The last couple hundred kilometers in to UB is newly paved and feels so smooth and amazing after 10 days of driving on the worst surfaces imaginable. You come in to the city through a pass over low mountains. Coming over the pass and around a bend, we were suddenly presented with the entirety of the city below us at sunset. When we (the Flatlanders and I) saw it like that, after spending so long to get there, we were elated.

With the party tunes cranked up we rolled in to the city and were quickly given the driving equivalent of an ice-water bath: the worst traffic ever. There are no rules when driving in UB, except possibly that pedestrians must always yield.

But let’s go back to Altai. The convoy was feeling a little bit sore that day about Joe and Tim of Rubikcrew taking off without us. In addition to feeling under-appreciated for help rendered two days before when Rubikcrew’s Fiat broke down for several hours, members of the convoy had also loaned several important items to Rubikcrew that we were now unlikely to see again. Bembeltoads lost their air compressor (for inflating tires), I lost my map of Mongolia, and Flatlanders lost most of their food. That said, it was understandable why someone with a tight schedule would take off– we were very slow.

Although that was the mood, the time in Altai went pretty well. We (my car) got there a couple hours earlier than the rest and had some time to visit the internet cafe and get some buuz (pronounced more like boodz, potsticker-like dumplings full of gamey mutton, the national fast food of Mongolia). The other two cars managed to get their tires/wheels repaired and we got back on the road– briefly.

Driving through the countryside, it was normal for the three/four cars to space out a fair bit for various reasons. We’d choose different routes through the terrain, some cars would handle certain conditions better than others, and also just to get out of each others’ dust wake. But even given this we still tried to maintain visual contact (should have been easy this day because the terrain was flat and open for miles).

Maybe 50km outside the city I stopped the Skoda since we noticed we hadn’t seen the other cars behind us for a number of minutes. We waited another 15 or 20 minutes before another passing rally car told us that the two other cars were stopped 13km back.  Somewhere in here the Flatlanders drank an entire 750ml bottle of vodka. Since it was starting to get late in the afternoon, we turned back to meet up with them before dark. We found them near dusk and heard the story: the Bembeltoads had hit a bump and their entire roof rack had come flying off, flinging its contents over several meters in front of the car. At first the rack looked like a goner, but with some intrepid hammering was made to fit again.

Karsten, Juan, and Robert inspect the damage after the Bembeltoads' roof rack goes flying off

Unfortunately by this time it was dark, so we made camp right there where we were, although maybe 1km off the main tracks. The drunken Flatlanders passed out immediately once the tent was set up, and missed dinner.

From that point on the driving was largely uneventful. The landscape continued to be spectacular, and the road continued to be terrible, but the occasional flat tire was as bad as it got for us. We spent a night in Bayankhongor and a night in Arvaikheer, then rolled in to UB the next day.

I feel like I’m not really doing justice to how bad the roads were. It seemed that every other car not in our convoy had broken something major. Suspension problems were the most common. Dave and Alex broke their rear shocks, had some new ones (that didn’t quite fit) welded in, broke the weld, and drove without them (but with springs) for the last few days– it was hilarious to see their car bouncing wildly over the bumps. Dan and Stuart broke their leaf springs a couple times and drove at a snails pace to avoid jarring all the teeth out of their heads.  The garage in Altai was full (literally) with rally cars in various states of wreckage. Probably 20 cars  were inside and around the garage when we were there. Some other Spaniards, friends of Juan and Nuria, broke their timing belt and had to leave the car where it was. Another Skoda team broke their serpentine belt with a similar outcome.

Another common problem was fuel-pump shut-offs triggered by big bumps. Modern cars have an inertial switch that will shut off the fuel pump in the event of an accident in order to prevent fuel leaks, fires, and explosions. The problem was that some of the bumps on the road were so big (or people hit them so hard), that the sensor would think there had been an accident and shut off the fuel pump while the car was still driving. It’s not hard to reset the switch, but for most of us it was the first time encountering this problem and it was unexpected. Surprisingly, I didn’t hear about anyone setting off their airbags this way (the Skoda didn’t have airbags, but I’m sure many of the cars did).

