We Are The Stig

We have now safely arrived in Beijing after our 36 hour luxury train journey from Mongolia. Mongolia was a great place especially out in the countryside. Sadly after we arrived, we both became very ill me especially voming in the street. We recovered quickly then headed out to a countryside Ger family who filled us with fermented horse's milk. The alcoholic stuff is disgusting especially when you're ill and they top us up with vodka. Tom did well downing one bowl but I had to be polite and say I was going to make a mess in their Ger if they made me do it. It turned into a full on party as it got late with even an MP turning up. Very interesting for us bot not our recovering bodies, the next day we were hanging! The rest of our time in Ulaan Baatar was spent trying to be of some use to the charity who are having huge problems importing all the cars. They are having to pay tax even though there was an agreement they wouldn't have to pay. Lots of complicated issues and stress but we got to see some of the projects the money has already started to help.  Eventually we managed to get Chinese visas and train tickets all the way to Beijing where we are now. We're not going to bore everyone with our further travels after Mongolia so this is to say thanks for reading, donating and generally sending us messages of support. Sorry we couldn't update more and tell you everything that has happened but look at it as something to look forward when we get back. See you all soon upon our return late October/ealry November who knows!    Bye    Noel and Tom ("We are The Stig")   

After leaving the Internet cafe where we last updated the blog, we headed back to the B&B for a great chat with a 12 year old about which was the best brand of Vodka. We drunk a bottle, he had some coke. All in all a good stay.
The next day we headed for Tashkent the capital of Uzbekistan. After almost crossing the border at the wrong place we got into Tashkentn and parked up at the airport - our usual trick. Unfortunately it was expensive, we then headed in to find a hotel. They all seemed full except for a nice one for $45 as we thought we deserved a bit of luxury. A 2 night stay became a one night stay.
The following afternoon (the Sunday) we headed for Kazakhstan. For some reason the border point was closed so we had to punt to another so as not to overstay our visa. This was hard - there were no signs. After about an hour we found the border. After dodging another fine we got to customs. The process took a while until we mentioned our love of beer and plov and we were through to the Kazak side.
We parked up and as Noel was the driver I was hurried in as usual and then with Noel to follow in the car in a batch. I was through in about 10 minutes. After about an hour of waiting in the dark watching lorries coming through I began to worry and get hungry. After two hours I was a little more concerned. I decided to make questions. After a bit of chat (about 30 mins) I was allowed back through without getting my visa taken and with the knowledge the border was to close in 15 minutes and the fact that the border was bent I found Noel with the information it would cost us $15. We had little choice really. Noel came in and objected a little at which point the border guard said he was my friend and Noel wasn't. I did disagree. In the end he let us through for $10. Must have been our winning smiles. We got through at about 22.10, after they had closed. Half an hour of driving and we found a place to pull up and sleep in the car - a pattern to repeat itself.

The drive through Kazakhstan was hard on us and Jennifer. The roads were good and after three days we thought we could do it in one more. That evening as we were racing along at about 90km/h and hit a really bad bit of road. As it was late we parked up and slept.

The next day was bad. The road had pretty much stopped apart from some areas which appeared to have been shelled judging by the size of the potholes. It took about 12 hours to drive 200km. We got a flat tyre on this we managed to change in about an hour. Whilst doing so two cowboys rode up and offered us vodka. We had to decline with heavy hearts. We did enjoy the scenery, after a while it was a bit like "There's another golden eagle," "There are more wild horses,"
We hit the border town eventually that evening and parked up for another night in the car eating pasta and sauce. Early the next morning we did the remaining hour and got to the Russian boarder.

The Kazaks here were great, there was no question of a bribe. We breezed through both sides after having to learn how to fill out a customs form in Russian and discovered for the first time it was cold. Really cold. Flip flops were not the ideal footwear.
We pushed on through Russia driving 14 hour days and covering a huge distance. Russia was easy in terms of food and cash points but the petrol a bit of a mission. You had to pre pay and they never seemed to understand we wanted a full tank.

