Finish and Numbers


 OK, so we're done. I'm resting comfortably in a rollaway bed (thanks, Tea Bungalow for forgetting that we requested a double, thus trying to put us into one big romantic bed, where the more altitude-gifted Mr. Biggs is lounging now) and drinking a Kingfisher "extra strong." Tea Bungalow also somehow lost its liquor license, and yet somehow by hook or crook is able to supply me with these brews so necessary for calming the nerves and bringing on the nocturnal slumber, and the twisted dreams that the malaria pills engender. I haven't been posting as much as Mr. Biggs, in the past few weeks for two main reasons: I focused on drinking myself to sleep most nights rather than blogging, and he has a much larger tolerance for slow Internet connections than me. WiFi is something that Tea Bungalow excels at, thankfully, so here I am again. Above is a picture of our starting odometer on the machine, said to be the best of a bunch of 60 some rickshaws. It's a baby, having only down two runs previously, and we stretched its life to: 

So because I'm too intoxicated to organize my thoughts any better, here's a list of other interesting numbers. Number of breakdowns: 0 Top speed of rickshaw: 50 kilometers an hour, but mostly 45 (probably the main reason the number above is zero) Days on the road: 12 Bribes paid: 0! Money raised for charity: about 700 pounds for Frank Water and counting, which may (depending on the vagaries of Bloomberg's philanthropy department) may be matched yet again by the same amount. Also $2,500 for Japan's Red Cross and $2,500 for Maiti Nepal. Finish position: 6th place Malaria pills swallowed: 2 so far Mechanics visited: 2 Lowest hotel rate paid: 900 rupees Highest hotel rate paid: 7,800 rupees Number of nights sleeping in the same bed: 0 Times one team member left the other behind: 0 Number of "love taps" on the road: 1 Elephants seen: 2 Camels seen: Many

Mumbai Hyatt

The Hyatt Regency where we've spent our first night in India is pretty fantastic. Stuart vetoed my idea of spending the next two weeks here, and just faking the whole rickshaw adventure. Worth a try anyway. Catching a flight to Jodhpur in a bit, then a three hour drive down to Jaisalmer where the tuk-tuk'ing begins.

Visa, Shots, Money

Hi dummies. Stupid Stuart sent this to me from the Adventurists Web site just to give me the heeby jeebies: Your chances of being seriously injured or dying as a result of taking part are high. Individuals who have taken part in past Adventurists' adventures have been permanently disfigured, serioulsy disabled and even lost their life. Permanently disfigured! Awesome. I hope I look like that bad-ass guy with half a face on Boardwalk Empire. Anyway, we're loading up on extra insurance--moreso to cover any poor people or beasts that we may careen into rather than our own corporeal selves, which are nicely covered by the dimwits at Cigna. India visa arrived in the nick of time, and I got a fresh jab hepatitus-A innoculation, so bring it on, feces-tainted food! Thanks to Jonathan, Morgen and Flynbarr for donating. We need more dough for the charity though. Dig deep.

First Donation! Answers!

Thank you to Theresa for kicking off our donation grab for Frank Water projects. A friend posted on my BookFace page that the donation site looked "sketchy." So here's some info on that that I hope will be helpful to her and anyone else. This particular site --that your eyeballs are resting on-- does look sketchy 'cause Stu and I threw it together. It's probably not going to get much better--there will be some photos and other junk later as we get on the road, but there will not be awesome links and functions because I am a gainfully employed man and therefore not any good at programming and other nerd crappy crap (eat it, geeks! And if you don't like it, donate a bunch of money to teach me a lesson). OK, so then there's the "widget" in the left hand corner of this site. That links to our charity page at JustGiving, a pretty huge established and *sigh* British outfit (eat it, limeys! And if you don't like it, donate a bunch of money to teach me a lesson). Yes, it's legit, and is the preferred method of donation for the Adventurists, which runs the Rickshaw Run. We've gotta raise a minimum of 500 pounds ($785) for Frank Water, the official charity of this particular run of said rickshaw. So it works like this: Adventurists --> Rickshaw Run --> Rocky & Stu --> You --> Money --> JustGiving --> Frank Water --> Thirsty Indian Child. Get it? If you don't you're greedy and a moron (eat it, rich jerks! and if you don't like it, donate a bunch of money to teach me a lesson.) You don't have to donate in pounds, give whatever your currency is, and JustGiving will work out the conversion. There's also a special tax benefit thingee for donations in the U.K.: [http://www.justgiving.com/about-us/what-it-costs](http://www.justgiving.com/about-us/what-it-costs) You could also try donating to Frank Water directly, and maybe send a little note that blah, blah Rocky & Stu get credit. Here's their site: [http://www.frankwater.com/get-involved/](http://www.frankwater.com/get-involved/) So anyway, I hope that clears up everything.

