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Monday, January 30, 2012

The Mongol Rally in Numbers!

For those of you that wanted some hard statistical analysis on the rally thus far!



Mongol Rally 2012

A small taste of what we are getting ourselves into!

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Our Facebook Page!

Hey all!


You can check out our Facebook page by clicking on the link on the upper left hand side of the blog. Please feel free to "like" us too! It makes us look sooooo popular.

Sunday, January 22, 2012

The Team!

Canuck the Dots is composed of four Canadians currently living in Ottawa and Toronto. These three Franco-Ontarians (oui!) and one Albertan (yee-haw) are excited to hit the open road for the 2012 Mongol Rally.

Aruna
When she’s not busy working hard for the feds, Aruna is usually planning her next big trip.  Having lived in six countries and visited forty, this avid traveler has an affinity for bargaining and deals. As the resident cheapskate and planning enthusiast, Aruna hopes to raise many dollars for charity and maximize FUN.

Renée

A producer and all-around organizational maven, Renée is one of the main planners and co-pilot drivers for this adventure. Her creativity and bossyness bring solid fundamentals to Canuck the Dots.

Sebastien

The "muscles" of the team, Sebastien will be doing the majority of the driving. His time spent training in the concrete jungles of Montreal and dodging moose in Northern Ontario have provided him with essential skills to get us to our destination.


Will


A Toronto-based director and editor, Will is the official chronicler of our adventure. His leadership will help steer the team along the route so we arrive to Mongolia in one piece!

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Support Briefing Sessions, support us!! January 27, 2012

Our lovely friend Poppy and her friend Amin are the organizers of what is now one of the most awesome nights in Ottawa - Briefing Sessions! They will be donating a portion of the proceeds from the Briefing Sessions event on Jan. 27 to the Stephen Lewis Foundation on our behalf!

Thanks Poppy and Amin for helping get us on our way to reaching our fundraising goal!

Here are the deets for Briefing Sessions from their Facebook page:

When: 27 January 2011
Where: My Condo, 34 Clarence Street
Doors 10 pm
Cover $10

Dearest Briefees,

Briefing Sessions 6 will be held at My Condo at 34 Clarence (we didn’t name the place, we just picked the venue….). Doors open at 10 pm. Tickets are 10$. Make sure to check out the heated roof top patio!

Come early to get briefed as a packed house is certain! We wouldn't want our favourite typing monkeys and government drones to wait in line. And another thing to make sure you get in, make an effort monkeys: dress up!

We’re excited to announce that DJ Dopey of MTV Canada fame and DMC World Champion (2003) will be on the ones and twos.

Proceeds from door sales will be divided in support of The Snowsuit Fund and the Stephen Lewis Foundation. The Snowsuit Fund is an Ottawa-based charity that raises funds for the purchase and distribution of snowsuits to needy children, 15 years and under, in our community. The Stephen Lewis Foundation (SLF) supports community-level organizations that are turning the tide of HIV/AIDS in Africa by providing care and support to women, orphans, grandmothers and people living with HIV and AIDS.

Monkeys, you know the drill. Briefing Sessions is all about 90’s, old school hip hop, R&B and soulful house, singing in unison to old school favourites, sweaty dancing, flirting, drinking, general merriment and debauchery.

Briefing Sessions isn't your work shindig so let loose and have some fun. This message has NOT/NOT been approved by any of our bosses.

Love,

Your friendly Briefers
Amin and Poppy

PS: Spread the word, bring your friends, we love you all. Join our facebook group to keep abreast of new happenings! 
https://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=102907499752551

Monday, January 16, 2012

Frequently Asked Questions

#1 WHY ARE YOU DOING THE MONGOL RALLY? ARE YOU CRAZY?!

No, we are not crazy. Unless in your vocabulary “crazy” is a synonym for “FUN”! We are doing the Mongol Rally for a few different reasons:

1. To raise funds (our goal is $15,000!) for our two inspiring charities.

The Stephen Lewis Foundation (SLF), a Canadian NGO which supports community-level organizations that are turning the tide of HIV/AIDS in Africa by providing care and support to women, orphans, grandmothers and people living with HIV and AIDS.

and

The Lotus Children’s Centre, a Mongolian non-profit, non-government organisation that works with vulnerable children and families to provide the basic human rights of shelter, food and education.

2.  To have a completely amazing adventure. We are looking forward to being awestruck, experiencing new countries, conversing with locals, learning about different cultures and sharing our own experiences.

#2 WHAT CAN OTHER PEOPLE DO TO HELP?

You can help us “Canuck the Dots” and make this adventure happen!

There are a few ways to help:

1.   Donate to our charities online or by attend one of our fundraisers – our goal is to raise $15,000 for our two charities!

Online Donations:

Donate to The Stephen Lewis Foundation (Canadian taxpayers can get a tax receipt). More on the foundation here.

