Visa sorted. Boom! I will see you at that pub in Dehli. Somewhere.
Shad
xoxo
Wednesday 28 December 2011
Tuesday 27 December 2011
Preparation Scorecard
In 2 days I leave for India, Al follows me the next day. If anyone is in contact with Shad, please let us know when he’ll get there.
Our scorecard so far:
‘Team Members’ – 2/3
Rounding up 67% is not bad. 67% is a high C, almost a B, so not exceptional, but acceptable all the same. Two thirds is a majority vote, which seems to work for most governments. Also, 2/3 of our planet is covered by ocean which supports life as we know it, and apparently, depending on who you listen to we came from the ocean in the first place. So two thirds is ok. We would however prefer 100% (or even 80% will do) so if anyone who reads this is in contact with our other 1/3, please do get him to alert us as to his whereabouts and intended time of appearance in the Indian desert just east of the Pakistan border. Thanks.
‘Shelter’ – 9/10
We have purchased a tent (an unreal little find – lightweight, low admin – opens and folds up in mere seconds, and can be set up and packed away easily by a girl). Along with the tent, a blow up mattress, pump for said blow up mattress, inflatable pillows, and sleeping bags have also been procured.
Our first nights’ accommodation in Jaisalmer is booked (although we may now have an extra bed if anyone reading will be in Jaisalmer on Saturday night).
We have not booked accommodation in Delhi for Friday and Saturday night but aim to do so this evening. Will keep you posted.
‘Transport’ – 3.5/4
Flights from Delhi to Jodhpur, booked. Taxi from Jodhpur to Jaisalmer, not so much booked. Flights from Cochin to Delhi to make our return flight to Shanghai, booked. Tuk Tuk for the other 2500km, we’ve been assured it’ll be ready and waiting with our masterful original design delicately painted all over its exterior.
‘Gadgets and other techy stuff’ – 4/6
Awesome blog, awesome. Bling camera with HD video capability for easy quality uploads while on the road, obviously. Extra video recorder for ‘ShadCam’, to be purchased tomorrow. Indian sim for GPRS and connectivity on the road so as to update awesome blog daily, to be purchased in Delhi on Thursday. Ipod for the best Indian Roadtrip Soundtrack ever, just waiting to be unleashed on our Tuk. Extra battery to allow for said soundtrack to be heard booming across the west coast of India for the entirety of our journey, to be acquired in Delhi/Jodhpur, not sure I have the required command of Mandarin Chinese for explaining why I’m taking a 16 volt battery on a plane to India.
‘Navigation’ – 1.67/3
Lonely Planet India, check. Laminated map of India (so as to last longer than 3 days on the trip), to be acquired tomorrow. Compass, I am ridiculously good at reading the sun and the moon.
‘Team Kit’ – 10/10
Head to toe Zebra suits will no doubt start many conversations along the way, and should surely endear us to the locals when we’re looking for a patch of garden on which to spend the night.
‘Hipflask’ – 10/10
This is apparently the hipflask to end all hipflasks. Initially an oversight, we will no doubt be singing Shads praises when the time comes for a Bombay Sapphire and tonic on the pier in Mumbai!
So all things considered we’re looking good. Sort of. Maybe 67%...
Shad if you're reading please call us.
Tuesday 20 December 2011
Advice from a former 'runner'..
Ok this is a long one, but I'm sure you'll agree by the end of it, well worth the read!
So I mentioned before that we had got in touch with a friend of a friend who has done the race before. We decided to email her and see if she had any 'insider info' that would potentially make us more prepared for the trip than we would otherwise have been.
Below is the email thread, unedited, but for removal of email addresses and names etc..
(Our email to her with her answers)
Hey (X),
Main things is if you get an old tuk all the below apply. If not then you don’t mix the oil petrol manually, your tuk will hardly break down and you will easily finish. So its pot luck really! Some teams didn’t break down once! We of course, got the old tuk and missioned, but it would have been boring otherwise!!
At the time we were super stressed just because every day we failed to reach our target, and we could see us missing the finish (frustration!). No matter what we did she just broke ALL the time and we persevered until eventually we needed a kick start. But we did finish, and the only rule is that there are no rules so we put her on the train and gained about a day from that so that we could actually take in the sights and enjoy it! BUT looking back we loved it and I would defo do it again, now that you know what to expect.
