SMS Update

Team Curry Favour has arrived at the finish line! After a crazy day culminating in a mad border crossing into Nepal, we rocked into Pokhara this afternoon to find we're the 7th team to finish the run- not bad for a team of 4 :) a crazy, wonderful time had- now time for some well earned R n R! ** some text is missing **

Viva Varanasi!

And so the mighty Curry Favour Rickshaw (now lovingly nicknamed 'Marlene' - for reasons of little logic..) has rolled somewhat gingerly into the city of Varanasi. Our journey has been filled with a myriad of sights, smells, noises and spectacles - all of which have combined to leave an indellible impression.

Our most recent travels have seen us progress up through Jabalpur, and through Rewa on our way north to Varanasi and the sacred ghats on the the Ganges. Our arrival in Jabalpur was particularly stressful, as we got horribly lost trying to find a hotel. Fortunately, our plight was eased by a friendly 'government official' - who kindly jumped in alongside Kev and led us through the chaos to our destination. Our delight at this escort was exceeded only by our curiosity in the vast forest of matted hair bursting forth from the man's ears. If he ever falls out of favour with the Jabalpur constabulary he surely has a career waiting as a rug maker...

The driving is now beginning to feel like hard work - and the roads seem to have taken a turn for the worse. The road to and past the small town of Rewa was particularly severe; giving our backsides a real pounding. Having said that, the smiling faces and goodwill we've received more than makes up for some discomfort along the way.

Yesterday, we decided to give the smiling kids something in return for their generous smiles - delighting a local sweet whaller by buying a whole tub of toffees - which we then proceeded to hurl at grinning children as we rumbled past in our trusty steed. Despite striking a few youngsters with errant missiles, we curried a lot of favour with our gifts - and got even wider smiles back in return.

This morning, we crow-barred ourselves out of bed at 5am and made our way down to the ganges for a sunrise cruise along the ghats. The rest of our time here in Varanasi will be  rest day, before we head on again, this time towards Gorakphur and the Nepali border. Our rickshaw is in need of some TLC and so we're hoping to get her serviced here today. The roads ahead are likely to deteriorate further and so Marlene will need to be on her best form in order to get us through and onto the last leg of our journey.

We've now bumped into a couple of other teams, all of whom seem to be experiencing the same crazy driving and eventful banter with locals. The trip is tough, but so far, so good!

More to follow in Nepal (or before depending..)

SMS Update

Arrived in Akola in one piece..Just about! Was an eventful day- escaped 5k police fine, nearly lost rickshaw in craters of potholes, lost map (thankfully brought 2), got lost, found dodgy hotel and ended in yummy 3 course meal for a fiver:)

SMS Update

First day completed! Successfully negotiated the hills of Goa;-) what a way to travel!