A good day on the road

Another page from my journal  

Made it to the Bay of Bengal

Okay, I've started writing post in a journal while in the rickshaw, so i can keep up. I will eventually copy this info readable text, but I'm not sure when that will be.

 

We are all good

I just wanted to say I'm sorry i haven't been able to update the blog every day add i had planned, the Rickshaw Run is a gruelling challenge sometimes and I've just been too tired to get post done every night. But, i have material written for most days and will backfill the blog when i get a chance.

Finding our groove

Well, we only made it about 30km outside of Islampur before the same issue started again. At this point Brian and I realized we needed to do something immediately to get the engine cooler, so we ripped off the back panel and stick it on the roof rack. I also called our new friend Jettu to see if he could help, and he was actually on the same highway a short ways behind us, so we meet up and he assessed the situation and told us the only ones that could really help us was a proper Bajaj service center. We then decide that the best option was to keep heading south, but limit ourselves to 40km/hr and take breaks more often. This definitely seems to work better for us, as we haven't experienced this issue since.

The only major problems we had during our journey south was that we got stuck in some really narly traffic jam just south of Malda. It took some serious Indian style driving to get us out of the mess, but nothing i couldn't handle.

After the traffic mess we got to do something that both of us really wanted to do while in India, we swam in the Ganges River. It was a kind spiritual experience and i felt that the frustration of the beginning of the run are all behind us.

Then we headed a little further south and find some accommodation in Raghunathganj. While there Brian meet some locals and went off to get a haircut and i stayed in to relax and do some laundry. All and all it felt like thing are staying to go our way.

Finding our own way

So last night we agreed to stop traveling in a convoy, it was just too stressful to keep stopping and waiting for each other when the tuk tuks had issues. Our plan was to pick a destination city and all just try to meet up there at nightfall. So with that in mind we headed off to Siliguri to try and meet for lunch, then head south to Purnea.

The day started out great as we found a very nice country road that snakes thru small villages and completely void of big trucks and buses. Along the way we got some breakfast at a roadside shack. The owner (or anyone else there) didn't speak English, but he was more than happy to serve us. It was actually quite funny cause the place had a handful of locals milling about, but when we showed up and said we needed food he snapped some order to the crowd to clear space for us at the tables. This actually happens often here where we will walk into a place and they immediately start treating us like royalty. I think it has something to do with the fact that most people in India have never seen a foreigner before, so they go out of their way to try and accommodate us.

Back in the road we where able to meet up with Vicki and Guillaume just south of Siliguri for lunch. Then we headed out on the road south. We didn't get too far before Tuker had some major issue with the gear box and we lost all power. Brian and i started pushing him back towards town, and luckily another rickshaw driver saw us and offered to tow it into town for us to a shop he knows. 40some minute later and 300 rupees for the tow we are in town at the shop. The mechanic did a compression test to see if be damaged the piston, then checked out great box. He said that our only problem was that it was low on gear oil, so he filled it up, charged us 500 rupees, and sent us on our way.

His fixed lasted for a while, but I've the engine compartment heated up again the same problem came back. So we let it cool down, and decided to try and limp it down the road until we could find another shop. This time we came across a Bajaj motorcycle dealership and stopped in to see if they could possible help. Unfortunately they said they could help us, but in the end they just made some small adjustments to the shift mechanism and sent us on our way.

Finally we made it down to Islampur were we ran into some other runners at a shop who had had break issue. Brian waited there with Tuker and i went down the road on foot trying to find someone that could help us communicate that the problem only happens when it's hot, and that the gear box needs looked at. Fortunately i ran into this guy named Jettu who spoke great English and he asked if i needed help, i explained our situation and immediately he got on his phone to start to track down spare parts and arrange for things to be fixed. Thanks to his help we got the mechanic on the right path and they cleaned up some junk in the gearbox and made some other adjustments to Tuker to make him run better. With this accomplished we retired for the evening feeling that our troubles where now all behind us.

First full day on the road

Today was very stressful day for me. Last night i was woken from my hammocks by thunder, lighting and rain at about 3:30, so i high tailed it inside and got another restless hour of sleep. So at about 6:00 i got out of bed and decided to try and get our missing first gear back. After messing with some cable adjustments and a few 4 letter words i was able to get it working properly.

