Part seven

Tuesday 13th January 2015

This morning we woke up and geared up to head out. Maezee was still pretty hammered from last night which was more than a bit hilarious. We went and got the rickshaws from the parking lot and got ripped off when the guy tried to charge us in full when we had already paid half. In the end we only paid an extra 80 rupees but it’s the principle of the matter.

We took the shaws back to the hotel and loaded up the fuel hose we changed yesterday was also leaking so that was a waste of time. Mark (our new friend on the motorbike) was heading right through to Jaisalmer today and Maezee decided to ride with him and meet us there tomorrow, which left me to drive the rest of the way which I was pretty happy with. So we lost Maezee but gained another team (speedbump) to our convoy.

We hit the road and instantly caused a traffic jam as we tried to drive down a one way street and had to all back up turn around and head out the way we came in. our destination point for today was Pokhran which is just over midway between jodhpur and Jaisalmer. The morning was spent honing along the motorway our rickshaw was much faster with just two of us in it.

The Indian army was out in force today and we kept overtaking this massive convoy only to stop and have them go past us again.

At a chai stop we had a bit of a switch up and Rachel went with Blake and Zach came in with me we were cruising down the highway but decided to take a detour down some side roads. The intrepid brothers wanted to push on to Jaisalmer so they headed off and we hit some side roads along the way we stopped and hr boys all climbed some dodgy as old water tower while Rachel and I ate biscuits. Further on we kept hitting patched of sand and were drifting through in one particularly thick patch tucking disaster flipped and somehow managed to both fall into the gaps and not get pinned at all by the shaw itself! After that we all cooled our jets a bit in the sand.

Not too much further the road re-joined the highway and we cruised into Pokhran not long after 2pm we stopped and ate before trying to find somewhere to stay. We found a place and grabbed some tables and then I headed to the loo to get there I had to walk through the kitchen which seemed to be staffed exclusively with children and there were about six pairs of undies hanging from nails in the wall it was a truly bizarre place but the food was good.

The first few accommodations we checked out were so average for the price so we decided to see if we could find something better and were well rewarded when we drove into the town’s fort and learnt that we could stay there. It was a bit pricey but Rachel and I bunked in with the curry eating kiwis and it worked out not too bad. The fort is huge and has a swimming pool (which we didn’t use since its pretty cold)

We drove the rickshaws up onto the fort walls and took a bunch of photos with the cannons and the fort in the background. Driving up was pretty freaky since it was super steep and driving back down was even scarier but I was pretty pleased with myself for doing it.

After the shaws were parked up for the night we walked around the walls some parts were walled up but that didn’t deter us we just climbed over. At one point a man way down in the market was yelling at us to get down. We watched half a sun set then continued on stopping by the pool to get a bunch of hilarious photos in weird yoga poses.

Once we were all pictured out we had a beer by the pool and then walked into town to find a cheap dinner by which stage a bunch of other teams had also arrived. We found a local place and had an all we could eat thali for 100 rupees each. On the way back I found a tiny shop selling mango bites and bought a huge bag which should last a day or two!

Back in the fort we had a game of spotlight, we split into teams and crept about the fort trying not to be found. Blake and I won after hanging out on a roof top for ages and curling into balls when we saw people (we both were dressed in ninja black) we got bored up there though and went running about the courtyard which is when we were caught but we had already won so were pretty pleased with ourselves.

Then for me it was time for a glorious hot shower and bed while the others chilled with a beer.

Wednesday 13th January 2015

This morning we were woken up by one of the hotel dudes banging on the doors announcing breakfast at 6.15am when we had asked for brekkie at 7am we got our shit together and loaded up our rickshaws before heading to eat we were still12 minutes early but they acted as though we had kept them waiting.

Before we left the fort the boys drove up on the wall again and got more photos, and then we hit the road for our last 110km to Jaisalmer. Our first stop was the petrol station where we all guess-timated how much fuel we would need to get to the finish line.

The roads were all smooth tarmac and we were running like a dream being a man down. Along the way we all got a bit crazy, Blake was riding on the roof rack him and Rachel swapped rickshaws and then back whilst on the move and then we picked up one member of speedbump who was riding in the back of a tractor one minute and who was flying into our rickshaw at high speed the next.

We made a few stops along the way for chai and to do some morning calisthenics to warm up then it was back in the shaws to head to the end. About 50km out we messaged Maezee to meet us at the finish line. We pulled into town and made our way to the palace where the finish line was we drove in and up the little podium where we got our picture taken we were short Maezee so will have to Photoshop her in!