Russia gave us another day of terrible roads which was a pain. We did manage to find some nice trucker cafes to eat in the evening and one of these gave us one of our funniest experiences. After finishing our meal we were climbing into the car when a chap called out "English?"
"Yes!,"
"Rally Mongolia?"
"Yes!"
"F**k you!,"
At which point he must have seen the look on our faces because he started saying
"No no sorry sorry errr,"
I thought Id help him out and said "Good luck?"
He suddenly looked very happy repeated it a lot with sorry sorry. Maybe too many American films?
Russia was a fantastic country. Really beautiful colours from the worlds largest forest and the largest lake.
We were told the women would be beautiful and some were. We were told the men would be grumpy and they were not at all.
One note of interest. Noel was stopped 5 times by the police, I was stopped zero. There is no reason to explain this but blind luck.
Crossing from Russia was easy.
We entered Mongolia and saw loads of abandoned cars which gave us a laugh.
And we were told by the customs we couldn't go any further.
Some guy in a tracksuit sidled up and told us he was director of the charity. We smelt a rat and said yeh whatever and shooed him away. Tax was mentioned a lot and we thought it was a scam.  After about an hour it became clearer thanks to Mr Tracksuit passing his phone to us.
It was explained that the tax for NGOs has changed and the cars were confiscated.
This was obviously a little bit of a disappointment. We apologised to Mr Tracksuit who became our friend.

Jennifer was impounded.

We managed to get an over night train to the capital via a town were an English teacher cooked us a great meal. The train had one problem and it was two old women who snored and farted the night away whilst we tried to sleep.

We are currently in UB hoping to rescue Jennifer soon and drive her own. This is however unlikely at this point.

Thanks for reading...................

Im writing this blog in a really cyber internet cafe meaning its nearly pitch dark and its hard to make out the keys so fogive any spelling mistakes please!
Although we want to keep some stories in reserve to bore you all with at home we did miss a few out from Iran.
We had one werid night at a campsite sitting eating our dinner with an Iranian chap sitting on the floor next to us playing Gypsy King through his mobile and not saying a word for the whole time becasue he had no English at all, it was pretty odd. We also had a pretty odd experience at a Mosque - after being taken for dinner the our new friends wanted to show is the inside of the Mosque = we thought this was pretty cool and were taken in. Inside the Father and about 20 followers were sitting around and wanted a 'chat'. This turned into Noel and I sitting opposite them talking about Islam and the Koran including asking our religion and what we knew of the Korna. Thankfully Noel had read LP and we managed to blag most of it but it was not the most relaxed hour of the trip! Photos to follow. As we left one of the religious guys collared Noel and started asking throgh Alisadar about the danagers and evil of alchol. As you all know Noel doesnt drink and so told the chap. We also had a special breakfast by mistake that was made of one or all of the following - brain, eyeball or feet. It tasted great.
The Iran Turkmenistan boarder crossing was good altohugh it took 5 hours for no real reason. Noel got a medical, I didnt becasue I was driving (?). The Turkmenistan side was odd, Noel got a medical and sent through to the other side and I had to play silly buggers going from room to room and bank to bank with pieces of paper and dollars. The weridest bit was the policeman who had got a cap gun from a lorry driver, in I Love You wrapping paper of course, he kept 'shooting' me and the others in the office and then people passing by.
