What to put in a 50L bag for a 3 weeks trip in India?
Not much :
Â
That is my bag, Damien has nearly the same with few additional features :- A camera
- A GoPro HD
- A tent
More details concerning "medecine" below
**Medicine kit**
Â I think this stuff will fill as much space in my bag as my sleeping bag...Hope we will use it (or not except malarone)Â
- Hydroalcoholic solution
- Paracetamol (headaches, could be useful after departure and arrival parties)
- Spasfon
- Malarone (to prevent paludism)
- Smecta (good for stomach after turista diarrhea)
- Nifuroxazide (in case of diarrhea too)
- Immodium (if we are in some place where we can't afford to have diarrhea)
- Ofiloxacine (in case of very nasty diarrhea, my doctor told me that I should have a medical advice before taking it, I hope I won't have to use it!)
**First aid kit**
Â Everything needed to heal a wound. Plus maybe a lighter in case of amputation (you know, to burn flesh)
**Aurelien vs mosquito kit**
Hem, I have to admit that mosquitos are the thing I fear the most in this adventure because I'm kind of allergic (= each bite hurts and swells a lot).Â
So I will take :
- Anti-mosquito skin lotion (specific for tropical areas with paludism)
- Anti-mosquito clothes lotion
- A treated mosquito net
Â
Â
I'm ready for the war! [Fun Fact] Thus, Damien does not any anti-moustiquo kit... [/Fun Fact]
All teams have the possibility to "pimp" their Rickshaw (you upload a design and local artists paint it), it's a very nice feature proposed by The Adventurists! As our team's name is a reference to the show "How I Met Your Mother", we decided to pimp our Rickshaw with a suit (remember the famous [suit song](
But when we have submitted our design, it was a little too late, Damien has sent a mail to the organisation to see if our Rickshaw could still be pimped. They will try to do it after all others but it is not guaranteed!
We have our fingers crosses, do you?
[people not interested in technical stuff can stop here]
Here are few specifications of the machine we will drive for 10 days and ~3000 kms (in italic are the ones of my personnal Triumph Street Triple R :
Â
Engine: 2 stroke, single cylinder, forced air cooled *(Liquid-cooled, in-line 3-cylinder)*
Engine Size: 145.45cc *(675cc)*
Power: 7 HP at 5000 rpm *(105 hp @ 11700rpm)*
Torque: 12.17 Nm at 3500 rpm *(68Nm @ 9200rpm)*
Transmission: 4 forward, 1 reverse *(6 forward)*
Brakes: Hydraulic expanding shoe *(Twin 308mm floating discs, Nissin 4-piston radial calipers)*
Fuel Capacity: 8 ltr inc. 1.4 reserve *(17.4 litres)*
Top speed: 55kmph *(~250 kmph)*
Weight: 277kg *(189 kg)*
Concerning the visa application for India, this it is not directly handled by the Embassy of India in France but by an outsourced partner, the The India Visa Application Centre managed by [VF Services](http://www.vfs-in-fr.com/#) (UK) Limited. Still, the assessment of visa applications is carried out by the Embassy of India, and the decision to grant or refuse a visa to India is at their sole discretion.
We have to admit that their website is very clear, informations depending of the visa your are looking for are easy to find!
Concerning our case (tourist visa), we needed the following documents :
- A passport valid for at least six months with at least three blank pages
- A photocopy of the data page of the passport
- Two photographs
- A visa application form duly filled in online, signed and dated by the applicant
After fulfilling all these conditions, you have to submit your application at the following address :
VF Services Limited42-44 rue de Paradis75010 PARIS
It costs 65€ and takes around one week to be processed. Your visa can be collected at the same address.
Sounds easy no? You probably wonder why this article ins named "A visa and a **problem**" ?
Well, during our adventure we would like to visit Nepal. But with a tourist visa, two visits to India must be separated by a 2-month break !!!! Hum, we have only taken three and a half weeks of holidays,"Houston, we have a problem".
After searching a little, we discovered it was possible to ask for a multiple entries' visa via a specific form ([2-month Rule Exemption Request on Account of Neighbouring Tourism](http://www.vfs-in-fr.com/touristvisa_form.html)) if you justify your demand with travel tickets or a letter from a tour operator, but we dont' have that. I've tried a big smile but it did not convince the girl at the counter...
The only solution according to her is to enter Nepal and to ask for a re-entry authorisation at the Embassy of India in Nepal. But if we don't get it, we'll be stuck in Nepal! We are still thinking about that...
As you may know, there are some preatty nasty diseases in India that are not existing (anymore?) in France, especially because of bad hygiene If you do not want to come back with one of them, it's better to be prepared, I mean vaccinated!
