Thursday, August 31, 2006
Thursday, August 17, 2006
Onwards to Mongolia
After our surprise dinner experience in Itkutsk, we decided to make like salmon and head to the water. 100km of some very tough hills (12% grade in parts) and hatsu held up like a champion, no clutch slippage a steady 60km/hr. Lake baikal turns out to be simply gorgeous, a 1200 km lake with the banks flanked by impressive mountain ranges still thankfully unlogged. Our attempts to camp along the river were less than successful, involving our finding the Russian equivalent of a resort catering to whistlin' dixie types and eminem's trashy relatives. Turns out our instincts to leave are spot on, as a woman who speaks excellent English tries to make us a "second offering", letting us know that we could have a room with hot water, if we liked. When we waver, she lets us know that the "accident" that happened with the German tourists was a one time thing, and won't happen again. Besides they have a good fence. Goodbye, is all we can say in return.
Find ourselves a nice litle gastinitsu and have ourselves a dinner of pot noodles and wine that can only kindly be compared with manischevitz. Next day it's off to the mongolian border. Just about 120km off of lake baikal the scenery changes, with valleys opening up, and trees thinning out. As we've noticed it's the rainy season so everything is a tropical green, and the scenery rivals that of the best of wyoming. Definitely cowboy country, a la Russe. We decide to camp out just short of the border, and manage to find a great spot about 2 clicks away from a Russian military base. Is the campsite a training ground, guess we'll find out. No suck luck. Instead we have great night out and a good nights rest. But not Anthony, who spends the night counting sheep, chasing mosquitos, and praying for some shut eye. Good thing we've gotten up at 6:30 to get to the border early.
Find ourselves a nice litle gastinitsu and have ourselves a dinner of pot noodles and wine that can only kindly be compared with manischevitz. Next day it's off to the mongolian border. Just about 120km off of lake baikal the scenery changes, with valleys opening up, and trees thinning out. As we've noticed it's the rainy season so everything is a tropical green, and the scenery rivals that of the best of wyoming. Definitely cowboy country, a la Russe. We decide to camp out just short of the border, and manage to find a great spot about 2 clicks away from a Russian military base. Is the campsite a training ground, guess we'll find out. No suck luck. Instead we have great night out and a good nights rest. But not Anthony, who spends the night counting sheep, chasing mosquitos, and praying for some shut eye. Good thing we've gotten up at 6:30 to get to the border early.
Novosibirsk to Nowheresiberia
Had ourselves a couple of long days heading into the wild of Siberia. On the good news we have yet to be eaten by bear, savaged by mosquito's but have had the longest stretch of bumpy unpaved roads yet. On the down side Anthony had to don the blue hat (UN) to mediate between one of the inevitable buss brother melding. Basic plot of the battle: You're wrong, I'm right, way, way way. In the end Anthony showed excellent Kofi Annan skills, and has brokered the peace. We have taken to calling him Our little pigeon as a thank you.
First night out of novosibirsk we managed to have a tourista experience, which involves paying western prices for a room furnished and finished by colorblind carpenters with no arms. We did happen to be brought to a floor with velvet curtains, a stunning coat check girl, and a bar right off the elevator. Hmmmm....hotel room...velvet....liquor...beautiful women....russia..... Only one thought passed through my mind and it wasn't that we were on the religious themed floor. Not to worry, only the hotel casino. two hours later, we were able to walk away from the blackjack tables up a couple of hundred roubles thank to Tom's ability to walk away when we smelled money. Might have been an ugly night otherwise.
Managed to pound back miles till we hit the junction of the BAM, the northern trans-siberian line, finished in 1991 at a cost of 25 bln USD, done entirely because the original line was considered too close to china. Bad timing, i'd say. Tawauash (name lost in a blur of cyrillic) distinugished itslef solely by its absolutely miserable feel, an apocalyptic rain, and a stern warning from our babushka at the hotel not to go out to the bar by making faces and pretending she was being punched in the face. Turns out she wasn't so far off, as Tom saw a clearly drunken man walking into a shop holding nothing but a giant kitchen knife. Perhaps he was only looking for cheese. More from Anthony to follow
First night out of novosibirsk we managed to have a tourista experience, which involves paying western prices for a room furnished and finished by colorblind carpenters with no arms. We did happen to be brought to a floor with velvet curtains, a stunning coat check girl, and a bar right off the elevator. Hmmmm....hotel room...velvet....liquor...beautiful women....russia..... Only one thought passed through my mind and it wasn't that we were on the religious themed floor. Not to worry, only the hotel casino. two hours later, we were able to walk away from the blackjack tables up a couple of hundred roubles thank to Tom's ability to walk away when we smelled money. Might have been an ugly night otherwise.
Managed to pound back miles till we hit the junction of the BAM, the northern trans-siberian line, finished in 1991 at a cost of 25 bln USD, done entirely because the original line was considered too close to china. Bad timing, i'd say. Tawauash (name lost in a blur of cyrillic) distinugished itslef solely by its absolutely miserable feel, an apocalyptic rain, and a stern warning from our babushka at the hotel not to go out to the bar by making faces and pretending she was being punched in the face. Turns out she wasn't so far off, as Tom saw a clearly drunken man walking into a shop holding nothing but a giant kitchen knife. Perhaps he was only looking for cheese. More from Anthony to follow
Monday, July 31, 2006
Prague to Moscow
Finally internet access!!!
The Prague garage visit of Tom and Tijs resulted in a basic oil change. The required work would take at least ten days so we decided -in the spirit of the rally- not to do anything but wait for the car to break down on our way to Mongolia. Our stringent oil regime -meaning a liter of oil every 200 km- seems to be pleasing Hatsu and if Hatsu is happy we are happy! During our first leg after Prague we had a easy drive to Poland, no hassle at the border (long live the EU!) and the roads were decent (good to be using some roads we paid for...). Hatsu did make some weird new noise. We concluded that must have been the result of the strange chemical substance we bought in Poland and added to the fuel.
