Simon Pullan

Simon Pullan
Of Bom-Bay City Rollers
On the The Rickshaw Run Spring 09
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Goa

So we rolled into town at around 20 past 3 yesterday.  The keyboard on my phone packed up in Hampi so I've had to wait until now to update on our progress.  On Friday we mixed things up.  John and I wanted to go and climb the hill to the Monkey Temple so Sam and Ollie went off with Nick, Andrew and George, leaving Tallula for us to catch up later.

The way to the hill included cruising down the river in a wicker basket, which was ace, and the view at the top was phenominal.  We also had time for a quick swim in the 'rapids' before setting off for Molem.One of the things that I really wanted to do this whole trip and never had a chance to, was drive at night.  Well Friday was my chance.  We got to the hotel at about 10:45, which meant nearly 3 hours of night driving.  At some points we had no idea where the road was, never mind which way it was going with a small patch of light about 3 foot square, to guide us.  Definitely one of the most scary moments of my life, but I'm glad I did it.

Saturday we had a leisurely morning and then drove the last 80km into Colva.  It wasn't without incident though as we managed to get separated from both of the other rickshaws. It would have been nice to finish in Convoy considering we've spent quite a lot of time together but it wasn't to be.  We all met up at the end instead.

The party last night was great and now I'm going to head up to Mumbai to spend a day there before I fly home on Tuesday. Sam and Ollie will be chilling here a little longer before jetting off to Bangkok and all the craziness that is going on there.

What an absolutely amazing holiday.  I'm so glad that I did this and need to plan my next crazy trip now.  Current thinking is a Segway across Japan...

Simon Pullan
Of Bom-Bay City Rollers
On the The Rickshaw Run Spring 09
HIGHLIGHT ON MAP
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India time

Well Sam and Ollie should be safely in India now, probably Calcutta.  They had a great send off party last friday but don't ask me what happened as I have no idea.  I think that they are now worried about undertaking this with such a liability.

 Anyway, I'm off to join them tomorrow and after three flights and some airport sleeping I'll join the other two on Thursday lunchtime, India time.

I'll see you all in three weeks. Sam and Ollie, well, it's going to be a little longer. We'll be in touch again soon.

Simon Pullan
Of Bom-Bay City Rollers
On the The Rickshaw Run Spring 09
HIGHLIGHT ON MAP
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On the Startline

So there are 2 hours to go until we leave.  Shillong is ace.  I love it here but there is a lot more to see now.  Feeling pretty hungover after the launch party last night so it's a good job that Sam is going to be doing the first stint.  He is running through his pre-race procedure as we speak so if we can manage to find our way to the central Library (the start point) then we should be in good shape.

 Our main option today is to head up to Gawhati tonight as that is the biggest town in Assam.  There have been a couple of bombs go off the last few weeks, the latest one on Wednesday.  We might try and find somewhere else to stay tonight...

 There are mobile phone restrictions in North East India so our next update will likely be when we get into West Bengal.  Once there we will be able to text update the map page of the site so check that out every so often, but probably not for a couple of days.

 Take care one and all. Si, Ollie and Sam.