12 Sep. 2004
who: Piero, Tom, Greg
where: Cafe de la Mairie Sevres France
This day is THE day, when we met for the first time in order to discuss our project.
At that point, Piero was going back to Mongolia.
We were thinking about joining him later that year in order to freeze our bums together in the middle of somewhere.
The aim of this firt day was to evaluate the possible "kiff" (which could translate as "whicked moment, innit !?!") ...

15 Oct. 2004
We realised that spending two months in a ger (traditional mongolian tent) would be a good time to step away from our fast-paced society. But this trip had a high introspective character that would make us miss all the human dimension of travelling in different cultures.
We decided to forget the ger for the moment and instead "hit the road".

07 Nov. 2004
who: Tom, Greg
how: Telephone
We have been thinking about going to Kamchatka (a wild peninsula in the far east Siberia) but realised that the lack of roads would make it impossible to travel from Mongolia to there.
Moreover, the melting of winter snow would make the Siberians roads only practicable to 6 wheels trucks.

27 Dec. 2004
who: Tom, Greg
where: Sevres France
We have been looking forward this day for a long time now. Tom is back from Montauban and Greg has just arrived from London. This night will set the basis of the project. With the help of good french wine, we decided that we will drive across Central Asia to bring the van back to France.
Maps spread over the table, pages printed off the internet stacking up on the floor, no glass left empty for more than a few seconds, it came out as a logical and clear idea, clear like the spring water coming down from the Fedehenko Glacier: "da Silk Road !"

12 Jan. 2005
who: Piero, Tom, Greg
how: Email
Now, we needed a vehicle...
A team set out to do some research on the internet, and came back with an answer:
a Yaz, Russian made 4x4 minibus widely spread in Central Asia to transport people, sheeps and black market vodka.
We just had to find the right one...
After a few international phone calls we broadcasted an advert on the National Mongolian TV. The Mongolian team travelled around for a month looking for the perfect one.

01 Feb . 2005
who: Piero
how: Email
From piero@nuudel.org
To: tom@nuudel.org, greg@nuudel.org
Cc:
Subject: ca y est, j'ai la bete!
eh oui les gars, ca y est, le fourgon vous attend+++ Il trone dans l'enclos de la belle mere par un froid de canard+++
cette fois nous n'avons pas hesite...c'est un fourgon blanc de l'annee 2000...

[translation: that's it, I've got the beast! Yep guys, the van is waiting for you+++ It is parked outside the ger, in the cold+++
this time we didn't hesitate... it's a white van, from 2000...]

14 March 2005
Now that we knew how and where, we wanted our trip to be an exchange with the people we would meet on the way. We thougth that through a carefull selection of films we could become an opened window on the world for the people we would encounter along the road. By showing images of our world, we hoped to make people travel as well.

March - April
The visa period...
The bureaucracy part of nuudel cinema makes us nervously fearfull!
The visa hunt is just a taste of what is to be the main attraction at the borders. The fisrt step was to get both passports together in London to arrange the different visas. As a sign, Tom's passport got stolen in the post.

08 April 2005
who: Tom, Greg
where: London UK
D -25
Tom arrives in London, few pints, and a lot of work. Off to see Rodolphe and Chris playing at Namas as a reward for a hard day's work.. Common escape with Justine and Marie to meet Hugo at the Turnmills club... 776.

09 April 2005
who: Tom, Greg
where: London UK
D -24
Wake up call at 12:00, with circumstancial hangover.
Tea, black coffee, music and rigorous work on the website. This evening, meeting at Baba and Lolo's place to preview and select the different movies we'll take with us in da steppe.

03 May 2005
We'll take the plane to Ulaanbaatar with MN, KZ, and UZ visas. We'll still need to get a russian transit visa. This will then enable us to get back to Europe with a Turkmen transit visa, driving through Azerbaidjan. The second idea, going back through Iran, depends on Iranian authorities: no response so far...
Russian transit visa will be bought in Ulaanbaatar with the help of the mongolian team, hopefully...