Poland
In Poland we decided to use our tents for the first time and looked for a nice camping spot. The only suitable soil we could find was a farmers field in the middle of some woods. Luckily the guy spoke German and he gave us permission to camp anywhere on his land. He also told us it was OK for us to shoot any wild boars we encountered... This resulted in a rather stressful night for the Jet Setters, as the only animal sounds we're used to are the serene sounds of a sissling steak in the pan... (Although Anthony claims he is the Irish Steve Irwin) Anyway, we survived it and on we went to Lithouania. When setting up the tents, preparing dinner, and in fact during the past days the team members are showing their true selves. For some reason sometimes Tom seems to be thinking that we're all on his boat, hence he's acting like der Kapitän Buss. Nothing can be done without the approval, instructions or involment of der Kapitän. A lot of usefull tips and tricks and hey there's nothing wrong with some comittment (except when Tijs is grumpy).
Lithuania
Easy border crossing and impressive landscapes, good infrastructure and friendly people. New country, new weird sound. This time the suspension was making some bizarre sounds, but hey maybe Hatsu was trying to tell us to take it a little easier... So we did. When looking for a camping site we followed a sign that vaguely resembled a tent. We found a beautiful lake with some crap cabins around them, a couple of drunk Lithuanians playing the same boonga boonga tune non stop and a big sign with a phone number on it. Thanks to our phrasebook we managed to bargain the price for a cabin down with 2 euros to a 30 euro tourist rip off rate. We spent the night in a mice infected cabin at the lake. We had a cool night, burning down a tree and rowing on the lake at 1 am to count the falling stars and provide the musquitos with a late night snack...
Estonia
Estonia clearly has less money than Lithuania. We were slowly being prepared for the real crap roads, as sitting in the back of the car equals sitting on a bull that has a lobster hanging on its testicles. Hatsu starts the get some Camel features in the back roof area... (Why did we not bring helmets???)
We found a 'nice' camping spot close to the Russian border in the middle of nowhere. After we setup camp we realised that the middle of nowhere must be somewhere as we either heard some local maffiosi capping some business associates or some hunters killing whatever had a fur or feathers. Given our growing beards this was distressing der Kapitän to the extend he wanted to hunk the horn every 15 mins making sure we not to be mistaken for animals... The Van Santen brothers decided the car needed a higher level of security in this notorious high crime forrest, hence sleeping IN the car would be a good idea.... NOT. For some reason Jesse managed to fold himself into a position on the bench and fall asleep, but Tijs could not fall asleep. If Tijs can't sleep, Jesse is not allowed to sleep...
Russia
5 AM in the morning all of a sudden seemed a perfect time to be packing up and head for the Russian border. This ended up being an extremely good decision, because despite the fact we where there at 7AM and number 5 in the queue, it took us 5 hours, and 10 Russian forms (just in Russian, so for all we know we could have donated all our belongings to Putin now) to get through the border. We also discovered a new disturbing sound which was traced back to the rear axis. This time we were really worried as this could the end of our beloved Hatsu. It turned out to be the start of a hellish day, with roads that had more put holes than the upper legs of a fat 90 year old Babushka. We managed to achieve an average speed of 50 KM/H...ending up driving 450 KM into Russia. We found ourselfs a cosy truckers motel including a brand new disco sauna. Tijs and Jesse didn't notice this new Russian invention at all but der Kapitän and Parslow only fell asleep after 5 AM when they kindly enquired if the Polka tunes could be turned down a little bit.
Despite his lack of mechanical skills Tijs decided to take off one of the rear wheels to give it a thourough inspection the next morning. When he could loosen the knots with his bare hands it became apparent that the source of the disturbing sound wasn't the axil but just a wobbly wheel ready to seperate itself from Hatsu on the highway.
Moscow
Again a new sound. We either have a hole in the exhaust or the fuel we pomped at that dodgy gas station contains lead...
After all our adventures the Jet Setters were in desperate need for some luxury. We booked ourselves a room in the Sheraton Palace. So far we're having a good time. Tom and Anthony are close to death after having clubbed till 6am. Anthony can't stop talking about how great the night was, and how he was dancing like an animal... J and T have missed something good (they bailed at 2 AM), just seeing the Parslow move on some cheezy Moscow tunes is worth a million...
Tom and Anthony asked reception at 6 AM for a 8 AM wake up call, so they could go to the Mongolian embassy to sort out Tom's visa. They're still there. We (J&T) are going to look for a garage and a hard needed laundrette.
Last but not least, it's unlikely that we would have made it so far without the invaluable help from our 5th team member: Chris! Chris has been helping us with avoiding bears & wolves, booking hotels, giving weather updates, looking up technical car data, providing mental support and so much more. Only a week before we can close him into our arms...
Next blog will hopefully be from Kazakhstan!
To be continued...
J&T
The Prague garage visit of Tom and Tijs resulted in a basic oil change. The required work would take at least ten days so we decided -in the spirit of the rally- not to do anything but wait for the car to break down on our way to Mongolia. Our stringent oil regime -meaning a liter of oil every 200 km- seems to be pleasing Hatsu and if Hatsu is happy we are happy! During our first leg after Prague we had a easy drive to Poland, no hassle at the border (long live the EU!) and the roads were decent (good to be using some roads we paid for...). Hatsu did make some weird new noise. We concluded that must have been the result of the strange chemical substance we bought in Poland and added to the fuel.
