Breaking news just in.....

After waiting more than 11 hours, the truck to pick them up had just arrived.   It did not live up to Oupa's vision of a flat bed tow truck that would winch the car up and drive away.  It was, exactly as advertised, a truck.  There are a few pieces of rope and wood in the back, and the driver is confident that it will take no more than a couple of hours to load Matilda and set off on the 6 hour drive (in perfect darkness) back to the capital.

I predict there will be two very tired South Africans in Ulaan Baatar tomorrow.  Let's see what happens...

In the meanwhile Oupa has asked me to source two new bearings and courier them out to a place along the route. That will be the easiest part.  

It is difficult to imagine how remote these places are.  UPS and Fedex are not even aware of the towns that they will be stopping in over the next five days.  And the UPS International Expedited will take more than 8 days to get to their first stop in Russia.

Disaster strikes.......

I fear today I am the bearer of some very bad news.

The consistent high speeds over the rough desert roads took its toll and Matilda broke a rear axle "half shaft".  This is serious.  The shaft holds the wheel to the car and is the mechanism through which power from the engine is transmitted to the wheel.

This is what a half shaft looks like:

 And this is what it looks like when it it broken (these are not the actual pictures)

Basically the rear wheel came off and Matilda is stuck!

If we can think of anything fortunate to report, it would be that the disaster struck in the middle of the Gobi Desert with nothing but camels, goats and nomads for hundreds of kilometers.  That is except for a small town with a petrol station and a grocery store which was a few hundred meters away! (I know what you are thinking - but I don't know how many goats are in this town.)  

The satellite phone proved its worth as Oupa called in to the capital of Mongolia, Ulaan Baatar, about 300km away to arrange a truck to pick them up.   At the time of writing (8 hours later) the truck has not arrived.   It is now pitch dark, the wind is howling (it is apparently blows from Siberia and is therefore very, very cold) and Gramma is unpacking the sleeping bags so that they can sleep the night in the car.

In the meanwhile, as we would expect, Oupa jumped to work and had taken the rear axle apart in the desert.  He was able to extract the inner piece of the half shaft and took the pieces over to the town.  Using his extensive Mongolian vocabulary (because no one there has ever heard of Afrikaans, or even English for that matter) he was able to locate a welding machine in a shack behind the petrol station.  

With a very friendly and conversational Mongolian, who had sufficient old oil under his worn down fingernails to earn Oupa's immediate respect, they were able to clean the shaft and weld it back together.  Unfortunately, the bearing (that holds the shaft) was also damaged when the shaft broke and Oupa will have to do some careful surgery on the bearing's roller cage to rescue it.     This is not something that he cannot do in the middle of the Gobi Desert.  Or he will have to look for a new bearing in Ulaan Baatar.  I am not hopeful, what are the chances of finding a 1948 Chevy bearing (part # Hyatt 111119, 2.4058"OD 1.584"ID cylindrical roller) in Mongolia?

Fortunately tomorrow is a rest day in Ulaan Baatar and if they can get there in time I am sure that Oupa's ingenuity will result in a solution to save the trip.

Yesterday they lost more than two hours because they stopped to help dig another car out of the sand.   I hope that that act of good samaritanship was noted somewhere higher and that luck will smile on them tomorrow - they certainly will need a solid dose of luck to recover from this.

All the comforts

I just found this on the official site - almost sounds even better than a Hilton resort!  Where you have heard of a Hilton Resort that offers mobile workshops complete with welding machines alongside "extended daylight guaranteeing fantastic social evenings"?

Mongolia

Once again the Mongolian section will surely be the highlight for many crews and we are currently considering a number of optional routes including an all new Northern option and many new sections in the Gobi Desert.

As in 2007 and 2010 we will again be supported by our Mongolian partners who will provide unrivalled levels of facilities at each of our overnight camp sites including hot showers, toilets and freshly prepared food and drink.

