Leaving that white building for the holy lands

We had 3consecutively great days, from Jaipur to Seeing the magnificent Taj at Agra, to putting up at the 2 beautiful ITC hotels, to being upgraded to suites!! (thank you SPG points, hehe). This smooth run was just too good to be true, and it had to end!

And end it did...hard.

We started our journey with the aim of landing at Allahabad, or Fatehpur if we were short, before pushing on to Varanasi the next day.

Our partner team, the Banana Boys, suffered multiple breakdowns, but nothing too serious in the beginning, as we managed to tow them along and get spare parts at nearby workshops. We were still in good spirits and as we landed at Fatehpur right after sunset, we decided to have some takeaway prata and fresh chai with friendly locals, before deciding to push on to Allahabad as it was also easier to find some accommodation there.

However as the day/night dragged on, and the rickshaws laboured on, the toll on the Canadian boys' rickshaw became more evident. Eventually, it caved over 100km outside of Allahabad, in the middle of nowhere. And so we decided (had to) to tow them and get to Allahabad together. One team one dream!

Boy it was a really challenging night drive. Gone were the fresh evening air of Rajasthan, and along came the polluted UP region air. It was so hazy, it was even noticeable in a moonless night! We have never seen that many trucks in such a short stretch of road. At this point, it was rally mode ON again, as Josh driving, while Nikhil and I tried to navigate and provide extra pairs of eyes at the back. Chad, manoeuvring the towed rickshaw, was not having an easy task too, having to break at a second's notice and closely follow our lead.

At 130am, we finally made it safely to a random hotel, while being chased by some wild dogs in the process!

At this point, I want to just recap the top unstated Indian traffic lessons/conventions, useful for future travellers: - each left and right side of the road means that only MAJORITY of the vehicles will travel in 1 direction. Vehicles could still come at you on the left or right lane, on your side of the road - the first vehicle into the junction, from any direction, has right of passage - the bigger vehicle, always wins, except if you are a cow, cows always win. - honk to say hello, warning I'm coming your way, GTF outta my way, you are too slow B****, or just good morning. Basically honk for any reasons at all. (There is a reason why they paint that behind every truck and bus) - traffic lights are...wait there are traffic lights here? - tolls are optional, even for normal vehicles (yes we saw a SUV rammed through a toll barrier intentionally) - thou shall overtake on left, right, or middle. There is no such thing as an overtaking lanes. Trucks love driving on the right.

Many more lessons, but the above are jus the highlights. We will surely be heeding them as we continue on to the holy lands of Varanasi and Bodhgaya.

Onwards and forward.![Uploading file...]()

Jaipur

Jaipur. Actually got to Jaipur a day ahead of schedule so we decided to stay for 2 days and thought that we should allow other teams that were lagging behind to catch up with us. The Tandoori Thunder is considerate like that.

We def picked the right city to spend an extra day in. Started with Amber fort and made it in time to see the painted elephants go up and down the fort. The Architecture and sheer scale if it was just impressive.

Nahargarh fort was our next stop before heading back into town to see the pink city. (Which we saw a little bit of the night before whilst on the way to another vegetarian indian restaurant). The road up to Nahargarh fort had some nice bends which we had some filming some clips of the rickshaw going up and down.

Back in the pink city we had a more relaxed afternoon in the palace museum and later on in the market we attempted some souvenir shopping.

Next day, on to Agra where we'd join the Canadian Banana boys again.  [gallery] Drag and drop images you wish to upload within these gallery tags. [/gallery]

Day 2: Road to Jaipur

After the epic and exhausting start to our rickshaw run, we were hoping that our day 2 would be much better.

Woke up before the break of dawn to catch the sun rising over the Majestic Mehrangarh Fort, with the Rays beaming onto the blue tinged city of Jodhpur. Made the effort worth the slight lack of sleep. We made a collective decision to pass on the fort in order to spend a full day at Jaipur, and so off we went.

The Banana boys were in good albeit hopeful spirits, and we expanded our crew to include team 007, the duo from the UK.

The challenge started even before we got onto the highway. Navigating and manoeuvring out of the narrow streets of Jodhpur was no easy feat. It's no wonder that we don't see any cars in the old town. After some manual pulling and pushing, with team members literally running ahead to scout and help direct the drivers, we finally made it onto the highway!

We were glad that we started early as the breeze was amazing. However, as in Rajasthan, this did not last long. The sun started bearing down on us as we pushed towards Jaipur, with Ajmer as the fallback plan. Despite us stopping multiple times to rest and hydrate, One of the Banana boys went down with a minor heat stroke, and team 007 had a minor issue of engine overheating.

Still it was very smooth sailing for the most parts...almost too smooth (touch wood) compared to our experience the night before. We managed to make a stop at the Kishangarh Fort and lake. Haven't seen that many huge catfish in one area in my life! One of the highlights of the day was that we saw a McDs drive through and we rightfully drive through for some much missed burgers, nuggets and fries!

We pushed on and managed to get to Jaipur around 6ish. After having another good vegetarian dinner (again) within the pink fort compound, everyone was reasonably exhausted and made our way back to the hotel. The hotel staffs were intrigued by our rickshaw as we tried to be cheeky and valet our baby. Haha. It might not be a Porsche, but it secured a spot in front of the lobby for the night :) perfect end to a good day, with the rickshaw getting the praise it deserves.  

