Just Watched the Greatest Motoring Documentary EVER!

[joe2tiger]

I just finished watching Ewan McGregors EPIC adventure documentary, called "Long Way Round", by BMW motorcycle from London to New York.....going east. They travelled through Khazakstan, Mongolia, Siberia (Russia), Alaska, Canada, etc....................

If any of you have even an ounce of petrol (or "gas" for us Americans hehe) running through your blood you will absolutely LOVE this documentary!!!!! It is hilarious, charming, exciting, interesting, entertaining, and awe insipring. The people they meet along the way, especially in Khazakstan, Mongolia and eastern Russia are just plain unique characters. Alaska was also breathtakingly beautiful and magnificent. Not only that but its just plain beautiful all the way through.......even if taken as an epic journey of adventure between two best friends.

I HIGHLY recommend to all of you here at Jabbas that you rent/order this one. Its a keeper.

Im planning a road trip from Chapel Hill, North Carolina up to Alaska for next summer, with detours to as many of the great American/Canadian sights as possible along the way and I cna only hope my journey with friends is even half as epic.........................

Anyway, go and see and and post here your thoughts. You will not regret it. Oh and rent it for a few days. Its a two DVD set and runs about 4 hours or so. Trust me, you wont be bored with it for a second! Its a must have for all petrolheads.

[HeilSvenska]

I read about it some time ago. It sounds great. I'll try to find it then.

[No.1]

i've got all the episodes - i haven't got round to watching them yet though. :wink:

[dutchmasterflex]

You guys really haven't finished watching the series? I was hooked after the first episode!

[cooperluke]

Have to see that... hmmm :)

[ferrari550]

I watched them a while ago and thought that they were amazing. great show!

[joe2tiger]

Yeah, the extended series is the only one I've seen. I don't believe the TV series was released in the USA, at least not in the part I live in......... Sometimes the British and Japanese stuff (such as Top Gear and Best Motoring and such) is all over the west coast but more difficult to find on the east coast..........though Amazon.com solves alot of that!

Anyway, all I can say is that the "extended" DVD series is absolutely epic in every sense of the word. I LOVE cars, bikes, planes and I LOVE road trips. This documentary is easily the best I have ever seen in any category.................

If you only have the cut TV series I would recommend you get your hands on the extended DVD's. I havea feeling they are significantly better because they give you the full experience of the journey without some editor cutting out the "boring" bits...........

[joe2tiger]

Oh and for those who havnt seen it but are planning too.......post your comments here. I really want to get the word out on this documentary at Jabbas because its my civic duty to feed the addiction of us petrolheads............and this stuff could do you right for at least a few days. (although I admit I was hooked and watched the whole thing in two)

[joe2tiger]

Hey insane, is that Tallinn Estonia you live in ????

[Max Power]

the funniest part is when Ewan is walking around the market in Ukraine and some guy goes...
- "Yah, u r the guys on the bikes, BMW right?"
- "yah, how did u know that?"
- "What do u think I am stupid?"

hahahahha :lol:

[joe2tiger]

haha yeah that was pretty good.

I liked the bit in Russia when they were trying to load thier bikes up on the train.

First response: No, no way!

Second: Yah yah, we can do it

Then Russian thinking: "Waite a minute, there can be some money in this for us"

Third response: "Sorry we changed our minds, no bikes on train. People only"

Ewan: "Is there any way we can work this out informally?"

Russians: "Yah"

little money changes hands........problem solved.

It was so true too that the hardest and most desperate bits in Mongolia became thier fondest memories. Thats true of life in general I think. Oftentimes we are unhappy in the moment and only in retrospect can look back on our situations with a laugh and even a little bittersweet fondness...................

[Max Power]

well that testicle fiest was disgustiing....

...when they were trying to cross the 'Amazon' in the Urals... :shock:

basically the whole documentary is hilarious

[joe2tiger]

Oh, and I bet KTM is much chagrined that they didnt give them thier bikes for the trip. What a great advertising ploy!!!

Honestly I do think that the KTM's would have served them better moslty b/c they are significantly lighter then the BMW's..............Remmember the Russkie motorcycle they had to use that was soooo much better for that environment then the Beemers? I just liked that. For some reason I get a kick out of a $1,000 bike purchased in Mongolia being superior to the "god only knows how much" BMW's........

Even with all that said, I have to give credit to BMW. Apart from the frames being abit under-reinforced and thier being a tad overweight for such a trip, the bikes seemed to do very well. They seemed both reliable and quite confortable. Its a testement to the bikes quality that it survived a rear-ending at freeway speeds in Canada as well................ BMW should be proud of that bike model.

[joe2tiger]

I forgot about that bit Max P. Damn that was nasty. I almost threw up when they showed the close up of the little girl popping testicle's into her mouth and munching them to pulp like they were pop-corn.........All that white stuff smeared on her face looked a bit too much like sperm............possibly it was too. Ugh.

On a side note:

Really it was amazing to me, as an American, that "modern Europe" really is a very very small place. I mean it didnt take very long travelling east for stuff to start looking like the 18th century or something. There really are vast bits of earth and people almost completely untouched by modernity where things havnt changed in centuries. I expected as much in places like Mongolia and Eastern Russia but I really was taken aback by how much of Europe still hasnt caught up with the modern world. Perhaps thats for the better though. Nothing wrong with a simple existence.

One interesting aspect about the film: There was a town they visited in Russia where a girl I met in New Zealand was from. I lived in Christchurch (south island) which is a fairly modern and up-to-date city and it must have been so strange for her to adapt to that from life out in the far reaches of Russia. Im just amazed, looking back, at how well she did adapt. Everything must have seemed so foreign and strange to her.

[coombsie66]

I absolutely LOVED this too, i downloaded all the short episodes, sat down with a housemate to watch one, and ended up watching all of them!! Brilliant brilliant series, funny, interesting, thrilling, just great.

For me the favourite bit is the 'mafioso' guy in Kahkistan (i think) where he's coming down the stairs with an AK47! Then b4 you know it there's guns absolutely everywhere!!! The look on the guys faces is absolutely priceless.

But yeah teh conversation with the guy in the market is fucking funny.

I'd reccomend it to anyone, let alone petrol heads, this is the kind of program that i love. 8)