Curry on Rickshaw

We have some great footage of the repair job that the body shop did.  They were amazing.  I cannot work out how to combine the videos to here are the best three.

This photo shows where the motorbike hit the front lower right of the rickshaw. 

The support strut at the front bent causing the windscreen to pop out (on back seat).

Indicator and one of the add on lights broke too. 

The canopy was scuffed when we tipped over and scraped along the ground.

Picture of the inside of the cab. 

Having arrived in Darjeeling we decided to chill for a while. No more getting up early. No more 12 hour drives. No more mosquitos, as it was too cold i think. The hotel was excellent serving copious amounts of old school English food as well as plenty of curry. Tim had given up on the curry since New Year’s Day. Jim was still lapping it up. There was way too much food being served at the hotel though. It seemed our time was being ruled by the hotel food schedule so we decided to skip a few lunches and do stuff.

A ‘friendly’ footie match had been arranged between a local team and us rickshawers who had made it so far. Five or six rickshaws made the journey to the ’stadium’ at Ghoom and eventually the Calamity Crew turned up with the 2 footballs……the local one was like booting a bag of bricks. We ushered the local cow from the pitch…..well when i say pitch it was a rectangle of sand/dirt with weeds growing at the sides…and a swampy side area which was probably sewerage. The locals put the nets up and marked out the lines with a stick. We even had corner flags and linesmen.

We had 11 players all set to go and then the local team came out of their dressing room in their fine regalia. We were in trousers and hiking boots mainly, apart from Spencer and Will the hardcore footie players. It was flipping freezing up there and oxygen was low at 2000 odd metres. No sign of any oxygen tents either. Then we asked the local team where their other 4 players were. It was 7-a-side apparently, so we argued the case that we could have roll-on roll-off subs. Ninety minutes was a worrying prospect against players who looked fairly handy and in one case, very Brazilian. They ran rings around us in the first half. 6-0 at half time.

Time for a change of tactic and we made a storming comeback, ending up scoring 11 goals. Although they did score another 7, we gave them a good run for their money.

Of course we should have paid the ref a few hundred rupees (like the local team did). There were a few rule discrepencies and the score seemed to changed on a minute by minute basis along with the time left to play. There were a few cracking goals we caught on camera as well as goal celebrations. Flo aka Crouchy towered above the local side and put a few stormers in the net:

Jeff from the Shrimpers used to be a semi-professional goalkeeper. Although by his own admission that was some time ago. Still he came off his line (again) and scored:

We were getting so cocky at this point we even put the Americans up front. Nathan scored. (ok ok Jake and Nathan the Americans from the Rajasthan Raiders were pretty good at the old soccer):

And seconds before the whistle was called Florian put past the winning goal!

Well ok not exactly the winning goal but the chaps pulled it back to a respectable 13 - 11 to the home team. Everyone blamed the altitute, pitch, referee and each other. I think it was something to do with the fact we had never played football together and too many fags and beers over the past ten years. Well done the local team.

The spectators were great too, filling the (literally) mountain terraces with chants for both sides. I know i was wrecked at the end of it and managed to bust up my hand after a clash with their Argentinian keeper. I knew i would be aching for several days after having not played nearly 90 minutes of footie since being at school. I’m sure a lot of the other players were in similar states.

And the teams lined up for a photo at the end. Jeff from the Shrimpers coming out from Goal inappropriately again:

After all the carnage on the field we headed back in convoy to Darjeeling, trying to avoid the missiles thown from the rickshaw in front. The poor motorbike in the middle of the convoy managed to avoid them too. Water and brake fluid was the slick of choice! We were also passed by the Darjeeling Toy Train:

Back to the hotel to get washed and fed then out to the buzz bar where Jeff from the Shrimpers and Jake from the Rajasthan Raiders made some noise that annoyed the locals:

We left from Maldah and on were on the road for 6.30am. Not sure if we would make Darjeeling today based on the state of the roads up to Maldah. Over 300k on those roads would mean either a night drive or another day delayed.

As it turned out, the roads improved somewhat. The weather had not though. Thick fog and absolutely freezing. We had biscuits, chocolate and pepsi for the journey so we would have less rest stops. Had to use sleeping bag in back as knees were starting to seize up:

Progress was good and we set out sights on reaching Siliguri as least….Darjeeling is about 80km from there. As it turned out, we reached Siliguri by around 1pm so we decided to go for it to Darjeeling. After looking at our rather useless scale map we decided against the wiggly looking road and opted for the shorter straight looking one. Bad idea!

