GANGTOK BABY, WAHOO!!

Well we made it, which for novelty value versus our South American adventure, is a very pleasant feeling.

We are staying in a decent hotel, we are well rested, well fed, clean and apparently some bacon is on it's way - again, all of which is a very novel and pleasant feeling.

Fortuitously, yesterday was a straightforward journey and uneventful. After the previous few days, it was a welcomed change of pace. 

Wednesday, we encountered this issue with the motorway we were relying on to take us east;

 

Now we are not construction experts by any stretch of the imagination, but we could see that this was going to be a problem...especially as we knew that we were rapidly approaching 2 rivers. Having literally driven through the construction site, weaving in and out of all the diggers and tractors, we spoke to the Foreman that was stood by the first river obstacle and he pointed out that we had nothing to worry about...

 

Yes. That is our Rickshaw on a boat. Rowland had to help push the boat across the river. Scott was busy...sat in the Rickshaw...keeping it safe, or something like that.

So we did this twice, but managed to make it to Purnia as you avid followers will be aware (Apologies about the **some text missing** bits - blame the networks!)

The next day, we set off for Sikkim and it was brilliant to be crossing the border...

 

...as the sun was setting...

 

...but it was even better arriving at the hotel and celebrating our achievement with a cold beer;

 

And this little photo is from Mel's Rickshaw called "Pinkie"...because it is pink...it is her bumper sticker and we all liked it;

 

We will write some more later, but right now, breakfast is being served and that takes priority.

The important thing is that we made it.

We really appreciate all the support and donations from those of you that have...as for the rest of you sat on the fence and thinking "I must get around to it"...well GET AROUND TO IT - WE JUST DROVE 4,000KMS FOR CRYING OUT LOUD??!!

You know who you are. We know where you live and we will hunt you down.

Love you all!

Rowland & Scott

xx 

SMS Update

WOOHOO WE'RE IN GANGTOK!! Nice to actually complete the adventure. Beer in hand, hotel booked and waiting for food to turn up. Smiles all round :-)

SMS Update

Just passed through Rangpo - we're in Sikkim baby, yeah! Hopefully in Gangtok by 7pm local time... Then it's all over :-)

SMS Update

Cities are always a trauma to get through and Patna is no exception. Time feels like it is evaporating but we think we are getting there. Traffic, fumes and dirt are as bad as ever... We continue.@

READY FOR THE FINAL DRIVE?!

Well dear friends, this is it...we are well rested, recharged and recovered.

Tomorrow we set off for the last phase.

The big push.

The grande finale.

The final drive.

(You get the idea)

Less than 1000kms stand between us and the finish line. We return to our usual regimen of 6am departures and we set out sights on Sikkim. Tomorrow's destination will depend entirely on progress through the day and how we feel when we arrive at suitable overnight locations through the afternoon. There is a desire to push hard and get to Darjeeling within 2 days, but it will be road dependent. Beyond Darjeeling we have been advised that it can take a Jeep 6 hours to ascend towards Gangtok - our final destination - so we need to be mindful of that when making these choices.

We are committed to flights on Saturday to Delhi and then the next day from Delhi to London. They are non-transferable. We have to be in Gangtok by Friday evening in order for all of this to come together.

The next 4 days are critical.

It is going to get even more exciting and we will keep you posted all the way - even if it is only via SMS without photos.

We are virtually 2/3 of the way towards our sponsorship target as well. If you are reading this note and have not made a donation, it would be very much appreciated if you were able to make a pledge at this time. To hit our sponsorship target by the time we have finished our adventure would really be the "icing on the cake".

We hope you have all had a lovely long bank holiday weekend and we STILL love you all!

Rowland & Scott

xx 

LOOKS GREAT, BUT WE WOULDN'T DRINK IT...NOR SWIM IN IT...

So here we are in Varanasi - over 2/3 of the way into our adventure in terms of distance and 1 week to go before we return to good ol' Blighty! This is probably the most famous section of the Ganges, where Hindus can perform their body-burning funeral ritual and people believe the water can provide healing and spiritual cleansing for the soul. They do seem to be unaware that the water is officially septic and there is a NGO campaigning to have the 30 sewerage outlets which are currently positioned UPSTREAM (!) to be relocated downstream in the interests of health and sanitation...craziness.

Please accept our apologies for the absence of photos of late, but very surprisingly, in all of the towns and cities that we have been visiting there have typically only been 1 or 2 internet cafes and on every occasion, they have not been usable for one reason or another. Hopefully though, our little SMS updates have kept your interest maintained.

So now the consequence of all of this is that you will now be reading an extended and slightly muddle blog, but we are sure you will enjoy the photos and stories nonetheless.


So this is Hampi. Not massiely old - maybe 500 years or so? But as you can see, massively impressive. At one time it was the capital of the Hindu empire and they had recently celebrated their annual festival. It was a spectacular sight and really interesting to see the Indian people interacting with a site of such spiritual importance to them.

We were not on our own though - here is the current crew;


From left to right; Angus, Dan, Mel, Scott, Toby & Rowland. All of the guys are Aussies. Other than that, they're all right. They have been good company and a lot of fun.