Read below, any other questions let me know!
So I mentioned before that we had got in touch with a friend of a friend who has done the race before. We decided to email her and see if she had any 'insider info' that would potentially make us more prepared for the trip than we would otherwise have been.
Below is the email thread, unedited, but for removal of email addresses and names etc..
(Our email to her with her answers)
Hey (X),
Sorry it's taken us a while to get back to you, been super busy with admin this side..
Just wanted to find out one or two things regarding logistics and also facilities etc..
Main things is if you get an old tuk all the below apply. If not then you don’t mix the oil petrol manually, your tuk will hardly break down and you will easily finish. So its pot luck really! Some teams didn’t break down once! We of course, got the old tuk and missioned, but it would have been boring otherwise!!
At the time we were super stressed just because every day we failed to reach our target, and we could see us missing the finish (frustration!). No matter what we did she just broke ALL the time and we persevered until eventually we needed a kick start. But we did finish, and the only rule is that there are no rules so we put her on the train and gained about a day from that so that we could actually take in the sights and enjoy it! BUT looking back we loved it and I would defo do it again, now that you know what to expect.
Read below, any other questions let me know!
What would be the most important things to take - and what did you not take that you wished you had? (bearing in mind that we are a team of two guys and a girl)
You will need a bottle for spare petrol, you can buy that there. I think you need 30ml’s of oil for every 1ltre of petrol which was a mission to measure, buy loads of sachets in advance. The oil, if you get it wrong, messes with the engine, so need to get it right. Plus a funnel to fill on the side of the road if you (when you) run out! I would def take less luggage, you will be dirty and filthy all the way – deal with it. Each time we broke down there was so much to move around and arrange, less is better. Also make sure it is a back pack, easy to carry and you can tie (with water proofing – we were monsoon season!) on the room rather than squishing with it. Bring masking tape (that strong silver tape) for everything, its v handy when parts fall off, rip or you need to stick something down! Haha!! Also those elastic cable tie things help tie the luggage in place etc. People there are very kind. If you break down open the back and just sit by the tuk and wait. Someone will stop, they will stare and eventually someone will speak English. This may take a few hours, so just enjoy it ;) Have drinking water and cokes at all time, its hot on the side of the road! Anti bac is also helpful ;) we were two girls and one guy so that was our necessity! Wet wipes for dirty days with no shower ;)
You will need a bottle for spare petrol, you can buy that there. I think you need 30ml’s of oil for every 1ltre of petrol which was a mission to measure, buy loads of sachets in advance. The oil, if you get it wrong, messes with the engine, so need to get it right. Plus a funnel to fill on the side of the road if you (when you) run out! I would def take less luggage, you will be dirty and filthy all the way – deal with it. Each time we broke down there was so much to move around and arrange, less is better. Also make sure it is a back pack, easy to carry and you can tie (with water proofing – we were monsoon season!) on the room rather than squishing with it. Bring masking tape (that strong silver tape) for everything, its v handy when parts fall off, rip or you need to stick something down! Haha!! Also those elastic cable tie things help tie the luggage in place etc. People there are very kind. If you break down open the back and just sit by the tuk and wait. Someone will stop, they will stare and eventually someone will speak English. This may take a few hours, so just enjoy it ;) Have drinking water and cokes at all time, its hot on the side of the road! Anti bac is also helpful ;) we were two girls and one guy so that was our necessity! Wet wipes for dirty days with no shower ;)
What is most likely to go wrong with our tuk-tuk and what could we take along to prepare ourselves… if at all?
