Race Day 13: Puschkar to Jodpur

After 2.5 super relaxing days in super relaxing Puschkar we finally had to crack on in order to make it to the finish line in time. What we thought would be a tough day of driving through the desert turned out to be a smooth ride through lush green landscape. After the monsoon the tar desert turns pretty green. This was unexpected really. So was the quality of the roads which was amazing. With our fully operational sound system it was a plesure ride on our three wheeled cruise ship. Nevertheless we arrived late in Jodpur (mostly due to strating late) and just tried to find a decent place to stay which wasnt so easy. Driving in indian cities at dark is really not my cuppa tea and I almost freaked out so Tosh had to take over. after finding an ok place we went for a terrible dinner and then tried to find a cool place for beers. We followd the lonely Planet recommendation which turned out to be a super fancy palace hotel. the doorman asked for 40 USD minimum consumption per person but I think it may have been more our dirty clothes and unshaved faces. Probably we smelled on top...anyways w got a recommendation for another place which looked promising when we walked in. A dancefloor and at least five waiters. it was empty but we were early so hoped up. by 2130 (2h later) there were 5 indian guys in with moustaches (as usual) just starring at the cricket screens and us. it was absolutely lame so we just hit the sheets. never mind. we wanted to get up early the next day anyways for the final ride to  Jaisalmer...next day finish day!

Race Day 10: Jaipur to Puschkar

This was another easy day...after the 12 hour plus madness days we seem to treat ourselves better really. Just 135 KM from Jaipur to Puschkar. Most highway so we got up at 0800 and had a nice breakfast at the hotel.Out of Jaipur was again easy and we were on the highway by  0930 or so. e were stopped again by the real police this time. They were asking us 2000 Rupuies fine for having a petrol canister in the back and a soundsystem. This was super redicilous if you consider that sometimes the indians drive with 5 people in the front of a rikshaw while each passenger cntrols one part of the vehicle. one does steering, one accelerates and probably brakes, one does the gear shifting and so on. they drive with torn tyres and rusty brakes. but we are a threat to indian nation so we paid 1000 rupies and drove off. hope this is the last time really. puschkar is small city build around a holy lake. there are no cars in the city and the ghats around the lake are mostly blue. it is something like the exact opposite to varanasi. the good version kind of...we like it a lot and did a fair bit of walking around today. they have a lot of monkeys here which tosh loves a lot. it is nice and peaceful here but there is no meat or alkohol allowed. never mind we eat vegetarian mostly. Thats what e will do now and then head on through the desert of rajastan to the city of Jodpur! We are very exited!

Race Day 9: Agra to Jaipur

So this was another easy day really. 130 KM on a european standard highway. we got up later than usual and found our way out of Agra surprisingly well. Even if the city is build around sights it still has more than 1 Mio. inhabitants. So we took the shaw to the highway stopping at times to pull our fuel line. Somehow we get air into the fuuel system wich makes the engine cut out usually in the most unfortunate moments. but we are used to it by now. On the highway we were approached by a guy on a motorbike with a police sign. He told us he is from the state police and that we have been speeding (on the highway in a 150CC Shaw), then he said there are highway taxes to be paid, then that we did not lash our luggage correctly. esecially the luggage part we found surprising taking in consideration the indian trucks with 5 meter high piles of grain sacks lashed at the weirdest angles. he was really getting a bit hard on us so we asked him for his Polce ID and started our engine. well then he just asked for a cigarette and we drove off. he probably thought it was worth a try but there are so many guys driving these pseudo police bikes and his shirts was covered i wholes ..so no way....we arrived in jaipu in the afternoon and found an amazing Hotel close to the Pnk City. We got a lot of admiation from the local Rickshaw drivers which werde parked in front of our hotel and we asked one of them to show us around. apprently the Pink city is not pink but orange. that was a bit disappointing but apart from that it is a really nice place (for an indian city). the tour ended in his friends silk store, which I gues was to be expected. We were caught in there for ours and at the end I bougt a scar in order to get outta there...but it was a nice one so no problem. then back to the hotel, dinner and bed. What I forgot to mention is that tosh received compliments for his moustache all the time. they just love and tell him that on the street a lot. I got one compliment so far so I will try to adapt his "indian power" moustache style..next stop Puschkar!