It begins...

Just a quick note to get this started. We're about a month away now from our second Rickshaw Run. Please donate using the JustGiving widget to the left, and stay tuned for more news here. For a trip down memory lane, have a look at our the website for our 2010 trip here: [http://rickshawrun10w.theadventurists.com/index.php?mode=teamwebsites&name=samuriders1](http://rickshawrun10w.theadventurists.com/index.php?mode=teamwebsites&name=samuriders1)

Interesting Numbers

By the way, if you go to the home page of the Rickshaw Run, two of the pics on their main screen are ones I took. http://rickshawrun.theadventurists.com/ One is of our tuk-tuk in the fog, and the other one is of the beast getting loaded onto the craptacular ferry of doom. My partner in crime has been out sick all this week with some sort of dormant stomach bug. Not me, as I dosed myself there liberally with Haywards 5000, India's favorite "super extra strong" beer and, apparently, a kind of low-grade chemotherapy. There's not much else to post here, so I thought I might wrap things up with a... List of Interesting Numbers Distance driven: 3,600 kilometers Bribes paid in Nepal: 2 Total amount of Nepalese bribes: 50 Nepal rupees ($0.67) and U.S. $10 Number of bribes paid in India: 2 Total amount of Indian bribes: 700 Indian rupees ($15.11) Mechanics visited: 3 Total paid to mechanics: $8.23 Cheapest accommodation: 400 Nepal rupees ($5.40), Lamahi, Nepal Most expensive accommodation: 220 euros ($308) Malabar House, Cochin, India Longest traveled in a day: 420 kilometers Least traveled on a non-rest day: 90 kilometers. Coffees drunk by Rocky at the Indian Coffee House in Lucknow: 3 Mutton burgers eaten in Lucknow: 4 (two apiece) Rest days: 1 Number of "love taps" with other vehicles: 3 (2 for Rocky, 1 for Stuart) Elephants seen: 2 Ferries taken: 1 Accidents seen: 2 Amount of oil spilled on highway in tanker accident witnessed: 12,000 liters People riding the scooter involved second accident seen: 3 Times one driver was abandoned by the other: 1

Tadaima--Back in Japan

 We're finally back in Japan, after leaving Cochin around midnight yesterday and transitting through Singapore. I've brought back a nice little cold to give to everyone at the office--what the Japanese call omiyage. Your welcome, office drones! After a nice, long hot shower, I ventured out to Outback for my first slab of beef in weeks. Quothe the Homer: Sacrilicious...

The Finish Line

We crossed the finish in Cochin today at 10:28 a.m. today. The final day was a breezy 90 kilometers on the twisty, noisy city roads, and Fort Cochin is a lovely place. We're now bunked down in the swank Malabar House hotel that boasts rare luxuries like bath tubs, WiFi and a full-service bar. Stuart's out playing cricket, while I'm enjoying my third Kingfisher of the day. Thanks to all who supported, via comments and donations to the charities. More pictures and such are coming.

Step Onto My Rickety Ferry of Doom!

Our "easy" day out of Goa was supposed to be a 100 k skip to the quaint beach town of Gokarna. Halfway there, a major bridge was taking nothing except two-wheelers, so we and two other teams were directed to go around the bend to take the "ferry," two big canoe like boats lashed together with a flat-ish platform for vehicles in the middle. After some hemming and hawing, we all agreed to the plan, which actually came off OK. Pic are great--we'll be uploading soon. Gokarna was a hilly nightmare, though the beaches looked nice, from a distance. We stayed in our third choice hotel (the first being full, the second down a sheer cliff that our little beast could not have surmounted), and it was OK. Today we did 230 k's and are staying in a nice--this time--beachy joint in Ullal. Tomorrow, another big day, and Saturday, the finish.

Goa Sausages at the Venite

Arrived in Goa and headed to the Venite, along with everybody else with a Lonely Planet under their arm. Sausages there are indeed yummy. Glancing at other blogs, seems a lot of other folks are in Goa as well. Except for a day's rest and repair in Nashik, we've been putting in 12-13 hour days to make up for some less-than-ideal road picks early on. From the looks of other blogs though, we've been lucky not to have as many mechanical problems or police run-ins (we talked down the cops near Dhule to a mere 500 rupee bribe from 2,000 for the almighty infraction of having a luggage rack) as some of the other teams. Knock on wood. We saw the aftermath of a nasty wreck today in the steep Western Ghats: poppa on a scooter looks to have taken the corner too sharp, spilling momma, daughter and groceries across the road. Momma looked in bad shape, and we awkwardly left the scene as other passerby in cars tended to the victims. We passed the ambulance coming from the other direction, an hour later. Sobering stuff. The finish line is in sight--take those corners slow.