Argh, we had such a problem tuk that I don’t think you could REALLY prepare for it. Our first problem was that our wheel fell off… So I would check the nuts and bolts. Also, the tool kit they gave us has spanners and a spare spark plug. The spanner didn’t fit and the spark plug was the wrong size, so when they say it is terrible kit it REALLY is! So I would check that, and the spark plugs wear out quite quickly so take a few spare of those. There is also an out let pipe out the petrol tank that you may need to blow on if the petrol isn’t flowing (ours had this about 5 times a day) so learn where that is! A few teams bought loads of spares and didn’t use them… most areas have a mechanic who can fix but the 2 stroke tuks are discontinued so can sometimes be a mission to get spares! Because our tuk was bad we didn’t like driving in the dark but a few friends did about 25hr stints of driving to catch up, others drove all through the night to make the finish, loaded their tuk on a van etc. Oh, one thing I wanted was a headlight. Although it may come on it lights up NOTHING so I would suggest a stronger headlight. You may need a spare battery to hook this to? But that again depends on whether you get an old or new tuk!
Argh, we had such a problem tuk that I don’t think you could REALLY prepare for it. Our first problem was that our wheel fell off… So I would check the nuts and bolts. Also, the tool kit they gave us has spanners and a spare spark plug. The spanner didn’t fit and the spark plug was the wrong size, so when they say it is terrible kit it REALLY is! So I would check that, and the spark plugs wear out quite quickly so take a few spare of those. There is also an out let pipe out the petrol tank that you may need to blow on if the petrol isn’t flowing (ours had this about 5 times a day) so learn where that is! A few teams bought loads of spares and didn’t use them… most areas have a mechanic who can fix but the 2 stroke tuks are discontinued so can sometimes be a mission to get spares! Because our tuk was bad we didn’t like driving in the dark but a few friends did about 25hr stints of driving to catch up, others drove all through the night to make the finish, loaded their tuk on a van etc. Oh, one thing I wanted was a headlight. Although it may come on it lights up NOTHING so I would suggest a stronger headlight. You may need a spare battery to hook this to? But that again depends on whether you get an old or new tuk!
Where did you stay along the way?
We stayed where we broke down. Literally. Plan most of your stops each night, and just hope you get there. No need to book other than the start (obviously all 70 odd teams in one spot) but other than that just see where you are and use the rough guide or lonely planet for help. Sometimes the places we stayed weren’t in the tour guide/map so then you just HOPE someone speaks English and can take you. Some people were ‘taken in’ to sleep at people’s houses at night, but we stuck to hotels etc. A few nights we had amazing hotels (prob about £20 per night) other DODGE. Woke up with a cockroach in my bed one morning (£8 for 3 people per night) and (Y) got bed bugs (I think that was about £3 for all of us!). Depends on what you get!!
Did you need a tent? We have a tent and sleeping bags already...
Some guys took tents and slept in them. Personally, I needed a bed just to rest each night after the challenges we faced… maybe you can do it?
Is thinking we are going to shower daily a big ask?
Not at all - we had a shower every day. Might be cold, but bring on the cold showers, the North of India is heaving humid! BUT! If you are staying in a tent then that’s a problem. Toilets are MING-GING! Defo take tissues or a toilet roll – Necessity - as they will not have any. Toilets vary where you are. I used a locals house toilet where I pee’ed next to a pig sty (for true, there was a pig grunting outside my door!), or behind a one sided metal sheet on top of every other persons toilet trip, up banks in about 100 mosquitoes or standing above all sorts of stale bits below, or I borrowed a lovely family one which was clean except was really only a shower base. Hotels generally have a sitting loo, but not guaranteed. As I said, pot luck depending what you pay!!
We stayed where we broke down. Literally. Plan most of your stops each night, and just hope you get there. No need to book other than the start (obviously all 70 odd teams in one spot) but other than that just see where you are and use the rough guide or lonely planet for help. Sometimes the places we stayed weren’t in the tour guide/map so then you just HOPE someone speaks English and can take you. Some people were ‘taken in’ to sleep at people’s houses at night, but we stuck to hotels etc. A few nights we had amazing hotels (prob about £20 per night) other DODGE. Woke up with a cockroach in my bed one morning (£8 for 3 people per night) and (Y) got bed bugs (I think that was about £3 for all of us!). Depends on what you get!!
Did you need a tent? We have a tent and sleeping bags already...
Some guys took tents and slept in them. Personally, I needed a bed just to rest each night after the challenges we faced… maybe you can do it?
Is thinking we are going to shower daily a big ask?
