The Finish Line
Yes we did it. I'm sure none of you ever doubted that we would make it. We rolled in at 4:45 pm yesterday (Sat.) just in time for the windup party at 6 pm. The were quite a few people and "shaws" at the bar at the finish line and everyone cheered and we were handed very cold beers. The party after was at a beach bar with live music and lots of food and dancing. We headed home around midnight but the party went on till at least 4 am. Today everyone is laying low. It is pretty hot here - 40 ish. At 6 pm there is a football game between the "runners" and the locals. There are still 8 "shaws" that have not shown up yet. It's been wonderful to hear all the road stories from other teams and great to see people that we haven't seem in 2 weeks. Ron also got to dip in the Arabian Sea.
The last few days before we arrived here was pretty hard travelling - mostly because of the heat. The temp. was always over 40 degrees and a few days it was 45. We had to stop and buy water constantly and just keep drinking all day. Usually we only ate fruit during the day. also the roads are so bad. On Sat. morning we were told by a local that we would be in Goa in 4 hours on the road that he told us to take. Well, alot of the road was SHIT and it took us 7 1/2 hours - which is typical of how our days have gone.
Spent a day in a place called Hampi which has alot of very old temples and a very interesting landscape filled with HUGE round boulders. It's a quiet little village and we met up with 6 other rickshaws there. Most of the time we were on our own though.
Sort of  sad to say goodbye to our "shaw" but nice to not be moving all the time and dirty most of the day. One guy I talked to today says that he is bored already and doesn't know what to do here now. We will be staying here for a few days and just chilling. We are in south Goa on a beach called Colva. So we will head up to the north of Goa in a few days and see some of the places where I used to stay back in the 70's.
We are both healthy and the trip has been amazing so far.
12 days
We only have 350 km to go and we have been on the dusty trail for 12 days.
We have arrived in a town called Hampi and 6 other Rickshaws are here. It's a very cool town with lots of temples from the 1400's and huge boulders everywhere.
It's been an amazing adventure and we have met alot of great people but it's 8:30 pm and we haven't had dinner or lunch today and we will be off to bed soon for an early start.
Will fill in alot of details when we get to Goa - tomorrow or early Sat.
3 days on the road
So we set off from Shillong on Sunday at noon with blessing from the Governor of the state and a police escort. We paraded around town and people waved as we headed off. The road from Shillong is beautiful but very windy and it took us 3 1/2 hour to cover 100 km. On the way we passed an SOS Children's Village and all the kids were outside with a banner waving at us.
We met up later that day with the team "Buddah Bus" and spent the night and next 2 days travelling with them.Â
Day 2 we headed off at 6:30 am after a crowd of about 40 people had gathered to see us off. We travelled for 11 hours and only covered 270 km. The roads were amazingly TERRIBLE but the scenery was awesome. All day travelling past rice field and small villages. Goats and cows wondering all over the road. Everywhere we stop people, especially children, gather around and ask where weare from and what we are up to. They are usually amazed that we are travelling all the way across India in a rickshaw.
Today we went to a wildlife reserve to see Rhinos again but only saw one and some elephants. Met up with another rickshaw team at the reserve.
We are on a road that follows the Nepali border along the foot of the Himalayas. It's still not too hot YET.Â
Due to the rough roads we broke the bracket on our exhaust system and Ron had to get it welded but it was done in 40 min, and only cost $4.
We are heading south towards Calcutta tomorrow and then down the east coast. Ron has charted a new course.
We are both doing great. Gotten used to India and all the chaos. Have chosen to go vegitarian (you only have to see the meat market to understand) But the people have been awesome. Everyone is sooo helpful and friendly. People all stare at us as we drive by and they smile and wave.Â
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Bay of Bengal
We have been travelling for 7 days of mostly crap roads but we have covered over 1500 km.
We have arrived in the town of Puri on the Bay of Bengal and Ron dipped his feet in the water and got soaked to the hips. There is a storm brewing and the water is very rough - actually a cyclone was off the coast yesterday but headed for Bangledesh. Glad we didn't go to Bihar because people were killed there on Thurs. in election turmoil.
The "shaw" is running well. We have only had some minor muffler problems. We can still only average about 35 km per hour although sometimes we can get the old girl up to 55 km. We have only had some good roads for half a day on Fri. but the road is looking better ahead.
At the end of the day we are covered in dust and sweat and so exhausted because it is also 40 degrees plus for the last few days. But it is great to be travelling at this speed because we can see sooooo much. The villages that we stop in have very friendly people and sometimes 30 - 40 people gather around us and there is always someone who can speak some English and translates. They are so curious about us and where we are going.
Yesterday we were ambushed in a small village. A bunch of guys jumped out in front of us on the road and we had to stop or run over them. They demanded 100 rupees ($2.50) for some gov't tax. Ron said "where is your I.D." they just kept demanding 100 rupees and Ron said NO. Then Ron said that we should call the police so immediately the guy said 50 rupees and Ron said NO. So then Ron said 20 rupees (50 cents) and they all said OK and let us drive on.
The people are soooooo poor here and most of the houses in the villages are made of mud and straw. We are really glad that we have raised money to help people here because they really need it and so little goes a long way over here. We are finding that we spend less than $10 a day on food for both of us.
We are finding it hard to find computers but we will check in when we can.
Shillong
Arrived  in Shillong on Wed. We are at an elevation of about 5000 ft so it is cooler here and at night we need blankets on the bed. Have met a few other teams in the last few days - mostly from UK. Nice town here. The people are very friendly and are of Tibetan/Burmese origin.
We "pimped" our rickshaw today and took a test drive. Tomorrow is a BIG party and a cricket match with the locals - this should be interesting. There is a big send off on Sunday morning with the governor doing the ceremony.
The area we are in right now is the wettest place on the planet with over 37 ft of rainfall annually.
We will try to keep you all updated as much as possible but it will be hectic on the road and often internet is not easy to find here.