Poland
In Poland we decided to use our tents for the first time and looked for a nice camping spot. The only suitable soil we could find was a farmers field in the middle of some woods. Luckily the guy spoke German and he gave us permission to camp anywhere on his land. He also told us it was OK for us to shoot any wild boars we encountered... This resulted in a rather stressful night for the Jet Setters, as the only animal sounds we're used to are the serene sounds of a sissling steak in the pan... (Although Anthony claims he is the Irish Steve Irwin) Anyway, we survived it and on we went to Lithouania. When setting up the tents, preparing dinner, and in fact during the past days the team members are showing their true selves. For some reason sometimes Tom seems to be thinking that we're all on his boat, hence he's acting like der Kapitän Buss. Nothing can be done without the approval, instructions or involment of der Kapitän. A lot of usefull tips and tricks and hey there's nothing wrong with some comittment (except when Tijs is grumpy).
Lithuania
Easy border crossing and impressive landscapes, good infrastructure and friendly people. New country, new weird sound. This time the suspension was making some bizarre sounds, but hey maybe Hatsu was trying to tell us to take it a little easier... So we did. When looking for a camping site we followed a sign that vaguely resembled a tent. We found a beautiful lake with some crap cabins around them, a couple of drunk Lithuanians playing the same boonga boonga tune non stop and a big sign with a phone number on it. Thanks to our phrasebook we managed to bargain the price for a cabin down with 2 euros to a 30 euro tourist rip off rate. We spent the night in a mice infected cabin at the lake. We had a cool night, burning down a tree and rowing on the lake at 1 am to count the falling stars and provide the musquitos with a late night snack...
Estonia
Estonia clearly has less money than Lithuania. We were slowly being prepared for the real crap roads, as sitting in the back of the car equals sitting on a bull that has a lobster hanging on its testicles. Hatsu starts the get some Camel features in the back roof area... (Why did we not bring helmets???)
We found a 'nice' camping spot close to the Russian border in the middle of nowhere. After we setup camp we realised that the middle of nowhere must be somewhere as we either heard some local maffiosi capping some business associates or some hunters killing whatever had a fur or feathers. Given our growing beards this was distressing der Kapitän to the extend he wanted to hunk the horn every 15 mins making sure we not to be mistaken for animals... The Van Santen brothers decided the car needed a higher level of security in this notorious high crime forrest, hence sleeping IN the car would be a good idea.... NOT. For some reason Jesse managed to fold himself into a position on the bench and fall asleep, but Tijs could not fall asleep. If Tijs can't sleep, Jesse is not allowed to sleep...
Russia
5 AM in the morning all of a sudden seemed a perfect time to be packing up and head for the Russian border. This ended up being an extremely good decision, because despite the fact we where there at 7AM and number 5 in the queue, it took us 5 hours, and 10 Russian forms (just in Russian, so for all we know we could have donated all our belongings to Putin now) to get through the border. We also discovered a new disturbing sound which was traced back to the rear axis. This time we were really worried as this could the end of our beloved Hatsu. It turned out to be the start of a hellish day, with roads that had more put holes than the upper legs of a fat 90 year old Babushka. We managed to achieve an average speed of 50 KM/H...ending up driving 450 KM into Russia. We found ourselfs a cosy truckers motel including a brand new disco sauna. Tijs and Jesse didn't notice this new Russian invention at all but der Kapitän and Parslow only fell asleep after 5 AM when they kindly enquired if the Polka tunes could be turned down a little bit.
Despite his lack of mechanical skills Tijs decided to take off one of the rear wheels to give it a thourough inspection the next morning. When he could loosen the knots with his bare hands it became apparent that the source of the disturbing sound wasn't the axil but just a wobbly wheel ready to seperate itself from Hatsu on the highway.
Moscow
Again a new sound. We either have a hole in the exhaust or the fuel we pomped at that dodgy gas station contains lead...
After all our adventures the Jet Setters were in desperate need for some luxury. We booked ourselves a room in the Sheraton Palace. So far we're having a good time. Tom and Anthony are close to death after having clubbed till 6am. Anthony can't stop talking about how great the night was, and how he was dancing like an animal... J and T have missed something good (they bailed at 2 AM), just seeing the Parslow move on some cheezy Moscow tunes is worth a million...
Tom and Anthony asked reception at 6 AM for a 8 AM wake up call, so they could go to the Mongolian embassy to sort out Tom's visa. They're still there. We (J&T) are going to look for a garage and a hard needed laundrette.
Last but not least, it's unlikely that we would have made it so far without the invaluable help from our 5th team member: Chris! Chris has been helping us with avoiding bears & wolves, booking hotels, giving weather updates, looking up technical car data, providing mental support and so much more. Only a week before we can close him into our arms...
Next blog will hopefully be from Kazakhstan!
To be continued...
J&T
Wednesday, July 26, 2006
Meanwhile in Amsterdam
While the boys toil away in the field of Poland, worrying about bear and wild boar, Pasha Axel keeps cool in the hot summer sun.
Monday, July 24, 2006
London - Prague 31 hrs non-stop
Saturday 22 July London
After waiting in Hyde Park for 5 hours checking out other cars (around 200 cars) and do some last minute pimping on Hatsu we left for our first check point, Prague the capital of Czech Republic at 3 in the afternoon. Hatsu had already its first challenge to cope with the extreme heat in the city of London and it took us more than 2 hours to get out London and went straight to Dover to get our ferry to Boulogne Sur Mer, France.
Of course our ferry was delayed an hour and we already had a late ferry so we ended up getting in France not before midnight (about 6 hours behind every other team and we are one of the slowest vehicles anyway). But then our adventure really started. Tijs drove the first bit and did it Tijs style, getting everything out of the car and adding the comment that Hatsu could do even more. While Anthony and Tom were taking a nap in the back Tijs and Jesse drove through the night aware of the epic adventure they were facing. Jesse already noticed the lack of gas in the car but Tijs was confident that we easily could make for another 50 miles. But then he started to get nervous also because on French B roads in the middle in the night........ there aren't many gas stations open. But after some minutes of having visions of us running out of gas already before Lille we found a gas station (with only 2 liters of fuel left in the tank) and our adventure could go on.
With a full tank we were heading for Lille (short cut, Tom's and Jesse's idea should have never done it!) and of course we get lost on some C D and even E roads so that took us at least another hour so at the time we were actually on a highway it was already 4 am.