Not at all - we had a shower every day. Might be cold, but bring on the cold showers, the North of India is heaving humid! BUT! If you are staying in a tent then that’s a problem. Toilets are MING-GING! Defo take tissues or a toilet roll – Necessity - as they will not have any. Toilets vary where you are. I used a locals house toilet where I pee’ed next to a pig sty (for true, there was a pig grunting outside my door!), or behind a one sided metal sheet on top of every other persons toilet trip, up banks in about 100 mosquitoes or standing above all sorts of stale bits below, or I borrowed a lovely family one which was clean except was really only a shower base. Hotels generally have a sitting loo, but not guaranteed. As I said, pot luck depending what you pay!!
Did you have a GPS and/or smart phone? How NB would you say theses are?..
I have a gps… if you have a Garmin you can borrow the card? We were 2 girls one guy and we had not planned route well at all, so was very NB. Roads are quite simple (they were in the north - simple but horrible massive pots holes etc, worse than you expect!) but communication is a little tough and finding hotels at night are a NIGHMARE in the cities, so it really made a big diff for us to plug it in and find one nearby!!! We were one of the few teams who had it, but if you use it you will have to have a spare battery that you hook it up to. Stereo is quite fun as the tuk is noisy and days are LONG!
I have a gps… if you have a Garmin you can borrow the card? We were 2 girls one guy and we had not planned route well at all, so was very NB. Roads are quite simple (they were in the north - simple but horrible massive pots holes etc, worse than you expect!) but communication is a little tough and finding hotels at night are a NIGHMARE in the cities, so it really made a big diff for us to plug it in and find one nearby!!! We were one of the few teams who had it, but if you use it you will have to have a spare battery that you hook it up to. Stereo is quite fun as the tuk is noisy and days are LONG!
How did you carry money? Did you have all your cash on you or were you able to draw in small towns? Presumably only with visa/mastercard?
Yes we carried cash at all times. Most hotels will take cards, but depending on where you breakdown it may not?!?! I would recommend carrying cash at all times! Be safer. We ran out a few times but someone between us always had.
Yes we carried cash at all times. Most hotels will take cards, but depending on where you breakdown it may not?!?! I would recommend carrying cash at all times! Be safer. We ran out a few times but someone between us always had.
Did you get sick?
I was fine until the last day (I had a coke from KFC with ice on the last day!) My one team mate had mild runs. Some guys were hospitalised (extreme!). Others couldn’t drive and slept for a few hours on the side of the road with hectic sweats etc. Just remember – no ice, no tap water to drink, no tap water for brushing teeth, no fruit or salad (it has been washed therefore = water).
I was fine until the last day (I had a coke from KFC with ice on the last day!) My one team mate had mild runs. Some guys were hospitalised (extreme!). Others couldn’t drive and slept for a few hours on the side of the road with hectic sweats etc. Just remember – no ice, no tap water to drink, no tap water for brushing teeth, no fruit or salad (it has been washed therefore = water).
What should we budget for petrol? Easy to get?
Petrol was easy to get. There are a good few stations along the way, but I would recommend carrying a 2 – 5 litre bottle with of spare petrol. We ran out a few times (leaks and stupidity) and that’s safer in case you need it at the last min. Also, most odometers didn’t work so it is quite tough to keep a gauge of how far you have travelling btwn stops ;) I cant tell you what we spent on petrol, but ours cost more than we thought it would! Considering most of the other stuff is cheap it is not bad. Alos, mechanics should charge about 100 Rupees to fix things. Some do it for free (if they like you) others charged us R30’s, other ripped us off and charged R2000. The dealership charged us about £1000 for full service and replacements. On that note, fixing is tough. We had a piece of sh1t and just couldn’t get a decent mechanic to do an overhaul. Most of the time they have no idea what you are saying and in India they like a cheap fix rather than a long term fix - which is not ideal!! Watch them else they will take their time and waste the day.
