Molly Porsche on the Tiger Rally

Phew! First day over and done with. This was our practise day to get to know how all the equipment works, how to drive in Penang, how to do a ' timed stage' how not to get hit by 30,000 mopeds are trying to take a picture of the car while holding the camera with both hands.
Another Phew was that it was one of the hottest days that Penang has had for many years, not a lot of fun in Molly but she made it, which is more than some of the cars did.
The main phew of the day was that Molly passed scrutineering, if she had failed we would not have been able to take part in the rally.
Part of the day was to put the rally cars on display with the Penang motor club, great event and an nice way to relax before braving the traffic back to the hotel, picture of the old and new Porsches on the rally.

Below is a picture of the amazing back up crew we have , 7 land rovers, full of medical equipment and enough garage equipment to stock several dealerships. 

Tomorrow the rally starts in earnest, think we are ready, 6.30 start is not so much fun but better than driving in plus 37 degrees. 

All great fun, could be the start of a major hobby :)

Arrived :)

Well we have been and gone and done it! We have arrived in Bangkok, after 6500 Klm of pure adventure. The hardest part of which was trying to write this blog :) each entry was taking ages due to  bad Internet connections and driver error :)
The car ran beautifully and the navigation was spot on. Only two wrong turns across Malaysia, Thailand, and Laos. The only wrong turns were again down to driver error :) bit of a theme here :)
There will be a professional DVD coming out and loads of amazing professional photos. We have had a sneak preview and the  film and photos really capture the adventure far better than I can.
Molly is now tucked up in the car park waiting to be brought home and a little rest.
In 21 days we have meet some fantastic new friends, stroked and feed tigers, ridden elephants, swam in the sea at the gulf of Thailand, seen some breath taking scenery, had police escorts through Penang, and Chiang Mai driven over 6000 Klm, had dinner in the temple at Angkor Wat, seen terrible poverty but very happy people. We also managed to become Grandparents to Joshua John Paling 😀
It's quite difficult to say all we have seen and done, but we will bore you with it all when we come home.
Thanks must go to the team at H&H for an amazing event and looking after the Rally Virgins, the biggest thanks goes to Julie who navigated us through it all and managed to bring us in 6th overall, and 3rd in our class. Which quite honestly is stunning. The best bit is she wants to go and do some more rallies. That means we need another car 😀
Thank you for reading our blog, sorry it has been so disjointed, never have understood this Internet stuff.
See you in the uk
David, Julie and Molly.

Cambodia

We have been in Cambodia for two days now, we leave for Thailand tomorrow. Because of problems at the border we have had to leave our cars there (hopefully they will be there when we get back) and travel into Siem Reap by air conditioned coaches. Pure luxury after all the days in a very hot Porsche 356.the border crossing it quite interesting. On Each side there are shops/stalls of every variety. If you fancy a light snack you can always try a fresh lightly fried frog. I tried to take some more pictures of the frogs but was told to hop it :) (sorry)

Coming back from Thailand was an open cattle truck with 85 people crammed onto it.

They were then marched back into Laos, sort of tells you the difference between the countries.

We are staying at the Raffles Hotel and being spoilt rotten, but its just not the same without our cars.
The difference between Laos and Cambodia is staggering. Laos was a very poor country and the population do not seem to worried about the state of the country or the country side, which was just covered in rubbish. Cambodia on the other hand has really good roads, the country side is well cared for and the people seem genuinely pleased to see you 

You can not come to Cambodia and not go to see one of the seven wonders of the world, Angkor Wat . Simple stunning. Some how H&H managed to arrange for the rally to have private diner at the temples. Events just get better on this trip, this evening in the temples is probably about as good as it can get. A once in a life time experience.
We will come back to Cambodia and Thailand, will miss out on Laos, has a lot of catching up to do.
Tomorrow we head back to the border and then drive 590 Klm to Bangkok, arriving Friday afternoon in the rush hour. Lets hope we can last till then.
We will then get the results. The results in this case are irrelevant, we have had such an amazing time and made some special friends. Thanks must go to the guys and girls at H&H for putting this together. I may have said that before and I expect I will say it again :)

Very important update

No rally news, something much more exciting, Julie and I became grandparents this morning.
Becky and Steve have a little baby boy, 6 lbs 13. No name yet, but Mum and baby are doing well.
All the competitors and H & H team on the Tiger Rally send their love.
Well done Becky and Steve. X

Bit of rally news, julie and I have made a bit of a mess of the the last two stages, but we think we are still in 5 th place. Molly is going really well, with her new dynamo and better petrol and Julie's ankle is nearly back to full strength.
The route of the rally has been changed, we could not get the cars into Cambodia. But, we have driven to the border and been bused into Siem Reap. Tonight is the Gala diner and prize giving.
Tomorrow we are of to see the temples. Then bus back to Thailand and long drive to Bangkok.

