Day 6 - Kasa to Mumbai

Having reached out destination the night before a lot closer to Mumbai than originally thought, we were in high spirits for what should be only a brief 2 hour driving stint to Mumbai. Unfortunately for us (or fortunately as we'd headed off early) the maps and compass cannot warn you against the traffic in small towns, and sure enough there isn't a smooth glide into Mumbai - you have to pass through a one alleyed town with hundreds and hundreds of tuks, taxi, cows and pedestrians so although only a couple of km's outside of Mumbai out last stretch took us over an hour.

We decided to stay on the outskirts of Mumbai as it is notoriously known for it's traffic. We also dedcided to splash out and stay in some bling accomodation - hot hot shower and WESTERN breakfast included!
After 3 x life changing showers and a few Bombay Sapphires and tonic water, 3 spritely and eager zouhh Africans emerged and headed off to the city. However only moments into the train journey and causulty no 2. was struck! Alex with head lollying out of said train and slowly draining white.

Arrival in Mumbai city sent us looking for some cold coke and something western to put in her stomach. Our stroll took us along marine drive to see the skyline of Mumbai, through (and joined in with) a game of local side highway cricket and into the bustling city, finding a macci d's and thinking a little burger would be great to settle the tummy we pulled in. After repeated attempts by Shad and Ped to explain that all we wanted was a little burger, no not the little one like the kiddies one and loads of head wiggling, pointing and confusion on both parts did we finally realise that mac d's in India may as well be KFC - no beef. Unfortunately the chicken patty didn't go dwn so well with Al and after briefly checking out Leopolds Cafe (from Shantaram), Al again was painting the streets of Mumbai. Sent home and safely tucked in the boys set out to paint the town in a different manner.

Hangin out in Leopolds... A very cool place but filled with tourists and the prices far more exorbetant than what we had become accustomed to in India. Ped and Shad ordered 1 tower (3l of beer) for about £15 after which we thought we would try and find somewhere more authentic to spend the rest of our night. We got chatting to a local who recognised the Rickshaw Run buffs we were both wearing and ordered a second tower. The second went down much smoother than than the first, and we hardly noticed the third and fourth being ordered.. With the knowledge that our daintier other third was safely tucked in, we entertained a mission to find the next tourist trap, but thought better of it to retire back to the residence for a 2am club sandwich and a nap in the lobby..

Day 5 - Vadodara to Kasa, Maharastra, not a dry state - let it rain! (320km)

Post alarm wake-up we are waiting eagerly in the foyer to hand over the keys and explain our strife. At 8am said mechanic rolls in, lends an ear to our troubles, wiggles his head, and ensures us he'll be done and back with us at 9.30 latest (lie no. 2). After some much needed Internet time and blog posting we were back in the foyer fully packed and ready to load up our pack horse for the open road to Surat. At 9.30 we call and he says he'll be there at 9.45 (you guessed it - no. 3).. The 10am call ends slightlymore positively with the news that he is in the tuk and on the way, 15min (no. 4), 10.20 - 15min (no. 5), 10.40 - 5min (no. 6)... At 11am some of the team had to think of Nando's 'last dictators' ad so as not to throttle the bugger when he walked through the door..

After a bill of about 150zar and realising Team 'Like a G6' weren't getting their tuk back until '2pm', we hardened up, packed our old girl up, and set to getting out of the chaos and back on the NH8 to Surat..

To our delight the road was great if not very boring, and we ended up getting to a roadside hotel well further than our initial goal. No hot shower, but beds, great food, and.. Beer!!

Shad's our first casualty healthwise, but he assures us he's seen way worse and he'll be right as rain by Mumbai.

Day 4 - Udaipur to Vadodara (380km)

The start of the least enjoyable part of the trip thus far... Leaving Udaipur in high spirits after a great nights sleep (interrupted only when Shad started screaming and shot out of bed claiming there was a bird flying around 'inside' his matress at around 3am), hot shower (first one to date), a chance meeting with a family from Cape Town over dinner last night, and the most aesthetically pleasant surrounds since the Old Fort, we had reason to think someone was looking out for the Zebra clan..

Gettin out of Udaipur was interesting in itself, with a maze of tiny little alleyways we almost came unstuck (both physically - to our bumper and rear right wheel on separate occasions - and mentally as our compass wasn't picking up a good read due to lack of daylight!)