I’m going to credit our success car-wise mainly to careful driving. Slow and steady definitely wins the race here. For instance, if you don’t hit bumps at 50 km/h, you’re not going to trigger the inertial sensor or dent your wheels. Other than that I should give credit to the Uniroyal tires we bought in Austria. I only had 2 flats across the whole of Mongolia, and the first one was more than 1000 km in. For comparison, the other members of our convoy had 4 or 5 each, and other teams had 30 or more (I’m telling you, these rocks are sharp).

That’s all for now. More photo posts to follow as I process the back-log of pictures! See the rest of my Mongolia Pictures here and the rest of Bembeltoads’ here.

Aziza, in her bridal best, shows us Gelin Selam

A few hours later after getting through the border and driving maybe 100km in the dark, we found them asleep in their car in a gas station parking lot. Although it would have been nice to stay together, we opted to continue on for a bit and find a proper place to set up our tent. Kazakhstan is pretty empty so we didn’t have much trouble, even in the dark. As we pitched the tent, we kept hearing thunder in the distance. Throughout the night it would rain for maybe 20 seconds at a time.

First Kazakh Campsite

In the morning we awoke to an audience of curious policemen across the the highway who were running a checkpoint. They watched us pack up and leave but didn’t seem too interested in our roadside campsite otherwise.

Looking around in the light of day it was clear we were in a different landscape from Uzbekistan. For the CBPG, Kazakhstan was characterized by huge flat expanses of small brush, interupted occasionally by low rocky hills that didn’t take more than a few minutes to cross. Where the road had been carved in to the hills you could see that the ground was hard rock covered in only the thinest veneer of soil. I credit this foundation for the excellent roads we encountered in almost all of Kazakhstan, with the exception of about 50km of truly terrible road near Semey. Although these low hills were the largest feature we encountered on the highway, we could frequently see tall snow-capped mountains rising sharply from the plains off to the right of the highway (between south and east depending on where we were), part of the Tian Shen range.

Rolling plains of Kazakhstan

That day we stuck close to the border and crossed in to Kyrgyzstan near Bishkek in the afternoon. It’s frequently been the case during this trip that a border crossing has corresponded with a sudden change in landscape, and again this was the case in Kyrgyzstan. The moment we crossed the border the open dry plains were gone and replaced by trees and green all around, almost jungle-like. When the Soviets divided the USSR to form the Stans one of the goals was to create resource imbalances that would require the countries to work together (with Russia acting as broker). To this end, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan are rich in oil and gas but have no water, while Kyrgyzstan has plenty of water but no energy (only from hydro power during snowmelt).  I mention it because I thought it was interesting, and also because it was clear just looking around that Kyrgyzstan was much more lush and green than any of the other Stans so far.

Just as we were getting in to Bishkek and wondering where we should park, a man in a green Mercedes next to us started waving and offering us apples with a hilarious but evocative biting pantomime. As we pulled over to talk to him, a nearby policeman took exception and demanded Andrew’s driver’s licence. No sooner had he given it over than the man from the Mercedes showed up, showed the officer his own ID and took back Andrew’s license and shepherded him away.

Ernest and the Apples

As we introduced ourselves to our new friend Ernest (Russian name Nimitz) and received our bag of apples, he told us that he was a police detective in training and had told the previous officer that we were his guests. What a guy! We asked if he could recommend a place for dinner and invited him along.

Cafe Jalalabat with Ernest and Aijan

Sitting on the tapchan eating plov, shashlik, and manti, we struggled with our very limited overlap of English/Russian/Kyrgyz until his sister Aijan showed up to join us. Aijan speaks good English and works at a bank in Bishkek. After we ate, the two of them took us on a walking tour of the central square area of town. They were proud both of Bishkek and of Issiq-kul where their family home is, and rightly so. We thought Bishkek at sunset was really pretty. There’s a large, newly completed (re-done?) open square in the middle of town with fountains and statues. The locals seemed to enjoy strolling around the square as much as we did– it was a lively and fun place. We snapped pictures galore.