We took the NH31 and NH31A after Siliguri which turned out to be pretty bad with lots of traffic jams and potholes. Tim was followed by an Army truck that was constantly using its horn. Tim lost it:

That was pretty much level all the way at 200m altitude. We knew there were inclines to come to take us up another 1900m. We turned off the ‘highway’ on to a supposed ‘main road’…..well it was marked like that on the map. Major inclines! Had to run the rickshaw for at least 10km in first gear. Tim also had to jump out and push on some of the inclines as first gear at full throttle was not enough! Apparently the wiggly road that all others had taken so far was about 30km longer but you could take most of it using all gears. We had taken the supposed “impossible for rickshaw” route….but we made it. We thought the gearbox/clutch/engine was going to die on us so had to take breaks now and again. We stopped at one corner and chatted to a couple of locals, one of whom was responsible for the whole forest area there. They were very interested to hear about the rickshaw run and did a quick video interview of us. We told them there were 33 other rickshaws and we were surprised to hear that they had not seen any others yet…..now we know why.

After about 2 hours of running the rickshaw at full throttle in first gear, we levelled off somewhat at around 1900m….we knew that Darjereling was at 2100m and we hoped that there were no decents followed by more inclines.

We also had not refilled our jerry can so hoped we had enough fuel to get to Darjeeling. As the fuel line comes from the back of the tank i was also concerned that even if we had a third full tank, the fuel would all swill away from the fuel line in the tank when we were on the steep inclines and the engine might stall. Not good!

The locals were all bemused to see a little auto coming up these mental inclines with lights blazing. The 4×4 drivers were even more amused. Lots of laughs, smiles and waves. Great crack but flippin scary.

Starting to get dark by about 4 ish, especially as most of the drive was through forest. Lights were great and the final 30k only took about an hour. Passed a couple of rickshaws parked up just outside Darjeeling town (Calamity Crew and Dosa Boys). Got to Darjeeling town at 5.30pm in dark not having a clue where to go.

Asked some friendly locals where the most expensive hotel in town was. Bit of confusion with language barrier but we got the message across eventually. The 2 lads jumped in our rickshaw and proceeded to direct us through the town. Arrived at Windamere hotel to find 3 other rickshaw crews there (Wahe Wheels, Blunderbus and Punkah & Pelham). Picture taken the following day:

After sorting the locals with tips, arranging room and getting our steed parked up and unloaded, we headed straight to bar in all our dirt and glory. Had to settle for Indian fizz as no champagne. But it was wet, fizzy and alcoholic. Hotel is an old colonial place….coal fires in rooms….hot water bottles in beds….breakfast, afternoon tea, 5 course lunch and dinners included in price. Roast beef and yorkshire pud for dinner last night…..followed by the third course of various curries. Pukka! After sinking plenty of wine with dinner we retired for a good night’s kip. Before that though, we realised the fire had died down so i decided to ceremoniously burn my Stussy trousers which i had worn for the entire drive….there were holed and filthy….they gave a welcome bit of warmth to the room.

Taking it handy now and waiting for the rest of the teams to arrive. Not sure what place we came in…possibly top 10. We only know of 7 teams that have made it so far, so maybe we were 8th in. Update: We forgot that The Shrimpers were also in before us and the German team made it before us by about half an hour….impressive as they had 4 people in their rickshaw and a shed load of luggage on the roof rack they had put in. So we came in 10th.

Respectable placing considering we lost a day at police station and rickshaw repair shop after accident, lost 4 hours tooling around Chennai and didn’t have the bottle to do any major night driving.

Up for a 7am start but again had to wait for hotel staff to arrive and unlock the gates. The engine has been back firing and sounds like the exhaust has blown. So the delay gave us time to try to tune the engine. Fiddled with the idle speed and air mix.

It is really cold in the mornings now. Both of us have multiple layers and hats on now. Biscuits and coke for breakfast as usual. Tim’s guts still bad.

Engine getting worse the further we drive. Sounds like exhaust has dropped off. We decide to stop and take a better look. When we had opened the engine bad door we noticed a hole the size of a 1p coin in the plastic casing over the head. The head gasket is blowing. Bugger!

The engine was able to run so we limped to next large town about 30km on. Luckly we found a mechanic (he had lots of engine bits outside his shop/hut). He took the head off and the head gasket had a split in it.

We gave him some petrol so he could get his scooter going. He went off up the road and came back 15 mins later with new gasket! The new gasket was fitted and engine started and sounded sweet. One hour and 150R ($3) to fix. Bargain.

