[Guite]

Such desolate landscape, it looks like you guys were driving in the middle of nowhere! Literally! Courage, you had courage.

[Jred]

Rejo, Sibi, Kent and Vinesh what an awesome journey, fantastic. I have been following your posts for a while now. Honestly I have not read a travelogue with so much interest - due respect to all the wonderful travelogues from our distinguished Bhpians - this one has to be my favourite. You have almost triggered an urge for me to take part in the coming Mongol rally. You guys are fantastic, congrats (albeit wishing you a year later) on completing the rally.

"Ningal valiya sambhavangalanu".
cheers
Jay

[schakra]

I am so glued and addicted to your travelogue that I start getting withdrawal symptoms if there is no post from you for a day
Very few people are lucky enough to take up an epic journey like yours, kudos a well deserved 5 stars for your travelogie

[JoseVijay]

You guys have guts. An amazing travelogue by amazing group. Glued to this thread.
Looking forward for your next episode.

[rejoycjohn]

Day 40

As usual I was fresh like a daisy in the morning. Kent and TV had got used to me talking in the night so they managed to sleep well. The most affected person was Sibinho, this time it was so bad that he had to take the key from me so that I do not start driving the car in my sleep!

While all these 3 were taking my case quoting my sleep talking, we got out of the car to get some fresh air. We had parked our car on a small hill, we could see a herd of horses grazing around and a small stream of water flowing down that hill and the whole scene was complimented by bright sun. It was just spectacular.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DqkpzGfHVs4

We thought we should spend some more time there enjoying this wild beauty of Mongolia. We had our usual breakfast of tea and maggi from there.

We drove towards Arvaikheer after our breakfast. We were told by many truck drivers that the road from Arvaikheer to Ulaanbaatar is well paved. In another hour or so we reached Arvaikheer. It’s been days since we drove on tarmac. All through Mongolia there were literally no roads other than some 5 km stretches that we saw within the town limits of Mongolia. So the mere sight of tar road was nothing short of orgasmic. No more negotiating our cars through rocks and ridges – no more getting stuck in mud - no more getting lost!


The road also reminded us that our destination is just 400 km away! That’s something which we can cover in 5 / 6 hrs. So we were getting almost sure that we are going to reach the finish line of this rally. A journey that started 14000 kms away was reaching its final stages. Even though the fact made us happy that we will be finishing off this rally successfully, we were sad that the journey is going to end. For once we all were silent or agreeing to each other’s philosophy and emotions. Normally these philosophical conversations get into a tone of debate and at times arguments. But this time everything was mutually agreed.

We took a couple of pitstops on our way and tried to reflect on the past 40 days and 9000 odd miles. Infact we started driving slowly so that we get the maximum time on the road towards Ulaanbaatar.




Within a matter of hours we started getting the first glimpses of Ulaanbaatar – a city that we were on the pursuit for almost 1.5 months. To be brutally honest, the sight was not really impressive; rather Ulaanbaatar is not a city one should want to be on the run for. It’s crowded, dusty and filthy. It faces the same problem that many of the metros in the poor / developing nations face. A huge influx of people from the villages and mountains to this city looking for a better job and better life has started to suffocate this city and its infrastructure.

Even though we reached Ulaanbaatar, we had to reach a specific point that the organizers call Finish Line. We reached there after a bit of a struggle in this crowded and chaotic city. The finish line was not at all eventful, there was no chequered flag waved at us, there were no finish line girls to receive us and no champagne offered. The finish line was in front of an old Mongolian building, there were a lot of cars parked there which were of those teams who finished the rally before us. As it was night by the time we reached , we thought we will do our official finish of the rally the next day.

We did find a lot more Mongol rally teams and also the organizers at the finish line though. We had some chit chats, story telling and went upstairs of that building where most of the other teams were unwinding and chilling.

We had not had bath since 5 days and we were desperately looking to find a place where we could relax and clean all the dust and dirt that we had on us. Most of the hotels were filled by other Mongol rally teams, but luckily we were able to find a decent place where we could get ourselves a bit of creature comforts.

Day 41

After having some nice bath and breakfast we went out to a place where the Mongolian military gives an opportunity for the tourists to try shooting with a pistol, AK 47 and a sniper. It was around 60 kms from the city on a remote hill. We were told that we might get to drive a military tank also. However they had stopped the driving of the tank, but shooting was still on.

Kent studied in a Sainik school and hence he was used to firing with pistols and snipers in his school days. Supposedly he was the shooting champion too. He had a reputation to guard – and guess what he did live upto our expectations. During our visit, he was the only person who was able to aim and strike the object which was placed at a distance from the shooting line. All others got an experience on how to fire using those weapons, but none of the firings hit the target. The second best was TV whose bullet missed the target by inches (probably).I and Sibinho did not do well in this. But then after all we are first time users and were able to get a feel on how it is to use these arms.





After taking a couple of photos, we drove back to the finish line to complete the formalities of the rally. But before getting into the boring part of it we had to celebrate the successful completion of our long journey. We drove our car onto the podium that was arranged by the organizers. There was also this Mongolian girl offering us some traditional Mongolian beverages and a piece of cloth that is considered to be a status of victory. Supposedly that’s the way the locals welcome back their soldiers when they come home winning. I am sure that during the times of Genghis khan there would have been many soldiers who got lucky to be treated like this.



Some of the signs that we collected from different countries on our route.


Anyway, that was it!
We handed over our keys to the officials along with the papers of our car. The car will now be put on auction and the money raised will go to charity. Due to this mongol rally you can see a lot of UK build / European built small cars in Ulaanbaatar.