Once through the boarder and to Ashgabat airport we were stopped by a smiling policeman with a load of gold in his teeth. He wanted to fine us for having the steering wheel on the wrong side. There was ntohing we could do about this so decieded not to pay and pretened to be stupid for a while. He made it clear so Noel started reading print offs to him until he got board and went away after about 30 inds.
We toured Ashgabat and it is the oddest place ever. No one lives in the centre, its just modern tower blocks with places like the Minerstry of Fairness. The theme park was closed. Thecable car was closed. Instead we had half a bottle of Vodka each and some Turkmen cola (give it a swerve if you see it) and went to bed. THe next day we got the car from the airport and headed for Mary through Ashgabat. Unfortunatly a massive lorry headed for us. Despite Noels evasive action of driving up the kerb he managed to scratch Jennifer and take off the wind mirror.
THis was bad news. He stopped sandwiching us between him and the kerb. Not a word of English was spoken but he implied it was our fault and we cut him up. We were given the situation relaxed as it was as black and white as it could be. However with a crowd of peoiple around us who had driven up in cars and the police none of which speaking English for about 25 minutes we got a little worried. Thankfully at that point two brilliant Polish girls stopped. One was a diplomat and said " Can I help you?" We couldnt believe our luck and said yes. By this point we counted 25 Turkmen people and the lorry driver was saying it was our fault and we had to pay. We had to wait for the traffic police.
When they arrived after prying their eyes from the Polish girls dresses they took one look at the car and decided it, correctly, it was the lorry drivers fault! It was then a case of agreeing compensation. We settled on $140 which is a lot for them but we need a new wing mirror, its for charity!
Off we went to the police station were they mentioned Noel would need breathalising miles away. I gather the journey in the back of the car with the lorry driver and another driver was not the most comftale. Of course it was all clear. The next day we were to return for our money. THe polish sisters kindly put us up in their garden, it was great to sleep outside. We of course took them for dinner - without them we would have got fined  we reckon. We eventually drove out of Ashgabat the next day having collected and changed our money. The rest of Turkmenistan is totally differnet form the city, no money is spent there.
We camped in the desert and early the next day headed for the Turkmenistan /  Uzbek boarder. This boarder was fun in that the customs men insisted on going through the medice bag with me. Everything in the bag. It went well until a police man used a wet wipe on his tounge. We got through in the end. In Uzbekistan we headed for a small town which name escapes me. We met a great lady who showed us to her lovely B and B and spent tow great nights there enjoying the cheap beer and great food. We had a monor mishap in buying some Mafia vodka for 80p and it spilling everywhere in the car. At least we didnt drink it!
On the way to Samarquand (where we are now) we got stopped by the police three times for fines. THe technique of playing dumb has served us well so far and we have avoided parting with a single dollar. Samarquand is great, we are resting and relaxing for the final push. Tashkent tomorrow!