Petrol was easy to get. There are a good few stations along the way, but I would recommend carrying a 2 – 5 litre bottle with of spare petrol. We ran out a few times (leaks and stupidity) and that’s safer in case you need it at the last min. Also, most odometers didn’t work so it is quite tough to keep a gauge of how far you have travelling btwn stops ;) I cant tell you what we spent on petrol, but ours cost more than we thought it would! Considering most of the other stuff is cheap it is not bad. Alos, mechanics should charge about 100 Rupees to fix things. Some do it for free (if they like you) others charged us R30’s, other ripped us off and charged R2000. The dealership charged us about £1000 for full service and replacements. On that note, fixing is tough. We had a piece of sh1t and just couldn’t get a decent mechanic to do an overhaul. Most of the time they have no idea what you are saying and in India they like a cheap fix rather than a long term fix - which is not ideal!! Watch them else they will take their time and waste the day.
Did you finish? How long did it take you?
We finished… with a train journey to help ;) Our accelerator cable snapped 3 times and we just COULDN’T find a spare part and by the time we did we had lost 3 days right in the beginning. So we loaded the tuk on train and we sped ahead (was cheap and easy!). If we hadn’t of had that problem, it would have been fine. Don’t underestimate the distances either. Every day we broke down about 5 times a day. One day we lost 4th and 3rd gear so could only max speed of 20km per hour. And our petrol pipe blocked every 5 mins and we would break down. Not ideal. So factor in this trouble. But with two boys you should be fine. We finished a day early just to be ready for the finish party. One guy whose team mate wasn’t allowed back into India after Nepal (wrong visa) finished in about a week… would say do that as the finish line is boring alone ;)
We finished… with a train journey to help ;) Our accelerator cable snapped 3 times and we just COULDN’T find a spare part and by the time we did we had lost 3 days right in the beginning. So we loaded the tuk on train and we sped ahead (was cheap and easy!). If we hadn’t of had that problem, it would have been fine. Don’t underestimate the distances either. Every day we broke down about 5 times a day. One day we lost 4th and 3rd gear so could only max speed of 20km per hour. And our petrol pipe blocked every 5 mins and we would break down. Not ideal. So factor in this trouble. But with two boys you should be fine. We finished a day early just to be ready for the finish party. One guy whose team mate wasn’t allowed back into India after Nepal (wrong visa) finished in about a week… would say do that as the finish line is boring alone ;)
Thanks so much in advance!!
have put in my daily summary I sent out ;) Enjoy! Best of luck and hope its all you dreamed of! We loved it!
have put in my daily summary I sent out ;) Enjoy! Best of luck and hope its all you dreamed of! We loved it!
Day 1: We lost a wheel on day 1 (about 20km in!) and skidded across the road on 2 wheels.
The spanner in the toolkit they gave us didn’t fit the wheel… almost had to use teeth ;)
Drove through monsoon rains for about 2 hrs!
Day 2: Tuk was dead in the morning, managed to get going after an hour.
Stopped for a smoke break, wouldn’t start. Discovered a petrol leak. Stuck on side of road for 2 hrs.
Forced to sleep in a town where they had never seen white people before.
Knock on the door at 10pm, a whole pile of Indians with cameras wanting photos… we kindly declined (half asleep!)
In the room there was spiders, mozzies and even cockroaches in my bed.
Day 3: Gps got us lost, road we wanted to be on could be seen but just couldn’t get there.
Took a VERY long alternative route.
Broke down on bridge, fiddled with wires and got off again after half hour.
Broke down about 5 times… apparently tuk tuk is as lazy as me and needs a rest every so often, I can’t judge!
On a tiny road, massive trucks and pitch black and coming out of a huge pothole (while I was driving) accelerator cable snapped!
All electrics failed, no lights, no hazards! Trucks everywhere and was horrible!
Eventually towed in by a very kind man, slept in hotel that was a wh5re house we think….
Discovered bed bugs next morning… gross.
Day 4: Mechanic was fixing cable while drinking whiskey (should have alerted us!)
Got ripped off for the repair, got 10km and snapped again.
Stuck on side for road for two hours. No spare parts, eventually someone tied the two broken parts together (in a double knot just to be cautious!) and said it should be no problem! WHAT!
Had no option to drive like that and carried on.
Tuk v unhappy, lost 4th and 3rd gear, so could only drive at 20km per hr and she cut out every 10 mins, middle of nowhere, pitch black and v scary.
Eventually made it to our hotel, very dirty, exhausted and not happy with life!
Day 5: Took tuk to dealer and told them to remake her!
