Day 5

Without Internet access blogging has been pretty unsuccessful but we're safe and sound and treated ourselves to a night in a swanky hotel after the last few questionable nights in 'deluxe rooms'. We drove through the beautiful tea mountains of Munnar and visited the Meenakshi temple in Madurai, drive coast to coast for lunch in French, Pondicherry and spent a night in a cool beach town. We joined convoy with daisy the cow, 'team chaos' for 2 solid days of driving through the backstreets of Chennai on tsunami watch and up the highway towards Orissa. Already an incredible experience...feeling a little curried out and continuously covered in dirt but having an amazing time. Beautiful people and a beautiful place.

Pimping and partying!

After meeting up with austin and fairy on tuesday we had a relaxing day on thursday cruising the backwaters of kerala and its hard to imagine that you can still find a peaceful place in the mayhem that is india! But then it was back to bussines and we went to go pick up our beast and thanks to fairy the paintjob looks amazing. Then it was time for some test driving and we headed into the backstreets of cochi in search of some much needed equipment, seeing that our tuk tuk's looks were deceiving! So off we went and bought a new ignition, clutch cable and muffler gasket and we also had to grease the wheels, fix the wiper and reglue our throttle handle and hoped now that she was all god to go! come sunday and we will find out!

after my initial test drive it was austins turn and he handled her like a pro, dodging every man and his dog, literally and then he took us along with all the other teams around town for the filming of the ne incredible india advertisment that will air in three months from now! so who knows we might be famous.And then it was fairy had a go, and she did very well, bringing us home home safely before a mini monsoon hit uprooting trees and causing a blackout in town.

last thing we had to do on saturday for our final pimping was to install our sound system which took longer than expected, but time passes quickly in the backstreets when you have a footbal match, followed by a cricket match with/against 20 local kids underneath clotheslines, goats, street vendors and their angry mothers! I think we lost by the way!

A couple of things i became grateful for in my first week:

1 - There is litterally someone around every corner that can fix your tuk tuk

2 - Jasir - our local man in the know that took us around helping us get what we need

3 - scrambled eggs for breakfast as it gives a nice break from curry, but curry flavoured is still recomended/suggested

4 - I can still comfortably pass wind without having to worry about changing underwear.

Keep following our progress, we are on the road bright and early tmrw and photos on the way!

Fairy,Austin, Emile 

It has begun

ok so i haverealized that no one can really prepare you for what india holds n store.

to give you a quick update: i arrived in india monday  morning after the comfort and luxury of my home in cape town, and thigs did not start well.  my car broke down on the way to the airport, so i dont know if its a taste of things to come and the first of many, or if that will be all my break downs for india out of the way? i doubt it!!! arrived in delhi, imediately took a 5 hour cab to agra to see the taj (well worth it i might add) and then back to delhi today to fly to cochi to meet up with my fellow adventurists to get the ball rolling on this race. all i can say to austin nd fairy, is i hope your prepared.

So just to give you a quick introduction of what i have learnt in india in my first to days:

#1 - You can drive wherever you want! there is no left or right or wrong or right! anything goes

#2 - you can only eat so many cheese naans in two days! but im gonna keep going!

#3 - there is no such thing as too much hooter blowing or honking! hopefully our tuk tuk has a proper one to compete with the symphonies on the high way!

That was just  a quick update, im sure there is a lot more that i will learn and experience! so stay tuned and you can experience it all with austin, fairy and myself in the month to come. 

So everyone can rest assured that i arrived alive, and catch you all soon

Namaste

Our Charities

Well its all underway and in full swing now, and some donations have started to come in. However, the most difficult part does not seem to get people to donate, but in convincing them that the money is not going into our back pockets for an extended "joyride" through india. Come on people, 5000 km cross country in a barely roadworthy vehicle designed for urban transport does not seem like a joyride, and believe me you will hear all about it during and after the race.

So just  a litte on our charities:

Franks water is doing good work throughout india, and I would especially like to thank scott and julia, my mates who did the run a year ago, for making the first contribution as they know its going towards a good cause. So it is definitley a charity worth supporting.

Then, I chose the Alzheimers society as  my second charity choice, seeing that it has hit a little closer to home. My grandfather is suffering from Alzheimers and I can see the effects it has  on him and the family on my yearly visits back home. He has always been someone I have looked up to and respected and I will definitely be thinking of him  while I am somewhere, lost in India.

So please people, dont hesitate. We have set a target minimum but with everyone's help we are hoping to exceed that by quite a bit. Dig deep and sponsor now, and keep an eye on our blog for updates and info our crazy adventure.

Thanks to all those that have donated so far, and thanks in advance to those who are at this very moment getting their credit cards ready! Tick Tock...........

Emile