Team Tuk Tuk Goose

We made it!!!!

Rickshaw Run Day 13 - finally had some time to sleep in a little today before heading to the Mehrangarh Fort, one of the largest in India, and then a quick walk around the Blue City. 

We were on the road again at 1:30pm to cover some of the distance to Jaisalmer so our final day isn't too long. Absolutely nothing to report about the drive!

We spent the night at one of the many desert resorts that start popping up the closer you get to Jaisalmer, and traded our Rickshaws for camels in the evening. It was the most peace and quiet we've had in two weeks with the Rickshaws! 

Rickshaw Run Day 12 - punched through the kilometers this morning, reaching Jodhpur just before 2:30pm. The only things of note along the way were some camels (and a truck that bumped the back of the Duck when we pulled over to take photos), more monkeys, and finally seeing Jaisalmer written on the highway signs. 

We checked into the Madpackers Hostel on their first official opening night, then headed to the Umaid Bhawan Palace, one of the largest private residences in the world. 

In the evening half the group got some henna done before it was time to check out day one of the ten day festival of Ganesh. The hostel staff unveiled a clay statue of Ganesh, giving offerings and saying prayers. We then walked to the Ganesh Temple and experienced more of the chaos that is India - 25,000 people going to a temple. The streets were packed as we huddled together and waded through the crowds. Back safely at the hostel it was time for dinner and some rooftop drinks. 

Rickshaw Run Day 11 - it was smooth sailing all the way into Udaipur, pulling into our hotel right on 11:30am. Val almost(!) tipped the rickshaw in their driveway but crisis averted and we started the daily unload. 

After an excellent lunch on the rooftop overlooking the city palace, we put on our cleanest clothes and set off for an afternoon of sightseeing. We were somewhat thwarted when 5 minutes in it started absolutely pouring and the streets turned to rivers in no time. We took shelter in a store (along with some huge cows also trying to get out of the rain) and attempted to wait it out. 

We eventually hailed a rickshaw and got completely drenched getting to the city palace - 5 people plus a rickshaw driver do not easily fit! Spent some time touring around the palace and the Jagdish Temple.

Once the rain cleared we got on a boat over to Jagmandir island and treated ourselves to a fantastic dinner - by far the fanciest place we've been on this trip! A far cry from cold showers in mouldy bathrooms.

Heading for Jodhpur tomorrow, our last 250km+ day!!

Rickshaw Run Day 10 - we're into the double digits now and entered Rajasthan state. Had a very successful day of driving, managing a great combination of excellent tarmac where we zipped along at a speedy 60km/h, some extremely potholed road that would have been better suited to a four wheel drive, and beautiful countryside. 

We were interviewed first thing in the morning for some media site, with the guy flagging us down in the middle of a bridge (photo credit to Eddy).

Spent some time drag racing and filming various stunts on an isolated section of excellent road.  

And saw our first elephant!

We're on track to reach Udaipur around midday tomorrow to see some of the sights. This finish line is in sight! 

Rickshaw Run Day 9 - Really starting to miss hot showers...

We began the day with an early morning traverse of the Guatala Wildlife Sanctuary north of the Ellora Caves. We reached a roadblock at the base of the mountain where some locals helpfully moved the barriers and motioned us through after telling us there had been a landslide. Turns out the road was legitimately closed - only motorcycles we're crossing - however our trusty rickshaws could fit through. We drove past two trucks that had gone over the edge and numerous boulders on the tarmac, and promptly stuck to the middle of the road, white knuckled until we reached the other side, rather relieved.

Around lunchtime we decided to have lunch in Dhule, but found ourselves surrounded as we attempted to drive through what was a pedestrian only market street. A half hour later and with some expert rickshaw manouvering and horn usage, we had extricated ourselves from the traffic and were back on the highway. 

After that it was a fairly straightforward day. We attempted to get off the boring highway, but after being flagged down by some local teenagers telling us that we shouldn't try and cross the mountain range as the road was too dangerous, we decided that the highway was our best option.