Square in central Bishkek

We next walked over to the park where there are a few carnival rides, and rode the Ferris wheel to get another great perspective on the city. Afterward we were pretty tired, so Ernest and Aijan helped us find a hotel room! Their warmth and openness was really remarkable. It was wonderful for us to have met them and spent the few hours with them that we did. Even if only for them, I will have fond memories of Kyrgyzstan.

At points along the way the CBPG has discussed the idea that being open and receptive to positive experiences will bring more positive experiences to you, and vice versa. We’ve met a couple other rally teams who have seemed concerned to a point of paranoia about being ripped off, robbed, exploited, extorted or otherwise wronged at every step. By assuming the best intentions among the people we’ve met along the way, we think we’ve had some really special experiences like the one in Bishkek. Conversely, assuming the worst intentions can color any benign interaction and turn it negative. As a traveller, it’s largely up to you to set a tone of cooperation or contention when you interact with locals.

Not to say it always works out. We’ve twice so far been extorted for 20 undeserved dollars, first on the boat and later by a cop in Almaty. Occasionally people are nasty and there’s nothing you can do about it. You have to ask yourself how much you would pay to avoid an hour of argument that may or may not (often the latter) change anything.

We made it to Baku at dawn after driving through the night the day after crossing in to Georgia. Eventually we got on board the ferry about 2am Tuesday night/Wednesday morning. There was much strife and hilarity here but I have to abbreviate in order to catch up. The boat took all that night and half of the next day. Just when we seemed to be getting close to land we stopped and dropped anchor.

So close, yet so far

The boat stayed anchored off Turkmenbashi until Thursday morning before we pulled in to port. Entering Turkmenistan took about 8 hours of going to different windows and paying fees (about $420 to get us and the car in to the country, not counting the $625 ferry ride).

Uneventful drive across Turkmenistan. We stayed Thursday night in Ashgabat, Turkmenbashi’s (the former leader) monument-city to himself. We took a few pictures despite being acosted by the military police and told to delete them.

All hail Turkmenbashi!

Earthquake memorial with golden baby Niyazov

Market in Turkmenabat on our way out of Turkmenistan

We stayed another night (Friday) in Mary, Turkmenistan, then met a few other teams at the border crossing in to Uzbekistan at Farap on Saturday midday. We saw Bukhara briefly yesterday afternoon before driving on to Samarqand, arriving about 1am. We’re staying with Sarah’s friend Aziza’s family.

We spent today seeing the sights around Samarqand. Uzbekistan is a pretty amazing place, and one I (andrew) didn’t know anything about. I guess that’s a bit what this whole thing is about.

Sher-Dor Mosque

The crew rests at Shah-i-Zinda

We’re spending tonight in Samarqand again with Aziza and her family, eating delicious osh plov. Then tomorrow we’re on to Tashkent.

Waiting at the Serbian Border in 90-100 degree heat

The next morning we woke up and headed out for the long drive to Sofia, Bulgaria. We blew through all of  Serbia in the heat of the day, after spending about 2 hours at the border to get in. We arrived in Sofia after nightfall and managed to meet up with Andrew’s friend Ina, a Sofia-area native.

Ina and Andrew at a fruit stand in Sofia, Bulgaria

Ina had asked her friend Rumi to put us up for the night, which was great. Rumi lives in a part of town called Stoudentskigrad (Student’s Town) in a large, new apartment block that seems to still be partially under construction. The CBPG was pretty tired and may not have done the best job of preventing blandness that night after we declined to go out to a club with the girls Next time, Ina!

We have some videos to upload but I can’t do it right now. We’re in Turkey and the Turkish government has banned YouTube. Lame, Turkey!

Our car is so eco-friendly, it grows lichen

Felicia in the poppies

The team

Upon arriving in Vienna, we grabbed some döner kebab and went to see some sights like a cathedral and a palace, a candy store, and ice cream store, and then to a pizza place for dinner – as we were traveling with Ben, it was naturally the eating-tour of Vienna.

