The rally raced on as teams wound their sometimes rather creaky ways all over the globe. Stories from Russia, Kazakhstan, Georgia, Iran, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan to mention only a few flooded in as the 2008 Mongol Rally teams faced a number of rather interesting situations. After experiencing the non-roads of Kazakhstan, The Khoomiies found themselves the guests of honour at a wedding … “another horror 400kms of off road to Aral where we were asked to attend a wedding. Ben sang and played guitar at the altar…” Meanwhile The Cunning Linguists faced their own challenges in Chelyabinsk, Russia: “What a day, after spending a night in the woods we set off for the lakes outside Chelyabinsk, for a spot of skinny dipping, however we only found a mental asylum and promptly moved onto Chelyabinsk. We made record time to the hotel but unfortunately managed to skip a red light and get T-boned by a minibus, the driver shall not be named. As the confused bureaucracy began Ciaran told George to walk the 100 m to the hotel and check in. Visa problems ensued and no room was acquired so when George went to tell Ciaran the news he found only empty road. After leaving a message at the hotel, George went to a different hotel to get a room while the night was young. After meeting a bilingual receptionist George started phoning around to find his co adventurer and occasional lover. After many a phone call Ciaran was located within a police station and the swift reconciliation has taken us to the beer hall.” So all was well that ended with beer.
Preparations for entering Mongolia took various forms, of which the following description provided by The Panda Handlers emerges as truly novel: “After a truly authentic Russian experience involving continuous consumption of food and vodka, staying with a family who made their own 70 percent alcohol home brew, fed us a pig which had previously inhabited their garden and convinced us to beat each other naked in the sweltering heat of their banya (bath hut), going to the local disco and cruising around in a Lada listening to deafening heavy metal, we are now ready for the Mongolian border.” How could you not be prepared for the might of Mongolia after that! Others approached the issue slightly more abstractly: “so Alex just decided 2 drive the car into a lake. Up to the roof. Towed out but wont start, cud b the end...” Ah yes, Team Loud Noises have discovered the old driving- into- a- lake- up- to- the- roof trick – now if there’s one way to get your car to Mongolia…
Anticipation continued to mount as the shiny steeds that started so smoothly in Hyde Park all those weeks before began to show signs of the struggle. Amidst it all however, A Very British Adventure reminded us all of how to battle on in the very worst of doubt… “Tajikistan took its toll on car & morale. Doors falling off, floor split open, no suspension, lights smashed, rear ended at 40mph, bent sub frame, broken exhaust, car slowly snapping in half but worst of all cd stuck in cd player! Phonebox in great shape so in true British style we soldier on.” They haven’t reached Mongolia yet – but with that attitude we have little doubt they will!
Those who made it out of Russia and into the Steppes faced a whole series of new challenges. On Safari put it rather well when announcing: “18/08 15:00 This is by far the hardest, most draining thing I have ever done. Driving isn't "driving", it's constantly deciding between corrugated, sandy, pot-holed, rocky or ridged roads, whilst all the time looking out for pot holes, rocks, ridges, dips, sand drifts puddles and rivers. This for 12hrs a day whilst sleeping less than 6 due to time spent cooking, cleaning (dishes, not ourselves) putting up/down tents and waking up to the sound of wind/rain/cars/trucks/trains/animals/land owners. We have not washed for days. Dust is everywhere. We're trying to cover a distance of 2,000km (that's more than Melb-Bris) averaging 40km an hour and hoping not to break Eric.” But imagine the feeling when you make it!! Carry on safariing! It really is worth it – we promise! 2UB or not 2UB would no doubt concur – “2ub or not 2ub - that was the question. And the answer is - 2ub! Arrived 2:30pm local after wheel/shock support snapped. Middle of nowhere, removed, taken away, welded, returned and fixed by a stranger during the hours of darkness. God bless Mongolia.” It all works out in the end you see! Even when very, very lost like Panda Hands… “Got a bit lost after leaving Bayankhonger which is easily done when driving on dirt tracks with no sign posts and people giving you wrong directions. When we ended up driving in a river gorge we knew something was a miss, with our two spares punctured we started to sweat more than normal but at least we were travelling with two sound lads from Wigan. We got back on the main dirt track and got the tyres fixed at Arvaikheer in some tyre shack and relaxed with a nice warm bowl of some salty horses milk, as ya do.” Or like Thunderbirds… “What makes Mongolia fun is that the only time they use street signs is to announce you are a few kms from the city... And that's when you already have it in sight. Apart from that there aren't any, which is why we got lost up a mountain. Not too much of a problem until one of the cars decided to loose a wheel. An eventful day but still we live to tell the tale. We are now 400kms from the finish and due some tarmac today so we're doubly excited.” Now that’s the spirit girls!!
And so the teams began to cross the finish line – after a month of slogging through some of the most challenging and beautiful bits and pieces of the planet – and what a party it was too…