Well Iran is a truly amazing place, well beyond any expectations that we had before arriving.  We've been here 2 weeks now and need far more time to explore the country in full but it's always good to have things to come back for next time.  We crossed over from Turkey straight in to Tabriz.  As soon as we crossed into Iran we noticed how insanely mental their driving is.  We were unsure whether to buy insurance for Jennifer but it was a must.  On our second day we had already met so many people but a family that were camped in the part with us insisted they be our guides for the next 2 days.  We travelled West with them to within 30km of the Iraq border to a huge Salt Lake that was very beautiful.   We left them alone and then headed to Sanandaj where one of the friendly people that helped us was an Iranian soldier.  Like all young Iranians he wanted to know about our lives back home and wanted to get across the point that Iranian people love British people, they don't want to kick off WWIII style like it so often seems int he news.  They apologise alot for their government and are generally the nicest people until they get into their cars then they are complete a*******s!!   From there we began to do some of the touristy sites that all Iranians travel to for their summer holidays.   Due to 3000 years of Persian history there is so much to see and do that we have had to unfortunately cut down in to 2 weeks.  One highlight was visiting Ali Sadr caves that is a huge underground 14km river.  It was so busy there with hundreds of us being pulled around in little plastic boats in the gloomy light.  It runs for 14 km underground and towards the end we were lucky enough to experience one of Iranians infamous power cuts.  Luckily the screaming stopped and the emergency lights kicked in quickly.   The distances between towns is vast and our next major destination was Tehran.   Rather than risk Jennifer's life driving in, we stayed at a nearby town and tried to travel in by train.  We made the mistake of parking outside the station and were quickly moved on as a security risk by a nice policeman.  We didn't mind as there were no trains running as it was athe equivalent of sunday so we just got the more interesting bus in instead.  We had the luxury of a hotel for the night with a throne toilet.  Oh how we miss throne toilets it was like a heavenly toilet!  Tom described Tehran as a "functional" city which is a very accurate way to describe it.  Unlike other Iranian cities it is built for purpose and not beautiful.   An interesting night and day there led us to Qazvin.   We did our usual trick of camping with all the other Iranian tourists in the part of the town.    When we settled down though we were woken by a friendly policeman.   He was worried about our security so made us pack up and drive in convoy with him to the police base.   Jennifer was watched over by armed guards and we slept round the corner on their patrol route.   All Iranians are worried for us but we've never felt safer in a country.   After Qazvin it was time to hit the Northern Caspian coast.  The coastline is sandwiched between the Northern mountains and the sea which makes for horrid humid weather.    The Iranians go nuts for it though as it rains.   We however felt like we were visiting a huge sauna.  Our smell factor went off the Richter scale but the Iranians are too polite to say anything.   We made some new friends in the picturesque village of Fumen where they are famous for their cookies so we sampled one from every shop!  Our new friends took us out for dinner and the next day our good friend Alidazr took us on an exhausting walk to an ancient castle.   It's not mentioned in the guide book so we were grateful he took us there.   He was also the biggest Linkin Park fan in all of Iran and sang alot for us which was a real treat.  By the second night on the coast we had had enough.  We STANK, were covered in dirt and tired from not sleeping.   We rolled up in a town called Nur with no clue where to sleep.  We asked what looked like a friendly nut seller where to camp.   He insisted on jumping in the car with us to take us there like a few Iranians have done now so we thought nothing of it.  5 minutes round the corner we arrived but he wanted a tonne of cash for his troubles.   We laughed and waved goodbyt but he wasn't a happy boy.   We said we would get the police to help translate "piss off" into Farsi but he still didn't understand.  He grabbed my arm to stop me walking off which is where I nearly could have ended Anglo-Iranian relations with a bosh to his face but Tom stopped me and there was luckily a soldier right nearby.   A crowd immediately appeared and through broken translation the joker was sent on his way.   The day after we did a hard day of driving to leave the coast.  In our hurry I was driving through the usual hideous town traffic.   Someone cut in front and I was half a second too slow on the brakes.   A little bump took 10 years off my life! He was unscathed but poor Jennifer now has a broken passenger side indicator light cover.  If we make it out of Iran with just that then we're lucky.   We were so keen to leave the coast that an illegal but safe overtaking manouvre got us pulled by the police.   After a few minutes instead of being mad at us they were insisting we found a hotel to wash as they said "it is dangerous to be dirty" and bad for our health.  We did look like homeless tramps so took their advice and had a night of luxury in a hotel away from the evil Caspian coast of sweat.   Currently we are in Mashad which is a very reloigious city.  It's our last stop before Turkmenistan tomorrow.    mashad contains the Holy Shrine of Iman Reza.    It's a pilgrimage destination for many Muslims over the world and  very difficult for non-Muslims and westerners to get in.   Our amazing beards though allowed us to sail straight in.   No cameras sadly means no photos to try and portray how beautiful it is inside.   The comples is huge with thousands of people walking round praying, crying and mainly pushing.    We've got postcards to send so you'll have to make do I'm afraid unless you want to cme to Mashad which we recommend.   We've had a wonderful time in Iran and sorry we had to try and squeeze it all in to one blog.   We'll probably bore you with all the details when we get home.   Tomorrow we're heading straight to Ashgabat the capital of Turkmenistan.   The Internet is slow and hard to find in Iran so you may not hear from us again for a while and we expect Turkmenistan to be harder.  Please bear in mind as well that we haven't had a proper drink for weeks now and Turkmenistan is a wet country again so that may slow our progress.   You should next hear from us after sampling the delights of Ashgabat at least.   We hope you are all well at home and there's not a day that goes past when someone doesn't get a mention as we drive in Jennifer.   There might be a delay for photos unless we find Internet that isn't the speed of dial up.  See you all soon.  Tom, Noel and Jennifer

