The Route

We will be taking our one litre 'crap' car, pointing it East and generally hoping for the best!  The map below shows our intended route minus the many detours we will no doubt end up taking due to getting lost!

The Rally starts on the 19th July from Hyde Park, London, we then head over to Prague.  Several European countries later and we hit Turkey where the pleasant car journey gets a bit trickier and the roads get progressively worse!  We then drive through Georgia and Azerbaijan before giving our car a rest whilst we take the ferry across the Caspian sea to Turkmenistan.  Then onto Uzbekistan to Kazahstan (Borat country) where we anticipate getting more than a little bit lost!  A quick nip through a tiny part of Russia then into Mongolia if our car is still alive!


Things we have learnt about this area of the world, courtesy of the FCO website

• Don't photograph sensitive things, such as power installations
• The British Government are like Jack Bauer, they don't negotiate with kidnappers
• There are really really bad roads once you get into and past Turkey, signage is non-existent, potholes can be the size of your car and they don't keep to the Green Cross Code
• In Russia we should be aware of mail order bride scams
• Bird flu is around
• Azerbaijan is apparently the place to buy carpets, however it is not a good idea to wear shorts.
• It's not a good idea to hang round where there are planned demonstrations or protests going on.
• Unfortunately Uzbekistan is not currently accepting British Certificates of No Impediments making it difficult if either of us decide to elope and marry a Uzbek Farmer
• 'There are limited ATM's' and 'Don't carry lots of cash' - slight catch 22 there
• Alcohol is completely banned in Iran (Only one of the many reasons why we are avoiding this place!)
• Beware of Pedicabs in China = these are similar to Tuktuks and we know the dangers of these first hadn (ask Sam...)
• Pirates exist in the South Chinese Sea!
• Advise taking GPS if traveling to Mongolia - surely this would spoil the fun of the rally!?!

General things we have learnt about this area of the world

• Uzbekistan is the only country that way of the world to have a subway system, which it proudly boasts is the cleanest in the world and is apparently very ornately decorated

• You can ski in Georgia

• The Caspian Sea is larger than you think, it takes about 18 hours to get from Baku in Azerbaijan to Turkmenistan, and there was us thinking it was similar to the Channel.

• There are no accurate maps of Mongolia anywhere

• Apparently Mongolians are rather partial to the sounds of boy band Blue and horse milk vodka

• There are more horses than people in Mongolia

General wonderings about this area of the world

• In Europe they drive on the Right, but in old British colonies such as India they drive on the left, therefore what happens when these meet? How does this work?

• Horse milk vodka is the tipple of choice in Mongolia, what does it taste like? Are we brave enough to try it?