Then we drove down the ramp the other side did a few skids in the sand and then parked up. We posted our finishing time on the bored along with our best story from the road (making up our family song Jay Jay has a semi and we know it)

Not long after that Maezee and Mark arrived and we took our shaw for another spin and re-crossed the finish line with the whole team then hung about for the victory parade. While we were waiting I ate an entire packet of chocolate bourbons, two chocolate bars and a bunch of mango bites so by the time the parade started I was on a sugar high and threatened to cut a team with a razor for cutting us off, apologies were immediately said and they hadn’t even heard me so that was fine.

We hooned around the streets of Jaisalmer and Mark was more than a little bit scared especially when we got back to the lot and I started doing skids and doughnuts all over the sand me and Maezee were having a jolly time while he quietly shat his pants, we did almost have a head on collision with another team but we all laughed about it and carried on.

Before anyone could stop us we took our shaw and went to check into our hotel. Que drama as the hotel had fucked up our reservation and despite us paying a small fortune they wanted us to all share a bed. We packed a massive sad and finally got what we wanted but they effort it took left us needing booze so despite giving up alcohol for 2015 we hit the “child beer store” (it’s a hilarious typo and should read “chilled beer” we also got samosas and a bunch of snacks then had to take our rickshaw back and hand over the keys and paperwork it was a sad moment.

Back at the hotel we cranked the Hindi music videos and were joined for a bit by the bar tender who came to see if we wanted drinks and then wouldn’t leave. We got showered and dressed in our Indian outfits complete with bling, bindis and enough bracelets to dress a small city then headed over to the boys for some more pre drinking.

Sometime later we hit up the party and from there it’s a blur I almost ended up in the fire twice, had my face bitten, danced on tables, danced on chairs, danced on peoples shoulders, climbed on the roof, ate about three plates of food (one of them cold and in Maezees words “cold Paneer is fucking amazing”) a jolly time was had by all and we ended the night with about seven of us crammed in a rickshaw. And this sad anti-climax is the end of the rickshaw Run for 2015.

part six

Sunday 11th January 2015

This morning we had a glorious sleep in till almost 8am and then we had the luxury of being able to sit down and eat breakfast. Last night in the bar we met a guy driving a motorbike to Jodhpur and so he joined our convoy for the day.

We ended up leaving a bit later than we had planned but met up with the others just out of town and hit the highway for a day’s driving by the time we started seriously moving it was 10.20am but we only had 220km to go so it wasn’t too bad.

The day was pretty easy going most of the roads were pretty sweet although we did hit some bumpy patches and the welding on our roof rack gave way so we had to duct tape it up for the time being. We drove along past Ranakpur which was pretty hilly the roads were pretty with great views of the valley. We stopped to take pictures of the monkeys and the guys even fed them straight out of their hand not a move I would have made!

Fuelled by breakfast we didn’t stop for lunch but made regular stops throughout the day for the engine to cool down which was good. Late afternoon we stopped just outside of Jodhpur to decide where to stay the guys had looked up a few places and we decided to head to the fort area.

The way in was a bit hairy with the gps taking us to the air force married couples quarter at one point and an angry man turned us around pretty quick smart. Eventually we made it where we wanted to be and by an absolute fluke ended up right outside the place we were looking for.

After a quick scan of the rooms and a haggle we had our luggage inside, we had to move our rickshaws to a secure carpark which we had to pay for but it was cheap and worth it since we are going to spend the day in town tomorrow as we are now less than 300km away from Jaisalmer. Once the paperwork for the hotel was down we cleaned up and hit up the roof terrace for dinner and then a neighbouring rooftop bar for drinks.

Monday 12th January 2015

Today we took a day off in Jodhpur we had a bit of a sleep in, I got up and did some yoga and when we were ready for the day we headed out to breakfast.

Everyone else went to the fort but since I’ve already been and Maezee didn’t want to we did our own thing. First off we went and got our roof rack welded and then had our fuel hose changed before taking the shaw back to the car park and heading to the market.

We went shopping for bindis and bracelets got henna on our hands and feet then went for ice-cream and chilled out in the market all afternoon.

Late arvo we had drinks on the roof terrace and then went for a very boozy all you can eat thali where the booze was “secret” and the manager skulled a beer in 11 seconds.