Just after wrıtıng the last post we headed to fınd some food. One guy mıstook Noel and I for members of a beach volley ball team. Thıs happens from tıme to tıme when you have the physıque we both have so we thought nothıng of ıt. After eatıng we wandered along the beach and saw an area set up for beach volley ball wıth teıred seatıng and musıc. We thought we would have a look and not quıte belıevıng our luck realısed we had managed to fınd our way ınto a town hostıng a free three day beach volley ball competıtıon wıth dancıng grıls and cheerleaders.  We spent some tıme there to break up the beach tıme.

They had a bızarre promotıon for Locktıte glue whıch ınvolved glueıng some gırl up sıde down to test how well ıt worked. The stragest part of ıt was that ıt appeared Matty Rattys (unı frıend) slıghtly older Bulgarıan relatıve was hostıng the thıng. Check the photos.....

We had a hassle free crossıng ınto Turkey despıte ıt takıng an hour ıt was an easy one. As soon as we crossed the road stopped beıng tarmaced and the raın started. We drove for a whıle to Istanbull Motocamp and after spendıng ages tryıng to fınd the thıng wıth the help of locals, ıncludıng one who drove us to the wrong place, we found the thıng whıch strangely had a helıpad.

Turkısh petrol ıs brutally expensıve - about 1.50 a lıtre.

Next day we were up early and off to Istanbull, Parked up at the aırport and got the traın and tram ınto the mıddle.We foudn the hostel wıthout a problem and were cruısıng Istanbull all day on foot. It was a great cıty and massıve. Makes London seem small.We had some good Kebaps (correctly spelt) and some great mackrell. We then went back to the hostel, made up some Vodka and coke and contunıed our walkıes. We had a pretty good sleep, we are gettıng more used to the call to prayer every day.

We went back to the aırport early the next day to have a shower. They dıdnt have any. We left the aırport smellıng and headed out to Iran, a three day trıp. Found a campsıte on day one out of the blue and used the showers. Set off early agaın, just a day of drıvıng and found a good place to free camp by the road. Agaın the people are fantastıcally frıendly.

Set off early ın the mornıng and about 11 stopped for some petrol. We got a tea glass, some eu du toılette and turkısh delıght free. However when we went to pay none of the cards worked becasue the phone was broken or somethıng. We had no cash. One of the guys then jumped ın the car wıth me and took me to fınd an atm knowıng we,d never fınd ıt wıthout hım and havıng no space for three. The guy and I had a good chat about football. When I arrıved back at the petrol statıon I dıscovered Noel had been sıttıng drınkıng tea and chattıng football wıth them. Paıd wıth cash but not before gettıng a free car wash (they ınsısted) and shakıng hands wıth about 8 people.

we are now about 1 hour from Iran and are goıng to chıll out ın preperatıon for the Iran crossıng tomorrow.

It's been an age since our last blog back in Plovdiv but somehow we are still in Bulgaria! We stayed for 3 nights in Veliko Tarnovo with our new friend Cliff who ran the place. Sleeping on beds again for a few nights was a welcome luxury and a very chillaxing town. We even managed to get to the local cinema to see the new Batman film which was brilliant.

From Veliko Tarnovo we headed a short distance into Romania's capital, Bucharest. By the time we got into the city centre though we only had a few hours to walk around the place and get lost. Bucharest was a strange capital that highlighted that even though Romania and Bulgaria are no both part of the EU, Bulgaria seems a few years ahead of the race compared to Romania. Nice city none the less but an evening there was enough for us.

Another short hop in Romania took us to Brasov. We enjoyed Brasov a lot and stayed 2 nights. We got rained on quite a lot in Brasov but they have their own Brewery so we didn't notice too much. Brasov had a lot of great sights to see, they mainly had 2 legs, walked down the high street and were female.

Next came the disappointing bit of Romania. The main reason we headed out to Transylvania was to see Dracula's castle. The Romanians hyped it up as scary, spooky etc so we were really looking forward to it. We blagged 2 student tickets into it and turns out it's just a furniture museum. No idiot dressed up in a cape anywhere! Big disappointing even when we stayed at "Vampire Camping".

