UK Dentist Chris Shorrock takes on the Mongol Rally by Natalie Woods

Mongol Rally adventurists travel thousands of miles each summer, across the mountains, desert and steppe of Europe and Asia. Sounds scenic, but it’s hard work …

This is a motoring adventure where you have to fend for yourself entirely, but you get to see the world on your own schedule. The rules to the event are simple: The vehicle you take can only be small—ridiculously so. You and your teammate have to go it totally alone and you have to raise £1000 for a charity of your choosing.

To quote the Mongol Rally website: “B*11*ck$ to tarmac, ABS and gadgets that help you find your navel. The Mongol Rally is about getting lost, using your long-neglected wits, raising shed loads of cash for charity and scraping into the finish line with your vehicle in tatters and a wild grin smeared across your grubby face. Neither your car, nor your life, will ever be the same again.”

It takes around two months to complete, and it’s not for the faint-hearted or for those who like their creature comforts. You have to face armed border guards and incredible heat , and that doesn’t even include the problems that occur if your car breaks down! Doesn’t sound easy, does it?

Despite this, dentist Chris Shorrock and his partner, Rico Pena, thought it was the ideal adventure for them.

“I’m going to be honest, I was first attracted to dentistry because it is a stable career with good pay,” Shorrock said. “I always wanted to travel, and I knew dentistry would provide me with the funds. Once I looked into it more and did some work experience, I realised it was a perfect fit.

“I love the practical, hands-on, nature of the job mixed with the human element. Seeing so many different people in one day always keeps work interesting.”

Shorrock and Pena both love exploring different countries and, in fact, met while they were working and volunteering in Swaziland, Africa. They started dating not long after.

Shorrock says his work in Swaziland helped him become a more independent dentist: “I moved to Swaziland straight after my DF1 year. It was a baptism by fire, going from a five-surgery practice where there was always someone to ask for help to three one-surgery practices in Swaziland with no one to ask for help and no referral options. There were cultural differences to deal with and the practices were very disorganized.

“I put in place systems to organize the practices and gradually got the staff onboard, which was no easy task. After a difficult few months, to begin with, I ended up staying over two years. The experience made me realize I can really do anything I put my mind to. Clinically, with no referral options, I had to do treatments I would usually refer in the UK and it made me a much more confident and independent dentist.”

Shorrock then moved back to Wales and Pena continued on with his master’s degree in Swaziland. They decided to take part in the Mongol Rally together before following their plans to move across the world to New Zealand to start a new life together.

Although Shorrock admitted that he had been too busy during the rally to linger on thoughts of his clinic back home, he did say that when he left for the rally, “I sadly had to say goodbye to all my patients. It’s always sad saying goodbye to your patients and work colleagues, but it was especially hard leaving my last practice, in Builth Wells, Mid Wales. It was one of those places with the perfect team and a great set of friendly patients. It was somewhere, if I was ready to settle down, I would’ve loved to stay.”

Taking part in the Mongol Rally is a big time commitment: You spend almost all of your time with the person you take along for the journey. Nonetheless, Shorrock has been keen on doing the rally for around 10 years now.

“At first, I was hesitant,” Pena said. “The Mongol Rally is by no means a cheap affair— visas alone cost around $800—yet it was an adventure I couldn’t pass up. And truthfully, it was the perfect time to go. So, with little persuasion, I agreed to the trip.”

After they decided to take the plunge, Shorrock set out to plan the route. “This, as I am told, was not difficult, because he had a tentative route planned years before we even met,” Pena said. “Chris knew so much about the countries that we were visiting that it took very little persuading to follow his planned route.”

Which car did they take on this 17,000-mile route, which took them through 30 countries? Shorrock’s grandmother’s ancient little 1.2-litre Renault Clio. They also had a tent, and Shorrock’s crash course in bush mechanics, which Pena claims got them out of a few sticky situations.

“We were amazed how well the car coped, actually,” Shorrock said. “Some of the roads would’ve challenged a 4x4. All our car needed was a couple of new wheel bearings, one of which was bodged in Kyrgyzstan because they don’t have Renault parts there. Our main issue was punctures, most of which I managed to repair along the way with varying degrees of success. By the end of the trip, the many potholes had left our wheels far from round, and the car visibly raised and fell as we drove because of our oval wheels!”