Back at the hotel we disturbed the peace by being rowdy on the rooftop.

part five

Wednesday 7th January 2015

This morning we had bit of a sleep in which turned out to be a bit of a bad idea since we had to drive out of Pune and by the time we left at 8am the traffic was already pretty heavy. On the way up an overpass we suddenly lost power so pulled over on the hard shoulder and pulled the back of our rickshaw open to see our carburettor hanging off. The other night Rachel and Blake tightened up the bolts on the carburettor and in the process they stripped the inside as the bolts are steel and the carb is aluminium

Luckily Darren was behind us and managed to cobble it together with cable ties which actually seemed to work better then the bolts anyway. He also made the spark on our spark plug bigger which made a huge difference and soon we were back on our way.

We drove along the highway for a while and then stopped on the side of the road and had some street veggie burgers before turning off the motorway and taking some smaller roads for the afternoon. Up and down the hills we stopped to look at a small shrine of Ganesh.

About 3.30pm we started looking for some accommodation on google maps we could see a place called dreams so we headed there but it turned out it was just a restaurant but the guy was super helpful and rang one hotel for us and proclaimed it was too expensive and that we should go with him to another hotel down the road. Darren went with him in his jeep and the rest of us all pulled a four way U-turn back onto the highway and drove about 1km to orange valley. We checked it out and the guy bargained with them but they settled on a total price of 4200 rupees for all nine of us as the other place was a resort and had quoted 5000 rupees for all of us but had a pool with water slides we decided to check that out before we made a choice. So Rodney (Tuking Disaster) Fraser (intrepid brothers) and I took one rickshaw and whizzed around to the “resort” the place was a dump the gardens were over grown, the water slides rusted, the pool full of green slimy water and the room the guy showed us was covered in rat shit and there were a whole load of cigarette butts in the corner by the rubbish bin.

We got back in the rickshaw and drove back to orange valley where the others had haggled the price down to 3800 rupees for the nine of us. We split into two groups of four and Rodney splashed out on a room of his own.

With accommodation sorted we chilled out on our balcony and ordered in beers then had a massive feed downstairs in the restaurant before getting a super early night in.

Thursday 8th January 2015

This morning I wasn’t on alarm duty and so our room was behind schedule. It was super cold again this morning which I was less than pleased about shivering away in the back. We set off in the dark with Maezee behind the wheel with the plan of checking out some lake the only snag was that there was a dam that we couldn’t drive across so would have to drive up take a look and then double back so in the end we just drove alongside the dam and didn’t get to see the lake as there was a massive ditch preventing anyone from climbing up.

We did however get to drive across the skinniest bridge on the far side of the dam which was quite fun and we stopped there to take loads of pictures. On the far side of the bride the road turned to shit and on a particular large pothole we snapped something we could hear it rattling about and the roof rack was my guess but it kind of sounded like it was coming from underneath. We pulled over and the front left corner of the roof rack had completely snapped we cable tied it up as a botch job and later on stopped and got it welded which the guy did for free.

Most of the day was spent shuddering along bad roads but none the less we made good progress. We stopped in a small town to check maps and had a lunch break of samosas and some other fried potato ball things and some onion pakoras and got absolutely mobbed by kids all taking a geez at us and trying to get into our rickshaw. We had some snacks to hand out to kids but that wasn’t an ideal time as they were fighting each other just to get a look at us.

The roads didn’t improve as the day went on and the shaw took another beating in another massive pothole while we were on a fast decline. We decided to head to Ellora caves but were fast running out of daylight so thought it best to press on and find some accommodation first.

Heading down a steep hill we got stuck behind a truck and then vehicles continued to overtake us so we ended up behind a line of traffic all trying to get around one massive truck on a narrow hill very high up which had lots of gaps in the guard rail where it was clear vehicles had gone over the side. But once we were at the bottom we were right where we needed to be and managed to haggle a hotel down from almost 500 rupees per person to 200 rupees and head and found a mechanic to come and service all the shaws in the parking lot.

I needed the ATM which was in the market and we couldn’t take our rickshaws in there so Fraser and I both jumped on this dudes motorbike and he drove us the 10meters we needed to go to get to the bank (he obviously wanted to show us off) but when we got there the ATM didn’t work anyway so we just walked back taking in the fish being scaled, the chickens being killed and the random tool and blanket stalls.

Then Maezee and I headed off in the other direction to the post office which turned out to be non-existent (so sorry for all you peeps waiting on postcards!) but the walk was nice and we saw a heap of weird monkeys and almost got charged by a stoned looking bull.

We stopped and got snacks that I don’t think have seen the light of day for about 20 years and then headed back for the worlds coldest shower that came out of exactly three holes in the shower head. The mechanic was still working on the shaws so we grabbed some beers and food and chilled out for the evening.