Reaching our final destination of Barwani just in the nick of time before dark (6:58pm!), we had a moment of concern when the hotel told us that to stay in any hotel in the area we needed to go through a three hour "formality process" for them to accommodate foreigners, we only had to wait 20 minutes until we could all go and get an early nights sleep. All the early mornings have been catching up to us. 

Saw some fantastically coloured cows today as part of the state holiday in Maharashtra:

Had a day that went (almost!) exactly to plan - we hit the highway again today heading for the Ellora Caves, stopping on the 7 hour journey for breakfast at a roadside restaurant, chai at a little shack (so far all these tiny places have had fantastic food), petrol, and hourly engine breaks.

We hit a slight hiccup getting stuck for 45 minutes trying to get around a nasty accident between a truck and a bus right at the exit of a bridge. We herded the rickshaws through with the motorbikes - our horn got a bit of a workout! 

After a short mountain climb (both Rickshaws doing well), we dropped our bags at a hotel and headed to the Ellora Caves. While not exactly caves (instead a series of rock-cut monastery-temples) they're spectacular: 

It was a nice change to spend the afternoon sightseeing and looking for saris. Hopefully we'll all be a bit more refreshed in the morning. 

Oh and monkeys: 

Extremely successful morning getting the rickshaw fixed. Our hotel manager went above and beyond in helping us - inviting us into his home in Kolhapur for breakfast and not letting us pay for the mechanic. Turns out there was water in the carburator and the spark plug was the wrong type. We were back on the road at 10am which far exceeded all of our expectations.

We hit the highway and while extremely boring driving we made excellent progress, stopping for lunch in Satara. From there we left the main road and found ourselves on some rather potholed tarmac with stunning views. Almost bogged the Goose driving it off the road for this picture: 

Our estimate was that we would arrive at our hotel at 7:15pm, which meant a short period of night driving... we were just a tad wrong. We found ourselves on terrible roads with no street lights and the high beams of oncoming trucks and buses blinding us temporarily. At 7:50pm we pulled into a "hotel" that turned out to be an Indian hotel - i.e. a restaurant with narry a bed in sight. Our nerves frayed from the stress of night driving, we recruited a family with a car to escort us 7km to an actual hotel. Arriving in the carpark high on adrenaline, we all swore a pact to never night drive again! Never have we been so happy to see crappy accommodation. 

Well today started off well - beautiful weather, empty roads. Quickly devolved into us traversing the stunning Western Ghats with some pretty significant incline and the Goose decided to pack it in and lose power. We had some inquisitive monkey spectators while we tried to restart - eventually got it going, but we could only struggle along in second gear. On top of that, the weather closed in and we were hit with heavy rain and fog that would give San Francisco a run for it's money.

We still managed to get in some sightseeing at the Amboli Ghat Waterfall. 

Down the other side of the mountain we stopped in the first town and asked the first rickshaw driver we saw where their mechanic is - we we're escorted to Rahul who was coincidentally in the middle of fixing another rickshaw. We spent the next 3 hours getting the rickshaw checked over, having delicious chai at a tiny roadside food stop, and periodically running under cover for the rain.

At this point the mechanic was saying "problem, problem"... 

Back on the road with fresh engine oil and instructions to check the clutch plate on the Goose and the compression pistons on the Duck, the Goose however died within half an hour. On a whim Val decided to change the spark plug and we saw that it was heavily fouled. After that we optimistically took off and seemed much better. 

Down the mountain and on the highway, about 6:30pm it started happening again. Pulling out the new spark plug it had completely fouled. Spirits a bit deflated and without any ideas, we found the nearest hotel and limped into the parking lot. We found ourselves in this rather lovely resort with bungalow cottages, having dinner at a table in the gardens, strategising how to get the Goose fixed in the morning - unfortunately complicated by the fact that tomorrow is Sunday and shops aren't open early. 

Stuck in Amboli waiting for the mechanic after just 60km... the Goose didn't like us going over the mountains. Left behind a puddle of black oil and limped down the hill through fog and rain in second gear. Hoping it's nothing major.

Had some spectators when we broke down: