Kochi, Kerala, India

Day 17 Kochi Well rested and fed after a full day of relax we easily drove to the finish line where we signed up our name in the arrival board. Mixed feeling when we had to give up our rickshaws. Those uncomfortable traps broke down continuously, didn’t repair us from the monsoon and forced us to stop in the ugliest places of India. That said they also carried us for more than 4000km withstanding our sporty driving style even in the bumpiest road! What’s the perfect finale for a travel like this? A crazy party on a random island where: - A monsoon storms during the night and floods the place with ankle-level water - People starts dancing in the rain and fight in the mud - Two people went for a “swim” across the huge river while the monsoon was storming (and they made it to other side)

Kochi, Kerala, India

Day 16 Palakkad – Kochi (150km) We made it! We finally got to Kochi in a triumphal parade. Actually in the 150 kilometers that we had to cover we were able to lose the sparkle and get a flat tire but the brave Howler Monkeys team did not give up and reached its objective in the late morning. We postponed the official arrival at the finish line for the following day and lazily relaxed by the pool in the fancy Old Harbour Hotel.

Palakkad, Kerala, India

Day 15 Bangalore – Palakkad (510km) Still not satisfied with our unreasonable objectives we wanted to cover 550 kilometers today and get directly to the finish line in Kochi (if you are wondering it yes, we wanted to get done with the run and relax!). To be fair we didn’t even try hard to reach our objective: we got up late in our nice room in the Ramada Hotel of Bangalore, had a nice, extensive breakfast, and started a chilled driving session after 8am. We gave up our dream at midnight when the road became little more than a mountain trail and we were still 150 km away from Kochi. We thus settled in a random hotel in the middle of nowhere that looked exactly like those in the horror movies and got rested for next day arrival (hopefully!).

Bangalore, Karnataka, India

Day 14 Hoskote – Bangalore (55km) We woke up at 7am in an apocalyptic setting: dirty, tired, in a petrol station and with a Tuk Tuk mysteriously dead. We immediately activated all people in the petrol station to find a mechanic as we enjoyed a rich breakfast made of water, bananas and leftover cookies from the previous day. We figured that the Tuk1 had electrical issues but we were not sure that the mechanic would be able fix it. At this point we seriously considered the “T” option. Transporting it with a Truck. Tuk 1 had been breaking down more than daily. What to do? Fix it again? Transport it directly to the finish line? As much as we didn't like the idea we agreed that if the mechanic was not able to fix it by the end of the afternoon we would shamefully truck the Tuk Tuks to the finish line in Kochi, distant some 500 kilometers away... As in every drama movie however our unreliable but proud Tuk 1 got fixed just before the time limit we set ourselves! Sceptics but hopeful we made our way to Bangalore that night were we finally enjoyed a nice hotel, hot shower and a proper dinner.

Hoskote, Karnataka, India

Day 13 Ongole – Hoskote (490km) The objective for the day was simple and clear, cover the humongous 530 kilometers separating us from Bangalore so to have more time to spend in Kerala. It obviously didn't go this way. The day passed by almost too easily as we drove through the Indian highways and we "rapidly" (45 km/h) approached Bangalore. Things turned bad very quickly however when, while driving at night, Tuk 1 suddenly stopped with no chance to restart it. We were 50 km short of Bangalore, one vehicle was not working and we were under the monsoon. Far from our fancy hotel in Bangalore we didn't find any accommodation there and the four of us slept on the office desk of a petrol station where we sheltered from the monsoon (seriously).

Ongole, Andhra Pradesh, India

Day 12 Rajahmundry – Ongole (300km) Early wake up today with the objective to go as far south as possible to get to what a stoned Indian biker defined as the "sexy roads" of Kerala. We however fell short of our objective as we stopped in the city of Vijayawada for a full service of our tuk tuks which are slowly, but inexorably, losing parts. We thus spent the days chilling with the mechanics, eating with them and spending some quality time on the lawn reading instead of crunching kilometers. We left the repair centre late in the afternoon only to find out that basically no problem had been solved and we were half a day behind plan. Oh well...

Rajahmundry, Andhra Pradesh, India

Day 11 Srikakulam – Rajahmundry (300km) Like survivors after a disaster we approached this new day of driving with hope in our eyes, but fear in our hearts waiting for the next mess. In spite of our worries the day passed incredibly smooth. We reached our target city before sunset, for once, and we were able to negotiate the rate for a luxury hotel and thus we even enjoyed a quick deep in the rooftop pool. Some deserved relaxed for the Howler Monkeys!

Srikakulam, Andhra Pradesh, India

Day 10 Puri – Srikakulam (330km) One of the toughest day ever! We left Puri quite late (07.00 am) and started drive south. The morning was nice with wonderful roads passing through rice fields decorated by lotuses. Unfortunately that was the calmness before the perfect storm. Tuk1 started with its never ending issues, with the engine chocking and forcing us to stop every few meters. We had to tow it with Tuk2 to several mechanics with few ideas but confused. We found our way out driving even slower than average. Angry Shiva, which clearly cursed, our vehicle, broke our exhaust, so we had to look in the middle of the night for a welder which randomly put patches of steel, turning our exhaust into a modern art sculpture. We then stubbornly aimed our target city were however all the hotels were fully booked, due to Independence Day and wedding peak season, ending up in a sketchy hotel with people sleeping in the hallways…

Puri, Odisha, India

Day 8 Calcutta - Puri (500 km!!)

Left Calcutta early morning to no avail as the Tuk1 kept breaking forcing us to continued stops along the road. We caught up by driving till 3 am. the first hotels in Puri rejected us based on a purported 'fully-booked-high-season' lack of rooms, which was a mere disguise for lazy night-shift hoteliers.

Day 9 Puri

Took the day off to visit the Sun Temple and for a stroll on the beach (quite a shabby beach). The owner of the restaurant suggested a shortcut in the road for the forthcoming days. We will be hitting the road again in a few hours to test, at our own risk, his heads-up.

Kolkata, West Bengal, India

Day 6 Raiganj - Kolkata (450km!!) Day started with no breakfast but heavy arguing with the hotel owner for the tremendous amount 600rs (about 8 euros). After threatening a police call they closed hotel gates to block our tuks in! As always in India we met halfway on the price.

Planning our way with an average speed of 35km/h we found ourselves stuck in indian reality full of bumpy roads, traffic jams and random people/animals on the street, with the actual speed of a Gandhian walk.

Realizing at the sunset that we were incredibly behind plan we stubbornly went for the drive of our life: 300km at night to get to Calcutta. Major highlights of this infinite drive were: - Shiva Carnival in random Indian villages with loud street music and several drunkards - A super-cool truck driver that fixed our Tuk just before engine take off (while being surronded by drunkards wanting to take us for drinks) - Two floods, and in one we were escorted around it by the police - Run out of fuel on the highway and pushed the Tuk for a few km... - Rallied through Calcutta roads at 5am and went wrong way in its highways - Entered the 5-star Swiss Hotel at sunrise with our tuks, sweaty, dirty and trying to bargain the price down to something reasonable, failing miserably.

Day 7 - Calcutta First day without driving... Except for stopping a Tuk Tuk driver in the morning which took us to his loyal mechanic in a poor neighborhood of Calcutta (clutch fixed!).

We then spent the afternoon walking around downtown, trying to corrupt taxi drivers which were on strike to take us around. The first time they took us to a wrong, and nearer temple, while the second time they directly bounced us.

Ended the day as the worst Italian tourist: eating pizza in an italian restaurant (not bad by the way!)