http://rickshawrun12s.theadventurists.com/Recent updates from the The Rickshaw Run Spring 2012 teamsen-gbTue, 18 Jun 2013 22:50:57 GMTpress@theadventurists.com (The Adventurists)press@theadventurists.com (The Adventurists)10 well we finally made it, rickshaw chewed thru the final hills. 4000km in the end. Needless to say i'm off for a beer. http://rickshawrun12s.theadventurists.com/btbSat, 21 Apr 2012 08:47:55 GMT the final morning! Well hopefully anyway, shillong is up in the mountains again so it's not going to be easy. The military esc ** some text is missing ** http://rickshawrun12s.theadventurists.com/btbSat, 21 Apr 2012 01:18:09 GMT Just picked up a milatary escort. Insisting on taking us thru the state without really explaining why. There are also no other cars on the roads! Anyway they've got a lunch spot tee'd up and bigger guns than us so escorted we will be!http://rickshawrun12s.theadventurists.com/btbFri, 20 Apr 2012 10:54:54 GMT so close! Mal blasted up the mountain in the shaw while hanlin and i clung to the roof of a jeep for the most terrifying ride of our lives. Got dumped when the road started to level out and the rickshaw soon caught up. Stopped for probably the best tea of my life with a view of more or less the whole world. Now we're sitting about 30km of relatively flat road out of darjeeling trying to find a new nut for the head as we've stripped one. Nearly there!http://rickshawrun12s.theadventurists.com/btbWed, 18 Apr 2012 09:01:47 GMT just saw a truck cruising down the other side of the highway with tyre fully engulfed in flames. Not sure he knew...http://rickshawrun12s.theadventurists.com/btbWed, 18 Apr 2012 02:24:49 GMT ran into the familiar over heating issues last night so mal grabbed some engine oil and managed to get a litre in ther ** some text is missing ** http://rickshawrun12s.theadventurists.com/btbWed, 18 Apr 2012 02:08:45 GMT went thru the worlds most ridiculous traffic jam today, the boom gate went down at a level crossing as a train was passing so trucks, rickshaws, cars & bikes lined up at the gate across the full width of the road on both sides for a couple of hundred metres so when the gates went up there was absolute mayhem. Complete gridlock for about half an hour til the police turned up and started threatening people with rifles. They did manage to clear the road tho, to be fair.http://rickshawrun12s.theadventurists.com/btbTue, 17 Apr 2012 11:43:22 GMT man the roads are rough today! Craters as big as the rickshaw, well almost... Anyway rough enough to snap a weld on our roof racks, luckily welding seems to be a national past time here and as we limped into the next town there were welding trolley's outside the first 3 shacks. Snuck in a quick breakfast while our guy was at work and straight back into it. Hopefully make siliguri tonight at the foot of the mountains.http://rickshawrun12s.theadventurists.com/btbTue, 17 Apr 2012 07:19:01 GMT good day, made it to siuri, clocked 400k's which makes it our best effort to date. Asked about internet to post some photo's but it's 10mins and there are cold beers and got curry's here so it's going in the too hard basket again!http://rickshawrun12s.theadventurists.com/btbMon, 16 Apr 2012 14:38:46 GMT after about 20mins of confusion, pointing and gesturing finally found out the Oriya word for gasket is gasket. Anyway changed ours out and carrying a spare. Just crossed the border into west Bengal and so far quite a good stretch of road.http://rickshawrun12s.theadventurists.com/btbMon, 16 Apr 2012 03:58:08 GMT on the road again at 545. Not sure of the best way up thru Bengal as all the highways lead to calcutta which we want to avoid so going to have to take some back roads. Much more interesting to drive on but a lot slower and generally involve a large number of wrong turns. Darjeeling on wednesday is the goal.@http://rickshawrun12s.theadventurists.com/btbMon, 16 Apr 2012 01:24:25 GMT made it into orissa yesterday and stayed at chilika lake. Nice spot, ran into 4 other rickshaws staying at the same place. One of them had managed to flip their shaw doing 60! Ankle shattering stuff. Literally. Anyway we it the road this morning at 6 and should get close to the border with Bengal. Aiming to get to darjeeling by wednesday so we have a bit of time to spend up there. That is assuming the mountains don't finish our engine off!http://rickshawrun12s.theadventurists.com/btbSun, 15 Apr 2012 06:43:23 GMT full service on the old rickshaw yesterday, running smooth today. Brakes tightened, oil changed. Actually changed is probably not the right word as there wasn't much left in there when we tried to drain it. Mal is now minus a camera and a credit card. Good times.