Friday 9th December 2015

We started early again this morning which is getting harder and harder the further north we go as it is getting colder and colder in the morning several teams (ours included much ton Maezee’s disgust) “borrowed” blankets from the hotel to add an extra layer in the freeze mobiles.

In the morning we stopped at a brick making factory and I had a go at making a brick, they looked at it in disgust and didn’t even wait for me to walk away before they demolished it. We had a whole load of snacks in the Rickshaw so we handed them out to all the wee kids that were hanging about before continuing on our merry way.

We drove through another national park I heard a rumour from the boys that there was tigers and sloths there but we didn’t even see monkeys and there certainly wasn’t enough vegetation for a tiger to be hiding in the park itself was awesome though although we did have a few cut outs going up the steep hill and at one point had to do a push start with a huge truck charging up our rear.

Our convoys had a few breakdowns throughout the day but for once it wasn’t us so we just chilled roadside while the boys sorted things out.

We arrived into Khargone about 3.30pm and set about finding a mechanic for the boys which we did almost instantaneously so while they were getting their rickshaws worked on Blake and I and a random Indian dude who wanted to help us out went to look for a hotel. The first place was too expensive the next too dirty (shit all over the floor and toilet and the toilet seat on the floor!) but the third was perfect it was a bargain at 2000 rupees total and had a bar and restaurant. I haggled the price shook hands and went to get the others who were being absolutely swarmed by a mob of locals at the auto shop. Maezee and Rachel were looking a bit shell shocked from all the hand shaking and photos.

We drove back to the hotel but when we got back the hotel manager said they didn’t have a tourist licence so we had to wait for the police who were going to come and we needed to fill in some forms but it wouldn’t take long.

An hour later and still no police and suddenly the staff were saying that the police weren’t coming and that we had to go to the police station to register so off we trooped. We had to hand over our passports for copies and sit in the chief’s office while he frowned at us then we headed outside and got a ton of photos with all the offices and a bunch of kids who had come to check out what was going on. This all took a further hour or so then we had to follow a policeman to the only hotel in town with a tourist licence.

That’s where we introduce hotel swastik a dive if ever there was one with the biggest ass clown as a manager he wanted to charge a total price of 8000 rupees then came down to 7000 rupees and wouldn’t budge. That’s when I stepped in and haggled we argued back and forth for a while (there seemed to be some sort of “miscommunication” apparently we told him we wanted AC… ummmm its freezing we defiantly don’t want that!) next thing you know its 2900 rupees total which was a spectacular rip off!

Then came the mission of getting everything inside, getting clean rooms after the ones he gave us were dirty, Fraser going back to the police station to get scans of all of our passports endless paperwork and a million photos with all the locals crowding in the door. By the time we made it to dinner we had been in town for close to four hours and had achieved nothing.

The food in town was good though and after a freezing cold shower we retired to bed with the atmospheric red porno lighting on.

Saturday 10th January 2015

This morning was super cold again but at least I had a whole load of extra naan from last night which kept me going. We needed to drive 480km today to make it to Udaipur for the night so the roads we picked were highways. We pretty much gunned it all day stopping only to pee and refuel.

We had a breakdown this morning and it was so cold we lit a fire to keep warm while the rickshaw was made road ready I was reluctant to leave it and get back in the shaw!

On the road we saw one other team although you could hardly call him that his team mate pulled out after three days and he has been going it alone ever since! We ran into him at a rest stop but he didn’t stay long to chat and we didn’t see him again all day.

We made up some pretty epic tunes in the rickshaw and had several awesome sing-alongs. We drove close to 13 hours with Maezee pulling the first shift and me taking the afternoon and her driving the last hour again as it was getting dark and my night vision is terrible.

On a hill this morning we had a few hairy moments weaving in and out of trucks and buses that were all congested as they had to go so slow then on the way down we started to see trains of camels and knew we were close to Rajasthan.

Most of the day the roads were pretty awesome and we could just fly along but after the Rajasthan border there was road works for miles which really slowed things up as we struggled against all the traffic driving towards us the wrong way. We left the main road and flew through smaller towns which was pretty cool. At one point we got left behind after a herd of goats decided to cross the road directly in front of us.

We planned to stay just outside of Udaipur but the hotel was too pricey so we moved on the next one we came to was even more expensive and that’s when the group split Tuking Disaster and Curry eating Kiwis headed back to the first place whilst Intrepid brothers and us headed into the city. Udaipur is a great place and we were super charged whizzing around the streets there was a whole heap of teams in town and we found a place pretty quick parking was a bit of an issue as the roads are narrow but we managed to get some off street parking for 50 rupees and headed up to the hotels roof terrace for beer and food. The kitchen was a one man band so by the time we had eaten it was well after 11pmthe staff all left us to finish off our beers after we were given a lesson in how to shut the door and switch off the lights.

