Press
July 2007
Mr & Mrs Smith's new Mongolia collection
From London to Ulan Bator
At
Mr & Mrs Smith we love creature comforts and stylish surroundings,
but we’re not averse to a little bit of hardship in the name of
adventure – so long as it’s only a little bit of hardship, and there’s
a big gin and tonic at the end of it. One of our Smith editing team may
have taken things a bit far, though. To raise money for the Christina
Noble Children’s Foundation and the Mercy Corps in Mongolia, Jim Whyte
is taking part in the Mongol Rally and driving from London to Mongolia
– in a 1988 Citroën 2CV.
As if tackling 8,000 miles of deserts, mountains and Ukrainian
traffic policemen in 30 days wasn’t daunting enough, the 200 cars
taking part must all be under 1,000cc. That’s not much more powerful
than the golf buggies at the Hotel Raya.
Jim and teammate Rupert’s well-worn 2CV is being sponsored by Mr &
Mrs Smith, and is now largely held together by our stickers. We’ve even
given them a set of our ‘Something for the Weekend’
compilation CDs, so they don’t have to listen to Kazakhstan Radio,
which, we’re told, is more than even the toughest adventurers can bear.
We go to great lengths to find the most stylish places to stay around
the world, and Jim has promised to let us know if he finds any fabulous
boutique hotels in Uzbekistan or Siberia. However, in case he’s
stranded without suitably chic accommodation, Jim’s taking one piece of
emergency equipment – a ‘tent’.
We’ll be following his progress and wishing him luck (he’ll need it!).
Providing he makes it back in one piece, there’ll be an extra large gin
and tonic waiting for him. You can get all the details of Jim’s madcap
adventures and make a donation to the excellent charities via his the aptly named Team Clouseau website: www.teamclouseau.com.
Boutique Hotels
