We haved safely arrived! Part 3

We arrived safely in Beijing, eventless trip. We had a Peking duck for our first meal. Yummy. Today we spent time in the sunday flea market and in Tien Amen place. I have not been able to access my blog for unknown reason. I will keep trying. Hope everything is fine in France LoveDad

FIRST DAY OF THE JOURNEY Part 4

First day of the journey: We finally arrived in Pingyao around midnight. It is the most preserved walled city in China that had never been destroyed or damaged. To reach it was a serious Challenge. But let start at the beginning. The day started with a bang, let me explain.
On October 1st, it will be the 60th anniversary of the People Republic of China. Our trip to Tibet is one of the rare if not the first car raid in this region. So the Chinese Government has decided to consider this raid as part of all the celebrations for this anniversary. So for our departure we had representatives from the City of Beijing, the French Embassy etc… and of course the media. Unexpectedly, Phoenix TV that is nationally distributed in the PRC decided to join our group as far as Tibet with six 4x4 vans to cover this event live. To make it more exiting, they added in the group six contestants for Miss TV China pageant. I love this trip. So we left Beijing for a long to eventless highway trip to Pingyao. We started as a group convoy and went through the six consecutive loops that circle Beijing. Of course the traffic is massive and all the cars got separated, then the highway was cut off from times to times and we found our self in the countryside without any idea where we were. Obviously we had no way to communicate with the people we could find and we had to seek the help of three consecutive police cars to lead us to the right path. (One took us the opposite way). Night came and it was even more difficult to navigate. That was the easiest stage; I wonder what going to be next. Love Dad

Departure Tomorrow Part 2

Departure tomorrow. Wake up times 4 a.m., quite early to start a journey. Flight to Toronto, then connection to Beijing, if everything goes according to schedule, the trip will last 20 hours, and all of this on a jet, imagine if we were already in our 2CV.

A Journey from Beijing to Bombay across the Himalay Mountains. Part 1

On August 28, 2009 Jean-Pierre Ballay, Jacques Grelley and Philippe Orsetti, all residents of Arlington, Texas, will take off for Beijing, China, to start a one month long car journey.

They will join a group of "Baroudeurs" from France. Among them Jerome Duval, a long time friend of Philippe since College.


From Beijing, they will go to Tianjin to pick up their respective cars that were shipped to China by containers from France.


The next day the real journey will start. With two drivers per car, Philippe will team up with Jacques, a former Le Mans race car driver and Jean-Pierre will team up with Jerome. Another 20 cars will participate but we have not met the drivers as yet.


It is not a race, it is a journey that will take us from China's Capital to Lhasa, Tibet through several Chinese Provinces including Sichuan and Shaanxi, then across the Himalaya Mountain to Kathmandu, Nepal, then to Mumbai, India along the Rajasthan.


We will all drive vintage Citroen 2CV (60's to 80's) or its derivative. Ours will be an Acadiane that was produced in the late 70's as a small commercial vehicle.

The Journey

The Ciroen Acadiane for the Journey