Rajasthan, India
We are extremely sorry to annouce the death of nutsey, our intrepid little rickshaw is beyond the point of no return, and has been loaded on to a truck to take her to her final resting place, jaisalmer. The rest of the team will be following behind on the train, much to our disappointment. We would like for everyone to observe a minutes silence in honor of nutsey, the brave little soul who lasted 1900km before taking her final breath and shuddering to a stop.
Goodnight nutsey, sweet dreams. Rest in peace, sorry pieces. Gone but not forgotten. Xxx
Uttar Pradesh, India
Nearly made it out of Agra without a breakdown, luckily this ones not us. But as we're all travelling together, we're waiting until we can find an open mechanic. So much for the early start we planned and the early arrival in jaipur.
Thank god, for hotel packed breakfasts! Boiled eggs and cheese sandwiches, and finally orange juice made from actual oranges, shocked beyond belief! Back to Agra to find a mechanic it is then. Being eaten to death by mosquitoes, look here mosquitoes, I'm bigger than you and I'm on high mosquito alert, so stick to biting me at night and no one needs to get hurt. @
Uttar Pradesh, India
decided to spend an extra day in agra to relax and get the engine on the rickshaw sorted. Hopefully once and for all! I'm not holding my breath though!
Did a spot of sightseeing, taj mahal this morning. Very impressive, no wonder its a wonder of the world. Red fort this afternoon, lots of monkeys, lots of rain, lots of photos. Lots of men taking photos of gill and I, we think we might start charging, 10 rupees per picture.
Going to go out for dinner over looking the taj tonight, get an early night and an early start tomorrow. Going to try for 300km tomorrow, that'll be the longest we have done, could take 10hrs, could take 10 days, who knows!
Uttar Pradesh, India
made it to Agra, still about 10km from the taj mahal or a hotel but the rickshaw is now dieing every 100 yards or so.
Met up with another team, theyre all now stood round looking at the engine and making "mmmmm" noises like they have some idea of what the problem is. By the fact that this is a persistant problem, i'm guessing that they don't.
So in closing, today we have travelled about 120km, its taken longer than us travelling 200km, we have broken bown 17 times, been towed by a taxi once, seen 1 elephant, 3 crashes and 2 dead dogs and 1 dead goat. Weird, weird day! @
Uttar Pradesh, India
Just arrived in etawah, found hotel vishna prem. Life is sweet, theres a toilet and everything! I will never take that for granted again! Going to have a shower and get something to eat. Only problem is the only dry cloths i currently have are the ones ive been wearing for 2 days, i probably smell like the back end of a cow, because of that pissing monsoon. I hate rain. Even the cloths i have been wearing are a bit damp, i will never feel dry again.
So far today, we've seen 2 herds of camels, millions of cows, some goats, a man riding a motorbike holding any umberella and 3 people pooing next to the road, and a motorbike with 5 people on.
Uttar Pradesh, India
just left kanpur after having the engine taken out, fiddled with, and put back in. Going to try for Etawah today. Things are looking better than yesterday, we have actually eaten, if you can count crisps and dairy milk has food.
Well the overheating problem is continuing even after all that engine fiddling but instead of cutting out the engine now revs then dies!
On another sour note, just finished my book, now what am i supposed to do in the back of this rickshaw, i know, i spy with my little eye something beginning with C? Oh and today has been the wettest day in the history of wet days, and i'm british i know wet days! Drove through a monsoon in a thunderstorm earlier, i think im developing gills. And a word of warning a poundland poncho is not designed for monsoon season in India. @
On the Road
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On the Road
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Uttar Pradesh, India
just been dropped off by the truck, 10km from varanasi at midnight, with a broken rickshaw. No way of getting to our intended hotel tonight. Managed to find a garage, and the owner has taken pity on us for the night and is kindly letting us stay in his back room. Along with a massive spider and a massive gecko.
Moral of this tale make sure your rickshaw works at all time because you never know where you're going to be dropped off. Fingers crossed we can get the rickshaw fixed tomorrow.
Bihar, India
just got back to our busted rickshaw, still broke. And our tiny rickshaw mascot has been nicked! Not impressed, hopefully reach varanasi by tonight with the help of a truck! Cheating a bit but currently necessary given, where we are and how far we have left, and my desire to get out of here quickly!