Arrived back at 4pm, took her for a test drive and she broke down 5 min out.
They had not changed the ‘tied’ cable. Doesn’t give us much faith in their service.
Big arguments as they didn’t have the spare parts, had to leave her there overnight…
Day 6: Decided to train her and we take a few days off.
Put her on a train to Delhi and we went to drink tea at Darjeeling.
Day 7, 8 and 9: went to Varanasi where we walked with the dead (bodies being burned right in front of us, v hectic).
Taxi driver explained why everyone laughed when I said my name was Lara – it sounds like I am saying ‘Hi I am semi er3ct’ in Hindi… from now on I am re named Julia…
Sunrise cruise on the river was amazing!
Got driving again, all seems great and then broke down on the way to Agra. Not a friendly crowd, police got involved and was v stressful.
Got back to hotel and cracked open the vodka!
Day 11: Taj Mahal was spectacular and was amazing at sunrise!
We had to find another mechanic and that tuk was dying! Had another service after the Taj and set off again… All looking good!
40km out, broke down again. Managed to fix ourselves. I think Ribs sabotaged it, wouldn’t want a day without breaking down, that would be boring!
Day 12-14: NO BREAKDOWNS!
Made it to the end and could relax in the pool with red wine every night! Now that’s my kind of holiday!
The spanner in the toolkit they gave us didn’t fit the wheel… almost had to use teeth ;)
Drove through monsoon rains for about 2 hrs!
Day 2: Tuk was dead in the morning, managed to get going after an hour.
Stopped for a smoke break, wouldn’t start. Discovered a petrol leak. Stuck on side of road for 2 hrs.
Forced to sleep in a town where they had never seen white people before.
Knock on the door at 10pm, a whole pile of Indians with cameras wanting photos… we kindly declined (half asleep!)
In the room there was spiders, mozzies and even cockroaches in my bed.
Day 3: Gps got us lost, road we wanted to be on could be seen but just couldn’t get there.
Took a VERY long alternative route.
Broke down on bridge, fiddled with wires and got off again after half hour.
Broke down about 5 times… apparently tuk tuk is as lazy as me and needs a rest every so often, I can’t judge!
On a tiny road, massive trucks and pitch black and coming out of a huge pothole (while I was driving) accelerator cable snapped!
All electrics failed, no lights, no hazards! Trucks everywhere and was horrible!
Eventually towed in by a very kind man, slept in hotel that was a wh5re house we think….
Discovered bed bugs next morning… gross.
Day 4: Mechanic was fixing cable while drinking whiskey (should have alerted us!)
Got ripped off for the repair, got 10km and snapped again.
Stuck on side for road for two hours. No spare parts, eventually someone tied the two broken parts together (in a double knot just to be cautious!) and said it should be no problem! WHAT!
Had no option to drive like that and carried on.
Tuk v unhappy, lost 4th and 3rd gear, so could only drive at 20km per hr and she cut out every 10 mins, middle of nowhere, pitch black and v scary.
Eventually made it to our hotel, very dirty, exhausted and not happy with life!
Day 5: Took tuk to dealer and told them to remake her!
Arrived back at 4pm, took her for a test drive and she broke down 5 min out.
They had not changed the ‘tied’ cable. Doesn’t give us much faith in their service.
Big arguments as they didn’t have the spare parts, had to leave her there overnight…
Day 6: Decided to train her and we take a few days off.
Put her on a train to Delhi and we went to drink tea at Darjeeling.
Day 7, 8 and 9: went to Varanasi where we walked with the dead (bodies being burned right in front of us, v hectic).
Taxi driver explained why everyone laughed when I said my name was Lara – it sounds like I am saying ‘Hi I am semi er3ct’ in Hindi… from now on I am re named Julia…
Sunrise cruise on the river was amazing!
Caught a boat to the fort with about 40 local me chewing on weed. Heavens opened and we got stuck in a MASSIVE downpour… We laughed our hearts out at the situation, we were drenched!! I think they found it funny because they were stoned!
Day 10: Fetched tuk from Old Delhi station (first tried New Delhi where they were completely confused! Oops), train was 15hrs late (can’t complain re TFL delays ever again!) Got driving again, all seems great and then broke down on the way to Agra. Not a friendly crowd, police got involved and was v stressful.