A new addition for 2013 will be the provision of generators to light the camp sites, a very welcome sight for stragglers arriving late in the evening. These generators will also power our new for 2013 mobile workshop facilities which will even include welding equipment!

Finally, running the event in the months of May and June ensures the weather will be much warmer than in 2010 and extended daylight guaranteeing fantastic social evenings.

Internet free zone?

There seems to be no new news from any source today.  Not even the official site has a rally update and they have not posted the results for the day.  

The official Rally Results site shows Matilda is still running joint first (along with about 40 other teams - so don't get too excited!)

I believe the circus has moved into an internet free zone.  (Not many of those around anymore are there!)

Unfortunately there is no new news - so, like all the other credible news sources I had look to Google to fabricate some.

Here is the begin and the end point of the route for the day (courtesy of Google maps).  They crossed from China into Mongolia.

I tired to find the various routes that they could take but according to Google it is not possible to drive between these two points.  Don't believe me?  Here is the proof:

But, as we can see you can nevertheless invest in property in this area.   From the pictures below there is no shortage of real estate.

Tonight they will sleep somewhere in the greater metro region of Altanshiree, Mongolia.

Yesterday the organizers warned of inclement weather.  In Altanshiree this means strong winds and sand.  Their suggestion was to get to the site as quickly as possible and to securely pitch the tent before the wind makes it impossible.   I looked at the satellite picture and I could see why they should bring tents:

Fortunately, this area is quite small and from what I can tell there is no shortage of space in which to pitch a 2 man tent.    Not much going on here, but I suspect that Google maps does not do really do it justice.    I bet there are at least 200 goats for every person and a few horses for good luck.  (No wonder these guys wanted to invade China - that is clearly where the fun is!)

-Gerrie

Day 2 - Matilda sighted!!!

Still no news from the crew but Matilda was sighted twice in the stretch of road between the towns of Daihai and Erenhot.

The pictures show a car much less clean than the one in Peking and with a noticeable sag in the sun visor.

Tomorrow they cross into Mongolia and the Gobi Desert proper.  Overheating is one of the greatest challenges for these old card and if there is a time for overheating this will be it.

Looks like Gramma is driving here:

Wait a moment ... these are not the highways shown on state TV

As the rally was leaving the metropolitan area the cars had to contend with a number of flooded roads.   More than four cars needed towing and one car, a Bentley, drew water into the engine and bent 2 con rods - the rods that connect the pistons to the crankshaft.  (This is very bad!  The car is limping along and the owners hope to fly new parts out to make repairs.

So far we have heard nothing of Matilda and her drivers - but we hope that is good!

Here is a picture of one of the crossings.....

And they are off.........

Yesterday the rally officially started from Peking, in the shadow of the Great Wall.  We have heard nothing from our team yet, but we believe they are still in the race!

Here is a short video of the send off:

We almost got lost - even before the race started!

Of we went in a bus to  Tianjin where they were all housed safely. Matilda had a flat tyre when unloaded and the organizers had pumped the tyre for us. We were given a tulip map to get us back to the hotel but our trip meter was not calibrated so all went well untill right by the hotel (we could see it) but not knowing the exact kilometers we missed the oframp from the highway and spent 45 minutes trying to find the exact way to the hotel  -  most of the time knowing exactly where it was!  What a start to our rallying!

Robert found quite a few nuts and bolts which were tightened and Benjack Phillips (my man in Beijing) has been absolutely wonderful.  Don't quite know what we would have done without him. He is coming to the dinner tonight and not coming to the Great Wall.

Benjack bought me a lovely Sony camera but for the life of me, I cannot get the photos downloaded onto my computer.  I will resort to my iPad until I get that sorted. At the moment we are concentrating on the Garmin, Sabretrip3 tripmeter, satellite phone and route books so do not have much time for the camera!  Sorry Gerrie!  I will get there eventually!