We went upstairs to the roof top of that building that day too to continue our socializing from the previous day. At around 6 PM we planned to go from that place to the next venue where the organizers arranged a party for all the Mongol rally teams.

It was getting real; I still remember the sight of our car in that garage waiting for its next owner. Filled with dust and mud our car was not at all looking glamorous to catch the attention of any local. But it served us well, it was with us for this 40 days through motorways, Autobahns, Autostrades, B roads, mountain roads, potholes and no roads.
It looked tired, but it still had juice to serve its next owner for another couple of years.

Even though I love cars, I never thought I would get this emotional while saying good bye to a car that we owned for a short period of 40 days! That too to a car that has shape similar to that of a crescent!



But that’s the reality of life, sometimes we just need to let go some things for our life to move on! But even after a year I still wish that we we

We spent our whole night in that party before we set off to Ulaanbaatar airport for our long journey back home. (Journey time was 30+ hrs).

So that’s it Men and women at T Bhp, our long story has come to an end. I would definitely have liked to give the whole journey a better wrapping up. But then it seems a bit difficult that what I thought it would be. For the past couple of weeks, the main thing in my head was what to write next, how to explain the next day of our travel in crisp words, how not to go off topic and how to convey the experience that we had to you our readers in the best way possible. I am sure the photos came to my help where my words failed. For me personally I was reliving our rally once again after a year. 40 days of absolute freedom, 40 days where the only thing in our mind was the next destination, 40 days of fighting and reconciling, 40 days where not for once we thought of going back, 40 days of experiencing new things without doing anything new!

Thank you so much to all of you who followed us from beginning and those who joined the brigade later. Thank you so much for your patience and thank you so much for your wonderful comments and kind words. It was indeed a pleasure to have each one of you in reliving a journey that all 4 of us will cherish for ever!

Before I click on “ Submit post “, I like to express thanks for all those who supported us in this rally. Many of our friends, relatives and colleagues from India and Abroad helped us to raise the charity fund of 1300 GBP. Thanks to our friends who helped us to get in touch with media and thanks to those at “The Hindu” , “ Sunday Guardian “ and Malayala Manorama for featuring us.

We have a video that’s compiled by our friend Arun Francis
https://www.facebook.com/filmpranchi?fref=ts and also by the famous music composer Ricky Kej https://www.facebook.com/ricky.kej/about
http://www.myspace.com/rickykej
http://www.last.fm/music/kej

official GKEIC Video :-

http://vimeo.com/60071229

Youtube link :-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMqeSvvmM3Q

Some Mongolian madness as the last thing served on this travelogue.
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10151412968963650

[bharath_rbk]

Fantastic journey and a lovely travelogue!! Kudos to you guys for braving all kind of situations and completing the rally successfully! Cheers.

[girimajiananth]

EPIC !! Look forward to your next Mongol rally or something similar . Keep writing . Rated 5 star .

()^100000 .

[vinayrathore]

Not all those wander are lost... Awesome lines that fit you awesome people!!

Hattsoff to you guys!! The brave four members of GKEIC. Been following your thread silently all through. I don't think I have the words that would justly describe my feeling but all I can say is you have really read the book of life.

Honored to have been able to read the best travelogue on TBHP till now.

[rulerofsun]

I was following this thread from the start and was glued to it. Checked it on my phone refreshed the PC for updates and what not. Write a coffee table book I am sure it will sell like hot cakes.
I am sure your experience through this drive has elevated you as individuals.

The Video at the end was amazing. The Write up superlative and you guys ROCK!!! I bow to you.


RoS

[vb-saan]

Thanks for sharing the travelogue Rejoy. An epic journey indeed, and something which you guys will relish for a lifetime. Appreciate the effort you took in penning down the whole 40 days’ episodes

My favourite picture – one of you (Kent?) posing in a mundu with the Russian friends

[Jignesh]

Originally Posted by rejoycjohn

But that’s the reality of life, sometimes we just need to let go some things for our life to move on! But even after a year I still wish that we we

Hello Rejoy,

I have been following this thread right from the first thread till the end. Frankly speaking I am short of words to describe the awesomeness here.

This journey will be the one all four of you will relish for rest of your lives & it was really great reading your experiences. Probably very few of us here will actually be ever able to do what you guys have done during those 40 days.

Hats off to all yours spirits to carry it on & finally completing the rally despite all the odds. By the way what was the total expense of the trip?

Thanks,

[Mohan Mathew A]

Hey Rejoy and others

Congratulations. i know you completed it one year back since i didn't get to congratulate you then, let me now.

It was really an Epic journey by any measure. I followed the travelogue from day 1 and never missed even a single episode. I too feel a little sad that your narrative has come to an end, i will miss reading it for sure. I can only hope to imagine how it would have been for those 40 days. I am sure it will be something that will stay with you for the rest of your lives

Respect for dreaming big and making it a reality.

[rajesh1868]

Epic stuff Rejoy. Sad to see the log ending.

[BusyBoyKK]

Originally Posted by rejoycjohn

we were sad that the journey is going to end.

One of the best travelogues comes to an end. 40 days in 7 pages, very crisp and interesting. Got all of us hooked.

It must have been an amazing journey for you guys. You have guts to execute something of this sort.

Just out of curiosity - which route did you fly back to BLR?

[premc44]

Hi Guys
Congratulations on this wonderful achievement. You have made us all proud (and somewhat jealous too).