Traffic..

Traffic I remember sitting in the minibus after arriving in Dehli staring out the window in utter disbeleif at the complete cluster-fuck of chaotic traffic, wondering - how on earth we would ever survive in these road conditions! Two weeks later - I had never been so calm about driving around in rush hour traffic, tooting my horn merrily as I overtake a tractor and motorbike, narrowly squeezing past the oncoming bus or lorry with inches to spare. I have grown to love the simplicity that lies within the chaos of Indian roads; there are few rules, there is a hierarchy to adhere to so that you don’t die, but beyond that you are free to do what you like. There are often people driving on the hard shoulder towards you - from a cyclist to a truck, people will overtake you only to stop in front of you a few metres later. Traffic lights are an utter free-4-all, overtaking does not have to happen one at a time, sometimes four vehicles will simultaneously overtake each other. And most surprisingly of all - no-one is getting angry; everyone just gets on with it. The term ‘cutting someone up’ doesn’t exist in Indian culture, you have simply acted first. There is no need to check your blind spots, you simply honk and manoeuvre and hope the person behind reacts accordingly.

At the top of this hierarchy lie COWS. Cows, standing in the middle of a state highway, basically not giving a fuck. I found it was best to aim for their butts as I rarely saw cows moving backwards. Next and for completely different reasons comes buses…. maniacal , insane, high-speed buses! Buses would overtake a car that was overtaking a rickshaw, going uphill on a blind corner without thinking twice; scary when you are in a tin can on wheels.

When it comes to cars, rickshaws and bikes - there becomes somewhat of a rock, paper scissors affair. Cars beat rickshaws and bikes in size, so gain right of way. However motorbikes beat cars and rickshaws on maneuverability, so can squeeze into all the gaps and so gain advantage in slow, busy traffic and can go around most speed bumps. And much to my delight rickshaws lie in a nice middle-ground of having a bit of both and if you are ballsy enough you can usually stop a car from claiming its right of way…!

Beyond these are your stray dogs, goats, people, cyclists and general debris. Road users don’t care much for these.

Gave up on blogging - time to summarise!!

So - I’m back. I’m in one piece and I have too much to ever tell any one person about my adventure.

Four days in, I was still attempting to find the time to complete a blog from the first day. Too much to explain too little time, and with Wi-Fi accessibility coming but once every few evenings I eventually gave up trying. Instead I plan to create a summary blog, encapsulating the whole experience via different topics without including every which detail.

These topics will include, traffic, breakdowns, people, culture and other such topics. Enjoy

BREAKDOWNS!

BREAKDOWNS

It was clear from the outset that our Rickshaw, aptly named "Tiny Rick" - was considerably less powerful than our counterparts little machine named "Gerty". However, it was not Tiny Rick that struck the first problem. About 200km of the 260km journey to Jodhpur, Gerty gave up completely. Now beyond the three obvious problems: Air and Compression; Fuel; and Ignition - we were going to be at a loss to fix any deeper problems than these. So when Gertys clutch went on the first day, it was safe to say we were going to need som assistance. However since it was Sunday at about 17.30pm, we would need to make our way to Jodhpur regardless to get it fixed. This meant it was down to Tiny Rick and his crew to tow Gerty the remainder of the way to Jodhpur. NOT easy. More on Night time driving later.

After her first fix, Gerty caused very little trouble for the rest of the trip. YAWN! Boring. Tiny Rick however... lets just say he had "some" issues.

On our trip between Jhabua and Dhule, our ricks clocked up quite a few offroad miles as well as about 100km of highways. This, you are thinking must have been kind to our little rickshaws compared to offroading. This would be the case - were it not for the infinite amount of speed bumps varying from the single bumps to the terrifying six no. bumps. Needless to say a few Km from our intended place of rest - Tiny Rick's entire engine mount sheared! We nursed him to accommodation in the dark (again) held together by wire and cable ties. The engine mount was replaced in the morning then we were back on our way.

Following his second visit to the mechanic after a catastrophic engine failure (and being pushed up a hill by the mechanics foot whilst driving the other rickshaw) Tiny Rick came out with a new exhaust silencer, new dampers, a complete top up of gearbox oil, lots of grease and his accelerator cable re-jigged.

By the time we made it to Ahmednagar we knew Tiny Rick couldn't survive much longer without a trip to the mechanics and that Goa was still some 750km away. So we took the decision to stick the tuks on the back of some trucks and skip a potentially quite dull part of the journey. Upon arrival in Goa we found ourselves our third and final mechanics of the trip. To where we would return 3 times! At first the gearbox seal was resealed following quite a blatent leak etc etc long story short it turns out that most of Tiny Rick's problems were stemming from a tiny bit of fluff in one of the carburetor's jets. On the third revisit to this mechanics after a failed early start we final had the problem solved.

Day minus two...

So. The clan arrived in Jaisalmer finally today, having left the UK on Wednesday morning. Tired and battered from the two flights totally 17hours we took a tour of Delhi taking in some of the main sights and then boarded the overnight train. Easier said than done. The train arrived on a different platform than expected but through many misguided helps from the locals managed to board without too many problems, just jet lag and a further 18 hours visa train to endure. We were in a relatively high class carriage, but still only two squat toilets with the moving track visible available - we finally made it to jaisalmer's 41℃ temperatures. Short stop for lunch before heading down to the palace to meet our rickshaw! She is a beaut - couldn't have asked more of the decorators. Once I work out how to add pictures to this blog, they will be added! Short demo on how to fix the retched things then into the pool and to enjoy our first kingfisher and indeed our first beer since touching down in India. Shortly followed by our launch party and some more time in the pool... in the dark - still warmer than a British summer! Not many stories to add today other than my rather hairy ride on the back of a bike into jaisalmer fort and lots of cows and dogs and camels just chilling wherever they fancy. Next update after test driving tomorrow! Much love, 'Korma's a Bitch. (Adam)

Day minus one - preparations

Day Minus One: We spent most of the day visiting the markets for rickshaw essentials, such as engine oil, spark plugs, cables and decorations. We also got a bit of time to test drive the rickshaw that will be hereby known as Tiny Rick! Last bits of planning on the roof of our hotel in Jaisalmer fort, then an early night.