Maunganj

We left Varanasi around noon, pretty late but it was due to the fact that most went out for drinks with some other teams from the rickshaw run. A few beers.. All good.. But not for kenny, he doesn't know when to stop, so he had a bottle or rum and a bottle ov vodka delivered to our hotel and set him back 1600 rupees and away th night went. Mark wakes up in the morning listening to kenny chundering down the toilet in which he insisted wasn't a hangover.. We were supposed to leave at 7am but kenny couldn't move so we eventually got to our rickshaw's around noon. The 'secure car park' we used turned out to be pretty insecure with all 3 rickshaw's robbed of all our tools, fuel, Jerry cans, oil, towels, ponchos, umbrellas and tarp. This really wasn't a great start to the day. Pikachu was struggling to get going and then kenny jumped on the wheel still hanging out of his ass from the night before. We made it out of Varanasi which took us maybe 45 minutes and then kenny had enough for the day and insisted someone else drive, cursing he was. we had aimed to get to Rewa but is started getting dark, so we stopped off in a small town called maunganj. The only hotel that was there had 2 double beds and 1 single bed between 9 of us.. We had to make do, they did however bring in a table to the singled bedded room to make the bed bigger. Brilliant. we went out for a meal at a local dingy restaurant with just 1 red lightbulb to light the whole place. Kenny was still felling shit. It was Kennys turn to order and got frustrated because the waiter didn't understand what he wanted to he decided to throw his menu across the table knocking over his glass and then falling asleep along 3 chairs next to us. what a sissy!

Varanasi

We left Patna early so we could get to our destination (this time Varanasi) before the sun went down for once. Mark drove into the city and as usual it was chaos. We eventually found a 'secure carpark' where we could leave our rickshaw's. Little did we know we would be robbed of everything we left in the rickshaw overnight. It got to early evening and so we went to the cremation site on the side of the river which was burning bodies 24 hours a day. people bring their loved ones from all over India who have passed away for them to be burnt here on 'special wood' we were literally within metres of bodies being burnt. A bamboo stick would strike the skull after 2 hours of burning 'to release the soul'.

Patna

The journey to Patna. A 300km drive. so we set off early morning, stuck to the motorway most of the way to make up time. As usual we were dodging cows, goats, dogs, clueless that they are playing on the motorway. We saw a truck that had totally flipped over and was sitting on its roof, no idea how this could have happened we couldn't work it out, bananas all over the pothole riddled road. we fell asleep in the back and as usual kenny just drives straight in unless we tell him where to go, so we missed a turning. down some back alleys and driving on what looked liked a pathway in a neighbourhood with everyone's faces just dropping as they haven't see a white person before and we rock up with our crocked rickshaw acting like nutters. we are so close to getting back on the motorway and we get to an underpass, filled with muggy water that looks infested with who knows what. We all consider going back but it would add maybe 45 minutes to our journey. So kenny says fuck it, puts on a hysterical laugh, tags the shit out the rickshaw in first gear and plows forward to the underpass.its fairly deep me and Ben lift out feet and our bags up in the back as the water floods in and we just had enough speed to make it to the otherwise! we reach the outskirts of Patna, jade messages us saying the motorway is blocked so we thought we'd take a different route going off the motorway and we soon realised we were driving through a slum. the traffic was chaos, tight roads, people everywhere, everyone staring, and no room to manoeuvre. Kenny is cursing, he hits several bikes and nearly run over someone's foot. We finally made it through this dodgy area and found a hotel! no drinking tonight as this was a dry state! :(

Purnea

We left Darjeeling today around noon after fixing up our rickshaws in the morning and buying a new battery after the other one had died from the night before on your crazy ascent to Darjeeling. Windy roads back down the Himalayas and straight onto the motorway to try and make up some time from our lost rest day spent in the Himalayas. Kennie stopped half way as he thought the tyres were flat, turns out the wheel was about to fall off with all 4 nuts ridiculously loose! We filled up our Jerry an at the nearest petrol station only to find out it had a hole in. Superglue time. More night driving.. We never learn. We're nearly at purnea, a good 300km drive today!

Darjeeling

Night driving, Electrical Faults and Leaky Engines

Just leaving Barpetta, Assam. Seem to have a leak from somewhere in the engine.. We have no mechanical experience and skipped the mechanical talk. From our powers of deduction, we guess it is transmission fluid. Looks like a storm is headed our way, time to put our Tarp windows in to actions. Wish us luck!