Tuk Tuk Boom T-Shirts

  **Check out team Tuk Tuk Boom's official apparel...** **Available in White on Black (pictured)****and Black on White **      **With only 10 in each colour printed,****Y'all got no chance at getting your hands on one of these... **

Day -12 (30/08/11) : Sorted? Yeah... Kinda... Not Really...

**Well, it’s been almost a year now since we signed up for this rather silly adventure. One would think that is more than enough time to prepare for ANY trip… Well, it is… provided you have even just a slightly organized crew to manhandle all the preparations needed for such an adventure… With only 3 days left till we fly out and 12 days left until we fire up KaBoom’s engine and thunder off into the unknown… our so called organized crew, seems to require a slight downgrade in status… as we now resemble something along the lines of a group of chooks with their heads cut off  (*que Benny Hill theme music*)…**

**So I’d like to say that everything for the trip is sorted, being that we fly out in 3 days (Friday), but unfortunately this is not the case… now don’t get me wrong, we are well on our way to completing all our set tasks, there are just a couple that have still managed to allude us…**

**All our flights to get us to the starting line are booked and paid... Indian VISA’s - Sorted... Motorcycle Licences - Passed... International Driving Permits – Check... Necessary Needle Jabs – Hmff, Yep (Ouch)... KaBoom’s Pimped Out Paint Job – Submitted... Tuk Tuk Deposit – Paid... Travel Insurance – Covered... Team T-Shirts – Printed…**

**Sounds like we are on top of everything, right?... Hmmm, Yeah... Kinda... Not Really..., but we seemed to have left one small, little detail out… a fully comprehensive, thoroughly detailed, well researched and planned, ****complete with Plan B, C & D alternative’s, mapped out Route… so we know exactly where we are and where we’re going at all times…  Kinda important?... Yeah, trust me… we know… we’re working on it… well sorta… I mean, what kind of adventure would this be if we knew exactly what was round the corner at all times… pfft… at least that’s what we keep telling ourselves…**

**We also have a list of items we need for the trip… Including such things as Sleeping Bags, Occy & Rachet straps, Torches, Power Adapters, Compass, Maps, 1st Aid Kit... Laptop, Video Camera, Still Camera, assorted cables... Immodium, Water purification tablets, Sunscreen, Mozzie Spray, Panadol... Ahhh Geez, and the list goes on... We also need to buy ourselves a tent for those inevitable breakdowns in the middle of no-where... Do you think a Mozzie Net will be sufficiant to keep out those pesky Tigers and Leopards?**

****

**So here’s the plan so far: **

**Day  -10 (Thursday 1st): With Jimmy and The Borginator flying into the Gold Coast from Airlee Beach and Wollongong respectively, Azza Mate will drive down from Brisbane to his brother Michael’s Apartment at Burleigh on the Gold Coast. Here we will meet up with 2/3 of our arch nemesis team ‘The Goodfellas’, Jamie and Michael (The last member of The Goodfellas, Mat, currently resides in London, England and will be making his way from the other side of the planet to meet up with us in India)… No doubt there will be a few beers thrown around and hopefully the last preparations completed…**

**Day  -9 (Friday 2nd): This morning we are all up at the crack of dawn (no doubt in a mad scramble) to catch our flight from Gold Coast (OOL) to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (KUL). Once we touch down in K.L., we head separate ways. While Jimmy and The Borginator spend a night in Kuala Lumpur enjoying the local cuisine and more than a few local brews, Azza Mate and his brothers, Jamie and Michael head off to Bangkok, Thailand (BKK).**

**Day  -8 (Saturday 3rd):Jimmy and The Borginator will be taking off from K.L. and landing in Kolkata, India (CCU). From there they will head off to set up camp in one of the many fine establishments India has to offer. They will be the first to experience all the fruits and flavour India has to offer. Meanwhile Azza Mate will still be kicking back in Thailand, Singha in hand, warming up for another night of shenanigans that a city like Bangkok leaves one no choice but to indulge themselves into…**

