Day 6 - Agra

Just had the last 24 hours in Agra. A little town in indian terms, around 1.8 million. Visited the Taj Mahal at 6 am in time to witness the rising of the sun- beautiful. The Taj is an awesome site easily justifying it's 20 million visitors a year. The Taj was built in 1652 by an emperor as a palace to honor one of his 3 wives. She had given him 14 children so probably well deserved.  It took 20 thousand men 22 years to build. She unfortunately died before it was finished so it became her resting place. Both Dave and Carwyn are down with the bot, not sure what from as it could be from any one of a dozen thing we have eaten. The days of safe farts are long gone. We head for Varanasi this morning, we are behind our time line so need to play catch up if we intend to make the finish.

Day 4

Reached Delhi wasn't really looking forward to the big city, was mentally preparing ourselves for the over crowed beast that is Delhi with all the spoils of a city with 13 million people in it. We booked a hotel in New Delhi and on entering the large gates outside we were welcomed with armed guides and a thorough inspection for explosives. I guess we are looking a little suss at the moment personal hygiene has slipped a little on the priority list. We made it thru the gates to to have our baggage put thru a scanner. Not the most welcoming feeling but felt secure once we were in. Went straight from the hotel, which turned out to be quite nice but we felt we deserved it from our bumpy ride, down to the Hazrat Nizam'ud'din dargah which is an amazing site. We where dropped off by one of the locals just on dark and instructed to continue down a long dark ally filled on both sides hustling indians. You could literally taste the atmosphere. The smells and chatter where intense and we could not help feel a little intimidated. After we made it past the initial few meters and our initial few nerves it was quite possibly one of the best experiences we have had in india. After weaving our way thru a labyrinth of tight alley ways we found ourselves witnessing a Sufi mass prayer where they conclude by breaking out into song. Quite an amazing site.We meet an Aussie dude who has lived in India for 16 years as a doctor helping control HIV. He took us out to a super local street "restaurant" to experience the local grub. Not something we have had the confidence to do. Food and company was great, even the cockroaches added to the whole experience.I could go on about Delhi it has been great. The poverty in India is hard to believe and even harder to except. None of us have got our heads around it yet, but It is so in your face you have no choice but to deal with it. Anyway next stop Agra and the Taj Mahal. Again thanks to all our sponsors, ourselves and True Colors really appreciate it.P.S Missing our Families Dave, Jason and Carwyn 

Day 3

 

We had our longest drive so far yesterday covering 340km average sped around 40 km/ph.  We only made a quick stop at a fruit stall for lunch buying a bunch of bananas and some nice mangos to eat on the run. We passed a lot of very poor villages along the way and the day dodging wondering cows crossing the road or just standing in the middle looking like they were in some sort of trance. We spent the night in Vacara a little beach town about 40km out of Panaji, Goa's capital city. It was a late night as we sat in the beach bar talking to some travelers over a bottle of Vodka. 

Day 2

 

 

We left Kozhikode at 9am and arrived in Mangalore in the state of Karnataka at 6pm we have covered a staggering 233km today.  The rickshaw is starting to purr like a kitten as we head up the coast towards Goa we can now push a top speed of 50 km/h with the wind behind us (which there has been plenty of in the back seat of the Shaw) We found a great spot for lunch and have parked up at a beach for the night.

Pimp My Ride


Today we got to work on pimping out our ride. After months of planing we finally got to work on our rickshaw and we think she's a winner. so after a hard morning at the office we were off for some last minute R&R by the pool and then down to the parade ground for a spot of cricket with the locals...we lost.!  Tonight is the big farewell party on the island.