Then we all made the most of the Wi-Fi not minding the late night as we have a sleep in tomorrow as we wait for the others to get into town to meet us!

part four

Tuesday 6th January 2015

This morning we had to get our rickshaws out of the u underground car park before we could load up. We set off onto the highway in the dark and had an almost full moon on our left and as it rose a bright red sun on our right. The morning was super cold and ridiculously misty and didn’t clear till about mid-morning.

The whole drive today was on the highway which was pretty boring scenery wise and as it was so cold I began to shut down and go into hibernation only really waking up when Maezee overtook a truck and the sudden movement swung my head into a bolt sticking out of the inside of the rickshaw. We made a few stops throughout the morning to let the engines cool. The boys all had a 200 rupee bet to see whose rickshaw would run out of petrol and the last team with petrol won. We didn’t take part as our rickshaw chews through fuel faster than lightening we filled up after about 115km and were almost empty the winning team did about 200km

We decided to have an early lunch outside of Pune at about 11.30am but managed to stop at one of the only dhabas with no English menus so just ordered what we could figure out they had being a local place it was pretty spicy so I enjoyed it.

The plan was to stay in Pune to get some Wi-Fi and what not but it proved harder than imagined we managed to find the area we were looking for after struggling through city traffic but it took about three hours to actually get into a place. We found a hotel but could only book online and could only pay with an Indian credit card so the hotel manager had to get his friend to pay and we all handed over cash.

While a few of us were upstairs sorting out the room the rest of the group got interviewed by some newspaper with a local politician which was a bit of a laugh

By the time it was all sorted we may as well have driven to the next town and found something cheaper. Team tukking disaster found an an expensive place and we all crowded their bar to jump on the Wi-Fi

Rickshaw Run Part three

Sunday 4th January 2015

This morning we managed to get a good early start in leaving town when it was still a bit dark. The roads were super flat and we made awesome time flying along the motorway probably a bit too fast for the morning when the shaws hadn’t warmed up properly. We drove for about an hour then stopped at a petrol station to refuel after which Rachel had her first go at driving since we left Fort Kochi.

After working pretty well this morning the rickshaw began to struggle and we came up with a theory that maybe our oil and petrol isn’t mixing properly (read we are not mixing it properly) the road was pretty flat but there was quite a bit of traffic about and we kept getting stuck behind lorries.

We had an extremely hairy moment when we were cruising along and a motorbike in front of us moved right then moved back right in front of us and we had to fly onto the hard shoulder not to hit him and we took out a few sand bags along the side of the road. Luckily we were nothing but a bit shaken up and continued on our way.

Not long after that we stalled in the middle of the road and Rach couldn’t get back into neutral I gave it a go and it was pretty stiff but after a wee wiggle Maezee struggled it into place and we pushed the shaw off the road and I started driving again hoping to catch up to the guys again. We hit some big hills and absolutely struggled up them at the top of a huge hill we found the guys waiting and feeding monkeys (we also saw a squashed monkey on the road)

At that stop a few other teams pulled in and several others went past today was defiantly a day for seeing people! Darren (rescued us again) looked at our engine and our fuel filter was full so we changed that over then hit the road. As we were driving out we drove along the dusty shoulder while Blake (from Curry eating Kiwis) filmed us driving out, we were right at the back driving through the dust storm when I heard something hit and next thing you know this car has pulled in front of our convoy angrily yelling that a rickshaw hit him. It certainly wasn’t one of us but he probably was clipped by a rickshaw or motorbike in our dust storm blindness. I smiled and said Namaste to them all and by the time we rolled out last they were giving us just the smallest hint of a smile. pretty soon we were eating the guys dust as we struggled to keep up and couldn’t they waited ahead for us and we had a nice roadside toilet stop and gave the engines some cool down time.

We made pretty awesome time doing well over 200km by 1pm we decided to stop for lunch and assess the situation of weather to call it a half day and turn inland tomorrow and tackle some national park roads or continue along the coast to goa. In the end we chose the former and so drove about trying to find somewhere to stay in Karaw we couldn’t find anything cheap and ended up having our undies well and truly ripped for a grimy hovel of a hotel.

In the search for accommodation Blake drove our beast and realised how shoddy it is compared to his (I drove his first gear is a bitch but otherwise it’s a dream) so Darren took a look at our engine and sure enough the fuel filter is full again his theory is there is excess oil that is struggling to get through and that’s what is blocking the furl line so from now on we are putting in less oil to our mix hopefully that should flush it out!