**Day  -7 (Sunday 4th): Now it’s Jimmy and The Borginator’s turn to kick back, relax and soak up the atmosphere while Azza Mate and his brothers transit their way from the unforgiving city of Bangkok to the unknown sub-continent that is India. Once Azza Mate has arrived in Kolkata, he will rendezvous with fellow Tuk Tuk Boom team members and will no doubt easily slide into another night of tom foolery fueled by curry & booze…**

**Day  -6 (Monday 5th): Today Mat, the 3rd person making up our nemesis team The Goodfellas, will be touching down in Kolkata. This will be the first time the 2 teams will be complete and, what worries me more, the first time each team will be able to shape up the other team in what I assume will resemble something much like an Ol' Clint Eastwood Western movie scene...* (que The Good, The Bad & The Ugly theme music)...***

**Day  -5 (Tuesday 6th):** **Today the teams must throw down their 6 shooters and put aside their differences as it is a day of celebration... Jamie's birthday! We're not even gonna try and speculate what may come of this day... we're gonna leave it up to Buddha himself to decide...**

**Day -4 (Wednesday 7th): Today both teams have opted to try and defeat the odds by flying from Kolkata directly to Shillong (SHL), which is the town where the Starting Line is located. The reason this flight is risky is because there is only one flight per day into Shillong airport and it's more often than not, cancelled due to weather conditions. The Adventurists (the organisers) have strongly recomended to all teams not to use this mode of transport. Other options are: Fly into the next closest airport which is Guwahati... Yet with this option comes more drama... The road from Guwahati to Shillong is currently under construction for the next year or so and can be very prone to nasty delays. It’s normally a 4-5 hour journey, but it’s not unusual for taxis to take much longer (for example there was a 17 hour jam the other day)... Another option... Trains, Now you have seen the pictures of trains overthere, bloody crazy Indians, well overloaded. To the point where there are more people hanging off the bloody sides and on the roof than actually in the dam train itself... Last option... Helicopter... Yeah, we know... F**K YEAH!!!... right? Well, Unless we all got together with the Devil and cut a deal for our souls, we ain't gonna be able to afford that one... So fingers crossed it is...**

**Day  -3 (Thursday 8th): Today we meet up with The Adventurists for the first time and register our team Tuk Tuk Boom (This is when shit gets official). We will also be able to do a little Tuk Tuk 101 Test Driving to get a feel for the beasts, aswell as some final Tuk Tuk Pimping. Once we are satisfied we are now professional Tuk Tuk Rally Drivers and we have KaBoom looking it's best,  we will be able to join in with the other teams who have made it to Shillong for a little Q&A with The Adventurists... this will know doubt be followed by many a beers as we mingle with the other teams, secretly taking note of their strong points and ecspecially, their weaknesses...**

**Day  -2 (Friday 9th): Today is much the same as the last... as more teams arrive, there will be more people to meet over a few beers, lots of ideas swapping going on no doubt... **

**Day  -1 (Saturday 10th): Today we get to impress the local gals with our athletic abilities (Hahaha) as there is a Football match organised to kick off at 1pm, team members from the Rickshaw Run Vs. The Local soccer team... hmmm, who's gonna win that match up I wonder? The game will take place in the stadium, with oodles of spectators.... After we get our ass's handed to us by the local Man Utd equivalents, we will then be attending the official Launch Party, where good times will be a certainty, and new found freindships will be set in stone...**

**Day 1 (Sunday 11th): Launch Day! This is the moment we have all been waiting for... The day we get to fire up those glorified lawnmowers and head off into the complete unknown. We will be flagged off, then we get to parade around the town and show off our newly painted Tuk Tuk's to the whole towns inhabitants, who all venture out in celebration of us leaving their quiet little town so they can get back to life as usual...  **

 

**From here on in, your guess is as good as ours... you'll just have to stay tuned to this spot right here to find out what kind of crazy mishaps and unexpected adventure team Tuk Tuk Boom find themselves in... **