You know you get those "Himalayan" kinda days?

You know, when you think:

"I could really go for some delicious Samosas right now, probably accompanied by some spicy Dhal soup - where would be the most difficult yet rewarding place to achieve this for breakfast."

Then it hits you. The Himalayas!  I'll bet Stephanie could scamper up there, whilst avoiding the monkeys, and find a small hut with an extremely bemused fellow inside who could whip up just the thing.  So we did.

We also drove through a Bengal Tiger sanctuary, in our Rickshaw, which I suppose would look to a Tiger like a conveniently pre-opened  Sardine tin. We didn't see any Tiger's, however, but upon reflection we decided that this was probably for the best.

We also saw one other team today, so we pulled up to say hi... they were next to a very small shrine, where some old Holy Chap went for us with the red paint on our foreheads - so looking like we'd been cyclops'd during a paintball game we moved on.

It's an extremely military area, due to the Assam area having dissidents, and the proximity of Bangladesh, Nepal, Burma and the ever present threat of China too - we've seen fighter planes in the skies and many, many army/airforce bases which the maps obviously do not show.  Our map does however show a rather fine road which would be great if it had actually been built.

 

Right, that'll do for now, I reckon.

Ben.  

 

PS we will post some great pictures, as soon as we get our collective act together! 

A brief aside for those of you who've sponsored us thus far...

Hi All,

Firstly thanks for all the donations that are coming still in - with the gift aid supplement from the UK gov., we've now topped **1500 pounds**! 

The money will be going to AIDS patients in India; India's highways are the most efficient corridor for the transmission of AIDS in the world.  To combat this the government here has started a fairly frank advertising campaign (difficult when sex is a taboo subject in India - the TV is considered daring when it shows midriff, or dare I say it, kissing!), and some rather interesting signposts (with free condom vending machines attached) every 2km or so!

Anyway -Thanks for all your emails and texts... interestingly the question that keeps popping up is:

"Have Ian & you killed each other yet?"

So, firstly, thanks for the morbid concern. 

Secondly, the answer is no, but there have been some absolutely belting arguments, the kind only friends can get away with... So as a reward for your sponsorship I thought it would be nice to list some of the different ends of the discussions (you can probably reverse engineer the situation from there): - It can't be a stretch goal, if it's physically impossible (Ben to Ian whilst planning routes) - Stop it. You sound too business-y (Ian to Ben) - We'll I didn't see it until the last minute, and it was only your head (Ian to Ben (after hitting a sleeping policeman at 40km/h) - If that is the case then I hold you wholly accountable (Ben (some navigation error or other)

And there were a few other (very non professional) argument "closers" as well:

- He had right of way (me), Why? (Ian), He had a sword (Me) - Shut it ginger face (Ian to Ben (perfectly reasonably, we have horrible, horrible beards going on))

- Do they serve diet curry here? (Ben to Ian upon ordering dinner)

- Do you think that you'll ever marry the internet (Ben to Ian)

 

So there you are. 

 

Please take the time to read Ian's last post outlining the last few days of the Run - it has swords in it (really).  

 - Ben

Stephanie Strops!

Well, well, well... a couple of very busy days!

Stephanie showed the first signs of stress (probably from the "short cut roads" from the day before!).  After a good start yesterday (Sunday 4th) we experienced our first "knocking" sound.  Apon inspection it appeared as though our exhaust was making good it's escape, which we attempted to repair on the road, which duly broke after 3km. 

We stopped and had it repaired by someone who knew what they were doing (a bit unfair on us; we only lacked tools, parts, commitment and experience...) and we were on our way again.

Even with this slight set back we managed to cover 328km, only topped by an astonishing 378km today!  We we're slightly hampered by the lack of motorway today but a 6:30 start is nothing to men whom eat curry for breakfast. And lunch. And Dinner. Every day so far.

The only major issue we have is we are walking with "pimp-step" limps, where the sun has gouged it's mark across only our right legs from the constant driving North East...

We're a day away from Kolkata, but we've amde a decision to cut across country to try and avoid the horrific traffic!

Ben

The Race is On!!

Hi All,

 We've now been racing (albeit at 40km/p/h) for two days, and have managed a mighty 500km!

Having stayed on/near a building site North of Chennai on night one, achieving 2 hours sleep (between us), we were up and out this morning as soon as we could stop our teeth rattling!

Our rickshaw has been reliable, and the locals (on the whole) remarkably warm and friendly.

Joint sitings include:  1 Parrot, two monkeys, cows (approx 1000), bison, oxen, goats, pigs, sticks, chicken, and no chicken (an empty hutch holding lorry!).

As always - more to follow!

Ben