The End.
We've done it - we have crossed the finish line and our journey is over! The Rickshaw Run is finished. A bittersweet moment, as we have now handed back the keys to our glorious machine and it is no longer ours. As well as driving it over 4,000km the entire length of India and raising around $1,500 for charity, I also got to fulfill my dream of taking it through a McDonalds drive-thru! We still have tonight's party to look forward to also. It's on some island off the coast of Cochin, a location I can only assume has been selected for its ability to contain the carnage, and possibly prevent Nathan from somehow being carted off to hospital again. It's been a hell of a trip...hopefully I'll be back for another run one day!
Here's a few numbers for those playing at home...
4,200 Kilometers traveled
£743 Raised for charity
16 Days
8 States
3 Guys
1 Rickshaw
0 Sense
Uncountable: Chai's drank, Cold showers, Potholes, Near accidents in traffic, Open mouthed stares, Potholes, Inside lane overtakes, Photos with Indians, Potholes, Goats we nearly turned into roadkill, Indians shitting on the side of the road, and did I mention Potholes?
Bus drivers we have wished a fiery death in hell: All of them, inclusive of ones not met or encountered on the road.![Uploading file...]()![Uploading file...]()![Uploading file...]()
Nearly there!
Apologies for the lack of updates the last couple of days - we've been busy and the Internet is shit here!
After a day off in Pondicherry, we've spent the last couple of days inland amongst the spectacular western ghats. We even spotted a wild elephant! We're in Ooty right now, where we stayed for free in the best room we've had all trip for free after meeting the hotel owner in a tiger reserve earlier yesterday.
Today we're heading for Munnar, supposedly a nice township of tea plantations up one of the ghats, which will put us a mere 100km directly east of the finishing line to make for an easy day tomorrow.
![Uploading file...]()![Uploading file...]()![Uploading file...]()For all my pictures (they don't seem to upload properly here) visit my Facebook using the name "Simon Woonton".
Yeah, nah...
The full day off to explore Pondy has been great for all of us, and as we were looking for somewhere to have dinner our friends the Squadron Leaders found us in the street! They've caught up after blowing a hole in their piston, getting it fixed, blowing it up again due to their mechanic forgetting to put a head gasket on (?!), and getting it fixed again.
After the boys found a place to stay (no easy feat being Independence Day) and we'd had some shit steaks at the only place open before 7pm, we got our stash of fireworks and went for a walk. We found a seemingly abandoned building with a tower on the foreshore, climbed to the top dodging the giant holes in each floor, and let off a few bottle rockets. We heard yelling down below so climbed back down to find two police officers. After asking for our passports (back at the hotel, sir) and our hotel name (can't remember it, sir) they said they wanted us to come to the station. We literally said "yeah, nah" and walked back out the gap in the wall we entered from, zero fucks given!
They didn't follow us, so we continued our fun and set the rest off on the rocky foreshore. The big one was a LOT bigger than we were expecting, going off like a mortar and exploding in a brilliant big green burst. We want more of those.
Beef
We've just arrived in Pondicherry and had a look at the menue for the restaurant in our guesthouse. There's beef, served all kinds of ways! I can't wait to get some of that sweet juicy dead cow into my mouth!
Bottle rockets and Maharaja Macs
So it turns out that in Chennai, $30 AUD gets you a shit tonne of fireworks! Can't wait to set off the big rockets on Independence Day in Pondicherry on the 15th!![Uploading file...]()![Uploading file...]() Also, we found a Maccas! The chicken Maharaja Mac meal goes alright too.
Mornings in India
Rickshaw Run sit rep - day 8
After losing our fellow runners "Squadron Leaders" to a breakdown last night, we had another kilometer smashing day - just over 400 to be precise, landing us in Vijayawada for the night. Following the live tracking map and the Whattsapp group, we've got a feeling we're further south than any other team right now.
Managing that distance in a Rickshaw also involves an early morning start. This is ok though, as we've all come to quite enjoy the early mornings. There's less insane Indians on the road trying to pilot their scooters, motorbikes, cars, trucks, and busses (busses are the WORST!). This then means there is more road to avoid street dogs (who normally move), cows (who never move) and goats (who are fucking suicidal and move in front of the Traffic!). The whole place is just a lot calmer in the mornings - it seems even India can't keep up its reputable level of insanity 24 hours a day.
It all turns to shit again around 9am, by which time we've already got over 100km under our belt and are ready to stop for some breakfast. With the exception of Indians having their morning shit on the side of the road, mornings in India are great!
I'll leave you with a pic of the squadron leaders I took during a heavy storm just before they broke down yesterday.![Uploading file...]()
Smashing the gas
Rickshaw Run sit rep - day 7
Due to having a good run so far, we decided to treat ourselves yesterday. Staying in a beach resort at Chandipur with another team, we set our alarms forward to 7:30, had a sleep in, continental breakfast, dropped our Rickshaws off at a mechanic to be serviced and went to the beach! Managed to get the Rickshaws out of the service center at about 3pm (this was a challenge, involving much head wobbling), hit the road and still managed about 200km for the day. Sweet.
Since the first place we found in Cuttack was an absolute shithole (but only 400 rupees!) we set our alarms back to 4:30am and got the hell out of there super early this morning. Mostly highway cruising today to keep our km's up so we get a day or two off in Pondicherry. 30km out of our goal town the other teams Rick broke down during a massive monsoonal storm. We pushed it under the verandah of a Chai shop, ordered some chai and played some cards while they tried to fix it to no avail. We were forced to leave them behind so we could find accommodation before nightfall.
We're in quite a nice little beachfront apartment in Visakhapatnam tonight, now in our 5th state of Andhra Pradesh, watching the massive thunder/lightning storm over the ocean. Life in India is pretty good right now :) ![Uploading file...]()![Uploading file...]()![Uploading file...]()![Uploading file...]()
To the beach!
Rickshaw Run sit rep - day 5
After staying in a rather posh hotel in Durgapur last night (for about $20 each!) after our morning breakdown, we've chewed through a few more km's and made it to the coast a day earlier than expected!
We're at Chandipur tonight, on the Bay of Bengal. We're now south of Bangladesh and no longer in West Bengal but in our fourth state of Odisha. We plan on following the coast right down to Pondicherry where we may have a full day off if we can keep this pace!
The Mystery Machine
The Mystery Machine has found another clue as to what the hell might have happened at the launch party.
We're still piecing things together, but it seems Scooby, who was smart enough to give officials a fake name, may be wanted by the police in Shillong.
Too bad we're now three states away in West Bengal and heading south down the west border of Bangladesh towards the Ganges!
Hospital break out
Launch day!
Because the only thing funnier than 83 teams of white people leaving the compound for the first time in rickshaws, is having them do it while hungover or possibly still drunk, there was a big launch party last night. This involved lots of beer and loads of shit dancing.
It also involved us losing Scooby Doo. He returned to our hotel at 6am, after waking up in Shillong General Hospital at around 5am, finding his way into an outside courtyard, climbing over a wall due to the gate being locked, and catching a taxi back, stumbling through the door at 6am stating that he'd just escaped hospital and had shit himself. All while in a Scooby Doo onesie.
And the run hasn't even started yet...
