Mongolia – Part II: The Gobi Desert and the route north to Ulaan Baatar
How we escaped flash floods and spent the following two weeks bashing through the Gobi Desert following old soviet maps in the vague direction of Khongoryn Els.
We left Altai with the Frenchies, fully stocked with fuel, water and food. It was raining hard in Altai. The streets were flooded as we left in a south easterly direction heading for some smaller settlements where we could get fuel before heading off road into the South Gobi Aimag later on. En-route we were heading for ‘The Secret Canyon’ which we had been shown the co-ordinates to by another French group. We called it a day about 50km from what we believed to be the canyon entrance a couple of kms from a small gathering of mud brick homes. This didn’t deter local trucks full of men offering vodka or men on motorbikes with their families sat behind (babies included!) popping by to see who we were. None of us could speak Mongolian, and they didn’t speak Russian, so we were limited to hand gestures, toasts and shots of vodka to communicate greetings!
Wild Camping in Mongolia… Usually the only way!
Mongolia – Part I: The Wild West
How we scraped through the border to make the national Naadam festival, stumbled upon Kazakh eagle hunters, found hidden petroglyphs and met the ‘Frenchies’
Kyrgyzstan had been eclipsed by Tajikistan, in terms of hospitality and friendliness. But now we were entering Mongolia, a land famous the world over for it’s unmatched hospitality and warmth. I couldn’t keep the smile from my face as we crossed through the border, the excitement hard to contain.
Kyrgyzstan – Home of Hospitality and Letting Freedom Ring With A Shotgun Blast.
How we reconvened with other overlanders in Bishkek, had a drunken night out with prostitutes, tried to climb a mountain and finally used the packraft.
After a freezing final night in Tajikistan we (reluctantly) exited the country encountering few problems (the usual “problem” requiring $25 to sort out soon disappeared when we settled back into the car offering to wait for the right official to arrive) and took the long road down to the Kyrgyz border. We were ushered through the gates and into Kyrgyzstan with barely a glance at the car (minus a required customs declaration which will become apparent later), taking less than twenty minutes. It was lunchtime and obviously not a convenient time to check vehicles!
Overlanders Tips: Top 5 Girly Essentials
Despite what many may think, overland travel is not a holiday.
It gets tough when you have to wake up and exit your roof tent to an audience, eat local food without offending your hosts (or your stomach), and travel with the same companion day in, day out. Don’t get me wrong, life on the road is great, but it’s definitely not a break. When you have to wash your clothes by hand, and source your food every day or so from who-knows-where, it’s very, very time-consuming and tiring, even without the language barriers. But travelling isn’t an excuse to let yourself go and sprucing yourself up is no mean feat when all you have is a muddy wing mirror for assistance! So here are some of the things I have with me that have made being a lady on the road a little easier…
Photo taken on the floor of a very Russian hotel room
Uzbekistan – The Silk Road Cities and near-death in Bukhara
How we found the Aral Sea, ate Camel meat and got ourselves in a spot of trouble.
The Fishing Fleet – Aral Sea
I will just start this post by apologising if it unfairly puts Uzbekistan in a bad light. It was probably not Uzbekistan’s fault that we had such a rough time of it, but we have blamed the country purely on circumstantial evidence – we were fine before and have been since! This doesn’t encompass the Uzbeks themselves, as they were warm and friendly. And there’s more than likely a massive part we ourselves played in making things difficult for ourselves, as will become clear.
It started with a seven-hour border crossing, which in the burning midday sun was not one of the finer moments we’ve had on the trip, it must be said. (more…)
South Russian Transit – Car dealers and Mini Mongolia
Russia: Bad police, bad drivers, bad service and bad food, right? Maybe these stereotypes were the reason Russia exceeded all our expectations. We had heard of Russian hospitality, but thought this would be limited to the rural areas of Siberia where there were sparser populations. We never expected our transit through southern Russia to be so warm and memorable.
Turkey – Ankara, Cappadocia and the Black Sea Coast
After the craziness of Istanbul roads, we welcomed the relative order that seemed to ensue in the Turkish capital of Ankara. Although Istanbul is the culture centre of the country, Ankara is the administrative centre and so the place we needed to go for most of our Central Asian visas. After driving all day, through blazing sun and random snow, we eventually found the Ulasan Hotel where we were allowed to camp (tucked away out the back of course!). It is one of the only places that allows camping and is a good spot overlooking the lake. (more…)
Turkey – From Europe to Asia Welcome to Istanbul
After laid-back Bulgaria we crossed the (hectic) border into Turkey. It took us about two hours, the longest by far, due to confusion between the letter ‘I’ and the number ‘1’ – easily done I suppose, if it wasn’t typed on every document, not to mention the number plate. We were sent to an inspection hangar on the side of the crossing, ready (begrudgingly) to empty the Landrover and trailer. After almost 30 mins of waiting Griff enquired as to why we were there, to find that no-one knew why, and what’s more they were confused as to how we’d entered as we were not on the system. It eventually transpired the registration plate had been incorrectly entered, it was re-entered and we were finally allowed to legally enter the country. The chaos of the border was just the beginning! (more…)
Bosnia & Herzegovina – Mostar to Sarajevo
On the tram to central Sarajevo
We left the glistening Adriatic a few miles south of Split, Croatia and headed to the mountains and the border of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH). Although people tend to encompass the whole country under the name Bosnia, the southwest region near the Dalmation border is actually Herzegovina – and the locals will remind you if you forget it! The country’s political geography gets even more complicated with the north and east of the country allocated as Republika Srpska or RS (predominantly Bosnian Serbs), separated from the remaining Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina to the south and west (Bosnian Croats and Bosniaks). This was the “solution” that helped to put an end to the recent conflict in the 1990’s, though whether either side is satisfied is open to debate. Having said that, the locals seem happy enough to be getting on with life as usual.
Germany – Bavaria & Neushwanstein Castle
After almost a week back in the UK I flew back to Munich Airport where Griff picked me up and took me to the campsite he’d found in Landshut, a surprisingly large town northeast of Munich. It was a beautiful town, complete with snow (which I’d forgotten about while back home), and bars and restaurants aplenty. One in particular had caught Griff’s eye, a lovely rustic looking place with chunky wooden tables awash with candlelight, perfect for a romantic dinner. Having established that yes we would definitely like to eat there, it was (ahem) agreed that we would walk around another hour before going back for dinner. But on returning we found it was full and could not eat for a few more hours! We were so disappointed!
Bristol & West Land Rover Show 2012
Last weekend we joined BLESMA, the charity for limbless veterans, at the Bristol and West Land Rover Show in an attempt to break the record for the most landrovers in one place (by making the shape of a Defender 90). We needed over 1000 cars to make it work, but unfortunately due to the poor weather prediction (unfounded until Saturday evening) the turnout wasn’t as good as expected and only about half that number joined in. So instead, a massive convoy around the grounds was the next best thing, and altogether about £8000 was raised. Add to that a couple of grand from the auction in the afternoon and BLESMA did quite well in the end!
Lisa
Griff
Sirocco Overland | Сирокко Оверленд 