The Cars are Broken: Episode 382
Beijing, China
December 7th, 2007
By Dan Murdoch

"Only when the tunnel is in the most absolute dark can you see the light again."
According to Carlos a Chinese Proverb, translated into Spanish, then English.

THE cars are broken.
All three of them- kaput. Fez gave up in Xilinhaote, Dante gave up just outside Beijing, and a few days ago Ziggy refused to start.
Engine problems all round.
It’s frustrating. We have crossed blazing deserts, the icy steppe, some of the world’s highest roads, some of the world’s worst roads, we’ve chugged through traffic in stunning cities, and bombed along deserted highways, dealt with a Siberian winter, a Turkish summer, and always, always managed to scrape the cars forward.
But now we hit China, and what fucks it all up?
A couple of tanks of dodgy petrol.
Can’t believe it. It wrecked the engines in Fez and Dante, chewed up the spare engine we put in Fez, and now something’s wrong with Ziggy.
We don’t have enough spare parts left, over the last four and a half months we’ve gone through or ditched so much stuff, we’re down to the bare minimum.
And we have already overstayed the cars’ Chinese customs papers, which expired a week ago, so we have no choice but to try and get out of the country as soon as possible, rather than attempt any repairs here.

All three of the cars have been boxed up and loaded onto trucks bound for Kunming, about 3,000km south of here. It should take a week for them to get there, then we have to try and get them trucked the last 900km to the border. Personally I don’t think we’ll get them out of the country for another ten days, maybe December 17th?
Seventeen days late. It’ll be interesting to see what customs have to say about that one.
Probably a lot of arguing and some fines. But so far the Chinese officials have been great, so there is hope.

In the mean time the gang is separating again.
The plan, which is always liable to change, is to get the parts we need shipped to Bangkok (See DHL blog). Lovey is hoping to fly there to collect them in the next few days, then he will head back through Laos to meet us at the China border. Tony will soon fly to Laos to scout out a workshop and try to arrange something to tow us there from the border. The remaining three of us, OJ, Carlos and I, will head down to Kunming and find a way of getting the cars from there to the Laos border.
Hopefully we will all reconvene at the border, us with the cars, Lovey with the parts, and Tony with a tow truck.
Mental isn’t it?

So once again the stage is set for separation. The last time this happened, in Khorog, Tajikistan, we didn’t see each other again for three weeks.
This time?
There’s plenty to go wrong. We could struggle to get the cars from Kunming to the border- I'm not sure how much traffic there is on that route.
But I think the most likely delays will be at Lovey’s end. We’re relying on an unreliable Hungarian mechanic to source and ship the parts to us. Then we’re relying on Lovey getting them from Bangkok to the China-Laos border ASAP.
Bangkok is a big city full of distractions, it’s easy to get sidetracked for a few days. And once he’s on the move, he will need to get a few buses, which could take three maybe four days.
So there’s a high chance we’ll be stranded in some two-bit town in the underdeveloped northern part of Laos. But it’s a beautiful country, with great people. And it should be warm.

China. It’s all south from here right? The final leg yes? Easy now ok?
Not a bit of it. The cars are broken, this could be should be our lowest ebb. But strangely, morale is high. We’re in an amazing city, we’re staying at a great place, and surrounded by travellers who think what we’ve done is awesome.
The cars are broken, but not our spirits.

IF YOU READ AND ENJOYED THIS BLOG, WHY NOT SHOW YOUR APPRECIATION BY MAKING A SMALL DONATION?
www.firstgiving.com/trabanttrek
100% of your donation goes to Cambodian children’s charities.



Ends
mrdanmurdoch@gmail.com
For more of Dan’s blogs visit: danmurdoch.blogspot.com or www.trabanttrek.org