Welcome to Tom and Olly's summer adventure! You've probably already heard how wonderful this trip will be, now you can see for yourself!

This epic journey is part inspired by the Mongol Rally, a group of intrepids who 'race' to Mongolia in very small cars for the thrill of the challenge and to raise money for charity.

We are making our journey unique by not joining the rally and using a bigger car. We thought it would be good to support a Mongolian charity so half the money we raise will go to Mercy Corps Mongolia, which is one of the rally charities.

We are also raising money for a different charity, the Masiphumelele Youth Project in Cape Town. This charity was set up by Shake Seigel and his brother so has a personal tie to our medical school. (For anyone who doesn't know Shake he is a legendary member of the GEM staff!)

Please have a look and give what you can:

Our Justgiving page
More project info at: Masiphumelele Youth Project

We will try and use this blog thing to keep you posted on how we get on. But who knows how we'll get on updating it where we're going...

We have currently raised £350 for the Ubuntu Foundation, and by donating the car expect to raise a few thousand pounds for the Kindergarten for cerebral palsy children in Ulaanbaatar. see goodbye susie for more. (6/9/07)

Monday, 2 July 2007

Our Route


About as far as we have got with route planning is deciding which countries to visit as we weave our way eastwards.

They're are 2 main routes to Mongolia. The simpliest goes Eastern Europe, Ukraine, Russia, Kazakhstan and Mongolia. The more interesting goes down through Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey, then onto Iran and through a collection of previous Soviet satellite states known as the 'stans'. Although the simplest ideas are often the best we chose to go for the second more interesting option. The empty marshy wastelands of southern Russia would no doubt be fascinating but we don't think it can compete with the 'treasures' offered by the Silk Road routes through the middle east. Another factor was the need to visit Iran and find out what really goes on in the place we hear so much about.

The downside with this fantastic route is the need fo many more visas. Many of these require a Letter of Invitation from the country concerned before a visa application can be lodged. It will be a struggle to sort all these before we leave. Luckily Olly has gone to London to start the process off.
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