Once out of the maze we had a decision to make - a literal fork in the road - the road advised, or the road less/never heard of.. Having assembled from/via far and wide for this race, the Real Republican thrill seekers that we are decided on the latter...

Seeing that we covered 380km one might think we achieved all our goals for the day, but alas, we didn't come close.. A couple stops for some DIY patchwork to our deafening exhuast had us feeling we were handier than originally claimed, but losing the clutch brought us right back down to earth.. 200km worth of gear changes sans clutch had us limping into  Vadodara through some of the most chaotic traffic and mayhem we've seen, desperately searching the LP for sleeping/eating/DRINKING suggestions.. Evidently Gujarat (the state we're in) is a dry state, so that saw to our last desire. The second hotel we got to would have us, and they had a mechanic who may be able to come before the close of play, and we found some dinner. Negativity aside the dinner was great - as has been the case throughout - we had a 'Thali' which is basically a big metal dish with a whole lot of little dishes around it full of all manner of amazing sweets, savouries, curries, and sambols. All was mixed with rice in the middle of the big dish and eaten by our threesome with the enthusiasm of a pack of wild dogs tucking into a straggler.. Washed down with a lassi we can highly recommend this experience!

Bad news when we got to the hotel is that the mechanic could only come in the morning, but ensured us he'll be there at 7am (lie no. 1). Off to bed and watched some cricket highlights, Jaques doing well, Clarke doing better. Come on South Africa! Come on India! 

Day 3 Sorohi to Udaipur (180km)

This drive is relatively quick and painless (if you aren't one of the hundreds of flat dogs) and if you keep your eyes open to watch out for trucks and tractors cruising the wrong way down the oneway highway..Fact!

Shortly before the maze of exits that lead or don't lead to Udaipur we lose Tuk Norris as they don't see us waiting ahead of them jumping up and down in - yes Kev, we're still in our Zebra suits.

If you read the Lonely Planet section on Udaipur it is littered with words such as "romantic", "whimsical", "idyllic" and "the best setting in India" - we were sceptical.. Our path into this mythically beautiful city took us through rice paddi's, gogo's vegie patch and numerous backyards.. still not convinced.. After fighting our way through some winding streets dodging cows, dogs and the occaisional peacock and yelling the name of the Lake to any local within earshot we followed their pointing and animated Hindi gestures to Lake Pichola.. And finally, the India we were looking for - an absolute beaut of a city. Built like Venice with buildings onto the water and magnificent intricate temple after temple and palace islands in the centre of the lake.  It literally smells like incense and there are camels and cows in the roads, and many a smiling shop keeper welcoming you in to look at their cashmere, silks, saree's and leathers.  This is absolutely fantastic.  We find a restaurant with a flat bed set out overlooking the lake in the sun, and have an incredible meal - which finally includes some lamb and chicken..  After a snooze on the flat bed we find ourselves a place to stay and end up having an interview with the National Newspaper Hindustan Times - which they promise to send us a copy of when it comes out.

Drinks on the waters edge, looking out on the City Palace and another superb meal for dinner..

Our Tuk survives a rather rabid attack by local street children..

Best day so far..

Day 2 Barmer to Sirohi (310 km)

Again definately not one in the tourists guide books - and almost not even on the map..

Slow start as a few members of Tuk Norris are rather ill - Mike kept us up all night with all manner of noises rarely heard before (even in Shad's line of work), Real Republicans still looking strong for now..

Some great scenery - the 1st day was very flat and very dry as we emerged from the desert, a lot greener now with some mountains in the distance.

Currently we are working off one meal a day as we have a lot of mileage to cover, so those betting on weight loss may well be seeing a hefty bill come the end.

The cows are unreal - literally chilling on freeways and marching down main streets.

We find a small town half way through the day and decide to give Zebra a short rest and grab a cup of chai tea.  Within minutes we are surrounded by a crowd 8 deep of eager faces and beatlenut stained grins - all heads inside the tuk having a good old look around. After repetitive tail pulling, we deicide it's time to move on before we start a riot by getting any more towns folk interested in the Zebra clad trio and their wobbly steed.

Again we arrive late to the one donkey town of Sirohi. Will minimal light and minimal local English, after being refused from what l;ater turns out to be Government accomodation we stumble upon Khan's guest house - more or less another building site.  Hot water is promised in buckets for showers..

Dinner is fantastic, still no meat (South Africans growing weary).  Beer is shipped in by scooter after much enthusiasm and thirsty gestures by all to convey immediate importance and urgency.

