We, Team Desertaxi, drive in the 2008 Mongol Rally, starting July 19th finishing August 26th. This is our story.

Team Desert Taxi - Mongol Rally 2008 on Vimeo.
Check out the rest ouf our Team Desertaxi 2008 Mongol Rally videos on YouTube

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TDT is in Ulaanbaatar and still alive!

We arrived Tuesday at 5am after driving virtually non stop for 17hours. Of course, something went wrong but we persevered. The last 120 miles of road, because of the terrible potholes every 4 feet,  are considered dangerous during the day and deadly at night. At 2am, with Max at [...]

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Having run into Team Pop to Mongolia in their Suzuki Jimny we decided to make headway late Sunday night, driving until sunset. With the Suzuki leading our convoy we turned off our finely honed navigational noses and relaxed, only to be led up the garden path 25 miles in the wrong direction. With the quick [...]

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With team "Top Gun’s" Fiat Uno in tow, the convoy rolled into Tsaaganur, the first town after the border. We had planned to drive straight through, however when we discovered that the road towards the next town had had a concrete wall built across it we decided that it was best to ask a local. [...]

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Despite our fears of retribution from the big bad Russians for our behaviour in Taxistan, we were let out of Russia after only an hour of bureaucracy and minus a full cavity search. Exactly 10km into the 20km of no man’s land, the perfectly smooth Russian road disappeared into a rutted dirt track. A sign [...]

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After a good nights sleep, we departed Barnaul for the ten hour drive to the Mongolian border. 5 hours later, while stopped to repair the bonnet which was being held down by gravity alone, we joined a convoy of four other Rally cars. It was fun to be driving with company. The bonnet problem was [...]

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Our last precious minutes in Taxistan were spent getting the much coveted Mankini shots for our sponsors, with great success. Reluctantly we struck camp and took down the stars and stripes and the union jack from the flagpole and joined the queue. The guard who had initially refused our requests for a doctor on the [...]

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My God they looked disgusting. After all they had not showered in 4 days and survived 30c temperature during the day with virtually no shade. Though exhausted from the ordeal they seemed in good spirits.
While Ed remained asleep in the taxi, Max came to my room for an 18 minute shower, then announced he [...]

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The Russians seem to be more and more concerned with Taxistan’s welfare. We now receive daily visits from a doctor, who has thus far managed to treat our only ailment, several hundred mosquito bites a piece. Shortly after the doctor left we received a visit from our Kazakh counterparts, who invited us to dinner that [...]

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Team Desertaxi and the great micronation of Taxistan has been spotted, and written up in the London Evening Standard….  Read…

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As ties strengthen with Kazakhstan, they are souring with the Russians who are less and less willing to provide us with water. Not surprising considering the spontaneous bouts of nudity and almost continuous ABBA that we are subjecting them to. Rascal 1 and Rascal 2 came through last night, only to be cut up in [...]

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Day 3 started as all days in Taxistan do, with God Save the Queen played at full volume while the Union Jack Hubcaps are placed on the flagpole. Then the theme tune to the Great Escape is played at full volume on repeat until the dozy Russian border guard comes out of his hut waving [...]

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Things took a turn for the worse yesterday afternoon, when Jimmy succumbed to a cold and his temperature shot through the roof. It took us an hour before the one border guard with nothing to do let us through to try and find a doctor. The doctor was to be found having a cigarette round [...]

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TDT and the People’s Autocratic Republic of Taxistan (PART) are facing many of the hardships of any new nation. Despite no loo, shower, electricity, running water or shade from the 120F heat spirits remain high at the end of day 1 of 5. Efforts at nation building kept morale high during the heat of the [...]

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BULLETIN:
The fledgling State of Taxistan was created today due to a clerical error.
On the 12th of August, Team Desertaxi members were denied entry to Russia until Saturday.. They were also denied re-entry to Kazakhstan.
Two of the team members, James Walker and Edward Monckton,  had Ruissian entry visas dated August 14th and 17th, respectively and were [...]

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Monday, August 12th.
We had arrived Sunday afternoon and after exploring less expensive hotels settled on the Kazhol, which was just fine. It was a good to chalk off another border but sad to be there as we lost Charles who had to return to London, as planned, to pursue academics.
 We had planned to stay a [...]

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Original plans to visit lake Issy Kol in northern Krygyztan have been abandoned after it was discovered that the Russian-Mongolian border closes on the weekends. Where they go is anyone’s guess. Now, however, the intrepid few must dash the length of Kazakhstan to arrive at the border by close of business hours this Friday.

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Kazakh border, originally uploaded by desertaxi.
Team Desertaxi arriving at the border…

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Kyrgyz Mountains, originally uploaded by desertaxi.

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