Gas wise we were doing perfectly! Engine was running fine, suspension was holding, only the lack of air in the tyres wasn't really nice but after changing the pressure from 1.5 bar to 3.0 (rear tires) we were doing fine! No wonder the van looked like a low-rider!
I don't want to bore you with all the things we've been doing during the 31 hours in Hatsu driving to Prague so I made a short summary of highlights during our first day(s).
-Lack of oil (Hatsu is an oil addict, wondered how it got through MOT (APK))
-Running out of gas, see above (afterwards we agreed to always fill up tank when the meter strucks quarter full sign)
- Getting lost in outskirts of Lille, see above(Tijs had a short cut through some picturesque villages around Lille)
- Clutch plates slipping which we probably need to do something about
- oh and then drove for another 24 hours to Prague
I'm still really tired of the long trip and a couple of beers yesterday night (little Mongol party with all the teams) and Anthony and I have to look for an car repair manual to fix the clutch and other stuff so I have to end this blog. Hope we still have the option to keep you up to date the coming days when we are heading for Moscow through Poland, Lithuania and Latvia.
Cheers!
Team Hi Jet Set
After waiting in Hyde Park for 5 hours checking out other cars (around 200 cars) and do some last minute pimping on Hatsu we left for our first check point, Prague the capital of Czech Republic at 3 in the afternoon. Hatsu had already its first challenge to cope with the extreme heat in the city of London and it took us more than 2 hours to get out London and went straight to Dover to get our ferry to Boulogne Sur Mer, France.
Of course our ferry was delayed an hour and we already had a late ferry so we ended up getting in France not before midnight (about 6 hours behind every other team and we are one of the slowest vehicles anyway). But then our adventure really started. Tijs drove the first bit and did it Tijs style, getting everything out of the car and adding the comment that Hatsu could do even more. While Anthony and Tom were taking a nap in the back Tijs and Jesse drove through the night aware of the epic adventure they were facing. Jesse already noticed the lack of gas in the car but Tijs was confident that we easily could make for another 50 miles. But then he started to get nervous also because on French B roads in the middle in the night........ there aren't many gas stations open. But after some minutes of having visions of us running out of gas already before Lille we found a gas station (with only 2 liters of fuel left in the tank) and our adventure could go on.
With a full tank we were heading for Lille (short cut, Tom's and Jesse's idea should have never done it!) and of course we get lost on some C D and even E roads so that took us at least another hour so at the time we were actually on a highway it was already 4 am.
Gas wise we were doing perfectly! Engine was running fine, suspension was holding, only the lack of air in the tyres wasn't really nice but after changing the pressure from 1.5 bar to 3.0 (rear tires) we were doing fine! No wonder the van looked like a low-rider!
I don't want to bore you with all the things we've been doing during the 31 hours in Hatsu driving to Prague so I made a short summary of highlights during our first day(s).
-Lack of oil (Hatsu is an oil addict, wondered how it got through MOT (APK))
-Running out of gas, see above (afterwards we agreed to always fill up tank when the meter strucks quarter full sign)
- Getting lost in outskirts of Lille, see above(Tijs had a short cut through some picturesque villages around Lille)
- Clutch plates slipping which we probably need to do something about
- oh and then drove for another 24 hours to Prague
I'm still really tired of the long trip and a couple of beers yesterday night (little Mongol party with all the teams) and Anthony and I have to look for an car repair manual to fix the clutch and other stuff so I have to end this blog. Hope we still have the option to keep you up to date the coming days when we are heading for Moscow through Poland, Lithuania and Latvia.
Cheers!
Team Hi Jet Set
Thursday, July 20, 2006
The Hague - London Wednesday July 19th 8 AM
D-Day minus 4
8 AM wake up. No rush, no big deal, just have to drop some keys off and off we go. Sun was shining (supposely the hottest day of the year) an excellent test of the hi-jet's high temperature skills.
First surprise: no drivers license for Jesse. It was actually IN his wallet, but just the one he decided NOT to take. So no big deal, no stress, Jesse just gave his cousin Pieter a (wake up) call so he could fetch the just dropped off keys and go get his drivers license and bring it to Jesse's dads place for super fast air freight to London. Given the speed we were driving, it would propably beat us anyway.
Second surprise: 300 kilometers, no problems, no big deal, a quick rest stop before the ferry and a dilegent oil check........ZERO oil! So, no big deal, no stress, Tom just buys oil to fill the gasoline engine.....but because of Jesse's super high developed hawk like eyes he catches the mistake just in time. Tom didn't buy ordinairy engine oil but diesel engine oil! So our second almost fatal mistake was solved pretty easily.
The ferry to Dover was easy, no big deal, the ride to London SUCKED donkey tits (Tom's contribution). Normally it would take like 25 minutes. But it took us more than 2 hours to get to Notting Hill were fortunately Anthony was waiting with two big cold pints of beer, hurray for Parslow!
Tijs and Anthony had arranged a mini party in the pub across the street. A bunch of friends showed up including Tijs' girlfriend Emma, Daniel, Becs, Imogen, Kate and Wynne for beers, abuse and lots of "useful travel advice"... bring bamboo shoots for breathing during sandstorms etc!
I'll end with an advice from the Hi Jet Set Team:
''Think like Yak, act like a Yak and you'll smell like one as well
Greetings from London!!!
8 AM wake up. No rush, no big deal, just have to drop some keys off and off we go. Sun was shining (supposely the hottest day of the year) an excellent test of the hi-jet's high temperature skills.
First surprise: no drivers license for Jesse. It was actually IN his wallet, but just the one he decided NOT to take. So no big deal, no stress, Jesse just gave his cousin Pieter a (wake up) call so he could fetch the just dropped off keys and go get his drivers license and bring it to Jesse's dads place for super fast air freight to London. Given the speed we were driving, it would propably beat us anyway.