Donate to The Lotus Children's Centre (UK taxpayers can get a tax receipt). More on the Centre here.

Fundraisers – dates and details TBC

  • 2 Charity speed-dating events in Ottawa (Date TBC)
  • A “Canuck the Dots” fundraising event in Ottawa

2.   Provide the team with sponsorship – either monetary or in-kind donations are accepted!     

Sponsorship levels

These funds will go towards the cost of purchasing the vehicle and paying for gas along the way.  You will get exposure at our fundraising events, on the web and even on our car! All of the money donated to our charity links is going DIRECTLY to the charity. We are paying our travel expenses out of pocket, but you can help us to mitigate this a little!

Steppe 1
$150-350
·         your company name/logo on our website and Facebook page

Czech this out
$351 – $500
·         your logo on our rally car
·         your company name/logo on our website, Twitter and Facebook page

Crazy plan in the ‘stans
$501 - $1000
·         premium rally car logo space
·         your company name/logo featured at events, on our website, Twitter and Facebook page

Soar to Ulaanbaator
$1001 +
·         large space on our rally car reserved for your logo
·         your company name/logo featured at all events, on our website, twitter and Facebook page

In-kind Donations

For the silent auction at our fundraiser (date TBC)
·         Gift certificates, gift baskets, etc are much appreciated!

For our trip - there are a lot of things we’re going to need, so please contact us if you think that you can help us out. Items include, but are not limited to the, following:
·         A car!
·         Plane tickets or air miles to use towards plane tickets
·         Cell phone with roaming – to use for twitter and blog updates
·         Camping gear – light, collapsible and easy to set up tents, sleeping bags, folding chairs and table.
·         Small Canadian paraphernalia that we can give as gifts or use to bribe people!

Any other ideas are welcome!


#3 WHAT THE HECK IS A CANUCK ANYWAY?

Ca·nuck /kənʌk/ noun
informal : a person born, raised, or living in Canada : a Canadian

We will be representing the maple leaf with pride throughout our sojourn through the ‘stans.

#4 HOW ARE YOU PLANNING TO GET TO ULAANBAATAR?

As the 2012 Mongol Rally website explains:

The Mongol Rally isn't about comfort and it doesn't have a great deal to do with style, what we seek is adventure. The whole point is that it's difficult. Hence the one litre rule was born. To tackle the worst roads in the world you you need a chariot with an engine size of under 1 litre (ish). There is nothing like staring down the bonnet of a Nissan Micra at hundreds of miles of dirt track and foot-high rocks. For the Mongol Rally 2012 your car must be registered after January 2003.

We are still researching to find out which car would be best for us…and keeping our fingers crossed that someone might just donate one to the team!

Potential vehicles include:

Perodua Kelisa, FIAT Panda, Citroen C1, Perodua Kenari, Suzuki Swift, Citroen Saxo, FIAT Seicento, Citroen C2, Volkswagen Fox, Daewoo Matiz/ Chevrolet Matiz, Volkswagen Lupo, Hyundai Amica/ Atoz, Renault Twingo, Vauxhall Agila/ Opel Agila/ Suzuki Wagon R, Daihatsu YRV, Vauxhall Corsa/ Opel Corsa, Volkswagen Polo, FIAT 500, FIAT Punto, Peugeot 106, Nissan Micra, SEAT Ibiza, Toyota Yaris, Skoda Fabia, Renault Clio, Daihatsu Sirion/ Perodua MyVi, Suzuki Alto, Perodua Kancil, SEAT Arosa.

#5 WHAT COUNTRIES ARE WE PLANNING TO GO THROUGH?

The UK-Czech Republic route is fairly standard, but after Czeching out, Mongol Rally teams need to start making the hard decisions about the route (through Turkey? or Ukraine?). We are planning to travel from the Czech Republic south through Turkey and hopefully (depending on the security situation) through Iran, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and finally…Mongolia.

We’ll be keeping an eye on the news and re-evaluate as necessary. Any travel tips or influential hookups for any of these countries would be much appreciated!


We would be happy to answer any other questions you might have!

Welcome to Canuck the Dots!

This blog will chronicle our preparations for and shenanigans on the 2012 Mongol Rally!

What is the Mongol Rally you ask? Basically, it's the perfect combination of fun, saving the world and adventure!

It's a 10,000 mile charity car rally that begins in the United Kingdom and ends in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. This legendary journey takes teams to roads less travelled (or non-existent) and traverses 1/3 of the world’s surface!

Teams raise money for their charities before embarking on their adventure, and once in Mongolia, their trusty vehicles will be donated to charities in Mongolia.

This entire trip is done in a tiny, unsuitable car, without any support from the organizers. The Mongol Rally is about teamwork, testing your boundaries, and seeing how far your wits and wiles can take you.