From there it just got worse, The Romanian countryside turned from lovely Alpine Hills to flat , dull, agricultural land as far as the eye could see all the way to Braila. The only place we could find to stay were some horrible horrible cabins. We have a photo to upload to try and get across how rank this tiny rotten shed was. We were in fear for the first time on the trip that something weird was going to happen when the old man dragged Tom away by the arm round the back. Luckily he was showing him his hose! (the bathroom). We left as soon as it was daylight after not sleeping and crossed back to Bulgaria to complete the loop back down the Black Sea.

A quick stop off in Varna by the coast has now led us to Sozopol not far from the Bulgarian/Turkish border. En route we managed to get pulled over by the Police for the 4th time now. This time it was because Tom had his feet out the window. I think from  distance they must have thought the driver had their feet out the window. It took them a while to realise I was actually driving with my feet firmly on the pedals. Sozopol is very relaxing and we still have time to use up so another 3 nights of chillaxing on the sandy Black Sea beach and some enjoyment of the town nightlife will serve us well before the hard push through Turkey. We have finally decided after some umming and aring that we will spend a night in Istanbul despite the recent problems there. You should next hear from us from somewhere in Turkey. Hopefully it won't be too long.

Send us some news please someone as we haven't heard much!

Hello everyone from Veliko Tarnovo in Bulgaria. We last updated you from Plovdiv where we spent a very noisy second night. It turns out the first night there was indeed a noisy wedding but the other normal nights there is also a very noisy club so we didn't sleep too well again. Plovdic was good for a couple of days chillout. Plovdiv isn't really geared up for foreign visitors and even managers to scare them away as we saw a horrific site of a tramp (we named Wanky Bill) walking up the high street with everything out to see and giving it a good rub! That was on our way to eat as well so we put dinner off for a while after the shock of that.

From Plovdiv we headed a couple of hours drive to the capital, Sofia. Great city to walk around and see some of their sites. Their changing of the guard is laughable compared to our fine changing of the guard in London but interesting none the less. We spent our first night in a bed in Sofia in a cheap but pleasant hostel. We wanted a night out in Sofia so went to the bus stop outside our hostel and asked 2 young looking people how to get to the student area. They just told us to follow them which we did on various buses and trams. When we got off we asked what time the bus was back. It turns out there wasn't one until tomorrow so we staggered off to worry about that later. Found an amazing club where everyone had a table (except us) and ordered spirits by the bottle! They also have a bizarre craze of ripping up thousands of napkins and throwing them everywhere. Our health and safety concious minds couldn't help to think, even in our intoxicated state, what a fire hazard it was with a floor covered knee deep in paper and everyone smoking away. We made it out alive anyway and into a taxi back for a few hours sleep before we were up at the crack of dawn to retrieve Jennifer from a near by car park.

From Sofia we drove to where we are now in Veliko Tarnovo but got stopped again by the police who just wanted to see documents. Europe would be a fantastic place to be a criminal as all the police in every country are always by the side of main roads and never in towns. Veliko Tarnovo is a very chillaxed student town but with a good mix of tourist sites and activites. We've found the best campsite in the world ever. Cliff (very appropraite name for a rock climber) runs Trinity Rocks Farm http://www.trinity-rocks.co.uk/index.html where we are staying. He has achieved the first 5* rating on the official wearethestig rating system. As well as camping, he has cottages to rent very cheaply. If you ever want to holiday in Bulgaria (which you should), Cliff is the man to see. Amazingly, 2 other Mongolia Rally teams have stayed with him and we just missed one team by a day which was a shame.

We're going to stay here 2 nights but may do a 3rd as it is so good. Tonight we will be sampling some traditional Bulgaian food so will report back on that in the next exciting installment. We will be uploading some more photos this evening thanks to Cliff allowing us to use his laptop so give them a click later.

Bye for now,

Tom, Noel & Jennifer 

Ill try and keep this short and sweet.

We developed two new games in Greece. The first you can play at home. Its called "Whats that road kill?" The options, in order of how often they appeared are - dog, cat, hedgehog, badger and fox (human too but that was only once in Crotia). When speeding up to a bloated road kill the first person to call what it is wins.

