Day 10 of Rickshaw Run

Today was our first biggest hit of Delhi Belly that we'd had in our group. I'd been up all night sick and had about an hours sleep under my belt. After smashing down some pills to hopefully fix the job, we were on the road by 7:30-8 with the hope for a big day of driving. After about an hour or two of highway driving and projectile vomiting out of the side of the rickshaw we stopped for some lunch at a roadside place. After lunch we set off with the hope of reaching a city called Vadodara. After an hour or two of driving, we stopped at a lakeside and went down some pretty dodgy roads, definitely not made for the machine that we were in. When we got to the end of the road, we were quickly greeted by an English team, Tukkin Hell, and stopped for a chat and took in the view: 

When we were ready we got back on the road and headed for our target city Vadodara. When we got there, after a bit of hotel troubles, we finally found a room and headed to dinner. As we were having dinner, there was heaps of fireworks going off on a rooftop across the road. So after dinner we went and had a look at what was going on. We were then spotted by some of the guys on the rooftop and they told us to come upstairs. After a few skeptical looking staircases, we came out at one of the most unreal parties we'd been at. Traditional Indian music was being pumped out of the speakers the size of a small house, and all of the men and boys were in the middle dancing and singing and having a great time, all in there fancy clothes and what not. We were then immediately pulled into the middle of the dancefloor and practically forced to dance with them, all while we were still filthy from the day we'd just had. We were once again being treated like celebrities, with everyone wanting to dance with us and everyone wanting photo's with us. 

With still no idea what was going on, we were pulled aside by a few older looking men who offered for us to have some black market whisky with them. As it was a dry state, this was a massive deal for them and a massive risk for everyone involved. So naturally we said thank you very much and had a few drinks with them, and they explained to us that this enormous party with all the fireworks and everything was all for a 4 year olds birthday party: 

We then headed back to the dancefloor with the older guys and had a few more songs before we called it a night and headed home, after another hundred odd photos with seemingly every phone at the party. It was a hilarious experience to say at the least.

Day 9 of Rickshaw Run

We set of from our classy hotel after a bit of a sleep in with the idea of going to a place called Ellura Caves, which is a massive naturally made cave that we'd heard about from heaps of the other groups. When we first left, it was about 10 minutes into the trip that Oscar realised there was something wrong with our trusty steed, which until this point had looked after us well enough to get by without too much stress. After a bit of a push up the road we stopped off at a petrol station and had a better look at what was going on, as we stopped however we were swarmed by the locals trying to help us out and get the thing going again, only problem being that they had no idea what they were actually doing. So we pushed on out of the city to get away from all of our friendly helpers towards the caves so we could have a proper look at it ourselves. We then stopped off at a place we saw that was a pretty insane looking Quad Bike race track, only problem being there was only a 7 or 8 year old kid sitting there minding the whole place. So I went to talk to him to see whether we could actually have a go on the track, while Vardon and Oscar dug into the Carbourater in a hope that that was the issue. When the little kid got back from running to go and get someone, he returned with two older men, neither of who spoke English, nor could they understand my translation app. So he eventually called one of his mates that spoke some form of broken English to translate over the phone for us and we were finally on the same page for hiring the quad bikes. For a little under $15 for 20 minutes, we were more than happy to be patient with the language barrier. While Oscar and Vardon were putting the Carburetor back together, I was keeping the now small crowd of Indians busy with my phone and the pictures of the trip so far and showed them the south of India and how different it was to where they lived. The quad bikes then eventually arrived and we got going on the dirt track until our lungs couldn't take any more dust and grit. When we stopped, we noticed a large crowd of about 50 Indians all standing and watching us go around this dirt track, seemingly aimlessly to them. This is just as we were starting our second 10 minute run. 

We then headed off again aiming for the caves that we originally planned to reach at the start of the day. When we got there, we stopped for lunch and had a chat to two of the other teams that were there having a look as well, both from the Netherlands. After lunch we made the disappointing call to ditch the caves and try to make up as much ground as possible before the sunset. We then headed towards the town of Malegaon, about an hour south of the major city Dhule. Once we arrived, absolutely filthy from the quad biking and just the day in general, we were more than happy to see two other Rickshaws at the hotel that we had booked a earlier. We then went up to our room, dumped the bags and headed to the restraunt down stairs where we were met by the two teams, a mix of English and an Aussie. We then all had dinner and some illegally strong beers for the state and then called it a night and headed to bed, for another big day of driving.