Then i packed up my stuff and proceeded to wait for the other members of my convoy to wake up and get moving. This took much longer than I expected and set me off in a somewhat foul mood. We finally hit the road just after 9:00, bit only made it about a km before we were delayed with getting a flat tire repaired. This took what felt like an eternity, but was really just normal Indian time.

After that we only got another km before we get some breakfast. Once we finished there or was time to talk try and get some km under the tires. But due to the late start and the mucking about there was no way we could make the 300km we needed to today.

Once on the road we made good time until one of the tuk tuks in the convoy got a flat tire, then there was another delay when a member of the group had to find a place to poop, then there was another flat tire on the same tuk tuk as earlier in the day. Also we had delays when the convoy leader took a wrong turn and went for a long time before the realized they didn't have everyone with them. So while we were waiting we had a tired repaired for the tuk tuk that blew it's spare.

Apparently it's hang out at the tire shop drew the attention of the local police, so the chief and about 6 of his buddies came by to see what we where up to. He wasn't too impressed with us at first and the idea of all us foreigners driving tuk tuks across his beautiful country. But i remembered the Q&A session, so took the cup of tea I was offered and asked him if he had a wife and if he had any children. He said yes, and so I then asked if he had any pictures of her. He then pulled out his phone and showed me a picture of his you daughter. I told him that she looked like an angel, then proceed to ask about her schooling and if she was learning English and if she could speak as well as him. At this point he warmed up a bit, but still want convinced it was a good idea, so Brian and I took him to our tuk tuk and explained our route and time frame for being in country. At this point Brian pulled out a sharpy and we asked if he would sign our tuk tuk, he obliged us, then we shoke hands and he let the convoy go on our way.

Holy Cow!

Well India and the rickshaw run don't disappoint. Within the first few km we had our first b issue with the gear box. We lost a pin in the linkage and had to spend a lot of time getting greasy to figure it out. Eventually i had to take screw from the dash to get it working, but once it was back together we had somehow lost first gear. Anyway, can't worry about missing a great how, we just gotta get on the road or else will never make it to Kochi.

Due to the hectic nature of the start and our break down, we got separated from our convey and it took us quite a while to eventually meet back up with them. Final we were able to connect at beautiful Umiam Lake. It was really cool there and we ran into a random Indian that we that we meet on the flight to Shillong. He was really excited to see us and made sure to get a bunch of selfies with us. At the lake we also picked up some road side mom moms and some really interesting corn on the cob.

From there we continued our journey north with the aim of get well past Guwahati. But that hope seemed dashed when the Garlic Naan Conformists' tuk tuk busted a axle. This definitely is a major problem, and something we were not prepared to fix ourselves on the road. Luckily a local passing by came by to check out the funny looking foreigners and our awesome tuk tuks and see why we were messing with them on the side of a mountain pass. After some time talking with us, and assessing the situation he offered to take me up to the local shop to get the parts and mechanic help get us back on the road. After a little while at his shop, with a little bit of confusion, he eventually collected the needed tool and parts and i pilled back in car with them and headed out to get us back on the road. This guy was amazing he single handedly took apart the wheel and pulled out the busted old axle and replaced it with all new parts in about 30 minutes. After the work was over we took few group photos and the multiple selfies that all the Indians love so much.

At this point we decided we needed to make up some km and kept on our way to Guwahati. Unfortunately we neglected to eat soon enough, so the lack of food, exhaustive heat, and time spent fixing busted tuk tuks, had us making poor decisions and we made several wrong turn and ended up eating much later than we had hoped. Dinner was of course on Indian time, so it took a while to get it, but it hit the spot, but we were able to look at the map and try to figure out what direction to hard and where we could possibly find a place to stay.

We decided that we could most likely make it 30km to Hajo before nightfall... Boy where we wrong, we arrived in Hajo shortly after dark with no clue where we would stay. After trying a few different places and being rejected, the convey decided to send the blondes (myself and Vicki) out to try to track something down. We talked with several people and most of them pointed us down the road with a range of 0.5 to 2.0 km on the left. One of the guys that had helped with directions even got on his Royal Enfield to guide us to the hidden guest house. We negotiate with the care taker and scored 2 rooms and places to pitch 4 hammocks for the evening. Once settled in we all sat out on the front porch had a nice evening talking and drinking some rum. Now I'm exhausted and an gonna hit the hammocks to hopefully get enough sleep to be well rested so in the morning i can do some repairs to the tuk tuk and and be ready to do a majority of tomorrow's driving.

