He Maria, have the bikes thoroughly checked indeed. I'm working on my bike now and while I was one by one unplugging all connectors, earthing connections etc. I found the starter relay contacts almost burned out, prone to fail within not to long.... Although the bike started fine this was a completely hidden fault. While lubricating the cables I hurt my finger on the clutch cable, little pricking pain that you get from a broken strain, well I found that the cable was 75% broken! Only visible after I bend it more than 30 degrees, in normal position not visible at all, prone to fail within a 1000km! I'm just saying, I know my bike well but now I'm going through all the detailes, I find some serious hidden stuff. Wonder what else pops up in the coming weeks as I progress with my inspections.

I also have the main gear now. Tent I already had but the thermarest is to bulky so now i have the Exped 7 synmat, 1/3 of the size and double as comfy. Also chosen an Exped Comfort 400 down bag for 0 degrees and up, very compact. I still have two thing outstanding, should i take the stainless MSR pan set or buy the anti sticky ones? and a chair, Helinox or not?? the price is embarrassing but they are good and very compact and light!

I'm not aware of my mail being down, I did notice the mail down in the string which did not reach me! All seems fine now.

I wish I could have participated but my misses had to go in Hospital today for surgery, would not have been nice to leave her alone the weekend before.

Happy prepping,
Noel

Only a "few" months to start

Yes four months precisely. Can't wait!

I have not heard from the agency regarding our business visa with Russia. I suppose with Xmas it will take longer.

Noel, your sleeping bag, does it pack small? I have a down bag but not very thick. What I have done in the past, in cold places was to wrap my bag (with me inside) with one of those space blanket. But they are noisy.
For mattress we have one of those thermarest that are the size of a 1l bottle.

As for cooking, after a lot of research I got the Zebra 14 cm billy can. I hope the Stove will fit inside to keep stuff tidy. The 12cm would have been enough. Most cooking pots looked too small or no lid or pack of multiple ones.... This one should be pretty good. But not in Aluminium so a bit heavier.

Hebbo let's try organise another meet in that same pub sometime in March if possible.

In the meantime, happy Xmas guys!

__________________
Maria

www.franglais-riders.com

Zebras are great. I've got a few. Really good quality. Stainless steel is definitely the way to go with long term use. Aluminium is just too much of a pain to clean, taints the flavour and you have to use wooden spoons unless you want aluminium poisoning aka. Alzheimer's..

Why the hell they don't pack into each other is a massive 'missed trick' with them though.

__________________
Did some trips.
Rode some bikes.
Fix them for a living.
Can't say anymore.

The answer you may be looking for Ted is made in Titanium
Some do! have a look for the Evernew non-stick Titanium pots
2.4 Ltr and the 1.7 Ltr
Perfect fit
Total weight 450 Grms inc both lids
I confess to being a Titanium lover

He Maria, I have 5 sleeping bags, combined retail value 80Euro, so pretty much all crap. Now I have bought a nice Exped down bag Comfort 800, should be good for 0 degrees in combination with the Exped Synmat. I still have to get an insert which should be nice for warmer days, without the bag and for cold nights with the bag. Nice feature of the Exped bag is that it comes with water tight roll compression bag which allows you to sit on it, press all air out with your bum and close it. It is then compressed to a 17x25x3 cm pancake and stays that way for while, easy to pack under compression in the pannier.

For cooking I have a Coleman Featherlite multi fuel burner and standard MSR StSt nested panset, which I might change for the non-sticky Teflon coated ones! The Zebra I don't know.

This holiday applying for new passports, I will get 2 and then get into the Visa adventure.
cheers,
Noel

Travellers List Mongolia 2014.pdf

Revision December 22, 2013.

£70 EACH... I'll never leave the country if I start shopping like you

__________________
Did some trips.
Rode some bikes.
Fix them for a living.
Can't say anymore.

You did want to know about lightweight stacking gear!

thanks for the updatet list Noel!

As for a stove I've been using an MSR stove which runs on regular fuel. It gives me a spare 1L when low on fuel depending on priority of the moment :-)

My holiday seems to be informally approved, so I'm back in! Departure is planned early May with a 1 week stop in the end of May somewhere on the coast in Turkey.

Happy holidays to all!
Tom

Maria,

Based on the enquiries that I have made with an agency, they cannot apply for the letter of introduction (LOI) more than 45 days prior to the start of the visa. Once they have the LOI, they can apply for the visa.

For this reason, I'll be applying for a visa start date one month earlier than I actually need it. The remaining five months on the visa will be more than enough for our three entries, so the earlier start date will allow it to be processed and sent to me earlier.

As you are still four months from departure, you'll have to wait a bit longer before they can process your application.

__________________
2014 overland adventure to Russia and Central Asia in Land Rover Defender www.bermudarover.com

Things have been quiet on this thread for a while. Christmas is buy for all of us. I received a special present on Christmas Eve - a 3 yr. multi entry visa for Russia. Now I can make the trip even if all the other visas fall through.

For those of you just jumping in to this thread, Noel has done a remarkable job of putting together a spread sheet with contacts and itineraries. There seem to be a couple of different groups forming. Some of us are going south through the 'Stans'. Another group seems to be going through St.Petersburg. Either way - we are still looking for company and comfort.

I am going to be forced to go through Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan. Iran is not an option because I need a minder. I reckon I will be in Baku Azerbaijan on Monday June 2 to apply for a transit visa to Turkmenistan, then take the boat.

My new blog is www.fritztomongolia.blogspot.com . I have not linked to Horizons Unlimited yet because I am still testing things. But I will get there.

Fritz

He Fritz,

Congratulations with the Russia visa! That will be good for your piece of mind! I am waiting for my new passport and then its on to Stantours for the LOI's and then to the visa agency. Still have to work out the application schedule sequence, one almost has to be a grandmaster in chess to work that out! Anyway, step by step we will get there!

Hi Fritz, congrats re. Your visa. I am still waiting for the agency to get the LoIs.
It is a bit more complicated for me as I am French residing in the uk and that somehow makes it more tricky... So a bit anxious about it. I am applying for a one year visa as it is almost the same price.

Anyway, hope to get news soon from RealRussia and I will then take all the docs and passports to them in next couple of weeks.

Noel, we got 2 honda Xr in the end ( SSheet shows ybr )

Today we took the Xr number one to a local workshop for a full list of stuff. Then mine will be next. Once the guy is done with them, they should be in mint condition and ready to go.
I can't wait... So bored at work at the moment. Motivation not there

__________________
Maria

www.franglais-riders.com

He Maria,

Yeah, those XR's are a whole lot better than the planned ybr's! I will change the list for next issue. There are no new entries lately so I guess that may take while. May will be here very soon, time really flies lately and it seems to keep on accelerating! I'm turning 50 in a couple of weeks Where did time go! .
Cheers,
Noel