The other game is more of a modification we have made to Jennifer. Instead of being able to was her lights on the move we now have a double water cannon to be deployed on people trying to wash our windows, boarder gaurds and bad drivers. Simple things.......

After doing the last blog we saw a cool cable car so the next day whilst doing some culture we thought we'd have a go. We went to one monestry but it didnt have a cable car and was pretty rubbish, all new and chinse tourists everywhere. Check the photos to the right.

We then thought we'd walk to the next monestry with a cable car. This involved a 45 minute walk at 11.30, the coolest part of the day. We got to the top only to discover a car park, we should have driven. We did find the cable car. This was however only for monks. After walking down we had a swim in the swimming pool, not all hard walking!

The next moring we set off for the coast, we needed sun! We rolled down the strip which was really full of resturants but no people, went past the campsite to the end of the strip and then swung Jennifer round on the beach. Only we didnt, we half swung her round and then got stuck. Great.

We got the spade out and dug out some sand and put some stones under the wheels as we'd been told to do. Noel got in and then Jennifer shot forward. An inch. And got more stuck. We then had a proper dig round the wheels and got loads of sticks whilst being hooted by passerbys.

This time we also partly deflated the wheels. This helped, we made it two inches before sinking again. This was getting bad and we were deciding what to do when a bloke luckily stopped and towed us away in his 4x4. No fuss and no paymeant.

After re inflating the tyres we camped in a caravan retirement home. They partied throughout the night whilst we tried to sleep so they got Lost Prophets and horn action as we left.

We drove up the coast towards Bulgaria and found an odd campsite, there was no one there to take our money. So we camped for free.

The Greek/ Bulgarian boarder was the easiest of the lot, the guard just said "Ok Boy, go" The "Free Shop" in no mans land sorted us out with a great bottle of Stolly vodka for not much money. a sign of things to come in cheap Bulgaria!

We went to a monestry becasue the Bulgarians love it, we didnt. We did camp in a little mountain campsite, ate pasta and it rained.

The next day we headed for Plovdiv, Point It Book had to be deyployed to find the campsite which was really really odd. And cheap. The toiled leaked onto the shower floor. The resturant was 24 hours and the weeding party there used the sound system on full until 4am. When we say sound system thing Reading festival, this is a 500 seat resturant!

We are currently in Plovdiv under ground in an internet cafe. Tomorrow Sofia and our first binge drink session for three weeks - check back for the photos of that....

Tom spent ages crafting out an amazing post a few days ago when we were in Dubrovnik but we've logged on today and it's not there. Our deepest apologies as it has been a week since you last heard from the 3 of us. Sorry if this turns into a mega post but I will try to keep it brief.

When you last heard from us we were on the Croatian Coast. Very nice, crystal clear water etc but it wasn't enough so we headed in land to Bosnia. Bosnia has amazing countryside and was/could be an incredible holiday destination when it gets going more. There's a lot of signs up for roads, bridges etc saying that EU money is helping and it shows. Most people view Bosnia as probably on the news from years ago when Sarajevo was being completely shot up. There is still a lot of war damage to buildings but that's the only indication. The people were very friendly, nice and safe to just wonder around and Sarajevo had a wicked brewery. Sadly we didn't get to drink much as it was still pricey. In all we spent 3 days in Bosnia. We had our 1st encounter with the Police who pulled us over. We were adding to our already dirty underwear thinking we were in real trouble for speeding or something but the policeman just said hello, asked us how we were and then waved us off.

From Sarajveo we headed back towards the Coast and managed the mental border crossing to Dubrovnik. What happens is you leave Bosnia back in to Croatia, drive down the coast of Croatia until you get to Bosnia's border again, re-enter Bosnia for 10km!!! stretch then exit Bosnia (AGAIN) back into a very small isolated part of Croatia that contains Dubrovnik. Sounds nice and simple writing it but the queues are long and hot. We never seem to have problems (touch wood) but it often takes a while as the customs and border police often want to know about our trip. All smiles and waves for now so we hope it continues. Dubrovnik is a great place to go for your holidays people but very touristy for us (that means too expensive, not that it's a bad place for future reference).

