So Bihar, so good
Thought we would post an update, have been a little busy sorry as we get up at 4am to start driving when the sun comes up, really is the safest time of day to drive and stop driving at 4ish when the sun goes down also as we have learnt the safest option.
Well we have survived 4 days of driving on Indian Roads we are currently in Patna in Bihar an have travelled a whopping total of 1075Km which when our top speed is 50 but average 30 we have had some long days to say the least. We also had to get the budgie fixed last night as the head gasket was cracked costing us a whopping 10$ to fix it for 2hr job.
We have both been re-educated on how to drive. We have learnt the horn is to be used every time you approach anything, in fact you may as well just hold it down an drive! We have both mastered how to overtake on blind corners while weaving between two trucks coming the other way and also that we can drive any direction we want on a dual highway an no one cares. Oh an the Rickshaw can't fly, hit an unseen speed bump at top speed lunching all 3 wheels of the ground an resulting in some sore heads.
Plenty more to tell but alas we are both stuffed an not looking forward to another 4am start, next stop Varanasi, where hopefully we might get a rest day!
Just pee'd on Bangladesh
Well after enjoying our share of Tea in Darjeeling, an when we say tea we mean beer, we decided to head down the mountain an stay with a family's home who work on a Tea plantation in Kurseong. Guess It was our way of holding onto the quietness of the hills before heading back into the heat an craziness of the larger cities. Was an interesting insite to see how they live an to have some good home cooked meals that mum would be proud of.
After teaching their son to play Uno it was off to Guwahati, Wow what a shock to the system! Heat we can both handle but add humidity and both of us have never been so exhausted just walking. Oh an how can we forget how crazy the streets are, luckily we will avoid this town in our rickshaw. After surviving our first street side meal an seeing our first elephant we cut our time short in Guwahati knowing that the smell will be forever burnt into our nostrils and headed to Shillong, where we planned to spend one night before heading to Cherrapunjee.
If we can recommend one place you must visit in India it's here, words can not explain the views and scenery all looking over the Bangladesh boarder. With only 6 rooms in the resort which is 11km from the nearest town we dumped our bags for the last 3 days before the crazy Rickshaw Run begins an sat back an enjoyed the quietness (really trying to hold onto India being a place of quietness an serenity and not everyone says it's like) We have already done one 4km hike down to a living bridge (living bridge being a bridge that crosses a river made completly of roots from a tree taking over 200 years to form) and look forward to tomorrows 9hr hike to see the main two living bridges that span the river.
Next stop, the starting line!
the budgie has landed......in kolkata
Well guys, richie and I have landed in kolkata and lets just say its been an eye opener!
For those who have been to india before you can tune out now cos im sure you have had experienced something similar to this before! haha I met Richie in Singapore Airport after waiting two hours for his plane to arrive from Adelaide, (typical Adelaide always that little bit behind!) We then proceeded to the bar, but after my earlier exporations of the airport i found a 7/11 which severed beer in cans 1/2 the price of bar prices so we did what any other traveller would do and plonked ourselves infront on a large tv with the premier league on and sank a few cans straight from the 7/11 before our flight! Who won out of wolves and astonvilla?
Now to Kolkata! if the dehli belly doesnt get us, the traffic will. The ride from the airport almost certainly made our pants go brown! the roads are like no other we have travelled before and we have both openly discussed our white terror fear for what lays ahead! (after two close incounters in that taxi) of which the taxi smelt like a mixture of BO, curry and dust that made ur eyes dry up! like i said before for those that have never been to india before, we're both starting to understand why everyone laughed and said we were crazy when decided to under take this adventure . Make no mistake the roads are crazy and make no sense! red apparentlydoesnt mean stop?
After a restless night sleep (we blame the malaria tablets) we headed out to see the sights, which are amazing, appauling and well.... just India! after only one day we have come to the concusion that everyone needs to experience this place for themselves, im alittle bit in love already! but lets just see if it wears off? anyway we headed out to see the sights and laneways of kolkata, got ripped off by a cabbie! drunk plenty of beers and had a 5 year old bare its arse and almost shit down my leg! only in india. thats all for now'new blog coming soon!
