We haven't posted in a bit so I thought I'd check in, and let you know that we haven't disappeared. Over the past couple of weeks, we've actually got quite a bit done. Our fundraising has gone ahead leaps and bounds. We spent the whole day at The White Horse last weekend raising money by raffling Villa shirts. Many thanks to Gary Shaw, Villa legend, and quite possibly the most gracious man in the world. More shirts have been raffled during the week, mainly thanks to Alan at work. He's sold tickets to people who can't stand Aston Villa, and to some who can't even stand football. We will also be handing out Villa shirts to needy people (and possibly angry policemen) on our way to Mongolia.
We've also had a few donations, check our sponsors page. From now on, anyone who donates get's a star in the Hall of Fame.
As far as the car goes, we've taken the rear windows out, removed the rear shock absorbers, improved the roof rack, and replaced the radiator. Amazing. We are so close to having a car that doesn't leak anymore. In a weeks time, we may even have a car that moves under it's own power again.
I've also made my first electrical mod. We can now switch the radiator fan on from the inside of the car. I know, amazing isn't it? Ok, so it's not really, but it has paved the way for more electrical mods. The plan is to deck the inside out in glowing switches, like the inside of a shuttle. Trust me, it will look great.
We're also starting to think about visas and paperwork. It's all a bit worrying. For example, to get through Russia we need a double entry visa, so we can get in and out twice. Then we have to get a double entry one for Kazakhstan. A single entry will do for Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan, but there is one small problem here. The border between these two countries is closed at the moment. Seems Uzbekistan is none to happy about the recent pro-democratic coup that has gone on recently. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office has this to say about Uzbekistan, "Parliamentary elections passed off peacefully on 26 December 2004. Opposition parties were refused registration to field candidates." That goes some way to explain why they may not be too keen on their neighbours drive for democracy. Anyway, if we can't cross the border then we have to go back to Kazakhstan. We could go to Kyrgyzstan from there, but then we need a triple entry visa for Kazakhstan. I'm going to stop talking about Visas now, because my heads starting to throb again.