Day 1
Well, what can we say, today was the first day on the rickshaw. After a few bottles of Hit - the local superstrength brew, at the pre launch party we were not feeling our best first thing this morning. We made our way to the Norling resort to pick up our rickshaws and drive them to the starting line in Gangtok town centre. We hadnt managed to get any rickshaw driving lessons up to this point,so the drive down was our opportunity to get to grips with our beast. We set off from Gangtok after being blessed - which Im sure will come in useful at some point. The drive down through the mountains went suprisingly well and even included a free tank of petrol. There are no rickshaws used in the area as they are completely unsuitable, so we got a few strange looks as we travelled through the villages. We then veered off the main highway to travel to Darjeeling. This involved a lot of driving uphill, which the Rickshaw was not particularly keen on. the scenery was absolutely stunning, which was good because we spent a lot of time taking it all walking and pushing the rickshaw which couldnt carry the weight of all 3 of us! Dave an Matt saw a wild boar. We also had our first breakdown of the day as we ran out of petrol half way up a hill. As we had not got round to getting a gerry can to carry a back up supply of petrol we were stranded. Fortunately another team passed us and let us have a bit of theirs. The delay caused by the hills meant that we had to break our rule of not driving in the dark and after a fairly traumatic drive along some shocking roads, Matt managed to bring us into Darjeeling safely. We then ran out of petrol again, with all petrol stations closed and no gerry can we were again stranded. As we were just about to check into a very rough looking hotel, (complete with big dog in reception) on the outskirts of Darjeeling another more organised team passed us and let us have some their petrol. We then travelled into the centre and got a hotel sorted. Now just awaiting my tea and I cant wait - I have had only 3 vegetable pakoras to eat all day. We are all shattered so think tonight will be an early night, then we can decide where to go tomorrow