Whilst bored at the borders we decided to see if the sunroof would work. For people that don't know, its electric on jennifer and broke the day before we departed. Because Jennifer is a magical, strange, mysterious lady, she somehow fixed herself. She's good at things like that! All she's needed so far is a few litres of oil which is fair enough for a maturer lady of her vintage.

After Dubrovnik we crossed into Montenegro. Not far at all down the coast from Dubrovnik is Budva. Very happening popular town and where every Montenegran family seems to go for their holiday. Very plesant town and a good alternative to Dubrovnik for us so we stayed there for 2 days to give the 3 of us a rest from the road. There we met a cool English guy who seemed to have lead a very exciting life. He had been into the northern Albian mountains by bike and was telling us about the mines all around, be in by dark as the MAfia are about etc that to be honest put us off. He than said what we should actually do in Albania that would be better so we took his advice. We had one more night further down the coast in Montenegro in an average town called Uljice where we finally discovered cheap beer and moonshine. It had been 2 weeks and we like a drink as you well know. That night we had to choose where to eat by the name of the place. It was a toss between Fati Grill of Euro Fanny so we had some wicked food at Euro Fanny. Couldn't get a t shirt beofre anyone asks.

Then Albania, not great, nothing to report except if you ever go there you don't need to worry about finding pterol or restaurant as all the country seems to have is roads with these 2 things every 5 mins (no exaggeration). We drove through the full length of the country looking for camping which doesn't exist. The road we took went over a mountain range (not on our road map) which the ALbanians had decided to dig up the full length of. It made for an extremely hairy night time drive down windy gravel single track roads until midnight when we finally reached a town and needed sleep.

People might stil think we are stupid for taking Jennifer but no joke, every other car we have seen for the last week is a Mercedes D class at least 5 years older than Jennifer. If it wasn't for the stickers, we could pass of as locals.

Currently we have made it (very smelly and in need of shjowers badly) from Albania into Greece. Planning on spending a few days in Greece and there seems to be an ubundance of internet so expect to hear from us soon.

WE enjoying reading all your comments so keep them coming.

Thanks

Noel, Tom and Jennifer

Hello everyone. The 3 of us are still making good steady progress to Mongolia. The other day when we updated you from Torino, we were slightly worried about Jennifer but fear not, she is well again. Our vast mechancial know how managed to work out that she didn't agree with cheap French petrol. She's now purring like a cat once again. She also just needed a top up of oil but she deserves it. The sunroof is jammed shut but that happened the day we left, there is a back up system of cranking it open from the boot but that is also slightly not working.

The tech savvy people reading this will realise that by clicking the map to the right and the photos, you can get a better view. We hope you enjoy the photos and that they're not too dull. We haven't been drinking yet so if we look a bit pissed in the photos, sadly we're not, just a mental moment captured on camera. Tom was going to do some explanations of each photos but it's slow and boring so you will have to guess i'm afraid.

We left Torino the other day then camped at a very relaxed campsite in the Dolomites by a huge lake where we also finally ate THE BEST PIZZA IN ITALY. It was truly amazing. We met some Dutch bloke who told us all about his son who had visited Mogolia and he loved it so fingers cross we will. After that pleasant campsite we had a steady drive to the tiny coastal part of Slovenia. We never took much notice (surprise!) of how small Slovenia's coast is so it was just a very quick overnight stop over in Slovenia last night and then into Croatia today. Our campsite is right on the the Adriatic coast with the amazing sea. Photos to follow in the next round.

Croatia has been the only border so far with actual barriers and control so that was interesting. The weather is absolutly boiling and hot nights so fingers crossed it's cooler by the sea. We've munched our fair share of Ice cream now but it's necessary to keep us cool. Freezing nights in Iran's desert seem like a long way away still.

We should have more time from now on hopefully to find internet so we will keep you all up to date.

See you soon,

Noel, Tom and Jennifer

xxx