Team relaxes after ice cream at Tichy

The next morning we bought some new tires and then went to the museumsquartier to see an exhibit of Klimt and Schiele and the Jugendstijl at the Leopold Museum and Thomas Ruff at the Kunsthalle. After cooling off in the lovely air conditioning (it was HOT in Vienna!), we headed to the awesomely fun trampolines floating on the Danube.

Anand flips out

Sarah and Anand work on their circus act

Jessie rocks out in mid-flight

We finished the day with the most delicious Halloumi sandwiches on earth, some refreshing beverages, and tortes at Cafe Goldegg.

Team CBPG at Cafe Goldegg

That night I had another amazing meal with Camille’s family. Yes, apparently I’ve been spelling her name wrong the whole time. Anyway, the L’s are silent as far as I can tell. Then she, her cousin Marianne, and I went down to the river to watch the fireworks. Fun! Pretty impressive fireworks for a small town. Pics or video later maybe.

Awesome day today! I don’t know where to start so we’ll just go chronologically. No, I can’t! The car passed the Contrôl Technique inspection! I’m so thrilled. It’s the first time I’m feeling like I’ve made some progress with the car.

So actually she didn’t pass the first time through. Camie and I took her in at about 10 in the morning and went for a coffee for an hour and a half while they did the inspection. It seems pretty thorough– there are about 100 “points of inspection” listed on the report.

So after our coffee we headed back and there was one main thing blocking our passing– the muffler had a hole in it, which in addition to being a failure on its own means that they also can’t do the emissions test. The guys at the Contrôle Technique place said that we would have to get a new muffler. So, back to Garage Nhevoit, my favorite place in Libourne!

At Garage Nhevoit I was told that, no, of course they don’t have the part and it would have to be ordered. But it seems Camie was able to soften his heart a little and he let us know that the big MaxAuto garage and auto parts store could probably take care of us. Off we went (this was straight back in the direction of the Contrôle Technique center– it and MaxAuto are in the same complex).

MaxAuto was closed now for lunch (2 hours, naturally). Now a brief interlude.

I must say that Camie’s family is comprised of some of the most welcoming and hospitable people I have had the fortune to meet, including not only Camie herself but her mother and father, her young cousin visiting from Paris, and even her dog (a Boxer who, at 6 months old, is already rather large and muscular).

They live in a beautiful home close to the Garage Nhevoit, with a perfectly-sized back yard for a dog, and a pool fenced in with grape vines. It was here we went while MaxAuto had lunch so we could do the same. Camie’s father, an opthomologist, was home from the hospital for lunch as it seems is normal. Her mother had set the table outside, where I learned at the conclusion of the pizza and salad courses that there would be an additional 3 courses. It was all washed down with a nice local wine from Fronsac, on the other side of Libourne from Pomerol and Saint Emilion where I was yesterday. Unforgettable.

This is getting too long so I will abbreviate. After lunch back to the garage MaxAuto. They sent us away for another couple hours so they could look at it and give us a quote. Went back to Camie’s to go swimming. At 4:30 returned to MaxAuto where they had decided they could just put some putty in the leaks and strap the exhaust pipe down and everything would be fine, no new muffler needed! And it was already done! Cheap! Awesome! Returned to the Contrôle Technique center just before closing time where they were able to run the smog check and pass us!

By the way, the reason we did all this Contrôle Technique today instead of going to the prefecture is because the prefecture was closed. As we found out when we showed up at 9, all the prefectures in all of Gironde were closed today, presumably because the employees wanted to make a 4-day weekend out of the 14th.

One good thing we learned from the Nhevoit guy is that the sous-prefecture they have here in Libourne can’t issue a carte grise (registration document) the same day– only the main prefecture in Bordeaux can do that. Good to know. So tomorrow we celebrate the storming of the Bastille, and then on Wednesday we head in to Bordeaux!