Day 8 of Rickshaw Run

Today started off rough. We pushed ourselves to get up for a morning to be on the road at Sunrise. When we went down to reception to pay for the room and be on our way, there's no other way to describe it as world war III broke out. We were being accused of not paying for our dinner last night. After almost an hour of back and forth arguing, watching the CCTV tapes over and over, and the threat of calling the police being thrown around we called it quits and threw the money we actually owed them onto the desk and stormed out. We got into the rickshaw and floored it as much as a 145cc engine could handle, to be chased out of the complex by a guard dog barking at as like a demon. And just like that it was over with many curses and the blood pumping nice and quickly. We then pulled up for some relaxing and amazing chai tea that set us all up for a calm breakfast. Oscar and then gave the 'squat toilets' their first run for their money. We then set sail on the second 350km day in a row, with several chai and snack stops in between. We then arrived at our hotel in Aurangabad, a 4.5 star resort that was absolute luxury, with our first non wooden plank bed in 3 nights. We then had a dinner made for kings and headed to bed with hopes for another big day of driving tomorrow. Not really any photos from today do here's an artsy shot of Oscar;


Day 7 of the Rickshaw Run

Today we headed of nice and early from our little wildlife sanctuary home with next to no sleep, due to the mattresses that India keeps providing with all it's grace... Once we left we immediately took a wrong turn and headed in the wrong direction. This was also the first time we had actually felt cold on the entire trip, due to being in a forest and quite far inland and it also being 7am with no doors and windows. We eventually found our way again and then made our way north on hoping to be a massive catch up day.

After several hours of driving and a few cities we'd passed through, we arrived in a relatively large city. As we were leaving it, about to get onto the main road, two glistening familiar signs came into sight. The golden arches, and Captain Collelan Sanders were looking at us with halos around them. So then we were at a split roads as to which one to go to, so we parked in the Maccas carpark and headed towards KFC, only to be yelled at by the maccas Security saying that we had to go into Mecca's. So naturally, Oscar and Vardon ran to KFC where I was left with having to go to Maccas, both of which were quite disappointing. So of course, we went through the Maccas drive though, just for a laugh (and for you dad).

We then left the city and found ourselves on an open highway, the first one in 7 days. We were on it for about 150km, or 3-4 hours in Rickshaw talk. As we were crossing a state border, we were pulled over by police which was our first run in with the law. We immediately started thinking that this was it and we were destined for the next 4 days in Jail. Much to our surprise though, they just wanted photos and a bit of a chat. This is us with them all 

We then headed on and saw another group and asked where they were staying. They said they were in a city called Satara, about 100km south of the major city Pune, so we headed there and found the nearest and cheapest hotel we could, which turned out to be not the best idea...

Day 6 of the Rickshaw Run

Today was a slow starting day after the party last night. We got up at 10 and went for breakfast, then to go and look for Oscars thongs that he lost on the walk home last night, after too many apple juices. After about half an hour of looking, we found them half way up and it spring Oscars mind that he had tried to climb up a cliff last night to get home.

Once everything was found, we went for a quick swim and then packed up our gear and headed north with still no proper plan. After about an hour of driving we stopped for some lunch and decided to head to a nearby wildlife sanctuary that we found on a map. Once we started to drive again though we realised 'the beast' wasn't driving right and diagnosed it with a clutch issue. Once we reached the peak of the hill and the reception of the sanctuary we declared our trusty steed officially broken down for the first time, which was exciting that we'd made it in about 8 days of driving before the first issue.

But seeing as we were in the middle of no where with no reception or internet we looked for with no working Rickshaw and only about an hour left of sunset, we needed a place to stay. We then asked the guys at reception if they had anywhere we could sleep and luckily enough there was a room for rent in the wildlife sanctuary, however if we wanted dinner, we needed to have it now, which was about 4:30-5pm because the chef wanted to go home. So we did that and headed toward the restraunt. On the way we walked past an elephant and many many monkeys. 

When we sat down for dinner a few of the monkeys outside sat and watched us eat. Then when we were done, the cook then through our leftovers out to the wildlife where there were dears and thousands of monkeys fighting over it all. We then headed back to the rickshaw to see if we could patch it up. After a bit of fiddling with the clutch we got it somewhat up and running again. We then headed into the wildlife sanctuary to catch the last 10 minutes of sunlight. We then found a tower overlooking a  crocodile pit that we sat at and watched for a while. The photo below is of a crocodile that we found in the pitch blank, it's reflecting the flash from it's eyes: 

We then headed back to the room to look at the map and call it a night.

Day 5 of the Rickshaw Run

Today was our first day of non driving and chilling out we've had for the whole trip. This was because we'd arrived in the pit-stop party town of Palolem Beach a day early. Palolem beach was a massive tourist hot spot for Russian and Europeans looking for a cheap place similar to Vanuatu or Fiji. It is a massive beach that is surrounded by palm trees and markets along the sand, as well as people hiring out kayaks or boat rides. 