Got back to hotel and cracked open the vodka!
Day 11: Taj Mahal was spectacular and was amazing at sunrise!
We had to find another mechanic and that tuk was dying! Had another service after the Taj and set off again… All looking good!
40km out, broke down again. Managed to fix ourselves. I think Ribs sabotaged it, wouldn’t want a day without breaking down, that would be boring!
Day 12-14: NO BREAKDOWNS!
Made it to the end and could relax in the pool with red wine every night! Now that’s my kind of holiday!
I'm sure you'll agree that info is awesome!!
Watch this space... This is going to be interesting...
Friday 16 December 2011
Being South African...
So with 14 days until the start of the epic Rickshaw Run 2012, 2 out of 3 visas (and passports) are in the possession of their owners. The odd one out is me, of course. I notoriously leave most things until the last minute to organise, a habit that infuriates my girlfriend immensely, but I was quietly confident that I would be 100% ready for this trip before my good friend Chris Pedra, as he too tends to leave things until the eleventh hour to organise.
I received a text from him yesterday: ‘Visa sorted! Boom.’ I had completely neglected the fact that Ped travels on an Irish passport.
Now this is a bit concerning as there are only 10 more working days until I need to depart from Heathrow airport bound for New Dehli, leaving myself just 2 days for orientation before the ‘race’ begins. My passport arrived back from the German Embassy a week ago and I thought I could hold onto it for a few more days and visit the Berlin Christmas markets before I sent it to the Indian Embassy to apply for my Indian visa. After consulting the website, I thought it would take 5 days to be processed, 3 if I paid a little more. I was wrong. I strongly advise doing your homework thoroughly in these situations, and always reading the fine print on the websites. I am sure I am preaching to the converted as it is probably just me (and Ped) who applies for a visa 15 days before I need it. This trip has been booked for over a year after all.
Thank God I phoned the Indian embassy before I was scheduled to leave for Berlin (I much prefer, and find it more informative, speaking to people on the telephone) as I found out that one can only apply for a 3-5 day visa if you own a British passport or have been living in the UK for 2 years or more. I have only been here for 14 months so for the plebs like me it can take up to 15 working days. Needless to say, my sojourn to Berlin was cancelled.
I keep wondering why, if I was born and bred in Durban, which is home to the largest Indian population outside of India itself, do I even need a bloody visa but after a lot of stressful days, many trips into the heart of London to the Indian Embassy, lots of paperwork and sponsoring Vodafone I have been assured that my visa should have been processed and back in my possession before I need to leave. In the meantime, I have booked and paid for my flights, and am holding thumbs.
And after all, I have invested in a large hip flask and copious amounts of whiskey to keep the team warm at night and would prefer not to be consuming it on my own, in London.
Even though I have encountered endless hours of frustration, wasted umpteen hours in queues at many different Embassies and used innumerable ink cartridges printing form upon form to attest my identity, I would not substitute my Green Mamba (South African) passport, and heritage, for the world. I do look forward to getting back to The Republic in the near future...
We are all eagerly awaiting the start of this adventure together and again want to thank everyone enormously for their support and generosity in this endeavour.
Saturday 10 December 2011
At least we have the flask...
20 days to go until the kick off of the big race… It was over a year ago we applied for the mighty task of taking on the Indian sub-continent in a tuk-tuk, that’s 347 days to read up on what it takes to drive the equivalent of a lawn mower 2,500km over sand, city and desert… it’s 49 weekend’s worth of time to sit around and figure out the where and how of avoiding India’s ugly little cousins malaria and dysentery.. and 8,328 hours to consider the disclaimer we are required to sign which mentions fun consequences such as death, paralysis, loss, missing, prison..
Bearing this amount of time in mind, and I don’t think I’ve ever had this much time to prepare for anything in my life – one would think that team ‘Real Republicans’ would be a well oiled-engine-knowledge machine, vaccinated to the hilt and sporting fancy gadgets such as GPS’s and smart phones… one would think…
Somehow with all this time on our hands and months and months worth of banter we seem to have been as effective as moths drawn to a light bulb.. in fact our 1st team skype-off only actually took place last night (note: 20 days before kickoff) where Shad announced excitedly that although he had no idea where in Europe his passport currently is, nor has he looked at how to get an Indian visa – but he has bought a fancy hip flask intended to carry copious amounts of whisky to keep us warm at night!