Second surprise: 300 kilometers, no problems, no big deal, a quick rest stop before the ferry and a dilegent oil check........ZERO oil! So, no big deal, no stress, Tom just buys oil to fill the gasoline engine.....but because of Jesse's super high developed hawk like eyes he catches the mistake just in time. Tom didn't buy ordinairy engine oil but diesel engine oil! So our second almost fatal mistake was solved pretty easily.
The ferry to Dover was easy, no big deal, the ride to London SUCKED donkey tits (Tom's contribution). Normally it would take like 25 minutes. But it took us more than 2 hours to get to Notting Hill were fortunately Anthony was waiting with two big cold pints of beer, hurray for Parslow!
Tijs and Anthony had arranged a mini party in the pub across the street. A bunch of friends showed up including Tijs' girlfriend Emma, Daniel, Becs, Imogen, Kate and Wynne for beers, abuse and lots of "useful travel advice"... bring bamboo shoots for breathing during sandstorms etc!
I'll end with an advice from the Hi Jet Set Team:
''Think like Yak, act like a Yak and you'll smell like one as well
Greetings from London!!!
Friday, May 26, 2006
A list of spare parts
Here's the list of things we are likely to need from reading the forums
and going through my mental rolodex:
Replacement Parts:
1) Distributor Cap + Rotor
2) A couple of extra spark plug wires
3) Extra hoses and hose clamps for the cooling system - better to buy
new ones (not expensive at all)
8) 1 set brake pads (probably $40)
16) Spare water pump
17) spare thermostat
18) a spare fuel filter to help clean the junk out of the fuel
24) a spark plug or four pre-gapped along with a wire brush for cleaning
fouled plugs.
25) spare oil and oil filter
27)extra head gasket
30 Overrated radiator cap (non-venting cap preferable)
31) Engine V-belt
32) Clutch fluid (if open system)
26) spare oil pan plug (they disappear far too easily when working on a
car)
12) Spare air filter (or a K&N style cleanable air filter)
28) a couple of extra headlamp/taillight bulbs
19) A spare fuel line
16) If carbourated (1 carb. Rebuild kit)
17) Differential Oil/Fluid for the 4x4 system
Important to have accessories:
15) Several spare bolts of assorted sizes (particularly for the
suspension)
4) 2 extra tires/wheels to tie on the roof
7) 1 tow rope (for when we get hopelessly stuck in mud
9) 2 jerry cans for fuel
13) Axle grease
21) Booster cables for when we need a jump
19) Extra electrical wire and connectors in case we lose electrics
20) A whole bunch of spare fuses
23) Extra brake fluid
24) A tarp for repairs so that parts don't get dirty/lost in the dust
25) extra worm gear clamps
List of quick-fix repair stuff:
33) Radial tire repair kit
1) Loads of Duct Tape
5) J-B Weld Cold Welding compound: http://jbweld.net/products/jbweld.php
5) Perm-o-seal radiator stopleak
6) 4 tubes of tire-seal for reinflating busted tires
22) Exhaust repair kit (basically bandage and support wire that can
handle excess heat) purchasable at any automotive store
23) Zip ties
24) bearing grease
25) Carb and choke cleaner
26) fuel additive
On the list of "maybe good to have, but sort of expensive and probably
not worth it if they cost over 40, but we should know where to order
them from:
10) alternator
11) starter motor
14) Spare wheel bearing or two
15) Fuel pump
16) CV Joint and Boots
17) Shock absorber
18) Ignition coil (magneto0
Also, For our health, I had two important Ideas:
A book called "where there is no doctor, a village health care handbook
http://www.hesperian.org/404.php#WTND
A good water filter with replacement filter cartridges: Katydin is the
best.
We should also think about fitting a steel plate under the engine
compartment (a ding guard) to keep the oil pan from getting knocked off
in the middle of the bumpiness.
Whew.
-Christian
and going through my mental rolodex:
Replacement Parts:
1) Distributor Cap + Rotor
2) A couple of extra spark plug wires
3) Extra hoses and hose clamps for the cooling system - better to buy
new ones (not expensive at all)
8) 1 set brake pads (probably $40)
16) Spare water pump
17) spare thermostat
18) a spare fuel filter to help clean the junk out of the fuel
24) a spark plug or four pre-gapped along with a wire brush for cleaning
fouled plugs.
25) spare oil and oil filter
27)extra head gasket
30 Overrated radiator cap (non-venting cap preferable)
31) Engine V-belt
32) Clutch fluid (if open system)
26) spare oil pan plug (they disappear far too easily when working on a
car)
12) Spare air filter (or a K&N style cleanable air filter)
28) a couple of extra headlamp/taillight bulbs
19) A spare fuel line
16) If carbourated (1 carb. Rebuild kit)
17) Differential Oil/Fluid for the 4x4 system
Important to have accessories:
15) Several spare bolts of assorted sizes (particularly for the
suspension)
4) 2 extra tires/wheels to tie on the roof
7) 1 tow rope (for when we get hopelessly stuck in mud
9) 2 jerry cans for fuel
13) Axle grease
21) Booster cables for when we need a jump
19) Extra electrical wire and connectors in case we lose electrics
20) A whole bunch of spare fuses
23) Extra brake fluid
24) A tarp for repairs so that parts don't get dirty/lost in the dust
25) extra worm gear clamps
List of quick-fix repair stuff:
33) Radial tire repair kit
1) Loads of Duct Tape
5) J-B Weld Cold Welding compound: http://jbweld.net/products/jbweld.php
5) Perm-o-seal radiator stopleak
6) 4 tubes of tire-seal for reinflating busted tires
22) Exhaust repair kit (basically bandage and support wire that can
handle excess heat) purchasable at any automotive store
23) Zip ties
24) bearing grease
25) Carb and choke cleaner
26) fuel additive
On the list of "maybe good to have, but sort of expensive and probably
not worth it if they cost over 40, but we should know where to order
them from:
10) alternator
11) starter motor
14) Spare wheel bearing or two
15) Fuel pump
16) CV Joint and Boots
17) Shock absorber
18) Ignition coil (magneto0
Also, For our health, I had two important Ideas:
A book called "where there is no doctor, a village health care handbook
http://www.hesperian.org/404.php#WTND
A good water filter with replacement filter cartridges: Katydin is the
best.
