SMS Update
Oh lordy we have arrived at the FINISH ! Joint 39th out of 65. Daisy decided to have fuel blockage 30 km from Pokhara, bit of a heart stopping moment! Bring on the party tonight. Dukes of Hyderabad signing off for the final time!
SMS Update
Ali Wheeler is the only girl in history to pull a wheelie in a Rickshaw, while climbing a very, very steep hill up to Bandipur. What the clutch and transmission made of this attempt to upstage Evil Kenivel god only knows. 20km from Pokhara !
SMS Update
Following a visit to see elephants taking a bath in a river Jason wants to install a Nepalese elephant in his en suite at home as part of a new shower fixture! Meanwhile me and the girls went on a jungle walk with two guides in search of tigers, right on cue the guide stops in his tracks! Over to our right is the sound of Tigger! The guide assures us the roar indicates he is hungry. I thought tigers only ate Frosties for breakfast! Then slow motor up the mountain rd to Bandipur! Follow the next blog to read about Ali Wheeler and her amazing moto rickshaw wheelying antics!
SMS Update
Buddah's birthplace or a building site? Bit of a job to tell the difference, i dont think he wud be too impressed either. By the time we finally get going its gone 2pm but already Daisys exhaust is starting to sound like a space shuttle launch and Baldrick then follows suit! Heading west towards the Chitwan National park but as ever nightime arrives very quickly as we scamper on through the rainforest in search of a hotel which we eventually find. The manager is quickly nicknamed Sonic the Hedgehog on account of his constant running around like a blue arsed fly and the fact that he is only 4ft tall. Cold beers soon arrive..glug, glug...heaven!
SMS Update
Morning tea on the veranda overlooking the birthplace of Buddha in a hotel where we appear to be the only guests and are outnumbered by a staff of thousands. Most noticeable thing about Nepal was stopping in the street last night and NOT being mobbed by the local populus! and yet we are probably only 10km inside the border. No more celebrity status! I must call my agent! I feel its going to be a tip top temple touring type day!
SMS Update
Both Rickshaws seem to be magnetically attracted to their mother country as we have had a catalogue of mechanical failures today. Puncture followed by exhaust bracket falling off, lost 1st gear AGAIN!, fuel blockage in the middle of a mad town with 10,000 horns going off. And now its 9pm and we are at our hotel drinking freezing cold pints of.....wait for it....Everest Lager! Yes we have made it to Nepal!! 2 days on cruise control!
SMS Update
Simon got struck by heatstroke/dehydration a few days ago but concern still exists that the mental side effects are still with him. This morning he has taken to wearing a tartan hat with Jimmy wig! The sight of a man with ginger hair is leaving a trail of gawmless faces in our wake not disimilar to Guppy fish at feeding time! On a more serious note the chinese influence is really starting to show in the faces of the population as we get closer to the border. They also appear to be a more pleasant and gentle crowd than in the northern Madhaya Pradesh region. The road building schemes continue to amuse us wherever we are!
SMS Update
Baldrick and Daisy have surpassed themselves. 14.5 hrs driving, 550km, 1 flattened cyclist, 1 bit of welding and Jason finishes off the day with a bang, well actually more of a thud as he walks into a plate glass door. I win todays prize for beind THE most ripped off tourist in all of India, £4 for 3 cokes instead of 40p! I'm calling it charity! After 4.5 hours sleep we are back on the road. Todays mission, cross the border into Nepal though Baldrick has awoken with some new noises to add to his existing existing rattles and squeaks!
SMS Update
So, 24 hrs R&R in Agra. Memo to hotel manager, Agra: please please please either book your early duty manager in for a frontal labotamy asap or better still send him on an elementary maths course! New team rule for forthcoming hotels, ask for bill at 7pm previous night, might be ready by 7am. Its monday morning and already Baldrick needs a garage, roof frame split from windshield! at risk of losing roof rack. Oh what a pain! Of to Kanapur, quick assessment of this mornings driving skills by the locals......there are blind, one legged badgers with more road sense than this lot. My favourite stunt this morning ìs a cow dragging a cart the wrong way down the FAST LANE of a dual carriageway. Good skills!@
SMS Update
Today will not be remembered for its diplomacy! Simon wants to buy a truncheon with which to attack street traders who enter his personal space. Barring that he asks them if they can get hold of all 10 volumes of the karma sutra! On the other hand i have started using expletives somewhat liberally to keep the hoardes at bay. Its 42 c in Agra and Baldrick and Daisy have been serviced, but no valet included or any retro fit of the Champagne cooler which is so vital on long journeys!!! Take note Mr Audi dealer, Engine oil change, transmission oil change, new drive shaft bushes, various bits of welding, £10 each machine. Plus hotel deputy manager delivers and collects both machines and all at 5 mins notice. Anyone at Loneley Planet reading this take note. Hotel Utkarsh Vilas, Agra is superb and the General Manager, Mahesh Kuntal is an all round legend and Mr Fix-it ! Roti for lunch which was all going well but now there are severe uprisings from the bottom!!!@