@http://rickshawrun12s.theadventurists.com/btbSat, 14 Apr 2012 06:06:46 GMT turns out phone credit is near on impossible to get in india when you have a sim from another province, hence the lack of updates. Break from reality with a night in a flashish hotel last night at the beach. Bit of a birthday celebration, managed to fit all 6 of us into one rickshaw (taxi, not one of ours). Going to push for bhubaneswar today but at 400km's away i'm not confident we'll get there. @http://rickshawrun12s.theadventurists.com/btbSat, 14 Apr 2012 05:33:05 GMT all money is on us just having eaten the meal that turns on the water works... Stayed tuned to see how this one ends!http://rickshawrun12s.theadventurists.com/btbThu, 12 Apr 2012 10:04:57 GMT properly rural today- people looking seriously confused to see us, friendly tho. Nice country side, palm trees and shrimp farms.http://rickshawrun12s.theadventurists.com/btbThu, 12 Apr 2012 05:12:11 GMT tsunami was a fizzer, luckily, still didn't stop vodaphone india sending me about 10 text messages about it! Fixed the horn this morning. Undisputed king of auto electrics. Should really look at a career change, it's a natural gift.http://rickshawrun12s.theadventurists.com/btbThu, 12 Apr 2012 03:56:01 GMT made it to the beach today, good effort, then got no dealed on accommodation due to impending tsunami. Then we found out there is no tsunami but still no accommodation, haha, on the road again...http://rickshawrun12s.theadventurists.com/btbWed, 11 Apr 2012 15:33:01 GMT just about to notch up 1000 km's since leaving Kochi. Only 2500 to go! Unless we get lost. Again...http://rickshawrun12s.theadventurists.com/btbWed, 11 Apr 2012 07:02:46 GMT engine mount bolt sheared. Replaced with wire found on side of road and zip ties. Good as new!http://rickshawrun12s.theadventurists.com/btbWed, 11 Apr 2012 06:48:36 GMT well and truly into andhra pradesh now and hoping it's got more to offer than just puttur! Going to jump back on the freeway and going to burn through to ongle then jump onto the coast road for a bit more leisurely driving. Not sure how far we'll get depends how many engine cool down stops we need. Ooh, engine just at out, time to get dirty!http://rickshawrun12s.theadventurists.com/btbWed, 11 Apr 2012 04:22:12 GMT made it, had an awesome egg dosa followed by a beer with some fellow runners in the dodgiest of all dive bars. We are talking cardboard and sacks the only protection from countless diseases. Lucky we had our shots. Great bar banter with the locals and car keep. Now just have to survive the hotel room.....@http://rickshawrun12s.theadventurists.com/btbTue, 10 Apr 2012 18:18:05 GMT first night driving 12km to go to a more than likely cardboard mattress in a run down room. http://rickshawrun12s.theadventurists.com/btbTue, 10 Apr 2012 15:45:47 GMT up before the sun this morning to beat the traffic out of trichy. Just having some breakfast when we ran into Zee germans looking a bit out of sorts. Turns out they shattered their piston the day before and had to hitch hike 60km back into town to find parts and a mechanic. Anyway we ripped the head off our engine to check and ours is all good so hit the road again and cruising north towards Chennai. Going to head north well before we get to the city as have been well advised to stay away from it. Going to do some back streeting as highway is a bit dull!!@http://rickshawrun12s.theadventurists.com/btbTue, 10 Apr 2012 04:36:52 GMTOnly day 2 and we're already feeling like veterans (even though i'm yet to drive this thing fully loaded up).... ...http://rickshawrun12s.theadventurists.com/btbMon, 09 Apr 2012 13:01:44 GMTNOTE: this was written 3 days ago, technical difficulties prevented an earlier release. I missed the ferry to the party and... ...http://rickshawrun12s.theadventurists.com/btbMon, 09 Apr 2012 12:53:44 GMT 11:30, 'shaw fixed and moving again. I think the mechanic replaced the gearbox and bored out the cylinder and ported the heads for 50 rupees ($1)http://rickshawrun12s.theadventurists.com/btbMon, 09 Apr 2012 06:57:04 GMT good day today, over 150km and 2.5km gain in height. Some brilliant mountain