We should also think about fitting a steel plate under the engine
compartment (a ding guard) to keep the oil pan from getting knocked off
in the middle of the bumpiness.
Whew.
-Christian
Wednesday, May 24, 2006
We Have Press Release
Check it out: a real live press release:
Introducing Team (Daihatsu) Hi Jet Set One
London To Mongolia in a 997cc 4X4 Van
Dear friends, members of the press, immigration officials. We would like to introduce you to our hard charging rally team for the 2006 Mongol Rally. Our basic premise is as follows: take men with as little experience as possible in the art of rallying, fixing cars, and navigating back roads. Add in a car desperately unqualified to handle 6000 miles of driving. Obtain visas for as many countries ending in -stan as possible. Drive from London to Mongolia while living in Low-Rent-Decadence™.
In short, welcome to our adventure. This July and August, we are bringing Western decadence to the desert. We are going to be the pashtouns of central Asia and promise to take you along in our 1988 Daihatsu Hi Jet as we barrel in velour splendor from London to Mongolia . To be direct, we would like you to help promote our journey. At the very least, we invite you to follow along with our planning, our bickering, and our inevitable misfortunes as two sets of brothers and other makers of mischief hit the road.
If you blog, please blog about us. If you podcast, please talk about us. If your words appear in print, please put pen to paper for us. If you are a friend being harassed for money, please give, and give generously.
If you are interested in having us write about our failures and triumphs (more of the former, we assume) for your publication we would be thrilled to do so. For writing samples, please contact christianrbuss@yahoo.com. We promise to have our Strunk and White at our left side and our stash of Kyrgyz fermented mare’s milk at our right.
The Plan
London to Mongolia in a 1L Daihatsu Hi Jet. That's the basic premise. The implementation, a little more complicated. Come take a look at where we're planning on going. Click Here
The Charity
No one likes being a beggar, but we are looking to raise money for charity on this trip. We've found a charity that sounds ridiculous, but does some fantastic things. It's called "send a cow" and their purpose is to provide livestock to poor farmers in order to allow them to become self-reliant. Not only does the group provide the livestock, they also provide training and advice on how to keep stocks flourishing. Click Here
The Vehicle
The Daihatsu Hi Jet was described by Xhibit on Pimp My Ride as “a toaster on donuts,” but we’ve decided that this is to be our trusty (we hope) steed. Take a look at what a truly horrible car this really is. A horse might actually get us there faster. Click Here
The Team
While we are all boy scouts, round the world travelers, and generally not always foolish, on this trip we are taking a total lack of preparation as our guideline. We still have our motto: "don't get dead," but everything else is up to fate. Click Here
The Website
Once again, inexperience is our guide. But we’ve got heart, and that heart has led to our (admittedly ugly) website: www.teamlandyacht.com. Please come and take a look. Included on the website is everything that we have planned (very little), what we plan to see (very much), and some general tips for trips. Of course, being that we always want to put a smile on, we’ve come up with some unique features for our site:
1) News From The Stans: Daily news updates on politics, kidnapping, economics, and mayhem from the -stans
2) Pimp My Rider™: Given our acceptance of the garbage nature of our vehicle, we’ve decided to pimp the riders, not the rides. Think mild-mannered Dutch businessman turned Mongolian Yak Herder
3) Survival Tip of the Day: A collection of articles, updated as we find out more about how to delay death and carnage, with help from the Emergency Medicine Journal. Haven’t you always wanted to know more about Proximal Tibiofibular Dislocation?
4) Chasing Borat: We’ve got a crack team in London searching out Borat (of Ali G fame) for advice on how best to travel through his homeland ( Kazakhstan ). So far we’ve only been successful in finding him on the television, but please follow in our celebri-stalking adventures.
The Blog
Of course, don’t forget the Official Blog of Team Hi Jet Set, lead diplomats of the Hi Jet Set Lifestyle. Click Here
Contact Us
Our lead contact in the United States is Christian Buss. He’s reachable at any time at christianrbuss@yahoo.com and via telephone at 510-384-3135.
With Warmest Regards,
Team Hi Jet Set
PS, our outsourced blog writing team wanted to convey a brief message: We welcome the crew that is madman crazy. We will die, but we will die smiling. If we can find it, these are monkeys who are willing to open up to the power route from London to Mongolia .
Introducing Team (Daihatsu) Hi Jet Set One
London To Mongolia in a 997cc 4X4 Van
Dear friends, members of the press, immigration officials. We would like to introduce you to our hard charging rally team for the 2006 Mongol Rally. Our basic premise is as follows: take men with as little experience as possible in the art of rallying, fixing cars, and navigating back roads. Add in a car desperately unqualified to handle 6000 miles of driving. Obtain visas for as many countries ending in -stan as possible. Drive from London to Mongolia while living in Low-Rent-Decadence™.
In short, welcome to our adventure. This July and August, we are bringing Western decadence to the desert. We are going to be the pashtouns of central Asia and promise to take you along in our 1988 Daihatsu Hi Jet as we barrel in velour splendor from London to Mongolia . To be direct, we would like you to help promote our journey. At the very least, we invite you to follow along with our planning, our bickering, and our inevitable misfortunes as two sets of brothers and other makers of mischief hit the road.
If you blog, please blog about us. If you podcast, please talk about us. If your words appear in print, please put pen to paper for us. If you are a friend being harassed for money, please give, and give generously.
