Tuesday, July 11, 2006

Dups still alive...

Vicky asked in the comments section how Dups was doing during his whirlwind tour...

Despite his best efforts at trying to get crushed, blown-up, shot or married off to a Russian woman, Dups remains alive and unscathed. As of July 9 he successfully escaped Russia/Siberia and is now in Ulaanbaatar , the capital of Mongolia.

That means he managed to climb Mount Elbrus without killing himself. That doesn't mean the trip has been without a close call. Some of you may recall this story about a plane crash in Irkutsk, Siberia. I didn't think much of it because I assumed Dups was on a train. What's the odds of him being involved...

Worse than you might think, apparently. He had flown into Irkutsk about a week beforehand on the same air carrier. Different plane, however. He flew in on a Tupolev-154. I'm sure Dups won't mind if I mention the brief note he sent to our mailing list...

"On a freakin' Tupolev 154. Not only that the plane was literally duct taped together and falling apart."

He also described the plane as being worse than some of the ones he flew during an adventure to Thailand in '04. Although how it could be worse than the flight he had in Africa several years ago, where they weighed you before getting on to decide where you sit, is beyond me.

Oh, by the way, that trip to Thailand? It wrapped up about three weeks before the Tsunami hit, killing hundreds of thousands.

I swear to God, I don't know if Dups arrival in an area is a harbinger of the apocalypse or if Death's aim is steadily improving each time he goes on vacation. It only missed him by a week or so this time.

Dups is staying in Mongolia until July 26 and from there he heads to Beijing (assuming Chinese authorities let him cross the boarder, what with him being a Harbinger of Death and all) and then to Shanghai, where the journey comes to an end. I think he's back in Canada on August 7.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

So, Edmonton should be on alert starting on August 12th or so?

It sounds like he's having a ball, despite near misses and death defying trips and all. I'm incredibly envious. Go Dups!

Anonymous said...

Damnit... I arrive in Edmonton on the 12th.

towniebastard said...

Best tell Karin to up her life insurance policy on you...

Edward Hollett said...

Oooh flying on Tu-154s and other airliners like it.

I have too many stories than i care to recall. Thankfully all of them are someone else's stories of horror

Anonymous said...

Hi there, just stumbled upon your blog and saw Dups' name.. I am assuming u know Keli R too.. I just got an e-mail from her last week saying that she was in Russia. They must be traveling together, yes?

towniebastard said...

I only know Kelly in passing. To my knowledge her and Dups were only together to climb Mount Elbrus. I think he was making the rest of the trip solo. So I'm not entirely sure where Kelly is right now. She may well still be in Russia, but I know Dups is in Mongolia right now.

I think he was hoping Kelly might travel with him more, but they couldn't work their schedules out.