Update #16 - Add on

To show you where the "might" be currently... (click on picture for scale up)

See the "tracks" between Beyneu and Akzhigit... no tarmac, no roads, just sand

Driver Comments #5

Damn Google editor, now all Team links got lost. Hope you can enjoy the comments nevertheless, there are some jewels there...

• Berrow Fellows
  Location Astrahan(Russia) ; 09:59 on 31-07-2007
  what do you call two englishmen a scot a irishman a swiss and a luxembourg man missing the last ferry at thee border with kazak ? Tired as next one was 6am and it was midnight
• Team Scraz
  Location Ufa(Russia) ; 08:27 on 31-07-2007
  Look like shit? Feel like shit? Smell like shit? Relentless Scraz Tours welcome you to Russia! Aa aa aaaaaaa...
• Team Crazy Fools
  Location Trabzon(Turkey) ; 06:41 on 31-07-2007
  Man down! Ryan has the squits! Impressed by last nights georgian hospitality. Ate cheesybread and some random meat, possibly dog. May explain the squits.
• Team Crazy Fools
  Location Trabzon(Turkey) ; 17:28 on 30-07-2007
  So good to be back in convoy! Locals driving like loons. Dodging cows. So much black smoke coming from one truck we thought it was on fire! *A-hurgh!*
• Minor Problems
  Location London Hyde Park(United Kingdom) ; 16:02 on 30-07-2007
  Left toothbrushes hyde park so returned to pick up. Hopefully in georgia tea time.
• Land of Down
  Location Unknown ; 15:02 on 30-07-2007
  Sammy doing some low altitude flying! ...
• Mongolia in a Micra
  Location Trabzon(Turkey) ; 14:45 on 30-07-2007
  Speeding fine! The ginger one was at the wheel, i'm still considering not paying and leaving him as security. (Only joking mr and mrs cooper)
• The Goonies
  Location Unknown ; 14:36 on 30-07-2007
  Just saw a dog eating another dog!Team Tom Location Volgograd(Russia) 14:21 on 30-07-2007 300km away from volgograd - just got stopped by the russian police doing 120km per hour in a 60 area. $10 US later we're on our way...
• Team Barton
  Location Moscow(Russia) ; 12:48 on 30-07-2007
  team barton sitting in tema bar. lost our convoy. Russian lady answered their phone. Bad sign. We will be at the bar 8-11pm tonight if anyone is in moscow
• Austrian Team
  Location Ufa(Russia) ; 04:31 on 30-07-2007
  weiter geht's. Stromteufel besiegt. Banken in Samara sogut versteckt, wie Stalinbunker.
• Yakky Racers
  Location Unknown ; 21:40 on 29-07-2007
  Somewhere in kstan!" last saw a sign 4hrs ago, cant remember what tarmac looks like. Car loving off roading though; sell your landrovers and buy a micra!
• 2togs2mongolia
  Location Merzifon(Turkey) ; 20:39 on 29-07-2007
  ... Saw Paris to Peking cars today. In good shape and enjoying the trip.
• Green Pea
  Location Trabzon(Turkey) ; 15:34 on 29-07-2007
  ... Hasn't been 1 burger king since istanbul ...Damn we're hungry...
• Team Barton
  Location Moscow(Russia) ; 12:38 on 29-07-2007
  200km off moscow! Stopped by police - no idea what they wanted. border crossing made interesting by angry russian lady. met team mister dinosaur in riga
• turbodurbo
  Location Lviv(Ukraine) ; 12:25 on 29-07-2007
  just got stopped for 'speeding' and paid first fine. Gave policeman pen to sign car. He wrote fine on bonnet! Paid a sixth of what he wanted in dollars and off again. Moldova here we come...

Update #16

I'm beginning to think, that our heroes are doing this deliberately. As they kindly woke me up yesterday by calling in the middle of the night (hello you already are 4 hours ahead of us), I was prepared today. Got up early. Sitting there. Waiting. Nothing happend. Now, at 10 am, I get this wonderful text message, I immediately wanna share with you:

"We're in the desert. It's hot, dry, and dusty. Hardly doing any progress. Keep getting stuck in the $!")%! sand"

Niet straße ! Didn't I say going to Uzbekistan, might not be such a good idea ?...

P.S. There's a poll at the far end of the right sidebar, it'd be cool if you would participate. Thx

Update 15# - What did you say ?

2007/07/30 7.50

Few miles before Atyrau, mileage counter shows 6229 km

I'm pretty much experiencing the distance between them and me right now, as talking to them on the phone sounds like talking to the man on the moon. What a coincidence, I just found that article here, saying that a 1,5 Mbit DSL flat would cost around 2500 € in Kazakhstan (16.000 € for a 6 Mbit flat). No wonder they haven't found an Internet café yet. I've come to know, that on their way to finding a camping ground, they met a guy from Heidenheim (Germany) and his family. They were so happy to see them, that the father and his son showed them the most beautiful camp ground directly at the sea and cooked spaghetti with them. On the next morning, Richard and Martin had to take care as lots of camels and nosey horses came by tents to check them out ;)

Then, there is the more stressful part, as they won't let me talk them out of going to Uzbekistan. I tried everything, but it wouldn't help. Thanks to my lovely friend Katja, who called the embassy of Kazakhstan in Toshkent (Uzbekistan), we now know, that getting a visa takes at least (whatever that means in Russian terms) 2 working days. So, either trying to do so or - as some other drivers met people from the rally Paris -> Bejing, get the special permission they need to drive through China.

To be continued...