I went to the Pasteur Institute for India's specific vaccines. As we will often be in the countryside, here are the vaccines I've been recommanded to do :
- Hepatitis A (First injection and then another one year later to be vaccinated for life)
- Tiphoid (First injection and then one injection every three years)
- Rabies (One injection per week during three weeks to be vaccinated for life, so be careful to begin the treatment at least one month before your departure)
What you should be aware of is that except for mandatory ones, vaccines are not refunded by social insurance and they are quite expensive ;
- 43€ for Hepatitis A
- 32€ for Tiphoid
- 35€ per injection for Rabies!Â
Last thing to do is to book an apointment to your favorite doctor and ask for a paludism treatment (sadly, no vaccine exists for this disease), which you need to begin one day before your departure and finish one week after you come back. Once again, it's quite expensive!
Â
Fellows, you will find below the first draft of our route during the adventure !
The main stages of the around 3000 kms journey will be :
- Shillong (big departure party)
- Darjeeling (nice tea!)
- Katmandou (Nepal)
- Pokhara (Nepal)
- Locknow (back in India)Â
- Agra (Taj Mahal!)
- Jaipur (Red Fort for Red Skins)Â
- Jaiselmar (big arrival party, if we are not dead yet)
Wow, I have just noticed that we have not posted anything on the blog for nearly two months! Sorry about that, we have been quite busy during this period (holidays...).
Do not worry, we are back and we can promise you that there will be much more activity on the blog in June!
The big thing for today is that we have finally bought our plane tickets! The only constraint was to be in Shillong (departure of the adventure) on September the 9th at last. We have chosen Emirates Airlines because we wanted to fly in the A380 (Damien already took it when he went to India and to China but not me). Details of our journey are the following :
- 07/09/11 - Paris (15h35) to Dubaï (00h15, D+1) - A380
- 08/09/11 - Dubaï (03h55) to Mumbai (08h15) - B777
- 30/09/11 - Mumbai (09h45) to Dubaï (11h15) - B777
- 02/10/11 - Dubaï (15h00) to Paris (20h10) - B777
As you can notice, we wiil leave India one week later than the end of the adventure (24/09/11) because we would like to visit the South of the country. We have also chosen to make a stop over in Dubaï (2 days and 2 nights) before going back to Paris to visit the city.
But this is not over for the journey's organization, we still have to apply for our Visas and to find a way to go from Mumbai to Chillong!!!
To drive in India and in Nepal, bizarrely enough, we need a driving licence. However, we will also need an International Driving Permit (IDP). This is a small booklet which explains in multiple languages that someone somewhere deemed you capable of driving on public roads. In order to legally drive a rickshaw, we must have our IDP stamped in category A (3-wheeled light vehicle).
In France, to get a A stamp on your driving licence, you need to pass motorcycle driving test. I (Aurelien) already have it but Damien does not, we will have to find (buy?) a way to get him this A stamp (not on his french driving licence but on his IDP).To get an IDP, here is what you need :
- A valid driving licence and a copy (recto verso)
- A valid ID (different from the driving licence, i.e a passport) and a copy (recto verso)
- 2 official photos
- A copy of a proof of domicile
It is open from 8.35 AM to 4.45 PM. Given that I have some difficulties in waking up early in the morning and that I finish work quite late, I decided to go during my lunch break. You will see later that it was not really a good idea. I left my work a 12.30 PM and 25 minutes later I was in the waiting room with this paper 
As you can read, there were already eleven people waiting before me. At first I thought it would be fast considering the number of desks opened but then I realize that there were a lot more people waiting. The reason ? Other letters existed (R, T...) with a specific wainting queue for each! => 1st FAIL
One hour and a half later, I was called at the desk, I gave the guy all the papers and he told me "Go back in the waiting room, you will be called with the same number when your IDP will be ready". Ok, I had to wait again while it was already 2.30 PM (I should have be back to work at 2.00 PM) => 2nd FAIL
At 3.10 my IDP was ready...
But when I went out, I noticed a fine on my moto, 35€ for being parked in front of the police department...=> 3rd FAIL
The first thing to do after the inscription was to find a name for our team. We wanted to find a wordplay with Rickshaw or Tuk Tuk (thaï word for Rickshaw, pronounced "touk touk") inside. We had a short list of names but we decided to ask some of our friends to give a try, just in case. Marine found "Have You Met Tuk" and we loved it so all other names were dropped out of our list.
This name is a reference to the TV show "How I Met Your Mother". In the show, Barney, a pick-up "artist", introduces his friend Ted to single girls with the catch-up phrase "Have You Met Ted?"
We hope you like this name too (if you don't, life is still going on :D), some other teams have also chosen a funny name, check it [there](index.php?mode=team)
You'll find here everything about our participation to the Rickshaw Run adventure in September 2011.
We will keep you updated with every step of our preparation (fundraising, vaccines, driving licence, plane tickets, visas..).
During the race, we will try to post something everytime we will have access to Internet, and at least we will update our position on the map by phone.
You can visit the [official website](http://rickshawrun.theadventurists.com/) of the adventure to get a first glance of what we are going into. A full article will follow soon.
If you do not want to miss any new post on the blog, here are your options :
