Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Back in Action!

I am now in Tabriz, Iran with my first net access since Beijing. I am exhausted so please my grammar and spelling below. I can honestly barely type.

This has been unbelievable. 4 days ago we broke the crankshaft or lost the
thrust bearing allowing the crankshaft to move. We were in Uzbekistan about 60
miles from the Turkmenistan border. A rally sweeper truck towed us through the
border and to the hotel. In the morning, the car was loaded on a truck and
taken to the next city in Turkmenistan. We couldn't do any repairs because
parts are unavailable and shipping into Turkmenistan would be impossible.
Keeping up with the rally is a huge concern because the days are very long and
catching up even 1 day is nearly impossible. Our only option was to keep moving
forward with the rally.

With 0 options in the police state of Turkmenistan, our mood darkening, we
eagerly awaited getting into Iran. Our plan was to consult with the Iranian Car
Club regarding repairs in Iran (is it possible?) or keep trucking to Istanbul
($$$!). After a 6 hour wait getting across the border (I've been fingerprinted
for the first time!), we finally made contact with the car club and they were
enthusiastic about helping and absolutely positive they could fix it. The
problem was that the rally was moving north-west to Gorgon and their facilities
were 3 hours south in Mashood. If they fixed it in 1 day, I would still be 2
days behind and in the wrong direction. Anyways, we decided to trust them.
After a harrowing 65km tow through the mountains and then another truck ride,
we arrived in Mashood at about 10pm.

As we were unloading the car from the truck, the local VW expert, Mr. Ali,
shows up in his show-condition 1956 Sealing Wax Red beetle! We were absolutely
stunned to find a near match for our car after despairing for days. We took the
car to their shop, stood back as Ali got an immediate start, and some of the
guys took us out to dinner. Our emotional state was
fairly fragile at this point but Saeed and Abbas took good care of us.

It is difficult to convey the chaos we felt around us. The numerous car club
members were a blur of activity and cellphones. I got the sense of a vast
network of behind-the-scenes support. Towards our own disorientation, we heard
constant reassurances of "Don't worry, no problem" and then we would be whisked
off to some other unknown destination. We were tired, depressed, unable to
communicate with our friends, doubting ourselves for trusting these people, and
feeling like strangers in a strange land.

Anyways, after a wonderful traditional Iranian dinner of kebab and rice with
Abbas and Saeed, another member, Mohammad, gave us his apartment for a night's
rest while he stayed at his sister's. In the morning, he served us breakfast
and drove us back to the car. Ali and Saeed had worked through the night and
they were nearly finished! While Ali finished, Saeed gave us rides in his dune
buggy! We traded a few gifts of t-shirts, hats, pictures, and some minor
speeches about cars transcending politics and all of us being an extended
family. A lawyer in the ranks of the club gave us an official government letter
that we were to present to police if we were stopped that explains why we were
driving a day behind the rally.

But our elation was quickly squelched when the engine failed to deliver
adequate oil pressure and began emitting sounds like a bad crank bearing. Robert
and I just went quiet as we handed over the keys again. I had gone from
literally tears of joy for these people's help in our time of helplessness to
being sick to my stomach with despair.

Ali didn't speak a lick of English so we were always unclear about what he was
doing. The other guys would generally wick us away for some food or other
distraction while Ali worked. I think Ali had requested that we be kept away so
that he wasn't distracted. I wish I had a nickle every time we heard "don't
worry, no problem." Anyways, after a very long and quiet afternoon, Ali
declared the car fixed after doing something with the oil pickup.

The only problem now was that we were fully 2 days behind the rally with little
hope of catching up by following the prescribed route. If we took a short-cut
from the prescribed route, Abbas warned us that we would be regularly stopped
by the police and delayed for hours each time. The Chaos was unleashed and a
truck materialized to take the car to Tagriz. We were given plain tickets and
would arrive in Tagriz in time for lunch a few hours before the rally arrived!

With the car trucked and away, we had a few hours to kill before our flight.
Mohammad wanted to take us to dinner and suggested pizza. We drove clear across
town to his favorite "delicious pizza for me." You can imagine our surprise
when we arrived at an Iranian clone of McDonald's called McMan! OMFG we drove
an hour across town to eat pizza at McDonald's! My attempts to suppress laughter
largely failed.


As I write this, I am sitting in comfort at a lovely hotel, the first rally
people are trickling in, and our car will be here tonight. The last few days
have been full of emotional ups and downs. We would have been completely lost
without the guys from the car club and we are forever in their debt.

Edit: The URL I was given for the car club is http://www.khorasan-mafiri.ir but it doesn't seem to be working. I think they are a local division of a larger MAFIRI group at http://mafiri.ir/

3 comments:

  1. I am interested in knowing about car spares. I need your help in this matter. I shall be thankful to you.
    Car Parts

    ReplyDelete
  2. I am interested in knowing about car spares. I need your help in this matter. I shall be thankful to you.
    Car Parts

    ReplyDelete
  3. Am entered in the 2013 Peking to Paris Rally in a VW Beetle. Would love to connect.

    John

    ReplyDelete