OK, so in Mongolia we have the “rare” chance of being attacked by wolves and getting Black Plague, but the Gobi Desert has another little gem in store for us as well. I like to think of it as an evil version of the more cute and cuddly Bigfoot, Loch Ness Monster or Ogopogo… I give you THE MONGOLIAN DEATH WORM!.

“The local name is allghoi (or orghoi) khorkhoy, which means “blood filled intestine worm” because it is reported to look like the intestine of a cow. It is the subject of a number of extraordinary claims by Mongolian locals – such as the ability of the worm to spew forth sulfuric acid that, on contact, will turn anything it touches yellow and corroded (which would kill a human), and its purported ability to kill at a distance by means of electric discharge.” … “It is described as a bright red worm with a wide body that is 0.6-1.5 meters (2-5 feet) long.”

Sounds awesome! Jeff, you can sleep in the tent. I’ll protect the car.

Read more on Wikipedia

Taken from the Mongol Rally site:

251 teams set off in July 2008 to take on the beast that is the Mongol Rally, and a massive 79% of teams made it all the way to the finish line in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.

Number of teams: 251
Teams who made it: 198
Made it to Mongolia then retired before the finish line: 27
Retired before reaching Mongolia: 26

Of those 26 who dropped out, where did they end up?

8 – Kazakhstan 5 – Russia 4 – Ukraine 2 – Turkey 2 – Czech Republic 1 – Tajikistan 1 – Kyrgyzstan 1 – Azerbaijan 1 – Germany 1 – Belgium

One team had their car crushed by an eagle eyed UK city council for not having road tax and their rally dreams were squashed into a cube before the launch day. Psychedelic Pirates made it as far as Belgium, Mere Mongols met disaster in Germany and The Mongolia Job came to an abrupt halt in Czech Republic, but carried on with other teams eastwards.

The early carnage raised many an eyebrow and expectations of a stream of early retirements. But it wasn’t to be – the 2008 adventurists steeled themselves and wobbled east to meet all sorts of pickles and ‘code brown’ situations.

Team Axis of Ignorance were having an innocent kip when their car got struck by lightning in Ukraine. One of Pandamonium’s number was thrown in a Russian cell for 24 hours for mistakes with his visa. A member of team POB had what they describe as a “poo-splosion”, and he was probably not the only one.

Team Pull-Over got drunk with Russian tank commanders and Team Desertaxi got stranded in no man’s land for 5 days between Russia and Kazakhstan so they set up their own republic – ‘Taxistan’ and by the sounds of it, all went a bit funny in the head!

The Larrikins were held hostage in a Kazakh brothel they thought was a hotel, locked in a room with no toilet and then charged $48 for the pleasure after 15 hours!

We Are Vikings experienced one of the Mongol Rally’s finest delights by taking part in an the infamous involuntary ‘slow car chase’. This is where the Kazakh, or criminals from other countries, decide they want to steal the shirt off your back and chase your car, but because the roads are utter shite so the car chase plays out at 20mph – awesome stuff!

These interesting tidbits are from the first (proper) year of the Mongol Rally, 2005. Yes, they are all true.

• 43 cars left London.
• 27 cars reached Mongolia.
• 14 cars reached the finish in Ulan Bator.
• 2 teams were robbed at knife point.
• 1 car snapped in half.
• 3 engines fell completely out of the cars.
• 1 team was held for five days in no-mans land.
• 1 team cycled almost 100 miles to get to the finish when their car gave in.
• 100’s of tires were blown.
• 1 team got engaged.
• 3 teams attended weddings.
• 1 team found a 10 foot deep pot hole.
• 1 team found a 25 ton crane rolled by a pot hole.
• 1 team had to reverse up a mountain after losing all but one forward gear.
• 1 person spent 24 hours in a Kazakh jail charged with five crimes against the state.
• 1 person was stoned by a Mongolian nomad, who then shot at him with a gun (and missed).
• 1 team was rammed off the road after an argument over water melons.
• 1 person spent a day in a Turkish hospital.
• 3 people were banned from Turkmenistan for a year.
• As a result of an incident with a cow, one person was detained by police in Azerbaijan and threatened with a beating from a dwarf.
• 2 cars flipped over in Mongolia.
• 3 teams were chased by armed bandits.
• 0 team members died.

Think a year and a half before we can even register for this thing is a little early? Yeah, OK, maybe, but the Dirty Canadians are online!

Our families think we’re joking, but little do they know how serious we really are. >:)