We headed into town to refuel and try and find a mechanic to look at our baby but as it’s a Sunday they were all closed and at any rate we were told the closest rickshaw mechanic was goa so we sacked in that idea. Maezee and I headed to an internet café and tried to check emails and what not but the connection was a bit bullshit since the owner was streaming a movie on the main computer after much whinging he let me use his and I did what I wanted to in about 3mins flat!

By this stage we had to drive back to the hotel in the dark which is horrible I already have terrible night vision and rickshaws have no visibility and everyone drives with their high beams on! We had showers and a bit of much and the guys all hit the beers and then it was bed time ready for our long haul tomorrow.

Monday 5th January 2015

This morning we set off to drive through the rain forest we had no idea what the roads would be like or how long it would take us but we had a sense of adventure. We set off in the dark just before 6.30am and drove out of Karaw soon turning off the motorway onto a smaller road, much to our delight the road through the forest was a dream albeit very hilly.

We drove into the national park waved through by the park rangers, the roads were so peaceful with only a handful of buses and cars passing us all morning. We stopped often to take photos of the views and at waterfalls and look out points. This also gave our engines a little time to cool off. The hills were super steep but we managed to chug up even though we did get left behind the convoy a few times.

Going down was another story though we just chucked her into fourth and coasted down at one point we built up far too much speed and on a sharp hairpin bend we went up on two wheels and just managed to right the rickshaw at the last second before we tipped, after that we pumped the breaks a whole lot more.

The villages we passed through seemed so shocked to see four rickshaws full of foreigners drive through but everyone was super friendly. We didn’t see any other teams all day as I think they are all shooting for goa and we have headed in land.

Our aim was to drive about 200km to Belgum and park up for the night but since the roads were so awesome we arrived there not long after 1pm we decided to get food and then press on to Nipani. Unfortunately the girls were out voted by the boys who wanted McDonalds so we went short while they ate crap.

From belgum to Nipani was mostly three lane highway and was fairly light on traffic our rickshaw was mostly running pretty smoothly and we managed to keep up most of the time we stopped often to cool our jets since we were slamming it as fast as we could go (well the boys weren’t as their rickshaws all go a lot faster than ours)

We turned off into Nipani and refuelled at the petrol station. Three of us headed off in one rickshaw to find accommodation the first place we went into said 500 rupees per room we agreed on the price then went to pick up the others.

When we got back the dude wanted 1000 rupees per room for a deposit which I refused to pay on the basis of 1. Deposit for what? And 2. We are going to be hauling arse at 6am and can’t be arsed to faff around with deposit refunds. Next the guy said we had to pay an extra 200 rupees for our room since we had three beds even though when I haggled him first we agreed to 500 per room since there was nine of us. After arguing back and forth for about 10mins I got my way and took a huge victory in the saving of $4 NZD (especially since last night was such a dive)

Once we had all the bags in and the rickshaws locked in the underground car park a local school kid helped us out by taking us to the spare parts shop (the guys all needed fuel filters) and to the post office to get some more stamps and postcards.

Back in the hotel the shower was ice-cold but refreshing and we chilled out on the balcony with drinks before food.

On the road again…

Thursday 1st January 2015

This morning I woke up fresh and full of beans thanks to the lack of spirits at the party. We had to be at the Cochin club at 10am and the idea was that the launch would be 11 Am., but as usual things did not go according to plan and 11am came and went and everyone was still farting about. We had our shaw all packed up and ready to go from about 10.10am so were a bit bored.

Eventually we all clustered together for a group photo and then clamoured into our machines for the go ahead. We were stuck in the back and so it took a while for us to get moving, and whilst stationary another team drove straight into the side of us leaving our back right wheel slightly wobbly. When we finally got out of the Cochin club we met three other teams (Curry eating Kiwis, Intrepid brothers and Tuking Disaster) by the parade grounds to convoy out of the city.

The drive out went fairly quickly and we passed an elephant along the way chilling in a park waiting for the first of Jan carnival to kick off. Between the four of us we had seven break downs today and unlucky for us three of them ours and four of them another team. They had their first at an intersection in town always an awkward spot to stop.

Our first breakdown came early afternoon we were cruising up to some traffic lights when the engine just died I thought I’d stalled but when I finally got it to go again we were losing power fast and it was hard to get any momentum so we pulled over and took it as a sign to have some lunch where we bumped into a few other teams.