They highlighted that it wasn’t the accidents and setbacks that were surprising, it was the characters they met along the way. You’d think with Shorrock’s life as a dentist that he’d be used to meeting interesting characters; however, he brought up one specific “nomad” who made quite the impression.

“He turned up in the middle of nowhere in the pitch dark and started shouting until we came out of the tent. He was on horseback and was carrying a really long stick; he looked quite threatening silhouetted against the moon. I thought he was going to rob us but, speaking mostly through hand gestures, it became apparent he was thirsty and wanted somewhere to sleep. We had only a two-man tent, but he was all for jumping in and sharing the very tight space with us. In the end, he slept on the porch and trotted off into the wilderness the following morning, well fed.”

Pena recalled another interesting character, whom they had met in Istanbul: “He had recently broken up with his girlfriend and used couch surfing as a coping mechanism. While we expect casual conversations when couch surfing, we were thrown by his frankness and desire to discuss his decision to break up with his girlfriend.

“As well, we encountered extremely irritable and, quite frankly, miserable border guards. They ranged from asking an annoying amount of questions to fabricating scenarios in which we broke the law. Either way, border crossings were a point of uncertainty and annoyance when they came.”

Despite the difficulties Shorrock and Pena had encountered entering different countries, exploring them was one of the most enticing elements of the rally. Shorrock had planned and replanned his ideal route many times over the years, with a desire to travel the Silk Road, an ancient network of paths and routes through Eurasia used by past travelers to exchange goods, skills and ideas.

Shorrock says one of his destination highlights was Mongolia: “It was so vast and remote, and the culture there was really interesting to be a part of. The scenery was also spectacular and very varied. The roads were a real challenge, too—often just tracks through the steppe. But the people were really what made it a special experience. It was where our nomad showed up one night!

“The following night we were invited to stay with a nomadic family in their [yurt], where they fed us sheep-lung soup and showed off their wrestling and dancing medals. We were even given gifts of dried curds and some Mongolian money before we departed the following morning. True hospitality.”

Pena also mentioned the sheep-lung soup (and how much he loved it!), but he preferred Tajikistan, saying: “The stars were bright and vivid, and the drive was extremely memorable. One night we camped next to the road in a spot that we deemed, at the time, merely adequate. But upon further reflection, it had views of the river, mountains and an extremely active sky. The meteor shower that night is one thing I will never forget.”

After a mammoth 72 days of driving and exploring, Shorrock and Pena arrived home in the UK with plenty of stories to tell, no regrets and the money raised for their chosen charities—Cool Earth, which protects threatened rainforests and helps build sustainable livelihoods for the people who live in those areas, and Dentaid, which provides access to safe, affordable and essential dental care for people in many of the poorest countries on the planet.

Speaking about the rally as a whole, Pena said: “It’s simply a great adventure! While it was expensive and time-consuming, it is a remarkable way to visit these places. I would encourage people to take a long car journey at some point with someone special. You learn a lot about foreign places, and also about the person next to you. It is a great, slower way to travel and experience the world.”

“You’ll see incredible places, meet some awesome people, and when you get to the finish line, you’ll feel on top of the world,” Shorrock added.

“But I would qualify that: You will also meet some awful people who just want to take advantage of you. I’ve learnt how unnecessary so many things in life are. For more than two months we lived out of a Renault Clio and we had everything we needed for life. While it wasn’t the most comfortable, it was more than enough. Who needs a house full of stuff when you have a Renault Clio and a tent?”

What road does Shorrock think that UK dentistry is taking into the future? “I would like to see well-funded NHS dental provision, with good access for all patients who need treatment. Where I worked in Wales, some patients were waiting years before a space with an NHS dentist became available, and I don’t think the current system is fit for purpose.

“I also worry about the increasing corporatization of the dental sector. In my experience, I ‘ve found this to lead to poorer working conditions, increased staff turnover and thus worse patient care, and a definite emphasis on profits over patients.”

Well done to Shorrock and Pena for completing the rally! We wish them good luck for their future journey and new life together in New Zealand.