Race Day 8: Etawah to Agra

So we archieved our target of arriving to ASgra before noon. this was done through early wake up and fast driving. after the long day yeasterday with 12 hour driving and 460KM this was an easy one. 120km and three hours. we found a nice hotel near taj mahal and went to a roof terrace bar to have teas and sandwiches. we stayed there 3 hours ort so and took a walk through a nice park. then we went to se the Tj mahal which many describe the most beautiful building in the world. for me I think this may be true. i saw it the second time and it is still so fascinating. It is really worth to see. the people around the Taj Mahal are a pain though. they are super aggresive hasslers and it is hard to find some peace. we also got our stero repaired so from tomorrow on it will be music again. we are well on time and have covered more than 2 thirds so far. Now the desert of Rajastan awaits us which surely will be a highlight. next stop Jaipur or a tiger reserve on the way. undecided at present. Tosh is really scared of tigers...

Race Day 7: Varanasi to Etawah

This was a pretty eventless day for the first time on the trip....we took national highway 2 from Varanasi in the direction Agra. The road is amazing so you can do about 50KM in an hour. for our standards s far this is incredible. we were fast in allabadh and went on as fast as possible. we had some technical problems again and sometime the shaw just cut out and we had to stop. we think the mechanic in Varanasi made a mistake when isntalling the carburator a it constantly overflows. it works though so we will check thsi when we have time.  by the way the guy also stole our compass which is pretty bad. it cost tosh 5 EUR only but we cant get it here and with our inaccurate indian map it wa priceless so far. we will manage without though...due to the technical stuff we arrived at out earlier day target kanpur by 1500 which was 3 hours later than expected.we decided not to aim for agra anymore but etawah which is half way between kanpur and agra. we have seen a lot of roadkill on the way mostly dogs but also cows. this time we saw a human pretty flat on thhe concrete. not a pretty sight and probably the negative highlight that day for me. we made it to Etawah in the dark and again it was night city driving which was terrible again, but not as bad as Varanasi. after a while we found a nice clean hotel and stayed for the night. Next day Agra and Taj Mahal!

Race Day 4: Shilliguri to Beguserai

Hi everyone,

we are back online in Varanasi now and I will have to report about the last couple of days.

About Shiliguri I can say much. We arrived late in the evening and found an ok hostel  where we could park our Shaw outside. Was quite hrd to get there as driving through an indian city in a Rickshaw in the dark is a bit of a challenge. You dont see much and dont get a lot of respekt from other traffic participants either. Pretty much the bottom of the traffic food chain, just above predestrians and stray dogs. So we made it anyways after some wild manoevers with u turns and sharp overtaking moves and dropped to bed endlessly tired.  At night it started to rain heavy and we had the windows open. So all my stuff was soaked when I woke up. Also got killed by moskitos that nightdespite the repellent.

We got up at 0500 again and were on the road by 0530. Not long unfortunately until out engine cut out again. it is a terrible feeling when you hear that the engine slowly looses power and then stopps in the middle f... nowhere at 0530 in the morning. Fortunately it was not so bad as there was a village nearby. But no indian works at that time so we saw a lot of Rickshaws pass us which was pretty frustrating.  A guy on the street stopped to help us and arranged for a mechanic to open his gates for us. After an exhaustive carburator clean the old girl started again and were were on the road by 0730. It was an amazing da driving through the countryside of Bihar which makes you feel like timetravel 500 years back. Just add the traffic though. People were really friendly which they had to proove hundreds of times when we were asking for the way.  Everytime we went to stop for refuelling it takes approximately 30 sceonds and you are souroundeed by Indian. They are super curious people and they simply can not undertand what they see. 2 white dirty guys in a painted Rickshaw. We are a huge attraction here reallly. And really dirty too. After a day of driving in india all cloth turn grey and you get a disgusting dirt layer on your skin., We have no clean shirts left after a third of the track...and no time for washing as we are always on the road....bummer....

We had a very goad road day that drive. When they are not nice they look like a moon surface and you move with 5km an hour maximum. this makes planning very difficult. We wanted to go to patna that day but after 330KM and a 12 hor drive we decided to call it a day in beguserai. Streets were getting terrible again, fuel low and peole at night drive a bit crazy in India. So we found an ok motel at the side of the road and after a short email fell straight to bed. Next stop the holy city of Vasranasi! 

Race day 3: Gossaigaon to Shiliguri

Was not hard to get up in the morning as we didnt sleep anyways. Well tosh did but I did not. We were on the road by 0530 with the Police escort to the boarder of west bengal. From there we cracked on alone and had an amazing day driving through the tea plantages of Assam. By 1600 we arived in Shiliguri after 220 KM and found a nice hostel. Had some food and will be in bed by 2100 lates. Tomorrow down south to teh Gagnes and then along the river till we reach Varanasi the holy city. Hopefully more internet acess on the way and more regular updates to follow. All is well and we are looking forward to hit the road by 0600 latest tomorrow....