After we had eaten and the engine had cooled down enough for us to touch we enlisted the help of Darrin from Tuking disaster to have a wee look see in no time at all he had the carburettor apart and found that it was full of dirt we flushed it out and he put it all back together but as he was doing so he realised that one of the bolt holes was completely stripped in the inside making one half lose and that’s how all the dirt got in. we tightened it up as best we could and hit the road again.

Unfortunately for us it wasn’t long before the same symptoms occurred and upon opening up the back we found the screws had now fallen out we sputtered on to a mechanic who thankfully wasn’t too far away and he soon had it tightened up and ended with a double bolt which I’m told will work to hold it in place even though the screw hole is stripped.

But soon enough we were losing power and struggling to get moving so we stopped at a mechanic but he only did bikes and pointed us back the way we came but being the lazy westerner’s we are we couldn’t be arsed turning back and instead rocked up at an auto rickshaw sales showroom. At first they told us there was no mechanic but next thing you know an Indian dude vaguely resembling a tall super Mario appeared and started tinkering away. He adjusted our carburettor which improved things somewhat but not completely and after a few minutes he deduced that our starter coil was fucked. He did what he could and speaking through the auto salesman as translator told us that it should hold out for a day or two but we needed a new one ASAP. The whole time the rickshaw was being worked on we had a huge crowd around us all lending a hand at the end when I asked how much they said it would cost us some happiness in the form of a handshake! They were absolute sweethearts.

By this stage it was getting dark and so we pressed on with haste to find a bed to rest our head. Along the way no one would take us in so on the first day (yet again the same thing happened last year) we were stuck driving in the dark. Luckily for us Maezee is a machine and drove with fine skills. Along the way in the dark somewhere Tuking disaster broke down again their starter wire had fallen onto the exhaust and melted away but some local stripped it and botched it into place with a stick. Maguiver could learn a thing or two from the people of India!

In the end we had to drive longer than we had hoped to reachGuruvayer as we couldn’t find anywhere else to stay. We checked into a somewhat questionable accommodation where our shower didn’t even have a tap ditched our bags and headed across the road to dinner. By this time it was about 9.30pm and we were all knackered so headed to bed soon after.

Friday 2nd January 2015

This morning we were going to get up and do some wake up yoga on the landing but the fates would not have it firstly there was no power so we couldn’t see a thing and secondly due to the lack of power and the boys all sharing a tiny room (with all their petrol) they were all awake as their room had turned into a hot house and they were all light headed from the fumes so we ended up packing up our beasts and hitting the road.

Despite the early wake up by the time we had refuelled checked the shaws over packed up and headed to the petrol station to refill our Jerry cans in was already 7.30am. On the way out of town we spotted several other teams but didn’t stop for a yarn.

The plan was to stop at an auto parts store or mechanic ASAP to pick up a new starter coil but unfortunately for us none opened until about 10am we passed several but they were either closed or didn’t service rickshaws. When eventually we found somewhere it was mid-morning and getting warm.

The mechanic didn’t trust us when we asked him to replace the coil and instead did his thing checking everything out only to come to the conclusion that it was the starter coil. Only problem was they didn’t have a part for our model rickshaw! But this being India the land of fix it jobs the mechanic managed to rewire it so it would fit in our machine and for about 50km or so the thing ran like a dream.

But the dream ended and it was back to limited power. We stopped for some food to give the engine some time to cool its shit and when we got going again it had improved a bit. First and second were absolutely struggle street to drive in and third wasn’t much better but once we got up to forth we seemed to be able to chug along. The only problem was the roads were winding and hilly so we had to keep moving through the gears in the end we had to listen and feel our way up hills and put it into forth and coast downhill which seemed to work.

We made pretty good time today and had no actual breakdowns which was a good result. But we did have several near crashes (not our team personally since obviously girls are such awesome drivers…) with buses hurtling passed to overtake and then pulling back in before they are fully past and several U-turns into oncoming vehicles. Going around a circle a policeman tried to pull us over so I waved and we continued on and all four teams accidentally ran a red light. But we did cover 192km and get into a town before dark.

We arrived into Thalassery not long after 6pm and found a place to stay. The check in process was ridiculous and long and we had to take a photo “for their records” we all pulled faces and I pulled peace. The hotel has a carpark and security guard so I asked if the rickshaws would be safe “yes yes yes safe safe safe” then I asked if we could leave our petrol in the rickshaw “no no no no no” lucky for us we only had half a jerry can and a large room.

Once we had ditched our bags we went to find food then back at the hotel showered away the layers and layers of grime before getting an early night in.

