Online store now actually online!

Despite the link in the sidebar that's been claiming to be where we sell calendars and things for fundraising purposes, that has been empty for the last few months, UNTIL NOW! You can now find a calendar for sale of some images from Uzbekistan. Additionally, any of the individual images can also be made into prints, cards, luggage tags, and a bunch of other lovely items The royalties from the sales will go to our operating costs for the rally.

Just go to our store, and get yourself some loot!

CBPG T-shirts coming soon!

Also, a belated congratulations to Kirstin and Jeff for winning the picnic basket for two and to Mary and Jeff for winning the spa kit!

The Raffle is ON!

As we've mentioned, one of the Mongol Rally's rules is that we have to raise 1000 pounds ($1500) for charity. We've chosen MercyCorps, http://www.mercycorps.org.uk/, as our beneficiary. In order to sweeten the deal for our nearest and dearest, we're raising the money by raffling off several very attractive items. The first two will be shipped before Valentine's Day. The latter two are meant for those who would like to share our experiences on the trip and will, of necessity, not be shipped until after we return.

TO PAY: Please click on the FirstGiving icon at the side of this page or point your browser to our FirstGiving page, click on Sponsor Me Now. For each 10 dollars you donate, you get a virtual raffle ticket. You can apply all your entries to a single raffle or spread them out over different raffles, indicate which item you want in your comment. So, if I donate $40, I could say "I want all 4 tickets to go to the mystery raffle and my theme is ponies!" or I could say "Diversification is great! Give me a ticket for each raffle!"

*Please note that the Valentine's day items are only available until February 9.*

Thank you very much for your support, and let us know if you have any questions!

The Raffles

1. Picnic basket for two: Contains a picnic bag from Raecyclements, reusable bamboo plates and cutlery, two glasses made from recycled wine bottles (customizable with your desired initials, words, or designs, a la this), a copy of Alice Waters' Simple Food, delicious organic nuts from Capay Organic, an assortment of handcrafted cooking oils, and more! Purchase by February 9th, ships in time for Valentine's day.

2. Ladies' home spa: Set of truly luxurious organic bath products from Pangea Organics, soaps from Olive and Oats, a set of women's nightclothes from Keep Me, some ultra-soft bamboo fiber socks and washcloth from Pure Bamboo, flowers in a vase made of a recycled wine bottle, an assortment of handcrafted candies (truffles, caramels, chocolate-dipped dried fruits), and more!. Purchase by February 9th, ships in time for Valentine's day.

3. Limited edition set of trip photos: High-quality prints documenting seven thousand miles narrow Turkish lanes lined with sultry cherry trees, the ferry across the Caspian sea, Persian palaces and endless, trackless steppe along one of the ancient world's most important overland trading routes. Photos will be taken by our accomplished photographer and our crack statistician! The winner of this raffle will choose 10 images from among the trip photos and we will have those printed on high quality fiber paper suitable for framing. Great for around the house or gifts. Bid by June 1st, ships on return.

4. Mystery raffle! The prize in this raffle is a mystery treat from each country we visit (or, most of them, anyway)! You get to choose the theme. So, for instance, if you choose "food" we might get you an assortment of edibles, kitchen implements, and cookbooks from along the route. Or, if you choose "textiles" we could get you some Balkan embroidery, a turkmen carpet, an Uzbek hat. Or (if you're Sarah's dad) you might choose "rusty junk" or "found objects" in which case we'll pick up every cool rusty railroad tie or oil can we find along the way. Let your imagination run wild with this one! (though, keep in mind, unless you are donating several thousand dollars, we probably cannot afford to get you a nice rug from every country. sorry!) Purchase by June 1st, ships on return.

Fundraising!

Well, we're on the hunt for sponsors. So far, we have approached a couple of corporate sponsors and are working on our ideas for a raffle aiming to ship the winnings around Valentine's day. So far, this is the lineup with tentative contents:

1. Picnic basket for two: Contains a picnic bag, reusable bamboo plates and cutlery, two glasses made from recycled wine bottles (customizable with your desired initials, words, or designs), a copy of Alice Waters' Simple Food, organic nuts from Capay Farms in the Bay Area, an assortment of handcrafted cooking oils, and a Whole Foods or Trader Joe's gift card.

2. Ladies' home spa: Set of organic bath products from Pangea Organics, soaps from Olive and Oats, a set of women's nightclothes from Keep Me, some ultra-soft bamboo fiber socks and washcloth from PureBamboo, flowers in a vase made of recycled wine bottles, an assortment of handcrafted candies (truffles, caramels, chocolate-dipped dried fruits), and more!.

3. Mystery raffle! The prize in this raffle is a mystery treat from each country we visit (or, most of them, anyway)! You get to choose the theme. So, for instance, if you choose "food" we might get you an assortment of edibles, kitchen implements, and cookbooks from along the route. Or, if you choose "textiles" we could get you some Balkan embroidery, a turkmen carpet, an Uzbek hat. Or (if you're my dad) you might choose "rusty junk" or "found objects" in which case we'll pick up every cool rusty railroad tie or oil can we find along the way. Let your imagination run wild with this one! (though, keep in mind, unless you are donating several thousand dollars, we probably cannot afford to get you a nice rug from every country. sorry!)

When we have a means to sell tickets for this raffle, we will alert you. If you have other ideas for the raffle in the meantime, or relevant objects/services to donate, please let us know!

Episode 1: Wherein Anand and Sarah win a place on the Mongol Rally

After a few years of trying, it has finally happened. In September, just as Sarah headed off to Uzbekistan for a month, Anand got the good news that we were accepted to the Mongol Rally! For those not in-the-know, the Mongol Rally is a charity event that sets 250ish teams to drive 10,000 miles from London to Ulaan Baatar, Mongolia. Teams' cars can have a maximum of a 1 liter engine and must be under 10 years old. You choose your own route and ours preliminarily looks like this.

We are starting a blog about this for a couple of reasons.

1. We thought our friends and family might be interested in our progress both preparing for the race and while we are in the field.
2. To raise money! On this blog you will find a link to our cafe press store where you can buy cool shirts and other items, the profits from which will go to paying for the car, charity, and other expenses. We will also have a paypal donation site and I'm thinking of selling off some other stuff (mainly photography related), so stay tuned for that!
   

Ok, that's pretty much the main two reasons. Please stay tuned for more developments as they arise! Also, please let us know if you have leads on any good, small cars located in the UK or have other fund-raising ideas!