Driving from Ireland to Japan: PART ONE - Juiceboxforyou

So you are thundering across the desert in a 27 year old 1 litre Starlet you bought for a couple of hundred euro should you be worried? Of course not!

“Imagine you’re lost in a massive desert, hundreds of miles from civilization, driving a car your granny would be embarrassed by. Then all of a sudden all your wheels fall off and the search for tools turns up a dirty sock and two dried apricots. That’s the Mongol Rally –16,000km of pure adventure over 5 mountains chains, 3 deserts and some of the most remote terrain on the planet.”

This is just one of the many people who came up to us and asked us to join them for food and tea.

You might be wondering why someone would want to take part in such an event and for me it was simple. I believe the world is now too organized and planned, that we’ve come to live in ever decreasing circles of freedom. Fear of things going wrong, greed and blatant refusal to take responsibility for ourselves have robbed us of one of the most interesting things in life: the unexpected

There is an uncannily large amount of preparation involved when one intends crossing multiple borders and thousands of miles of barren territory. Firstly was to find a team mate equally as unhinged as myself and find one I did. It wasn’t hard. I promised him adventure and glory. Leo took the bait. Soon after two of Leo’s friends wanted to jump on board aswell!

However, by far the most important accessory was the car, soon to be nicknamed ‘Barbra’. So. Off I went on a wild goose chase and came up with a perfect 5 door 80’s starlet. The rules were very clear: your car must be no more than 1 litre in engine power and perfectly unsuitable for this trip.

Choosing a Charity to raise for was the easy part. I have seen first hand what particular attention towards children with autism make’s so I opted for Irish Autism Action and happy to say I have raised over €5,000.

Then came the visas. All seven of them. (Iran, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Russia) The paper work required to gain entry with vehicle to these countries can only be described as monumental and required several late nights to complete.

With each day that we drive east during the Mongol Rally, it seems as if we are stepping back decades at a time. The countries and cities change quickly, from the modern metropolis of London and Western Europe to the horse drawn vehicles and men herding their cows by horseback in Kazakhstan and Romania. We were witnessing very different ways of life.

Iran housed the most welcoming people I have met to date, everywhere we went we were greeted with smiles and welcomes. Many invited us back to their place to feed us and inquire about our lives back home.

Turkmenistan was described on the internet as the North Korea of central Asia and for us we did find it a very strange country. Our first stop was the Capital city of Ashgabat you would be forgiven for thinking this was a very oil rich country with it marble buildings and monuments on every roundabout.

It’s so strange as when you leave the plush city and enter the countryside, you are immediately met with crumbling roads and poverty farmers hand working the land and more north the Karakum desert which we got stuck in quite often!

Kazakhstan was a difficult country in regards to the police corruption that exists there, often we were demanded bribes in order to progress through but we always just stood our ground eventually being told to Go! Kazakhstan has some of the most rural populations we have seen on earth.

Dirt roads crumble from the rains and snow, paved roads are broken and cracked and people walk in the fields tending to their goats. Community wells are still used to fetch water, people travel by horse and cart and very few people ever make it outside of their village.

The Pamir highway took us through Uzbekistan Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, for me this was the highlight of the trip as the highway is the second highest in the world at 4655m. Before we started the climb we got to drive along the Afghanistan border along the river and the scenery was simply breathtaking. Looking over at beautiful Afghan countryside one could easily be fooled that it is a peaceful country.

When we hit steep climbs we would often have to jump out of the car and push to help our poor old car make it to the top. After all at that altitude even our little engine was struggling for the much needed oxygen for combustion. After a great team effort we managed to make it to the summit of the highway.

I will never complain about the condition of Irish roads again!!

I’d pick a Starlet over a donkey any day!

They see me rolling!

The Stunning Pamir Highway in Tajikistan.

This zig zag road up was soft sand and high altitude made for a difficult climb

Covered in dust and sand from pushing

That is 4,655 meters! To put things into perspective, Irelands tallest mountain Carrauntoohil is 1,038 meters

Russia is on the cutting edge of development with shopping malls and high rises mingling with crumbling buildings from the Soviet era. Cities are divided into old and new towns and you can see how people are embracing the modern way of life while clinging to the past.

There is nothing more freeing than being able to drive all day and then when the sun goes down be able to pull off the road, find a flat piece of ground and set up camp for the night.

Every evening when the sun started to set, we would begin looking for a good place to lay our heads for the night. Many times we would see dirt tracks leading from the road out into the middle of fields.

We would simply pick a good one that didn’t look too bumpy and turn our car in that direction. Most evenings we were so tired for travelling all day we would only have time to set up camp, cook and have a quick beer and get straight into our sleeping bags and drift away instantly.

Words and photos:  Sean Maher

Stay tuned for Part 2