I am sorry we have missed out so many days but the Internet connect has been rubbish, hope you have been able to pick up the photos on Facebook.

This is one of the better roads in Laos, try doing this on wet mud, with a rear engine and all Julie's luggage over the back wheels, keeps you on your toes :)

This has been a stunning trip.

News on the final positions tomorrow.

It's prize giving tonight and wetting baby P's head :)

Day 13

Today we went from Oudomxay to Luang Prabang only 237 Klm. But what a 237 Klm. Probably the hardest but most rewarding driving we have ever done. The road is so bad that the H and H team have been out and put warning markers in place. The stages were cancelled again because of the terrible conditions. Just to add a bit of  ' home feel' a lot of the route was in thick fog :)

So ideal driving conditions 1 in 4 hills, hairpin bends with no crash barriers, thick mud, no such thing as asphalt, thick fog and lots of villages where the children, dogs, pigs, goats and chickens use the road as a play area. How we all made through this section I will never know, but all 16 cars made it.

This picture, below, gives you an idea how narrow the road was and these guys did not stop (probably couldn't) to see if they could pass, they just go for it.

Julie's ankle is a little better and Molly's new dynamo is working well. We have put one of our
pillows in the footwell so that julie can keep her ankle elevated. Seemed to be working quite well until we went round a mud bath corner with a sheer drop of 2000' feet coming towards us sideways on. Leg seemed to be ok a she was hitting the brakes harder than I was.

Day 12 oh dear:(

Today we leave Thailand and cross the might Mekong into Laos.
The border crossing was a bit chaotic but H&H had help on hand and we managed to get all the paper work done, seemed to cost quite a bit but I was assured by the guy with a polce T shirt ( they can't even spell) that if I gave him $50 it would all be ok.

Julie was busy doing her form work and coming down some steps when crash, over she went and managed to tear the 5 metatarsal ligament in her leg. Result being she could not walk on stand on it.
Dr John was right on hand and bandaged her up and has being doing a wonderful job looking after
her ever since.
Laos is a very poor country (one of the 10 poorest countries in the world) and the roads certainly show
that. The ferry was apparently top of the range :)

We had to drive to a town called Oudomxay, the road was very scenic, very twisty and in reasonable condition. The hills were 2nd and some times 1st gear for poor Molly. 330 Klm into the trip there wasa stranger  than normal smell and a terrible crunching sound. Molly was broken. We came to a grinding

halt in the pouring rain. Broken car, broken wife and Peeing with rain and 45Klm from home.

I have mentioned how good the back up system is and now we were about to find out.
Along comes one of the land rovers, stopped, lots of shaking of heads, took  photos, and carried on their way. To be fair the brake down land rover was right behind them :) Molly was then towed 45
Klm to the hotel.
The problem was a ceased dynamo, there is nothing that can be done when that happens, the car won't
start and even if it did it would not run very far. End of rally :(

But, the guys at Gantspeed ( they built Molly) had suggested taking a spare dynamo just in case. We
Listened and had packed not only a spare dynamo but fitting instructions ( not that they were really needed)

That evening the mechanics ( more like 'God like beings' now) took the old dynamo out and fitted the new one. Turn the key and Molly is back in the rally.
Car fixed, Julie getting used to being waited on hand and foot and its stopped raining.
Smiling again :)
Onto day 13 :)

Day 11

Another rest day :)
Did not turn out to be quite as restful as we thought, sorted out the inside of Molly after 10 days rubbish had accumulated on my side of the car.
Had a Thai massage and stupidly said to the girl that she was not pushing hard enough.
We then had a sunset elephant ride, which was fantastic going up the hill. I then got talked into sitting on the elephants neck and steering it down what had now become the North face of the Iger.
I don't like horse riding, so what possessed my to agree to a 45 minute down hill ride on top of a 100' tall elephant will always be a mystery. Just to add a bit of spice to it, most of the journey was in the dark. Julie's encouragement ' your doing really well'  ' just hang on'  (to what?) and 'don't worry if you fall off he has been trained not to stand on you' were not a great comfort.

This is a truly a great trip, well organised and with a great team to get us through all this excitement and drama.

The sign on the land rover says it all.

No more elephant riding for me.
The next day is not so clever.