jam25mack

Driving in India is..... interesting! I did the Rickshaw run a few years ago driving an auto rickshaw from Rajestan to Kerala, so approx 3000-3500Km. We drove from 8am until 5pm with several stops daily. Driving during the day was fine for the most part, certainly nothing more mental than what you see here, however, driving at night is a complete no no! We did it one evening for a few hours and it was far from being a pleasant experience!

As for the car ownership numbers in India, I agree the number is low but these folk still have to get around somehow and most of the time this is in overcrowded poorly maintained buses and you see lots of bus crashes!

Bipat

What was the purpose of that remark?
Yes, we have one 'helper' who cleans--she has been employed by various family members for about 40 years--from a very poor family and now a 'drinking' husband she very much needs the money.

Bipat

Read about the Rickshaw run with great interest, I tried to follow the journey on-line. I wondered about the thoughts about the places you passed through but I suppose there wasn't time to look around etc. Are you doing it again?

Buses are infinitely better than they used to be--we used to travel overnight Mumbai to Karnataka in 70s and 80s (airfares expensive in those days for us and children) ---look back in horror at the discomfort for sleeping!--Now the Volvo buses have reclining seats etc.
One tip --never stand too near a stationary long distance bus, someone is bound to be sick out of a window!

jam25mack

As there is no 'route' to speak of, just a start and a finish, the teams (80 when I did it) all head off and generally get pretty lost. We ended up on the road to the Pakistan border on day one. Wasted 2hrs E/W in the wrong direction. That's half the fun of it though. We tried to use maps, road signs and my pretty average Hindi rather than GPS and didn't really plan where were going each day until the night before. Saw lots of small villages, nasty industrial towns, awesome views in the mountains, Hippys and too many Russians in Goa and then the awesome coast on the way into Kerala.

Had a wicked time.

Would I do it again. Hell yeah, if I had the leave available. I'd also like to do the Mongol Rally that's run by the same folk tho. Too much to do and to little leave! Think I need to retire!

Rubydo

This sounds very cool, never heard of it before. If you have nowhere in particular to be then getting lost or driving in the wrong direction means nothing, like u say all part of the fun.
I'd love to do something like this

jam25mack

It was quality! Have a look at The Adventurists

Rubydo

Looks like fun, did u do it in like a convoy? Just u in the rickshaw? I'm not sure I'd manage by myself ha. Bit late now for April, how long does it go on for?

jam25mack

Nah, no convoy, although we did have the phone numbers of other teams and traveled with one or two when we met up on the road and sometimes booked into the same hotels etc. The thing is auto rickshaws are glorified lawn mowers and they break down quite a lot so everyone travels at a different pace. Some days you see quite a few teams, others you see no one at all.

I did it with 2 mates from the UK. The teams are generally between 2 and 4 folk. 3 is best in terms of space and amount of time spent driving.

In terms of time, the start and finish parties are 14 nights apart. We had a wicked Rik (Jesabelle) which didn't break down once (unheard of apparently) so we made good time and did the whole thing in 10 days, even with 3 nights spent on the lash in Goa. We came 4th out of the 80 teams. If we hadn't stopped in Goa we would have smashed the record by a day or two, but wheres the fun in that!

I would definitely recommend it. There were quite a few all girl teams, and they generally travelled together or tagged along with everyone else. It's a really friendly event and everyone helps each other out. Its very unserious!

Bahtatboy

I lived in Riyadh 30 years ago. Allegedly / apparently the RTA death rate was higher than the birth rate. Or it might just have been wishful thinking on the part of some...

Does Suicide Road still exist in Riyadh?

jam25mack

Pic 1 is Jesabelle in the middle of a market in Jaisalmer in Rajastan and the Pic 2 is the day before the start at Jaisalmer Palace. Everyone is learning to drive the Riks and heading out to get them pimped up.

Rubydo

Definitely sounds like something I'd be up for, especially the Goa part
I'd have to do it with a few people tho and not on my lonesome