Ready to hit the road

After a wild lauch party last night at the Queen's Rose I'm feeling a little bit under the weather, and it doesn't help that I've only been able to sleep around 4 hours each night since I arrived. My only saving grace this morning is an ice cold Mt Dew and a plate of veggy fried rice.  Feeling a slightly better after breakfast I hit Polo Bazaar to try and get my shorts repaired and find some last minute things that I'll want for this journey. Eventually I found a tailor that would repair the shorts for ₹70, so I dropped them off and headed back to the room to do some laundry.  After doing the laundry I felt well enough to head out to Police Bazaar with Brian to find a map and that elusive sim card for his phone. Along the way we meet up with our French friend Guillaume who had been looking for the store where we found duck tape the other day. Surprisingly duck tape and zip ties are near impossible to find in India, actually we never found zip ties ourselves, but heard from another group that they did find a few at one store which we couldn't locate. Anyway, these last few things took us on a few laps around Police Bazaar before we where able to finally acquire them, but that's okay cause it was a beautiful day and we got to see more of the city that we hadn't seen before.  Later in the evening we had the mandatory Q&A before tomorrow's start, which happened to be the most mellow gathering of the runners I've seen. Maybe everyone was still recovering from last night's bash, or maybe many of them are just realizing that they have way too much gear to fit in there tuk tuk and are speechless tonight.  Once the meeting was over Brian, Guillaume, Vicki and myself headed out to get some booze for the journey then found ourselves at our favorite little food shack for dinner. Where else can you feed 4 adults for ₹240 ($3.59)? The food was absolutely delicious (definitely the best and for some reason the cheapest in town) and being there with those great people just gave me such a wonderful feeling of satisfaction.  

Rickshaw test day #2

Today is shaping up to be another great day. Unfortunately I woke up after only a few hours of sleep and couldn't get myself to fall back asleep, so I decided that I was gonna get up early and try to run some errands. Luckily I bumped into Andrew when I was heading out and we went upto Police Bazaar to collect important things like duct tape, extra fuel can, funnel, rope, wire, hacksaw blade, and most importantly cash. After hitting about 4 ATMs I finally found one that worked, thank you Punjab National Bank.

After the successful collection of supplies we headed back to the hotel to drop off the loot and there we meet up with Brian, Mike and Zach then it was down to the Polo Grounds to check up on the tuk tuk. Overnight the mechanics went over it and fixed the low idle problem, so no more stalling when we stop (yeah!). Then we talked with a couple mechanics about the extra supplies that we need for the journey, So then Brian, Andrew and myself headed off to Polo Bazaar to track down the rest of the stuff on our list. Our first stop was the same shop that helped fix the banjo yesterday and they pointed us down the road where we eventually found all the things we needed.  Next on our agenda was to try and find out what the other runners where up to before tonight's party, so that meant yet another trip back down to the Polo Grounds where you can usually find a bunch of runners pimping their tuk tuk and making sure they are road worthy.    At this point satisfied that our tuk tuk is almost ready to go, we decide it was a good time to go get some food from a local vendor. I had some delicious fried momo and some veggies chow main that was quite satisfying. Then it was off to find the liquor stores and begin preparing for tonight's festivities. (Preparing consisted take a much needed shower followed by a nice drink while relaxing in the room.) 

Another great night in Shillong

This place is getting a little bit crowded with white folk, as we are reaching critical mass with the amount of runners in town. It seemed like we were running into them everywhere we went today.

The afternoon was spent trying to get a sim card, which is rather more difficult than I expected. Maybe we can convince one of the guys at the hotel to vouch for us on the application, guess we'll tackle that in the morning.

Eventually we found our selves back at the hotel with a few runners to enjoy a couple scoops of ice cream and some mixed drinks. Then we headed up to the Pinewood hotel to meet up with a bunch of the runners and have some beers (most of them were warm) and talk about the journey ahead.

After closing down the bar at the Pinewood we headed back home, but decided to stop by our secret spot on top of the abandoned building for a late night joint andjam session.