Here is post from Benjack Phillips...... (Thanks Benjack for keeping us in the loop)

Gerrie

I've just spent a great 2.5 days with your parents. They set off for the Great Wall tomorrow morning on the big adventure.

The car is looking well sorted, and if they are carefull, reaching Paris should be no problem.

(they tell me you're meeting them in Paris and will then be driving the car back to Jhb.)

Some photos attached for your reference.

001 First view of the car after many weeks on the boat. Just one flat tire.

002 The first petrol station. I didn't expect Beijing to be this rural!

005 Paperwork. Seems Robert is happy not to be in charge.

006 pink wheels!  The driver is Jenny from Vancouver. blog www.car7pekingtoparis.com

007 Ratracer. Don't be fooled, everything underneath is shiny and new.

008 The Italian neighbours. I've asked for an update on the dramas that are sure to unfold with this team. Nice car btw.

009 Easy fix for ground clearance. BIG WHEELS.

010 Big headlamps. (not quite Hooters though)

011 More big headlamps. Also a team very serious about finishing first.

012 Panamerica racer

013 the Chevrolet club.

all the best

Benjack

D-Day is approaching!

Today we were reunited with dear Matlida after she spent many weeks in a shipping container.

The only problem we found was a one flat tire - we can live with that!

Here is is in the warehouse where we found her.  I hope she will forgive the rough treatment to get her over here - the exciting once in a lifetime trip for a '48 Chev Stylemaster may make it all worthwhile.

Tomorrow we leave on the start of the official adventure.

Photo courtesy of "our man in Beijing" Benjack Phillips

More on traffic lessons.

We all had to attend a briefing given by the Chinese road Official! They gave us a summary of the rules and regulations of traffic lights (green means go, red to stop and yellow to be careful) , the lines on the road ( some are directional, some are informative, and some for stopping and then the same for road signs. They forgot to tell us which side to drive on!  We all clapped effusively and thanked them. The next day we got our temporary Chinese licences, just in time to pick up the cars.

I hope they won't mind me taking their pictures with my iPad!

Robert does the Big Wall in China!

We went to the Mutianyu point to view the wall. Not too crowded. The wole area, north and south very mountainous. In fact spectacular when you think how long it is, about 5km long and mainly built during the Ming Dynasty (1400 - 1600).  Never thought I would get Robert to China but it is surprising what an interest in cars can do!

A happy marriage in Tiananmen Square.... where is the famous tank?

Beautiful flowers were put up for Labour Day in Tiananmen Square. Our guide could not tell us anything about the student riots.  She says it was before she was born and because of politics they know very little about it!!

[Gerrie:  Wow, from these pictures I think that that happy marriage thing is working already!  These Chinese remedies are amazing!  Trips to Bejing, anyone?]

You need to come to China to have a happy marriage!

Entertwined cedar trees in the Fobidden City -  apparently brings a happy marraige. 

(We need all the help we can get after 48 years of trying ;-)

[Gerrie: I expect that was my father's joke!  I can recognize that sense of humour more than 10,000 miles away.]

Cruisin' on the Yangtze

As I told all in my email, I have been having trouble sending posts but aparently that is because blogs are usually intercepted and blocked. Sorry. I am trying to write a blog and then copy and paste it and send to Gerrie for him to add to the blog......

We just finished our Yangtze cruise.  I was a lot of fun and a very interesting view of China outside of the cities - all the best and the worst.   The highlight Robert was experiencing the 3GorgesDam site and hydroelectric station. The latter is at present the largest in the world. We were up from 23:00 until after 02:00 yesterday morning to watch our approach to the first of the 5 locks. It takes 40min per lock. We went to bed after entering the 2nd lock!! Fascinating and exciting. There are 8 Westerners and 128 Easterners as passengers. The 3 other men are academics, one from USA, one from Australia and Prof Gerald Nurric from UCT and us. It has been fun sharing our impressions with these people.

 Here is picture of Robert at the 3 Gorges Dam.