Although last nights skype conference was a real reality check bringing to the fore the awareness that we’ve missed the boat for the vaccinations (a list as long as my arm) advised for travel to India, and other areas we may have completely overlooked… such as how on earth we are actually arriving in Jaisalmer after landing in Delhi – as apparently the airport has decided to close for a few months.. I feel this has not waived our (still) somewhat naïve excitement!
On a very positive note, in the short amount of time our donation website’s have been open our charities have already received collectively over R 15,000 (ZAR) – already above what the target was! So a mention and BIG thank you to all our friends, family and colleagues! Really really awesome to have had such a great response and we are hoping to keep it going and growing!
I hear too that there are waivers and bets (and a photo diary) for Shad and Ped’s weight loss over the course of the trip.. I will be happy to post these pics for anyone keen to wager.. I think the person to be in touch with on this is Jazz.. So get your bets in before Day 1 (January 1st!).
This weekend will be dedicate to getting ourselves together – noses in lonely planets, bums in decathlon trying out sleeping bags, and fingers on keys boards booking internal flights! Wish us luck…as these are the intentions… as they have been for the past umpteen months…
Friday 2 December 2011
4 weeks 'til showtime: Confident banter with a quietly nervous edge to it...
So this is getting real, really real. In the past couple days we've been working on our Rickshaw design, well when I say 'working' I mean attempting, with absolutely no assistance, to work out how photoshop actually works. As it turns out we're quick learners and after a couple of last minute panicked failures (official designs had to be submitted by Nov 30 latest), we came out with this:
'Real Republicans' front left
Real Republic flag back right
Now we just need to hope the kind fellow who'll actually be putting this little zebra-striped masterpiece together in Jaisalmer over the next 4 weeks, is as interested in design as we are capable!
We've also got to pay the deposit for our dusty steed today, so hoping all goes well with that, as our whole trip more than hinges on the fact that we'll have a Tuk-Tuk waiting for us in Jaisalmer when we arrive. In fact I'd go so far as to say it depends on that factor entirely.
So anyway, I was looking through a couple of photo's on a friend of a friends Facebook page this morning (at her suggestion - not stalking), and the adventure/mayhem we've signed up for really hit home for the first time. It's safe to say that this not going to be your average 'road-trip'. There will be little to no sleeping indoors, no driving at night, very little haute cuisine, apparently very little hygienic behavior whatsoever, a fair amount of toilet time (not necessarily in official 'toilets') and a whole lot more running Tuk-Tuk repairs than we've envisaged. In short our medical kit will be frequently utilised, our toolkit and 'small engine repair guide' sorely missed, and our patience and resilience frequently tested!
But in all it looks like exactly why we signed up in the first place! So still really fired up!
Stay tuned for next weeks update...
Now we just need to hope the kind fellow who'll actually be putting this little zebra-striped masterpiece together in Jaisalmer over the next 4 weeks, is as interested in design as we are capable!
We've also got to pay the deposit for our dusty steed today, so hoping all goes well with that, as our whole trip more than hinges on the fact that we'll have a Tuk-Tuk waiting for us in Jaisalmer when we arrive. In fact I'd go so far as to say it depends on that factor entirely.
So anyway, I was looking through a couple of photo's on a friend of a friends Facebook page this morning (at her suggestion - not stalking), and the adventure/mayhem we've signed up for really hit home for the first time. It's safe to say that this not going to be your average 'road-trip'. There will be little to no sleeping indoors, no driving at night, very little haute cuisine, apparently very little hygienic behavior whatsoever, a fair amount of toilet time (not necessarily in official 'toilets') and a whole lot more running Tuk-Tuk repairs than we've envisaged. In short our medical kit will be frequently utilised, our toolkit and 'small engine repair guide' sorely missed, and our patience and resilience frequently tested!
But in all it looks like exactly why we signed up in the first place! So still really fired up!
Stay tuned for next weeks update...
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