While stopped Leith’s team (Ben and James) overtook but came back for chat. We exchanged war stories. Their rickshaw’s bolts fell off on day two so they had to get it put back together. They had similar problems with petrol mixing that we had had earlier. They stayed while fixing rickshaw and we set off in convoy. They pulled ahead when we had to make a quick stop.

We caught them up at a massive traffic jam caused by a diversion away from failing bridge. Buses and cars seem to try to overtake lorries at jams and so create even more chaos.

Traffic police allowed us over the failing bridge to avoid the jam. We took the opportunity to run a drag race with Leith’s team. They won as Jim missed a gear.

We passed over the Ganges on a very long and impressive bridge. Took some pictures as there was another jam but we were stopped by security forces…..well we didn’t see the sign saying ‘NO PHOTOGRAPHY’. They were quite stern but we deleted the pictures, shook their hands and carried on. They are very protective of their bridges. Well I suppose it may be a strategic one for bringing the curry supplies across. We wondered if it would be viewable on Google Earth and low and behold there is very little detail, but at least we found it. Check out the following Lat and Long coords 24°48′21.48″N 87°55′55.22″E
At 3pm and had only covered 200km as the roads were really bad. Worst yet. The roads were just pot hole after pot hole. We had to navigate around them but still have to ride the smaller ones. Our arms were aching from holding the handle bars so hard and arses sore from all the bumps. We also needed cash for petrol, food and hotels.

We decided to stop in Maldah and found cash. We also decided not to risk going to next town as it was 80km further and if the roads were as bad then we would be driving at night which is cold and dangerous. We had seen lots of accidents on today’s 200km stretch. The lorries are driving too fast over the bumps and lose control. Worst was a full petrol tanker upside down at the bottom of an embankment that had been finally stopped by a tree!

We found a basic hotel at 350R and they allowed us to park the rickshaw below the hotel for safety. Yet another cold shower and couple of beers. Oh for some hot water. Because we cut our driving day short we had time to wander. We went around the English Bazarre which was interesting. Various sellers of veg, rice, pulses, clothing, anything really. The town has nice feel to it.

Unfortunately we had to take an emergency rickshaw back to the hotel due to Tim’s guts. It was a pedal rickshaw and the poor chap really struggled with two fat b***ards in the back.

We ate in the hotel for safety (proximity to bog). Food pretty good although they only did curry. Oh for some cow. Another fairly early night as we did not know the state of the roads the following day. However, there was some kind of outdoor event which ran until 4am so not much sleep.

Up at dawn again.  Today we had no specific target except to get as far as possible and stop at a major town. We were locked in the hotel until we could awaken the hotel staff to let us out.

Biscuits and coke for breakfast again.  The first 25km were excellent averaging 60kmh followed by three hours at 10kmh over nightmare roads. Worst yet.

It is really quite chilly in the morning when travelling at speed.  No doors on rickshaw.  Slightly better for the driver as the windscreen offers some protection.  Jim has got his puffa jacket out.

We made it to West Bengal which is in the same state as Darjeeling.  There are very few cars and no rickshaws on the road.  West Bengal seems quite poor.  Lots of water carrying and basic survival stuff.

Jim got the rickshaw stuck in some sand while Tim was trying to film him.

Had to dig it out but got through it second attempt.

We were stopped at a friendly police checkpoint.  Just stopped us for chat and some of Jim’s fags.

We ran over lizard accidentaly.  Roadkill count now 1 lizzard, 1 snake and 1 motorbike.  Jim also insists in running over all the dead dog corpses so we have a high count of them too.

Lots of railway crossings which are pretty rough on the rickshaw and they insist on putting ramps before and after them too:

We have become used to not having to pay tolls for 3 wheelers but found out up North they charge.  We had to go back to pay a toll.

It was a long day driving and getting dark as we pull into Suri which was the most major town we could reach before nightfall.  The rickshaw engine was back firing and now sounds like the exhaust has failed.  Also it will not idle properly so we have to rev it to keep it going.

We cannot find anyone who understands our requirement of a hotel.  Getting stressed as rickshaw difficult to drive around town when not idling properly.  Jim also decided to argue with a bus in narrow street.  Jim lost and had to back up!

Eventually we cut our losses and went back to a roadside hotel we had seen earlier. The rooms were the worst yet.  They had never been cleaned and generally disgusting.  Various body parts and excretions from the previous occupant(s) were left. A very quick cold shower and to the restaurant for beer and food.

Went past restaurant and looked in which was a mistake.  Do they clean anything in this country?  Beers and food good although they played ‘I’m a Barbie Girl’ on repeat loudly throughout. Early night (about 9pm).