The wildlife has been a bit of a mixed bag with India having most farmed animals you would expect in the UK along with their sacred cows, which are so protected that they will just amble across a motorway without any fear of a vehicle hitting them?! Rowland has been particularly keen on the monkeys...probably a sense of kindered spirit...or looks, whichever.

This is a shot which simply captures the stunning sunrises we get to enjoy everyday. They do not make up for the 5.30am starts, but they do look good. We have not seen any sunsets. The air is so hazy, dusty and/or polluted, that the sun fades away rather than drop beyond the horizon.


Here is a typical food market. The unpleasant sewage-related smells often overpower the senses, but the bright colours of all the fruit, vegetables, herbs and spices is something to behold. Unfortunately, we are not really in a position to buy any of this amazing produce primarily due to the absence of any useful cooking equipment, but equally, in order to maintain the glossy appearance of the displays the food is usually dowsed in the very water we are told not to drink.


This is the mud & straw bridge we told you all about by text. Highly precarious construction but a superbly random way of crossing the Ganges off the beaten track taken by most travellers. You can see the Aussies' rickshaws in the bottom right corner of this photo.

 Here are our three fabulous steeds taking a well-earned rest today whilst we stocked up on water. Our little beast is parked in the middle of them and so far (kiss of death coming up...) she has not caused us any major problems...and we have been on some APPALLING roads with so many potholes it becomes impossible to weave your way through the road.

 Now though, we are in Varanasi - the holiest point of the Ganges river. We will participate in the obligatory boat trip, along with the floating candles and we will also watch the full daily Hindu ritual performed by these dudes in the photo above. A lot of flame action, bells clanging and chanting over the dodgy PA system...a pretty incredible experience all-in-all.

But that is not until tomorrow evening. Tomorrow is our rest day. We will be going to the city's finest hotel and spa and spending the day by the pool...maybe with the odd Indian head massage thrown in for good measure. R&R is definitely required as we prepare for the final phase; The push to the finish line...

For now though, it is late and we are going to sleep. We will not be getting up early and we will enjoy our day of leisure. We wish you all a Happy Easter and will drop another blog in tomorrow with some more random photos for your visual pleasure.

Until then, we love you all!

Rowland & Scott

xx

 

SMS Update

We're in REWA! A good drive today saw us arrive by 3pm local time. Not a bad thing, but it was a pretty unremarkable day, however an important stage to have completed because it allows us to have a rest day at our next stop, the world-famous Varanasi and the Ghats of the Ganges. It is also getting pretty exciting as we have properly broken the halfway point and we are now planning the final days of the adventure to ensure we are in the right place at the right time. Not holding our breath for Internet access today again unfortunately because this town seems no different to the others in that respect. Next town should be good though as it is more touristy. Until next time - love you all! X

SMS Update

Passed through Nagpur this afternoon at about 3pm local time. A quick Samosa and a swig of water helped us decide that it was worth pushing on to Seoni allowing us to break the halfway mark - ride on!

SMS Update

Today we broke the first 1/3 of our adventure as well as managing to visit the medieval Hindu temples of Hampi. Roads are much smoother and straighter for the moment so should make good progress tomorrow. Will try to find Internet place tonight for further blog update, but failing that WE STILL LOVE YOU ALL :-) x

MANGALORE IS A BIT OF A BORE...

...it is a stinky, dirty, noisy, traffic laden city which unfortunately seems to be the generic qualities of all the Indian cities we have visited so far.

However, the people are top dollar...or should that be Rupee? Everyone waves, gives us thumbs up, smiles, asks about what we are doing and that is a lovely thing.

So it seems the SMS updates are working well - that will track our location for all you avid followers, but once in a while when we can stand the heat, the intolerably slow internet speeds and the filthy keyboards, we shall endeavour to jot you a little note with a few piccies - so here we go!


This is us proudly stood in front of our Rickshaw. Rowland is attempting to look "street" in order to relate to the younger element of our audience...isn't he "down wit' da kids"?

No, not really.

We told you some about some nice Indian chaps that played with fire at our pre-launch party and we weren't lying - have a look at this minty little photo;


Good eh? Don't try it home. It is hot and it hurts.

You're probably still marveling at the photo. It really was expertly taken and TOTALLY deliberate...

What's that? You want to see a piccie of us on the launch day? Not a problem friends - here we are!


Lovely day it was too. Despite clearly missing the "pimping" dealine, we feel we did a stirling effort painting our rickshaw ourselves instead of the gifted artists that were recruited on our behalves. Rowland painted the smiling faces on the front. We could only find sky blue to use...

We also all piled on to a ferry once we had started - see piccie below:


And to give you a sense of the what the traffic is like, have a goosie gander at this one;


We went through the middle of that. Just be grateful we're not on a motorbike!

But fear not, we're having a lovely time - look how happy/demented we are;


Now we are back on track in terms of distance progress, we are going to revise our route to incorporate some scenic stop-off points along the way. Tomorrow we plan to go to "Hampi", which another Runner described as "...a really cool set of spiritual temples that look like something out of an Indiana Jones film!"

Awesome. Now all we need to do is find an orphaned oriental kid, call him "shortie" and take him with us in the hope of finding some lost treasure!

[Cue Indiana Jone theme music]

Until next time, we'll keep on adventuring and blogging, whilst you pressure anyone you know to make a donation - make 'em feel REALLY guilty!

Love you all

Rowland & Scott

xx