy $10USD to get us there. It was beautiful and hot. Set up camp with twenty or so people and watched the Aussie teams play the Brits in Cricket while we got dinner together. Up at five thirty and headed for the border to beat our visa expiration. Made it. Three hours in the border crossing. Not too bad. Rode hard all day to get to Samarkand to meet our long lost (at least since Georgia) teammate, Dave. He had a spot in the hostel waiting and we had dinner here. Good to see him again. Up tomorrow to try and get on the road.

8/06/14

Quite a long day. We are in Andizhan which required 12 hours of driving over a mountain that we gained 3 thousand feet and dropped 2000 feet on the other side. The guards at the police stops had AK47 rifles and were quite menacing. We were stopped at a checkpoint 15 kilometers from  Afghanistan. Just a bit nervous rolling through an autonomous region. “Hello I am Don from America” kind of a thrill to say over here. So today was a push to make up time and we finally found a hotel. I was speaking to the doorman when he told me he made $100 dollars a month. Felt quite the wanker about dickering the price so I have a tip for him in the morning. Anyway I also fed a stray and gave him water from my tankard. Yay.

8/08/14

We find ourselves staying in the hotel Elite in Andijan Kyrgyzstan after a day drive from Samarkand Uzbekistan. Got in late and grabbed dinner and hung around talking to locals. Up at 6 am on the road to Bishkek. We made it to the border to find we were at the wrong one so we lost an hour and a half having to head back into town to go to Farap and hopefully an open border. The area is bordered by Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan and as recently as last week it was closed due to continuing hostilities. Dave tells us this tidbit after we make it out of Uzbek and are headed to Bishkek. We have two really close calls with head on crashes while I am driving through the mountains. Helps stay awake when cars careen around a blind corner overtaking a truck. The scenery is amazing. Unfortunately we reach the summit after dark and don’t see a thing. Dave takes over driving at a group of yurts and promptly dodges a cow. We arrived in Bishkek at 3 am and am now riding from place to place to find a hotel. Looks like the boys want a room for a couple of hours of sleep before pressing on to Kazakstan.