tea plantation scenery, very green and a strange clash of rugged and cultivated Our 'shaw is shite though, and the gearbox crapped itself going up the drive to tonights homestay. to be fixed tomorrowhttp://rickshawrun12s.theadventurists.com/btbSun, 08 Apr 2012 17:44:43 GMT and we're off! Huge day, managed 160km over 6 hours, went from sea level up into the mountains, tea plantations every where, unbelievable scenery. Found a home stay for the night and as we were pulling into the driveway the clutch plate packed it in. Couldn't have timed it better! There guys have tee'd up a mechanic for first thing in the morning. Anyway off for a nice home cooked meal!http://rickshawrun12s.theadventurists.com/btbSun, 08 Apr 2012 14:45:48 GMT and we're off!.http://rickshawrun12s.theadventurists.com/btbSun, 08 Apr 2012 06:56:06 GMTI missed the ferry to the party and have time to blog for all you lucky readers. Today was a success. our... ...http://rickshawrun12s.theadventurists.com/btbSat, 07 Apr 2012 18:36:21 GMT I like Indians. They have fun.http://rickshawrun12s.theadventurists.com/btbSat, 07 Apr 2012 17:35:15 GMT Indians do a mean fire dancehttp://rickshawrun12s.theadventurists.com/btbSat, 07 Apr 2012 16:49:40 GMT spent the morning at the mechanic getting a few things sorted, stereo installed, we're reversing again now, got a spark plug car on order after the engine cut out a few times and we realised the wire was resting on the plug not actually attached. Getting a fan installed and got towels on the seat to soak up some of the ass sweat. http://rickshawrun12s.theadventurists.com/btbSat, 07 Apr 2012 10:22:19 GMT lost reverse gear this arvo. Cable slippage i think, will have to sort it tomorrow. Massive storm just now, power lines down on the road with big tree on them. Went for a wander to grab dinner when the rain died down, ran into some seriously flooded streets, ended up wading thru what i'm assuming was 80% human shit and 20% dead dog. Must remember to shower when we get home...http://rickshawrun12s.theadventurists.com/btbFri, 06 Apr 2012 16:45:04 GMT big day, new horns, lunch then starred in a tv ad for Incredible !ndia. Learnt a bit about rickshaw balance when she went up on 2 wheels and how to avoid that in future. http://rickshawrun12s.theadventurists.com/btbFri, 06 Apr 2012 13:39:31 GMT VW -"I just can't pull anymore"http://rickshawrun12s.theadventurists.com/btbFri, 06 Apr 2012 12:31:51 GMT got the keys, rickshaw looking sharp. Our man Babu currently showing us around TOWN at speeds i did not think this bad boy was capable of. Picking up a few more horns, stereo, mirrors, fan, spot lights & probably a lot more.@http://rickshawrun12s.theadventurists.com/btbFri, 06 Apr 2012 08:10:50 GMT blogging from the burner. Sampling all the different types of kingfisher and having at some mango coconut prawns. If i could just get someone to turn the humidity down a notch i'd be pretty content.http://rickshawrun12s.theadventurists.com/btbThu, 05 Apr 2012 15:15:14 GMTThings are starting to get exciting. There's a gaggle of 'Shaws in the field immediately next to our room, and... ...http://rickshawrun12s.theadventurists.com/btbThu, 05 Apr 2012 14:06:56 GMTGathered in India three amigos rendezvoused in the noisy,dirty, gut wrenching to smelling and busy city that Mumbai aka Bombay... ...http://rickshawrun12s.theadventurists.com/btbThu, 05 Apr 2012 11:32:13 GMTMade it to Mumbai and met up with Hanlin who introduced us to street food and many fragrant angels. ... ...http://rickshawrun12s.theadventurists.com/btbThu, 05 Apr 2012 06:43:29 GMTWe're on the plane getting told to turn off electronic devices, but time for the final departure blog entry. That... ...http://rickshawrun12s.theadventurists.com/btbWed, 04 Apr 2012 04:49:52 GMTfor my morning blog ...http://rickshawrun12s.theadventurists.com/btbWed, 04 Apr 2012 01:49:01 GMTWe've raised our 1000 pound target for charity with a day to go before we leave.  The organisation of our... ...http://rickshawrun12s.theadventurists.com/btbMon, 02 Apr 2012 11:58:54 GMT test blog from phone, sitting at home with christie not packing. Got license today. Plenty of time to spare. http://rickshawrun12s.theadventurists.com/btbMon, 02 Apr 2012 10:07:59 GMTIf you'd like to donate to one of our chosen charities, please do.The Frank Waters Project works on supply safe... ...http://rickshawrun12s.theadventurists.com/btbThu, 29 Mar 2012 15:08:17 GMT