Kerala, India

Made it. Team 71 to arrive (out of 77), we were hoping for the last place wooden spoon. Such an adventure so many stories to tell, memories to keep, adventures to relive. For now though its farewell Delilah, our sweet Indian Tiger.

, Indian Sub-Continent

Catching a flight with Air India (great service so far!) and Utkarsh, since we lost our flight with Virgin (who didn't want to help at all). Next stop London where we hopefully will find a flight back to Oslo...

Chennai, India

Touchdown in Chennai. Getting rid of some passengers and adding new ones. Pilot: "Should take about 35 minutes". Yeah - sure...

Kerala, India

Left early for our flight back to Norway today, turns out it is delayed with an hour... It is going to be seriously hectic in Delhi considering we need to collect our bags, check them in again for the connecting flight and run for the gate (all in about one and a half hour)! Hopefully we will make it... To the rest of the rickshaw runners and especially our friends in Curry Hurry, Poppadom Preach and Holy Cow - have a blast the next couple of days until you also will have to go home and deal with a (different) reality :)

Kerala, India

our final update from here in india! Numbers of the trip: people coming back to india 3; people glad the rickshaw run is finished 4; ewan's mosquito bites 56; people at risk of malaria 1; nights in top notch accommodation 4; nights in sub-standard accommodation 12; nights in piss poor accommodation 1; nights with a working shower 6; km covered 3000; sub-continents traversed 1; people who now know anything about engines 0; limbs 16; fingers and toes 80; helpful Indians 1 billion; humbled brits 4; empires reclaimed 0; international incidents narrowly averted 1; volunteers to be ewan's "big spoon" 0; postcards sent 0; thimbles bought 0; times the phrase "you're in gear" was used 500+; pepsis drank "too many"; indian food eaten by stuart 0; people who showed no discretion in the bathroom 1; trouser leg bottoms waterproofed with gaffer tape 0; children happy to have daddy home tomorrow 1 (that we know of).@

Kerala, India

Oh my word, NH17 worst road in India, kamakaze, suicidal, death wished bus drivers that have even chased the cows away. Even they are not stupid enough to tackle this road. Hours of white knuckled, bone crunching journey. Touch wood unscathed. Never have the words "There by the grace of God go I" been more apt. Tomorrow hopefully Kochi.

Day 13: Calicut to Cochin

Buzzing the finish line was in sight, we headed down the highway towards Cochin! We drove past the junction we took off the highway the night before which was ridiculous really and have no idea why we thought it was the right way to go.

Very hot today though and we stopped for some freshly squeezed sugar cane juice... sweet, calorific nectar!

Entering Cochin was a breeze, the roads weren't that busy but trying to find the finish line proved difficult. dashing through the maze of streets we were eager to get to the finish line before it was locked up for the day... and we did! Finishing in 17th place at around 5.30pm or so. I've forgotten the 'official' time at the moment. 

Glad it was over but also gutted we won't be driving the Rickshaw anymore. We've become quite attached to our lil Nessie; its where we ironically feel safest in India! It will be emotional when we bid farewell (we can still see it just can't drive it).

Great to see some of the other teams, swap stories etc. and we've checked ourselves into a very plush little hotel, rooftop pool and jacuzzi, free wifi and use of the PC and breakkie included. Will be nice to have some luxury (for still very cheap!) for our last 4 days in India.

Loads to do here, lots of seafood to eat, elephant sanctuaries, wildlife/tiger reserves, rent motorbikes and drive down the coast, see the chinese finishing nets day trips, boat trips, market place and of course the finishing party! We'll see what we can fit in! We have access to this PC for the next four days so we'll keep you updated. Peace.

Day 12: Cheruvathur to Calicut

Took a while to fall asleep in the heat but we all slept ok in the end. The drive was again quite pleasant, good roads and we aimed to find a road side hotel past Calicut but as our team name suggests, it wasn't that simple for us! Was getting dark so we were trying to find a hotel, but somewhow ventured off the highway and traveled an hour down a very dark, pothole ridden road for an hour or so to find out at the end it was the wrong way. Rather than turn back down the treacherous road we drove to Pappingadi looked for a hotel, took another wrtong turn and in the end we drove in a amassive triangle arriving back at Calicut... by then we were just happy to get into a hotel!

The hotel room was nice but what made it better was the AC wasn't working in our room so free upgrade to the suite! Thank you very much! Room service, small living room to play cards and cable TV... what more could we ask for!