As most of you that have been following our journey know, we undertook the Mongol Rally in part to raise donations to assist with the construction and outfitting of a kindergarten in (very) rural Bulgan Province, Mongolia. While preparing for the trip we had numerous events, fundraisers, and auctions as well as donations from friends and family to help out with this task. To accomplish this we worked together with my Rotary Club, West Bloomfield Michigan (District 6380), the Bayanzurkh 100 Rotary Club of Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia (District 3450), and Prison Fellowship International, Mongolia (as most of the children attending the school are the sons and daughters of the nearby prison staff).
Below are some preparation tips for those of you that are considering doing the Mongol Rally in forthcoming years:
You’ll be doing a lot of promotion before the rally, trying to raise funds for charity and whatnot. The first thing you should do is get yourself a web site (GoDaddy sells domain names for about $10 and you can have it forwarded to anywhere) and print out some business cards. Amazingly, we were one of the only teams in the rally that had cards printed, and every other team thought it was a great idea but hadn’t thought of it themselves. Check out our cards, and then head on over to Prints Made Easy where you can get 100 full-color cards for $15! I would get more than that if you’re serious about fundraising though–I went through about 1500 myself.
Believe it or not, the two packages that I laboriously sent back from Dushanbe, Tajikistan have finally made their way to my doorstep after nearly two months of being transported across the world by camel (I’m guessing). Now you get a chance to see the excellent workmanship that went into sewing these parcels together and then stamping them shut with wax seals.
Here are some interesting statistics from our 2009 Mongol Rally adventure:
Duration: Scott spent 34 days in the U.K. prior to the rally (sightseeing, trip prep, and the Rotary International Conference), 52 days traveling to Mongolia, and 14 days in the country once he arrived, and an additional three days of traveling along with a stopover in the U.K. again. That makes for a grand total of 103 days.
Collin’s trip was a bit shorter, with 2 days in the U.K. prior to the rally, 48 days doing the rally, and 2 additional days in the U.K. at the end of the trip for a total of 52 days.
My friend Joe from Team Rubik Crew took the time to produce and create this great video while he was doing the rally this summer. He took Tupac Shakur’s classic “Changes” song and had different people he met throughout the country sing bits of it. Worth a watch, whether you’re a fan of Tupac or not!
I’ve spent the last few weeks trying to get accustomed to normal life again. I’ll tell you one thing–it’s definitely not as exciting as rallying around the world!
Soon after returning back to the states we were interviewed on WJR 760 Radio’s Warren Pierce Show. This is the fifth time we have been a guest on his show. Warren, born and raised in Detroit, hosts a morning talk show every Saturday from 6:00AM to 9:00AM. Thanks to both Warren and producer Rachel Nevada for having us on the show.
A couple of corrections: 1.) It was very early in the morning and I incorrectly stated that I hopped aboard the Orient Express to get to Mongolia. This is incorrect–it was the Trans-Siberian Express. 2.) At the end Warren states that we “didn’t quite make it”–that is also incorrect. I (Scott) made it all the way, just not by car. Also, our main goal–which was to raise money for the kindergarten and our other charity, Mercy Corps–was a complete success.
The flight was only a tad bit delayed–much better than having to reschedule my flight three times because of snow as my friend Ann had to do! The plane was a beautiful, spacious new model with touch screens in every seat–much better than I was expecting from Aeroflot. Didn’t get to take advantage of much of anything but the roominess though as I was pretty exhausted and ended up sleeping the entire eight hours, waking only as we were touching down on the runway in Moscow. I turned my phone back on and looked at the time–my connecting flight was scheduled to depart in less than thirty minutes. If I missed this flight I would have to wait a half-day until the next one, so I got off the plane, hurried through customs, and ran towards my gate. I was one of the last two people to make it to the gate before it closed. As the two of us were being driven on the tarmac to where the plane was I saw that the baggage handlers were still unloading luggage from the plane I had just gotten off of. It seems my bag wasn’t going to make the connection!
After I returned to Ulaanbaatar from the Gobi Desert I spent most of the days hagning out with new friends while the nights were spent conversing at the local watering holes. I had the chance to attend a house party, see traditional Mongolian Theater, visit the somewhat laughable Mongolian Museum of Natural History, and, most impressively, order bottle service at the bar every night ($20 for a very drinkable bottle of Genghis Khan vodka!). The city was growing on me and I was having a great time and meeting lots of cool people, but my journey was steadily coming to an end.
Scott:
No problem--was hoping it'd help a few people out!
Dan Coupar:
Some really great advice there, thanks!
Judy Garver:
These pictures are just wonderful. It is so nice to see the results. Thank you for making us all aware of this wonderful opportunity to help childre
In the summer of 2009, two guys from Metro Detroit are traveling 10,000 miles from London to Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia in an effort to raise money to assist underprivileged Mongolian families in becoming self-sufficient.