1:45 am - Shad stumbles into the room.

"That was one of the best nights of my life!" Myself and Dave stayed up partying with some of the locals. The beer that we were drinking (as mentioned before) was Haywards 5000 and is a wopping 8% alcohol volume. Needless to say the hangover was pretty severe the next morning. Communication was purely non-verbal, and very entertaining as the locals could not speak a word of english. The mood had been festive most of the night but when the owner of Khans guest house retired for the evening the rest of the staff really let loose. Out came the brandy (which was being drunk very stiff and mixed only with water), some other clear spirit which I am convinced should be illegal and the drugs. In Rajasthan, beetle nuts and 'bang' are apparently legal and can be bought from any local shop. 'Bang' had a remarkably similar appearance to hashish which is marijuana resin back home, which the last time I checked was certainly illegal, and both are supposed to give you a natural high. I was not brave enough to try but one of the locals who they called Danger Man, and who was the smallest and obviously at the bottom of the pecking order in this community was INSTRUCTED to take these drugs. After he had taken 2 or 3 hits he was buzzing! He was then instructed to do all sorts of crazy stuff which included opening beer bottles with his eye sockets and running across a very busy highway to fetch firewood when the fire was dying. The night ended with Hindi dancing which I am not very good at and head massages. The head massages were a little creepy but all the objection in the world couldn't make these guys stop. The next morning Danger Man had promised us hot water at 7am but the water obviously did not arrive and this strange little (more than likely comatose from the gross overdose of 'legal' hash) man could not be roused! I am not suprised.

Day 1 - Jaisalmer to Barmer (160km out of Jaisalmer, don't look for it in the 30th anniversary edition of the Lonely Planet India, it's not there)

The race start was entertaining in itself, with team Real Republicans receiving cheers from other teams for being the absolute last team to register.. it may too have been the Zebra onesys - thanks Kev!

After a sending off from the mighty Rajastan Maharaja it was full steam ahead for 60-something tuk tuks... minus us.. being the only team not to have had a driving lesson and crash course on how the tuk works, as the horn blew, starting in the middle of the pack, we watched as a multitude of tuks passed us by.. Eventually figuring out that our hand brake was on! Once the tiny black lever had been dropped we managed to sputter on and in doing so made up some time on at least 3 tuks that had broken down between 10 - 100m outside the starting gates.

Not too many hick ups on the 1st day in terms of engine problems just the minor detour to the Pakistani border which fortunately didn't last too long after a few observant and helpful Indians waved frantically at us to turn around immediately, after realising that a Zebra clad trio was certainly not looking to hedge their bets at the Pakistani border post.

Arriving just before dark in Barmer (out tuk not having more headlight power than a glow worm) we didnt have much time to weigh up accomodation options, 1st place was Rayan Palace - not much of a Palace at all.. Noting a few other boldly decorated tuks we decided to pull in.  The "Palace" wasn't quite finished and so our room was little more than a building site - however team spirit is still high so we could handle.

Mike, Luce and Dave (Tuk Norris) joined us and off we set for some local fair, still no meat but plenty Haywoods.. We seem to be in vegetarian counrty for now but at least they have beer.

Day 0 - Delhi to to Jaisalmer - Team Assembly

An early starts for a 10am flight - 3hr delay meant we only got to Jodhpur after 2 pm, and after an 80km/h max speed taxi drive... 5 hrs later we rolled up to the foot of the old fort amid rumours that Shad's airport pickup wasn't going to plan back in Jodhpur.. The aiport was closing aas all the days flights had arrived and the "nic ROgers' sign weilding driver was being kivked out of the car park as he patiently attempted to wait for his cargo..

Obviously true to form 2 hrs later Shad came flying round an ancient corner of the Fort and almost ran us over in what was to be the first of many near misses in a tuk tuk for this threesome.

So we'd finally managed to meet up, and share a couple of room temperature Kingfishers on our balcony before heading over to the Rickshaw Run Base Camp for the New Years Eve shindig.  After meeting up with Mike, Luce and Dave, we were shown to the yard where we first laid eyes on our hopefully trusty steed - and waht a beauty she was!

A couple of fireworks, some hugs and kisses, and a whole lot of G&T's, Kingfishers, and Haywoods 5000's later we retired back to the Fort for a good nights sleep and an early start in the morning..