All Good Things...

Well, it's happened.  Only one more day to go before I head home to California.  It's been...awesome.  Kim and Belinda should be boarding a taxi soon (they splurged for a taxi with AC!) to head to the airport and then back to Delhi, where they will be doing some more sightseeing before heading back to the States.  I will be leaving very early in the morning.  In the meantime, I wandered off to find an Internet cafe.  It's strange how being in India seems normal now--I wonder if I will have some culture shock when I return to the US.  This has been a trip of contrasts--we passed opulent hotels and beach resorts, but also drove through slums and past open garbage dumps on the side of the road.  The food has been excellent, and so has the companionship.  We all shared stories at the finish celebration last night, which was at Bolgatty Palace.  Everyone was excited and ready to party--the ferry to Bolgatty Island was packed, and there were so many people on the upper deck that it began to list dangerously to one side when they tried to turn away from the dock!  After sending half the people downstairs, we were on our way again.  I thought the incident fit quite well with the theme of this trip: a problem occurs, you fix it, and move on.  Thank you to all of the friendly locals who helped us on our journey, from the man who personally escorted us more than 5km on his motorcycle to a fort we were trying to find, to the mechanics who fixed our problems quickly and for only a dollar or two.  If I take one thing away from this trip, it will be my inspiration to try harder to help others, after consistently experiencing the willingness of people in India to give help and assistance when needed.

Kerala, India

Kim checking in. We've finished!! Made it across the finish line shortly after 3pm, 16th team to check in. Huzzah!

Kerala, India

Tailpipe fell off again, another mechanic! And onwards.

Kerala, India

Today we push for Cochin and the finish-180km to go!

Karnataka, India

Tailpipe fell off again. Welding another on so we aren't deafened.

Garrett's Rickshaw Run Learnings, Day 10

1. If you don't want to be swarmed by people when pulling over to the side of the road, take out some food and start eating.  It's considered very rude to interrupt someone while they're eating.

2. If the cops motion for you to stop, chances are good that they want to have their picture taken with you (note: this only applies to foreigners driving a pimped out rickshaw).

3. GPS directions are sketchy and despite the best intentions of locals, it can be very hard to find your intended destination (hotel, beach, etc.).  The best way to get somewhere in a big city is to pay a local rickshaw driver to let you follow him there.  Sad but true!

 

Milestones reached today:

- 2000km mark

- Entered Karnataka state

- Saw our first signs for Cochin!

Beaches galore!

We've spent quite a few day on and around beaches now. It's been quite lovely. After a rest day of no driving in Baga, Goa, we've sauntered down the coast to a little place called Om Beach (because the beach is shaped like the letter Om) in Karnataka. (Oh, and we've passed the 2000km traveled mark!) It was a short day of driving because we went to bed late last night after hanging out with a bunch of other teams in Anjuna and slept in (or had a bit of a lie-in, as the British would say) and didn't get on the road until almost 11. Got here just in time to sit on the deck, have a beer with another team and watch the sunset.

Our little bungalow thing here is fairly nice, with a pink mosquito net over the bed - completely ineffective, but cute. Haven't tried our luck with the hot water yet, but there's still hope, as the other team said one of them managed to have a hot shower. I've lost count of the number of cold showers I"ve taken now. Travelling through these little towns really makes you appreciate having clean water and good plumbing. Belinda and I have been living life on the edge and brushing our teeth with tap water, which horrifies all the other teams we tell this to, as almost all of them have suffered varying degrees of Delhi belly. Hopefully we're building up our tolerance and not just setting ourselves up for the worst case of stomach sickness ever, ha. 

Tomorrow we'll have to be up early and have a long day of driving because we took it easy today, but only about 700km left to go! The end is in sight :)

Goa, India

This is Garrett. We now have fresh engine and gear oil. Total cost: 5 dollars. Mechanic knew exactly what I wanted-apparently 4 teams visited him for the same thing last year.

Goa bound!

After a long day of winding mountain roads, we've stopped on the outskirts of a little town along NH15 about 120km north of Goa. Oddly enough, using the internet from inside the hotel manager's office because they don't have wifi. I was going to upload some pictures, but unfortunately their connection must be firewalled and won't work with my netbook so it'll be just a text update for now :(

Anyway, I changed the map page to the live map so hopefully now it's showing our actual progress on the map instead of the planned route we had before. (Although today's location is just a guesstimate because Google Maps does not list the tiny town we're in.)

All team members are doing well, just a bit peppered with mosquito bites and fighting minor colds. Our trusty steed is also holding up amazingly, despite the fact that the speedometer no longer works, and a few days ago the tailpipe fell off and it got even louder than it was before - didn't think that was possible, but it did. But that was easily fixed for 150 rupees (about $3. Everything in this country is crazy cheap. Well, except for that one fancy place we stayed at for almost 7000 rupees out of desperation, haha.)

So we are halfway through our 2-week journey and more than half way down the length of India! Planning a much-needed reprieve for a couple of days on the beaches around Goa - hopefully beach huts will be involved. Then charging on again to the finish line! Rawr. 

Maharashtra, India

Stayed at Hotel Golden Palace on outskirts of town. Didn't cover many km since road out of Vasai was crap and tons of traffic in Thane.