We started off by heading for a walk into town where Oscar and Vardon got themselves shaves and haircut's, and accidentally scoring themselves 30 minute face massages. 

We then just walked around, had a few beers, had some lunch and had a swim here and there on this amazing beach. A little later in the arvo Vardon and Nic decided to go for a Kayak around the headlands to see a few of the secluded area's away from the tourists. When we headed off, we found a little wave break a few beaches over where we spent the next half hour catching waves on the kayaks and watching the sun slowly setting over the ocean. When it got to about 5 we made the call to head back to sure and get ready for the party that night. When we were getting ready, we ended up sitting and having some beers at our hotel and watch the sunset. When we were all ready, we headed to the party which was another wild night. We had no plans as to what to do tomorrow

Day 4 of the Rickshaw Run

Today we set sail from the place we were staying in, in Murudeshwar with our goal of reaching Palolem Beach, in the next northern state, Goa. As we left we took our final photos and what not of the temple and the statue. The day was relatively uneventful in regards of the driving, however as soon as we passed through the border of we immediately noticed the sudden increase in alcohol advertisement and realised that Goa was finally a non-dry state We stopped at possible the most incredible beach any of us had ever seen. It was caled Palem beach for anyone who ever wanted to visit. It was completely untouched other than the bamboo huts and bar with all the local monkeys jumping around all of the palm tree's hanging over the beach. We spent an hour or two there and had a swim and a few beers before heading to our final stop, Palolem beach. This is a photo of Palem Beach and the bar/restaurant: 

Day 3 of the Rickshaw Run

Sorry for the late blog, was a little preoccupied.

We started off the day leaving our tiny little apartment room that we managed to convince the owners to allow 5 rickshaw runners to stay in. After that we headed off on our trek towards a final destination of Murudeshwar, an amazing town with an incredible temple, statue and Beach.

After a stop or two here or there for some traditional clothes and to 'help' some rickshaw runners in need, we decided to look for a nice place for a more permanent stop for a while. We landed on a beach a few kilometers from the main road we were driving on. When we turned off the main road we found ourselves in some beautiful farmlands that we took it slow over to take it all in. This is a bridge that we stopped on for a little while: 

Once we found a tiny little driveway to bushbash down, we found our way to the beach and immediately got bogged, so stopped for a walk around and to cool the engine and swap drivers: 

We then set our sights on Murudeshwar with a few hours of daylight left. When we got there, we quickly found a resort place to stay and ran down to the beach to have a quick dip before heading to the temple to watch the sunset.

When we for up there, we immediately became celebrities with a English class and their lecturers. After about 5 minutes of warming them up and convincing them that we didn't have actually didn't have wives, even though we were an extremely old 20, Vardon was being proposed to, whilst Nic and Oscar were being forced to dance to some of their native music. All of this was going on when the most incredible sunset was happening. 


When we got over being the new Brad Pitt, George Clooney and David Beckham, we headed down to the hotel for dinner to be greeted by about 10 other Rickshaw Runners where we had dinner and a few bests before calling it a night.

Tomorrow we set our sights on the pit stop town in Goa where the party will be held on the 5th

Day 2 of the Rickshaw Run

Second day of the Rickshaw Run today. Amazing day today. We started quite late again today with a 10am start. We left where we were staying in Calicut after a few sneaky vomits to clear out the tank before we headed off driving. After about 2 hours of driving, we met up with the group Keep calm and curry on. After navigating through the city that we were in, we broke onto open road and found a city called Kannur to head to for lunch and to cool the engines down. We ended up staying at our lunch spot on the beach for a few hours just chilling out. When then went for a swim on the beach which was something that we'd been waiting on for a few days. After the lunch break we headed off towards our final destination of Bekal. When we finally arrived in Bekal the sun was setting over the beach: ![Uploading file...]()

After two attempts we finally found a "hotel" that was willing to take the 5 of us from the two rickshaws. We managed to convince them to give us a room for us all to fit on with the addition of a mattress or two.

Tomorrow we're hoping to head towards a town called Merdeshwar, a little north from Mangaluru. Well hoping anyway. This is our lucky Indian charm, Ganesh: ![Uploading file...]()

Day 1 of the Rickshaw Run

After a fairly hefty NYE party we packed our bags and set sail to the venue where the Rickshaw's were being held. To our shock we rocked up to what we thought was 30 minutes early, turned out to be 30 minutes late so we missed the leaving ceremony all together and started half an hour behind.

We then began on our biggest day so far. After about an hour of driving we caught up with some of the other groups and suggested that we stop for lunch.

With a quick refuel and switch of drivers we headed off again north with a destination in mind, a city called Calicut, about 200km north of where we started.

We then made it there and hit the sack after ordering some room service

The photo attached is a place that stopped along the way as the sun was setting as we met a few of the local families