The rest of the rally cars left yesterday morning after organising their own repairs (not as extensive as ours, of course)
We went to the garage early & then Merlin from the hotel arrived & he & Phil went off in a taxi in search of a radiator repair shop. We forget to mention that on Saturday the radiator was sent away by the garage with a taxi driver so that we would not be charged foreigners rates. The moral of this story is taxi drivers are the same the world over. On Saturday afternoon the taxi driver returned with a very shoddy repair job. Top bracket ready to fall off & the bottom tubular outlet still 70% crushed. Huge argument ensued with lots of shouting & yelling. Eventually paid him some money & everyone angry.
Merlin & Phil drove all over Bishkek before being directed to a market place where they travelled through the front door of a plumber’s supply premises & out the back gate to an open wasteland of several acres with a row of sheds. One of these sheds had a man with a blowtorch, water testing tank & radiators on the floor. Joy of joy after 3 hours of searching.
After one & a half hours the radiator was as good as it was ever going to be. They then went off to get 2 new front tyres which were purchased from a ground floor apartment in an apartment block on the outskirts of Bishkek. We now had 2 new Ling Long tyres which were fitted later at Estocada.
While Phil & Merlin were away I kept the curiosity seekers at bay & watched our gear while Estocada mechanics got the brakes going. No brake bleeding for me, thank goodness! During this time I was well looked after & invited into the staff canteen for a sit down lunch whilst the boss ordered the security man to keep watch on our stuff.
Merlin went off to sleep for his night shift at the hotel & we continued work on the car.
Today was panel bashing & radiator fitting. Had some problems getting the engine running & fitted new battery, coil & condenser.
At this stage I had to return to the hotel as the agent was bringing back our passports complete with Chinese visas. Our appointment was 5pm & I waited until after that time before ringing the contact. She eventually rang back & said the Chinese people were late & would be delivering her the visas at 6pm & she would then bring them over. It was 6.45 before she eventually came. It was a frustrating time just sitting & waiting whilst I could be of use down at the garage.
About 7.30pm when it got dark we finished up & went to Fatboys (no reflection on Phil’s current physique which is getting thinner by the day through exhaustion, heat, stress & hard physical work!) Restaurant for dinner & beer.
I have to say how great it is to have Laurette by my side during this, she is constantly helping, searching for the right spanner or socket or holding onto a spanner whilst I am under the car, even put her feet against the front guards whilst I panel bashed the Puce Goose back into some sort of shape. Laurette also keeps us supplied with water, coffee and snacks during these long, long days.
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| Estocoda |
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| Sunday repairs |
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