Some of our first impressions in China:

# Bridges, bridges, bridges. Towns along upstream Yangtze are all brand new as millions of people have been relocated to make way for the rising water due to the massive dam building projects. Many, many apartment high rises (30-40 storeys). Every town has umpteen bridges which put the Bloukrans Bridge on the Garden Route to shame. What is remarkable is that there is hardly a car or truck on any of them! The roads are super and are made especially beautiful by the complete lack of traffic. Our guides claim that there is much congestion at rush hour but the rest of the time very few vehicles (possibly the party line?!?)

# Towns we drove through were really very clean. I believe the area around the Forbidden City looks pretty much like Kyalitsha but we have not been there yet!

# Most guides were a bit skittish about talking about 1 child policy. One told us that the authorities have relaxed their policy somewhat - if the parents are only-children then they are now allowed 2 children but if one of the parents have a sibling then they may only have one child. The punishment can be loss of job or loss of all prospects of promotion (very strictly adhered to)

# Robert has been watching out for the agriculture. It was ofcourse very mountainous next to the Yangtze and of course all farming on beautiful man-made terraces. Our trip from Shanghai to Beijing (on the bullet train) was over very flat terrain with smallish farm lands. In all this time we have not seen one tractor or any mechanical farm implement.  Not even a farm shed big enough to house a tractor.  Oops, I was wrong, as I write this we have just seen our first small tractor - a bit bigger than our garden mower. (Yes we have now seen a few but all very small and for a 1400 km stretch of farming area, very few.) Farming does not seem to be very mechanized- at least not in this area. The housing seems to be communities of people rather than small spread out farmsteads.

# All ticketed entrances to airport, train etc has a VIP entrance too! Of course we should not expect that the very busy commissars running this fast growing country to should stand in the long queues with ordinary People!!!

# Newspapers (English translations) are very bland. Just reports what is happening with not a breath of criticism, sarcasm or judgement. Our one guide told us that he was really wishing and waiting for another Mao to lead the country!

# As said before the internet is totally censored. Prof Nurric tried to look up "Famine in China" and could get no results. He Skyped his son in Korea and he got the info from him. According to reports on the internet, 45 million people are starving (real famine - not just under the breadline!) There is a population of about 1 billion so this is 4.5% of population.

# Chongqing, the start of our 3 Gorges trip, is described by Chinese as "the largest unknown city in the world". It is the largest city in China! The greater Chongqing metro area is home to 40million people (nearly whole of SA)

# Very few old buildings down the Yantze - everything is new. When compared to a river in Europe one would often see castles or the remains. In Shanghai we saw the Bund and all British contribution. The traditional garden (and house of a very wealthy Chinese man) from the Ming Dynasty time but not much more .

Today we are seeing some of Beijing

P.S. Clive, Robert says that if you get any business inquiries from China, he would like a cut - he has been wearing your ZeeGroup fleece all the time!!

Sightseeing in the Middle Kingdom

Have had a very hectic sightseeing day (our one and only full day here) but quite a trial as it rained ALL day. Though most was undercover it is still a mission running from place to place. Tonight we requested to go to a local Chinese restaurant so Jessica, our delightful guide, took us there and ordered the food for us in advance. -- all in Chinese so a bit difficult for us!

Robert is bearing up well with the sightseeing though I think he still feels that he could see the "terracotta warriors" just as well in the National Geographic!

We have seen the Large Wild Goose Pavilion and that is probably enough Bhuddism for him too!

Now have flown to Chonqing to connect with cruiseboat down Yantze (3 Gorges).  Flight was delayed so missed seeing the Pandas -- too bad. 

Both in Xian and Chongqing an enormous amount of building  - especially 30 storied apartment buildings. 30 -50 being built at the moment. Lots of money put into infrastructure. Very few private cars outside cities.  Have just sailed under 2 big bridges and only one car passed over in about 20 minutes.. Greater Chongqing is largest city in China with 33 million people!

