Days 5 - 7: The first days on the road

Although we got up way too early in the morning we were a bit late again and so we had to hurry in order to be on time for the photo shooting and the  official start of the run. We ate our usual omlette breakfast and then we took a rickshaw taxi to the starting line. Before the start we had to think about the best way to store all our luggage in our little ride. Fortunately for us, the rickshaw had a roof rack that we used for the hiking backpacks – against every good advice of the guys from the Adventurists.

Shortly after we had managed to store all of our stuff the Rickshaw Run finally started. More than 60 rickshaws chugged their way towards an epic adventure. For the next two weeks all of us had only two goals: to drive the 2500 km to Chochin with the rickshaw in one piece – and to experience the adventure of our lifetime.

Since we were not able to get all the desired add-ons for the rickshaw in the past two days, we had to go back to the city for shoping before really turning south towards Kerala. First on our list of things we still had to buy were add-ons that would protect us and our luggage from the rain (that would hit us sooner or later anyway). Fortunately, we found someone who could briefly make us a side panels for the rickshaw and somebody else who sold us some foliage to cover our backbacks on the top.

The first few hundred kilometers were pretty easy to drive because most of time the road was more or less nicely tarred. But after about one hour the engine made some strange noises and soon just stopped working. At first sight, we thought that we had our first breakdown. Then we decided to check the fuel tank - it turned out that it was completely empty. With a rickshaw this could always happen because there is no fuel meter to check the fuel in the tank while driving. So we were pretty relieved and after refilling the fuel we could continue.

Radjastan is a very dry country with some desert-like environments and even sand dunes besides the road. It also has some „Middle East flair“ which isn’t really surprising since the landscape is similar and a lot of people there are Muslims with an at least similar culture and similar habits in the widest sense. Most people we met on the road were pretty happy to see us and they always greeted us with a smile on their lips. It turned out that we really were some kind of rockstars for many people who likely hadn’t seen any foreigner before or at least no foreigner driving a broadly colored rickshaw. As soon as we stopped anyway we were surrounded by a bunch of local people in no time. Their most popular questions were from which country we came, to which location we were driving and if we really drove the rickshaw ourselves. They also had some strange fascination for German money and a lot of them asked to see German bills and coins. But the biggest priority for them were always making a selfie with us crazy Rickshaw Runners. Often it seems that only by allowing them to take a picture with us we made them more than happy which was quite a rewarding experience.

Our way south was soon disturbed by another „incident“. Somehow our RIckshaw got stuck in a dune off the road. Well, that’s of course not the whole story. Rob lost control of the rickshaw during a short moment of lacking concentration. We had luck that nothing was seriously damaged and that there were a lot of local people around who were willing to help us getting the ride back on the road. With joined forces we pushed the RIckshaw back and continued the run.

Our goal for the day was to get to Senchore but because we startet so late and experienced a few problems on the road we had more and more doubts whether we would reach this city before sunset. We then met another team of the Rickshaw Run on the road. They told us that they would stay in a small town between Barmer and Senchore for the night and we decided to join them. Since this town was so small and it was already pretty late we stopped at the first hotel we saw – which turned out to be a pretty questionable decision in the longer run because we ended up in a very small room with only two beds and an incredible small bathroom – Indian toilet and no real shower included. On top of that, Rob had to rest on a camping matt just between the two beds. But at least we had a good time at dinner with the other Rickshaw Run team (a girl and two guys from Brussels) and even a second team that arrived after us (three guys from North Dakota).

The next day we started early with the goal to reach Ahmedabad. But different to the day before we had decided to not only stay on the main road but to also took some smaller roads in order to see more of the countryside and to have a better insight into the daily life of the local people around. It was pretty fun to drive on these smaller roads with less traffic.

While taking our usual break after one hour of driving – it was a strong recommendation of the guys from the Adventurists in order to get the engine cool down – we even met some local farmer who invited us to visit their farm and to have a brief conversation with them. Rob and Micha gladly accepted and followed the farmers to their house where they were introduced to the family and where they got a delicious Masala Chai tea. Max had to stay with the rickshaw but we all agreed that next time another one would take over guarding duty.

While cruising through the countryside was awesome it also took a lot of time and so we acknowleged that getting to Ahmedabad wouldn’t really be possible that day. We decided that we try to get at least to Mesana, a bigger city on the way. Sadly, we didn’t get there before sunset and so we had to drive at night for the first time. And wow, that was quite an experience. It seems like there is only high beam mode in India and trucks and busses have an even crazier driving style at night than during daylight. On top of that, the rickshawˋs original light just sucks and you can hardly see anthing. We were intelligent enough though to install additional lights we brought with us from Germany. And boy, with these lights we quickly became king of the street. Our two 48 watts LED beams could be used as normal light but even more effective as light honk in order to warn other vehicles that there is something on the road – something that looks a lot bigger and nastier than it actually was. In the end, we got to an hotel in Mehsana in one piece and the hotel even turned out to be pretty decent, at least for Indian levels. So we enjoyed a comparably comfy night (although all three of us had a Deli belly…)

Day three on the road started a bit later than the two days before. The ride already seemed to tear us down a bit and so decided to stay in bed a little longer. Our goal for the day was reaching Vadodara, a bigger city to the south. It was only about 200 kms away but we decided to set a less ambitient but more reachable goal. We took the highway and made quite some kilometers until a local rickshaw driver wanted us to stop for whatever reason. We decided against it which seemed to piss him off pretty badly. That was the start of an hour-long sequence of him driving shortly before, behind and besides us, always trying to convince us to stop the vehicle. The guy looked and behaved pretty aggressively and so we didn’t follow and just continued driving. It was a weird situation since the guy also seemed to understand no English at all. Finally, after more than an hour, he gave up and we stopped at a gas station where we met another Rickshaw Run team. We also checked our ride and we noticed that a small part of our front wheel wasn’t right. We dedided to get it fixed as soon as possible and so we stopped at the next local repair shop. It only took them five minutes until we were on the road again. We also used the stop to check on our wheels‘ air pressure.

While driving through the megacity Ahmedabad – the fifth biggest city in India with more than six million inhabitants – we met some young guys who wanted to guide us to their local temple. After a short discussion we agreed and followed them. We got to a big Hindu temple with a lot of people around. It turned out that the 15th of August is the Indian national holiday which means that everybody was celebrating and visiting the local temples. It was quite an exerience to visit this place but we soon had to get on the road again so after about half an hour we said goodbye to our guides and turned back to Vadodara.

We made quite some good progress and decided to even drive to Rajpipla, a small town. We got there because another team recommended it. There should be some nice waterfalls and a wildlife sanctuary with exotic animals like leopards. Again, we only reached our goal at night only to find out that the hotel we looked up on the internet before was way too expensive for us. So we searched another hotel by just driving through the city and stopped at the first place we saw. It wasn’t that cheap but pretty decent so we decided to stay there. There was also another team already there but we missed them because we got there so late. So we managed to stay alive for another day and we were eager to go on the road to Cochin again – after some well deserved rest. Surprisingly, no rain shower had hit us until then – but we feared that it might hit us even harder once we get to Goa or Kerala. Well, we had to wait and see.