D-Day: Kickoff

Bags on top, music on full volume, pre-kickoff photos taken and of course uploaded to snapchat and Instagram. We were ready (or so we thought). T-2 minutes to kickoff we look back at our Canadian counterparts (The Banana Boys) and soon realized breakdown #2 occurred. Yes, they already had breakdown #1 during practice. But hey, it was probably fixed right? One team one dream! Next stop - Pokhran and finally Jodphur

Kickoff began and teams were all set to go. Rushing passed narrow alleys to get to the highway, we were met with a cow sleeping on the road. Unable to pass by, we pushed, screamed and finally lifted the tail and gave a good spanking before he moved off. The journey continued slowlyy where we finally reached Pokharan after 1-2 minor breakdowns.

Pokharan, we soon learnt, is the Indian Army Nuclear Weapons test site; no wonder there were so many army personnel around! After climbing forts with our rickshaws, eating greasy but delicious local food, we set off soon to realize breakdown #5 took place - this time a flat tire! When things can go wrong, they will go wrong - Murphy never lies. Fortunately 'the mechanic' in the team pulled off an almost formula 1 type pit stop and we were on the road..... for 15 minutes until breakdown #6.

We had gone on ahead only realizing we were missing a rickshaw (they were 20 minutes behind us). But hey, "one team one dream!" - never leave a rickshaw behind. We circled back, towed them (yes, that's allowed) until 'the mechanic' fixed the carburetor.

The next 80 km (80 more remaining until Jodphur) were surprisingly smooth less until dawn fell and night hit us. They warned us not to drive but we had to arrive at Jodphur as Agra only opens on Friday. The night drive was exhilarating but exhausting, and kept us on the edge of our seats. Josh drove with his two co-pilots (almost like a rally!). Justin navigated, and I was trying to warn Josh if there's a vehicle on our side of the road. Everybody was using their high beam which made driving tough!

After running through dirt roads, almost running over a snake, one more breakdown (this time it was their lights), hitting motorcycles on narrow alleys in Jodphur and glaring / angry faces from the locals, we finally arrived after an eventful day. 10:30PM was   the time - 13 hours from our time of departure.... No worries; One Team One Dream![gallery] Drag and drop images you wish to upload within these gallery tags. [/gallery]

1 day before kickoff

Yesterday we finally got the keys to our baby, and she looked just like how Josh designed it! Blue, but dusty in all her glory.

We all took turns to take her for a spin around the Jawahar Niwas Palace. After a couple of crazy spins and stalling engines, I think we finally got used to the lawnmower on wheels. Can't wait to get her on he proper Indian streets!

We then had to go get some spare parts for the car and managed to get an eager rickshaw driver who said we could pay him whatever we wanted and he will bring us anywhere. He brought us to the local markets and shops, helped us procure some parts and even cut some queue for us. He ended his concierge service by dropping us at an unassuming but really tasty kebab shop: Kebab House. Really good, a little pricey relative to local prices but great value. Oh, and we only paid the driver 100 Rs.

We went around the fort in the afternoon and ended up on a rooftop bar with a bunch of really friendly Germans, Canadian and Brazillian. The Banana Boys (Canadians) were part of the group.

Ended our night at quite an epic after party. Something about meeting a bunch of people crazy enough to do the rickshaw run that somehow forms an unspoken camaraderie. They were of different backgrounds and are individually interesting. Nikhil and Josh both ended up on the rooftop, then the pool, so basically high and wet. Somehow, We all managed to get home safely, albeit with an annoying sore throat.

Gonna take it easy today as we get ready for the big flag off tmr.

Honestly can't wait! :)![Uploading file...]()

Just in Jai

Running after trains. Getting on the wrong train. Sleeping and befrending locals on trains. We've covered everything there is to do with trains. (including learning how snapchat works, follow us @ joshuafitton / justin.tjy / nikhil-garg to watch the journey)

So were all Trained up and ready for our 3 wheeled adventure to start. But first, a few beers under the stars, (amongst the mozzies) on the edge of the fort wall in Jai. Here's to an epic 2 weeks on the Tandoori Thunder!

18 hours later

Delhi to Jaisalmer on the 18 hour express train without a laptop, movies or tv shows.... Definitely a first in a long time!

After the early morning scare, we crashed on our beds for a couple of hours for much needed sleep (yes, we decided to spoil ourselves on our first day...). Despite what felt like a long sleep, we still needed to burn another 12 hours before reaching Jasmalmer. Time went by listening to music, trying to reinact scenes of DDLJ (Bollywood film where woman is almost missing train and man manages to catch her arm and make sure she's on),trying to plan our journey to the minute and our thoughts on what to expect for the Rickshaw Run!

By the time we reached we had a pleasant surprise with a free pickup from our hotel - amazing hotel situated in the heart of the fort overlooking the city. We finally got the beers we were waiting for so long and enjoyed them to the last drop despite the constant mosquito bites! Until tomorrow where we finally get to meet our baby (aka Rickshaw)

The Journey begins

And so it begins.

Started by waking up at 4am, trying and failing to get an uber to the train station. Made it there courtesy of Nikhil's Uncle.

We actually ran after a moving train and made it on, only to find out that it was the wrong train!!

Made friends with a very helpful ex-military local guy who was also travelling and helped us navigate back onto the right train.

Now...onwards for another 16 hours till we reach Jaisalmer. This is the lull before the storm.