If you are interested in having us write about our failures and triumphs (more of the former, we assume) for your publication we would be thrilled to do so. For writing samples, please contact christianrbuss@yahoo.com. We promise to have our Strunk and White at our left side and our stash of Kyrgyz fermented mare’s milk at our right.
The Plan
London to Mongolia in a 1L Daihatsu Hi Jet. That's the basic premise. The implementation, a little more complicated. Come take a look at where we're planning on going. Click Here
The Charity
No one likes being a beggar, but we are looking to raise money for charity on this trip. We've found a charity that sounds ridiculous, but does some fantastic things. It's called "send a cow" and their purpose is to provide livestock to poor farmers in order to allow them to become self-reliant. Not only does the group provide the livestock, they also provide training and advice on how to keep stocks flourishing. Click Here
The Vehicle
The Daihatsu Hi Jet was described by Xhibit on Pimp My Ride as “a toaster on donuts,” but we’ve decided that this is to be our trusty (we hope) steed. Take a look at what a truly horrible car this really is. A horse might actually get us there faster. Click Here
The Team
While we are all boy scouts, round the world travelers, and generally not always foolish, on this trip we are taking a total lack of preparation as our guideline. We still have our motto: "don't get dead," but everything else is up to fate. Click Here
The Website
Once again, inexperience is our guide. But we’ve got heart, and that heart has led to our (admittedly ugly) website: www.teamlandyacht.com. Please come and take a look. Included on the website is everything that we have planned (very little), what we plan to see (very much), and some general tips for trips. Of course, being that we always want to put a smile on, we’ve come up with some unique features for our site:
1) News From The Stans: Daily news updates on politics, kidnapping, economics, and mayhem from the -stans
2) Pimp My Rider™: Given our acceptance of the garbage nature of our vehicle, we’ve decided to pimp the riders, not the rides. Think mild-mannered Dutch businessman turned Mongolian Yak Herder
3) Survival Tip of the Day: A collection of articles, updated as we find out more about how to delay death and carnage, with help from the Emergency Medicine Journal. Haven’t you always wanted to know more about Proximal Tibiofibular Dislocation?
4) Chasing Borat: We’ve got a crack team in London searching out Borat (of Ali G fame) for advice on how best to travel through his homeland ( Kazakhstan ). So far we’ve only been successful in finding him on the television, but please follow in our celebri-stalking adventures.
The Blog
Of course, don’t forget the Official Blog of Team Hi Jet Set, lead diplomats of the Hi Jet Set Lifestyle. Click Here
Contact Us
Our lead contact in the United States is Christian Buss. He’s reachable at any time at christianrbuss@yahoo.com and via telephone at 510-384-3135.
With Warmest Regards,
Team Hi Jet Set
PS, our outsourced blog writing team wanted to convey a brief message: We welcome the crew that is madman crazy. We will die, but we will die smiling. If we can find it, these are monkeys who are willing to open up to the power route from London to Mongolia .
Wednesday, May 03, 2006
Some thoughts on fundraising
OK haven't figured the Blog out yet, but have created a report on our meeting attendance. I sent it to Parslow so he can review and make appropriate adjustments. Chris, can you help us getting it on the site?
I also did some work on the fund raising. I checked if we need to register as a charity, but I think this is not necessary:
http://www.charity-commission.gov.uk/publications/cc21.asp
Appeals for funds
24. Fund-raising is not a charitable object in itself: it is simply an activity which can be undertaken to help achieve a charitable purpose. If a charity wants to raise money to carry out work which is not covered by the existing objects of the charity, it can create a new charity with specific purposes. Please contact us if you have any doubts about whether your proposed fund-raising purposes are authorised by the objects of your charity.
25. There are complex rules about fund-raising and you may need to take professional advice on this. We offer advice in Charities and Fund-raising (CC20). We recommend you read this and consider the following points of good practice.
§ Great care should be taken over the wording of a written appeal when asking for money from the public. We recommend that you make sure the purposes for which the charity intends to use the money are accurately described.
§ The record of a speech or broadcast may be regarded as evidence of the purposes of an appeal. The organisers of that appeal cannot alter the purposes of the appeal to something which is not consistent with the terms under which donors were invited to contribute. We recommend that care be given to the wording of any spoken appeal.
§ If you want to raise money for the general purposes of an existing charity, you must make this clear and avoid any suggestion that the money will be used for a more specific purpose.
§ If an appeal is for a specific purpose, such as paying for or restoring a building, we recommend that it states what will happen to the money if either not enough, or too much, is raised.
So assuming my conclusion is correct we need now really need to get in raising mode. I would like to get to a point where we raise enough money that allows us to fund the trip as well as donate at least 2,500 GBP to the two or three causes we select. (See my report that will be sent later)
Right now these are the concepts we have come up with:
1) Begging. We should be able to get at least 700 GBP by some good ol’ begging. Jesse already managed to get some sort of commitment from the AlliedClans gaming clan. Chris has his employer committed on doubling a certain raised amount and Parslow and I are speaking to Forrester to have the London office give up the Friday drinks and maybe lunch budget.
2) Promoting Stan tourism. I will write letters to the Official Tourism Boards of the several Stans we’re planning to hit. The idea is that we demonstrate how safe the individual countries are for tourists by traveling through them depending solely on the hospitality (not hostility) of the Stan inhabitants. Next to the military escort we should be able to negotiate at least 1 Ruble per kilometer we manage to travel unharmed through the respective countries. We could raise 6000 KM * 1 Ruble 6000 Ruble, which is 125 GBP… OK this may be not such a good idea, but with the help of David Metcalfe’s negotiating tactics we could get this up to 1250 GBP, which should cover 2 Cows.
