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Mission accomplished, Nepal and India have been conquered - an amazing trip
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last full day on the road, bit of minor maintenance needed - but a fairly easy day. Stopped to watch the solar eclipse which was incredible. Gained a 5th team for the final 60 km convoy dash to the finish and a well earned G&T, with some congratulatory High 5's thrown in for good measure @
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set of early yesterday for a relatively easy 200 Click slog down along the stunning Keralan coast taking in impressive views of the Backwaters enroute. The aim was to catch up with Rupee or not Rupee and the Branded Bandits - who because of Rickshaw Reliability issues had split from us before Goa and taken a more direct route down - Caught up with them mid afternoon arriving to a chaotic crash scene as moments before the Bandits had been forced off the road and down into a ditch by a moronic coach driver. From his casual attitude we can only assume this wasn't his first Road Traffic accident. The Bandits were shaken up - but not stirred - however their rickshaw was promptly booked in for a night at the welders. All well and cracking on to Thrissur on our second last day - Hoping to be taking in the solar eclipse at Lunchtime today
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Had an interesting ferry crossing yesterday. The bridge into Kerala was down so we drove the rickshaw onto two boats which were lashed together with what looked like tooth picks, straw and no doubt some trusty spit for glue. Countryside just gets better and better the more south we go, the driving of the locals though still remains at a pitiful low quality regardless of where we are! Kerala is much like Scotland as there seems to be a lot of men dressed in skirts. Strange. Driving to Calicut today and hopefully, time permitting, to a game reserve tomorrow morning to see an elusive tiger before our journey comes to an end on Saturday. What a trip! Amazing@
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An amazing drive from Hampi to Palolam beach in Goa yesterday. Countryside looked just like the Uk in summer on long winding roads. Had what could have been a major breakdown issue enroute which looked terminal but a mechanic appeared as if out of nowhere 5 mins after we stopped and 20 mins later he had her purring again like a Bengal tiger. He would't even accept a cash payment until we forced it into his greasy oily hands. Great guy. Now enjoying a nice restful day at the beach, enjoying sea food, sunshine and sea. Tomorrow we get the rickshaw welded back together (she has developed some superficial damage!) and then on to Mangalore. Everything going fantastically well so far and should be in Cochin early morning Saturday, ready for a few well earned beers with the other teams
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A well earned rest for our BBDVTT meant a day of RnR in Hampi walking round temples, feeding Monkey's and Elephants and gazing at Hippie's whilst thinking WTF? An early night as up at dawn for a solid day on average to poor rds to try and make Goa and the Waters' of the Arabian Gulf@
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Another absolute BEAST of a day in the saddle but we have earned ourselves a day off in Hampi, which is beautiful but full of your stereotypical hippies. Arrived at 3am and slept on a roof on a restaurant as they were the only beds around. On the drive down our daily tendancies towards building Anglo-Indian ties were tested and pushed to the edge by the continuous horn-beeping and aggressive overtaking of the locals which meant that our usual icy calm exterior to the 'Indian way of driving' was replaced (after 10 of the 16 hours spent on the road) with that universally known symbol - the bird. That still didn't seem to deter our nemesis though! Very happy to be recharging in Hampi today and then on to Goa tomorrow. All good!@
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A day of highs and lows. Started off early with a 470km journey ahead to Hyderabad and all was going well until midday when the dual carriage way turned in to a demolition derby dusty dirt track complete with lorries and cows. The Branded Bandits team had an exhaust almost fall off so we stopped for an hour of welding work. By 2pm we were off again and making slow progress before a stretch of highway as smooth as a baby's arse presented itself 150kms from our destination. By this time it was 9pm so we were glad for the comfortable ride in. Hydrabad is chaos redefined and not somewhere I want to return to soon! Got very lost but then managed to get a police escort most of the way to our hotel before the BBDVTT broke down. It was 1am before we got it going again and made it to the hotel. All very amusing. Now back in the saddle and heading for Hampi which is meant to be beautiful. Loving India!
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We made it to Nagpur after a day of breakdowns. Snapped throttle cable, spark plug issues and no petrol. Luckily we're all pretty good at fixing the rickshaws now as they are pretty simple machines. Got to the Nagpur train station at 8pm only to find there were no trains to Mumbai or Pune for a few days! Did find a Dominos pizza place though which was a welcome variant to veggie curry for breakfast, lunch and dinner. So now we have to crack on to Hydrabad with a few 16 hour days in the saddle. Still having a fantastic time though and seeing the most amazing scenery and places. Weather is getting much hotter which make early starts easier. Plan is to hit the coast south of Goa and then head for home. Still in convoy with 3 other teams and passing yet more teams each day so we presume we're making good time in the right direction! Looking forward to a swim in the ocean and a beer.
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Made it to Jabalapur after a relatively easy day. No more lorries and a lot of open roads which are a welcome sight. Today we saw 14 people dumping on the side of the road which is a new record low compared to the average of 32 from the previous 3 days. Worked out how to change spark plug and punctured tyre. I say 'learnt' when actually we just threw money at the problem. Everyone seems very willing to help when they see 2 white faces looking quizzically at a broken rickshaw on the side of the road! Now sitting back in a 5* hotel (but something tells it won't make it into the next issue of Conde Naste) with the 6 teams we've met up with watching the cricket. Plan is to hightail it to Nagpur tomorrow and then put the rickshaw on a train to Mumbai for a big night out before heading down the coast to Goa. Loving the trip so far and having some funny experiences. Oh, and we made the local paper!
Oliver Smith
Load Oliver
Matthew Burke
Load Matthew
<p><font size="2">Forged from solid English Oak and proudly representing her Majesty's last great colony Hong Kong, Matt and Olly will be driving/pushing their little beaut of a Tiger-striped Rickshaw from Pokhara in Nepal to Cochin in India, taking in the delights of Varanassi, Agra, Jodhpur, Jaipur, Udaipur, Mumbai, Goa and Kerala as they go...</font></p>