Saturday 3rd January 2015

Today we visited Mangalore, the only place in India that I dint like last year (due to the fact that no one would let us stay at their hotels and we slept in an alleyway, then went to the beach and met a ghost named Patrick) before the run started I told every team that would listen not to go there and yet we did but I’ jumping the gun a bit so ill rewind back to the start.

We had aimed to be on the road by 6.15am but were a bit behind schedule leaving at 6.40pm it’s nice and cool in the mornings and the roads are quiet so it’s a lovely time to drive. We managed to get up and running pretty well and settled into a smooth pace doing about 215km by the end of the day. I started driving this morning and we hadn’t been on the road long before we stopped at a petrol station to refuel. When we went to restart we had no power so we opened up the back to find our ignition cable had fallen onto the exhaust and had melted through. Lucky for us Darren (always ready to rescue us) cut the wire and shoved it back into place but it’s now ridiculously short and just reaches where it needs to.

Not long into the drive we got stuck behind a petrol tanker and I jinxed the matter by saying I hope we don’t have to go uphill next thing you know we round a corner and not only was there a massive hill but there was also a second petrol tanker we struggled upwards and were doing ok until I got a bit close and we had to slow down too much and I stalled I knew I was beaten and quickly pulled the hand brake and swapped places with Maezee who got us going in no time although we did spend a long time behind the tankers as there were too many bends in the road to pass “safely”

The roads today became quite riddled with pot holes so we were bumping around quite a lot and to add to that today was some sort of celebration and every town we drove through was having a huge parade. We came to a build-up of traffic and slowed to a crawl soon realising that all the cars were a part of a parade. After crawling along for so long our Rickshaw kept cutting out in first or second gear and so in the end Maezee ran alongside the rickshaw pushing it while I steered and waved like a pageant queen. There were heaps of people handing out sweets, biscuits and drinks to the parade goers and pretty soon we were swamped with snacks. We even had a car full of what looked to be 12 year old boys (including the driver) throw a lollies at us from their car and a dude on a motorbike throw a bottle of apple juice at us. Eventually we got through and luckily the shaw started without too much of an issue and we were off.

Although there was lots of crazy traffic on the road we had three guys on a motorbike hell bent on talking to us even if it did mean they kept almost causing accidents. They kept pulling alongside and trying to chat then going in front but slowing down loads then waving us past then appearing beside us again but never really looking at the road and they seemed to take huge delight in me telling them they were dangerous drivers.

After the parade we sopped to regroup as we had become separated in the masses and we cut the engines to give them some breathing time, when we went to start about 10mins later we had no life in our machine, we opened her up to find that all the bumping had shaken our start coil loose and it was just hanging free with the metal piece to hold it in place missing. Again lucky for us Darren came to our rescue and managed to cable tie it in place which solved the issue.

Our next big challenge was the massive hills we had to chug up at the start there were huge signs saying “steep inclines and sharp bends no overtaking” but almost everyone ignored them in their aim to get up the hill first buses and trucks kept roaring past to overtake on blind corners and at one point we had a bus overtaking another bus overtaking us on a blind corner on a steep hill luckily we were on the inside but we had to slow down massively and swing right in.

We reached Mangalore by about 2pm and lucky for us we just drove around the city itself on the ring road but we were still too close for my liking. We stopped in a bizarre highway side bar that was banging out the tunes and may or may not have played the Savage “hip swing remix” Not long after lunch we were cruising along a straight bit of road when a crazy truck sped to overtake us and then pulled in right in front of us causing the mad wheel spin and us nearly rear ending him completely which would have been a disaster as he had a whole load of steel poles hanging off the back of his flat bed.

The rest of the afternoon passed without too much drama after refuelling it took a while to get our baby back up to speed but we think the oil must not have mixed into the petrol well enough so Maezee took us over some pot holes to get it mixing in the tank and that seemed to work as the rest of the afternoon we were flying along the straights.

We pulled into Udupi at about 5pm and soon found somewhere to stay and realised there was an awesome ice-cream shop just down the road. By the time we had unloaded and checked in it was about 6pm and after a walk up and down the road without much success of finding a restaurant we headed back into the hotel restaurant which also had a bar much to the delight of everyone else who indulged in beers. Then it was a trip to the ice-cream shop where I ate 300g of ice-cream and felt pretty good about it. Except when I tasted Frasers (from intrepid brothers) Butter pecan ice-cream and it literally tasted like butter!

Back at the hotel we showered in our prison like bathroom and packed it in for an early one.

Job done!

Easy cruise from jodhpur to jaisalmer for the final day 3300km on the clock.

Thanks to all who donated. Can't wait to bore you all with a thousand photos! X