3) Online Betting. We could provide an online betting service which allows people from around the world o bet on different categories such as: Who will die first? How far will they get? When will the car first break down? How much bribe money is required? Etc… We will donate 25% of the bets to charity…
4) SUN Article. AP told me that the Sun has a weekly article on Man with the Van. It’s about some local lowlife and his white van. We may be able to convince them to pay us for a hilarious article…
5) Stupid TV show. This is my favorite one. The idea is quite simple: We get two cameras and we cover the whole trip to Mongolia on video. This will result in enough material that allows any editor to create a 12 * 25 minutes series. It’s something along the lines of The Trip from MTV in NL. I spoke to one of my friends (Onno) who has some contacts with MTV and I had a quick chat with him. He suggested to write several production houses to see if they have any apatite for this. I will draft a letter tomorrow and hopefully we can send letters by the end of this week. This should get us enough cash to fund this insane trip. I’m speaking to Onno later this week, to see what he can do to help. Jilali: I know you bailed, but I believe you also have some contacts that may be useful here. Is there anything you can do to help?
Ok, this is it for now, but will tune in soon again…
T
I also did some work on the fund raising. I checked if we need to register as a charity, but I think this is not necessary:
http://www.charity-commission.gov.uk/publications/cc21.asp
Appeals for funds
24. Fund-raising is not a charitable object in itself: it is simply an activity which can be undertaken to help achieve a charitable purpose. If a charity wants to raise money to carry out work which is not covered by the existing objects of the charity, it can create a new charity with specific purposes. Please contact us if you have any doubts about whether your proposed fund-raising purposes are authorised by the objects of your charity.
25. There are complex rules about fund-raising and you may need to take professional advice on this. We offer advice in Charities and Fund-raising (CC20). We recommend you read this and consider the following points of good practice.
§ Great care should be taken over the wording of a written appeal when asking for money from the public. We recommend that you make sure the purposes for which the charity intends to use the money are accurately described.
§ The record of a speech or broadcast may be regarded as evidence of the purposes of an appeal. The organisers of that appeal cannot alter the purposes of the appeal to something which is not consistent with the terms under which donors were invited to contribute. We recommend that care be given to the wording of any spoken appeal.
§ If you want to raise money for the general purposes of an existing charity, you must make this clear and avoid any suggestion that the money will be used for a more specific purpose.
§ If an appeal is for a specific purpose, such as paying for or restoring a building, we recommend that it states what will happen to the money if either not enough, or too much, is raised.
So assuming my conclusion is correct we need now really need to get in raising mode. I would like to get to a point where we raise enough money that allows us to fund the trip as well as donate at least 2,500 GBP to the two or three causes we select. (See my report that will be sent later)
Right now these are the concepts we have come up with:
1) Begging. We should be able to get at least 700 GBP by some good ol’ begging. Jesse already managed to get some sort of commitment from the AlliedClans gaming clan. Chris has his employer committed on doubling a certain raised amount and Parslow and I are speaking to Forrester to have the London office give up the Friday drinks and maybe lunch budget.
2) Promoting Stan tourism. I will write letters to the Official Tourism Boards of the several Stans we’re planning to hit. The idea is that we demonstrate how safe the individual countries are for tourists by traveling through them depending solely on the hospitality (not hostility) of the Stan inhabitants. Next to the military escort we should be able to negotiate at least 1 Ruble per kilometer we manage to travel unharmed through the respective countries. We could raise 6000 KM * 1 Ruble 6000 Ruble, which is 125 GBP… OK this may be not such a good idea, but with the help of David Metcalfe’s negotiating tactics we could get this up to 1250 GBP, which should cover 2 Cows.
3) Online Betting. We could provide an online betting service which allows people from around the world o bet on different categories such as: Who will die first? How far will they get? When will the car first break down? How much bribe money is required? Etc… We will donate 25% of the bets to charity…
4) SUN Article. AP told me that the Sun has a weekly article on Man with the Van. It’s about some local lowlife and his white van. We may be able to convince them to pay us for a hilarious article…
5) Stupid TV show. This is my favorite one. The idea is quite simple: We get two cameras and we cover the whole trip to Mongolia on video. This will result in enough material that allows any editor to create a 12 * 25 minutes series. It’s something along the lines of The Trip from MTV in NL. I spoke to one of my friends (Onno) who has some contacts with MTV and I had a quick chat with him. He suggested to write several production houses to see if they have any apatite for this. I will draft a letter tomorrow and hopefully we can send letters by the end of this week. This should get us enough cash to fund this insane trip. I’m speaking to Onno later this week, to see what he can do to help. Jilali: I know you bailed, but I believe you also have some contacts that may be useful here. Is there anything you can do to help?
Ok, this is it for now, but will tune in soon again…
T
Wednesday, April 26, 2006
Pictures of Our (hopefully) Trust Steed
Here's a couple picture of our trusty steed:
$1000 on ebay. Life is grand, and so was our car.
Welcome to Team Hi Jet Set San
Welcome to our rally team. London to Mongolia in a 1L Daihatsu Hi Jet. That's the basic premise. The implementation, a little more complicated. Come take a look at where we're planning on going.
While we are all boy scouts, round the world travelers and generally not always foolish, on this trip we are taking a total lack of preparation as our guideline. We still have our motto: "don't get dead" but everything else is up to fate.
http://www.teamlandyacht.com/preparation.html
Christian Buss
Research Associate
Susquehanna International Group, LLP
christian.buss@sig.com
415-403-6511
While we are all boy scouts, round the world travelers and generally not always foolish, on this trip we are taking a total lack of preparation as our guideline. We still have our motto: "don't get dead" but everything else is up to fate.
http://www.teamlandyacht.com/preparation.html
Christian Buss
Research Associate
Susquehanna International Group, LLP
christian.buss@sig.com
415-403-6511
Monday, April 17, 2006
Welcome from Our Chinese Outsourcers: Welcome HiJetSet San
Welcome to HiJet Set San. Most happiness in our welcomings of bright happy futuremaking in driving pleasure. London most auspicious in its departure of sunshine-making funsters on epic discovery journeying. You will now be most grand taking blue route making for highest happiness in the travelling companions to mongolia, land of yak.
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