Race Day 1: Shillong to Guwhahati

Hey everyone,

sorry we did not have internet for the last couple of days and the mobile does not work anyways. Apart from that I unfortuantely forgot it in a hotel and of course it was not found as it may equal a yearly salary of an indian worker. Me, mobile phones and travel do not team up too well. But now to day 1.... We have been waiting quite eager for the start. All preparations done and an absolute prime sound system setup. We got up earliish to make it till 1000 to the Rickshaw garage and pack it all in. Loading we took a lot of attention to as we wanted to achieve a low center of gravity. The way down to Guwahati apperantly is pretty steep and some teams rolled over last year. Then at 1100 the 70 or so Shaws left to the start line. Some of them broke down on the way there. Then the start at 1200 with Music and a festive farewell. Our sound system was pumpin Biggie. Finding the way out of the city was ok, but the roads were not. Potholes too numerous to count. And then the rain kicked in. We had no tarpolin on the sides to protect us so we got soaked within 30 seconds. we took our roof tarp and cut it in three and hung it of from the sides. Muc better. Music on again and of we went. driing the Tuk is big fun and we made it safe to Guwhahati. We wanted to make it futher but it got dark so we blindly followed a team we could see in the distance down a sidestreet. That went for ages but we had no better idea. So we found us a nice hotel with underground park and after one beer we went to sleep after an exiting day...Next destination Shiliguri...

Day 3 Shillong - One day to go!

Hey Everyone!

So we are still in Shillong getting everything sorted for the big day. We finally got to meet the beast! If you remember our great Macho man design...very classy yellow ground with the macho man glasses on em...well it didnt quite turn out like that. It is f...n pink. Now it is the sissy can not so savage...Thomas almost fell over when he first saw it and got a big can of orange paint to man it up little bit. It look well...lets say ok. not great but it seems to be we are the only ones with a pink shaw. I hope it is considered a rough color in India. but unlikely I guess..but I mean the guys also hold hand so you never know..We also took it for a test drive which was fun. reminds me a bit of my first moped. Very unstable though so the guy in the back has to lean in the right direction in order not to tumble over. which apperently happened to many people so we will be careful and aim for a low center of gravity...Adding to this will be our massive sound system. It is a huge boom box which we connected to a spare rickshaw battery. We will use this like an additional horn kind of. and put it on the roof once we enter a village and see if we can get people to bollywood dance for us. Or to scare tigers and bandits. The later seems to be an issue unfortunately so we have to be in before dark...we will be so no worries. the shaw seems reliable though compared to some others which broke down on the test drive already. in  the evening it s beers again and meeting the fellow runners. good fun. they are all really nice people. tomorrow is the start at 1000 then. after a massive party tonight.  first a parade through the city with local press broadcast and then we are off to Guawhati. Hope to arrive there before dark and might stay there. although we in general want to avoid the cities...well anyways gotta go. mobiel phones dont work here so dont bother sending a text...well try to update once we find the next internet cafe! All the best Marius and Tosh

Day 1-2 Shillong

Hey Everyone,

after a lovely flighty from Frankfurt to Kolkata we arrived late at night. We head out straight to check out Kolkato which Tosh called the City of Evil, but it was not so evil at night. Becaus eall we saw where empty streets and street dogs. Never mind... Then we tookthe flight to Shillong in the Morning..At least tried...It was delayed and what for me at least unheard of...it was re routed. That means we left 3 hours late in an old crappy ATR and wnt to Jorhat instead of Shillong. we didnt realise at first but the flight ws unexpectedly long and there werent too many hills around for a hill station whgich Shillong once was. This is because it was Jorhat and not Shilllong. after a short stop then we flew on and landed safely in Shillong. There we tried to catch a bus but it didnt start. all the cab drivers were thinking happy days when all the passengers left and drastically increased pricing. but then it did start and you coulkd see the joy draining from their faces. was a small victory against rip off or so..then got a reasonable hotel and head out to enduldge in the street foot. Remember I travel with Tosh...he is all about eating. There is no GSM connection and internet has been braking down constantly the last days...so we are now registering for the race and are about to take our Macho Can for a little test ride. Then it will be outfited with additional horns, stereo and light. stereo being prime objective! People aregreat here and Im sure we will have a huge time :-) Till laters!