Very heartbreaking for us but Robbie and Dalein had to take  Bastian (Bouvier) and have him put down. Paralyzed in both front legs. Said they would give him an icecream just before the end. Took his friend and soul mate Chile the Dachshund with! 

Sorry for radio silence

We have been amazed at the level of censorship in China.

Because of this Skype does work in many places (you need a special version that gives Chinese authorities access to your conversations) and even this Blogging site is not accessible from within China.

(This blog is actually being written by Gerrie from the USA).

We will email pictures and notes to Gerrie who will post it.

Liquid nourishment - for the car!

Robert and his supply of liquid nourishment that he as been lugging around China.

He is so very kind and attentive to Matilda's needs - according to him all that nourishment is actually for her. Before flying out, he bought 2 bottles of Famous Grouse and 1 Amarula for Matilda. Hope she shares some with us when the going gets tough!

Saying our final farewells

At the airport saying our farewels. Note the talisman around my neck, from a very special friend.

 

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Oppad!

Na die gewone geskarrel is (omtrent) alles agtermekaar en nou sit ons gemaklik op ORThambo en wag vir ons vlug. My opdra sak is sooo swaar met my Mac, iPad, sateliet telefoon 2xGarmins ens, ens, ens. Ons kon dit nie 'in- check' nie want ons Moet alles daar he - 'no satellite phone, no start' se hulle!! Ons vlieg na HongKong en direk verder n Xi'an om die 'terrecotta warriors' te sien. Robert se hy het hulle reeds in die National Geographic gesien en dit is genoeg vir hom!! Hierdie trippie het hy nie 'n keuse nie want ek het dit gereel!!!

Going through security we were stopped and tod NO carparts could go as hand luggage. Not even a cylinder head gasket for an old Chev! Robert had to go back and check it - hope it arrives in Xi'an with our baggage

I will send a post from China!

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My man in Beijing!!

What a wonderful windfall!! I have been stressing and stressing about all that has to go with in 2 x 20kgs of luggage. 2 Sleeping bags, a waterpump which we had not sourced when Matilda was shipped, thick jackets, Robert's dinner jacket and accessories for the final dinner in Paris, etc, etc, etc. Then an angel descended in the form of a VERY generous guy (South African who now lives in China), Benjack Phillips, who was flying back to China this morning and offered to take a whole case of 20kg of my stuff for me. He is not really from Beijing but it sounds more dramatic and 007ish!

Suddenly all the tension is gone and when Robert's Ukraine visa arrives we are A for Away! By the way we had visions of picking up all sorts of problems at the Russian Embassy -- all sorts of stories about having to go back 3 or 4 times. Well Robert and I walked in. No queue, a friendly guy behind the counter, helpful, made jokes about the cost of the visa for my British passport and Voila!! Collected the passports and visas the next day!!!

There are now many reasons for me to sleep well tonight. In our marraige we have very strict division of labour. Robert fixes the cars and I do the cooking and stressing. He sleeps well every night!

 

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The countdown begins

10 Days to go before we leave! Yesterday we had a whole lot of our friends around - have neglected them horribly for the last 9 months while Matilda took up all our time. We were spoilt with all sorts of gifts to take along. Ferro Rocher chocolates, hand creams and soap (for the dusty Gobi Dessert, no doubt!), socks to keep us warm and if that does not work, Jagermeister for
inner warmth! Not only a magnet St Christopher for Matilda's dash, but also St Benedict, as general protector, which now hangs on my jacket's zipper.

Isn't that a lovely beaded replica of Matilda. It was commissioned by my daughter, Jeanine, in the Cape and givev to me as a Christmas present. The bonnet, doors and boot all open with seats, engine and spare all beautifully made and placed where they should be.

Next weekend we say goodbye to the children and grandchildren who live in Johannesburg. What a send off we are getting!!

 

 

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