30th December: Day 3

Route: Trichy - Pondicherry - Mamallapuram
More crazy Indian driving today to the ex french coastal town of Pondi - where we had lunch in a french restaurant....and celebrated travelling "coast-to-coast" in a Rickshaw. Finished the day in a sea-side resort - in a bar - watching Charlton play football - and listening to Pink Floyd played on a Hammond Organ.

29th December: Day 2

Woke up at 6am to a freezing morning (not really what we were expecting in South India!) Started our drive down from the mountains - but after 30 minutes Liam (the camera man spending the first bit of the trip with us) realised that he'd left his TV camera in our dormitory and had to go back - so we went for breakfast. The rest of the morning was spent driving through tea plantations as we travelled from Munnar to Dindigul.

The second stage of today's trip was from Dindigul to Trichy(Tiruchirappalli). It was during this bit that we really got to experience Indian driving. They drive on the left here, but also in the centre and on the right - anywhere they want to really - and it doesn't matter what's coming the other way either. Buses will overtake trucks on blind corners, or even if they see on coming traffic and know they won't make it - it's your obligation as the on coming traffic to slow down and sometimes just get off the road! Luckily, having driven in London for years it was less of a shock to our team that some of the others.

28th December: Day 1

Paul arrived yesterday afternoon, and we thought the best way to get over 20 + hours in a plane would be to drink some "special tea" (aka Kingfisher) by the chinese fishing nets on the coast. He didn't surface again until the following morning! Paul would like to say hello to Cem, Nath and Anne - from Switzerland - who he had breakfast with in Mumbai airport.

Plans changed a bit regarding the rickshaws - we now have new ones that were delivered during the night of the 27th. With the help of several locals, several rupees, but only about 5 colours we spent the morning trying to pimp our rickshaw according to the instructions from the Evelina Team (See photos).

Then we had a few speaches, a cricket match that we lost, and most teams then set off! We plan to travel in a small convoy (Spirit of Lassi, Bombay Buccaneers, Cochin Tiger etc etc) - but unfortunately Lassi wouldn't start. Local mechanics stripped the engine and rebuilt it - still no luck. Finally Fabien (the driver) realised that he had put his "Rickshaw run" sticker over the engine's air intake...and then we were underway!

Route: Fort Cochin - Ernakulam - Tripunithura - Muvattupula - Munnar

This involved a trip into the Western Ghats (Mountains) to Munnar (at about 2000m)....narrow winding mountain passes which we struggled up in second and third gear all the way! On arrival the only place we could find to stay was in a dormitory on the first floor of a chocolate factory - a very cosy night!

Cochin 24th - 26th Decenber

Staying in Spencer Homestay in Fort Cochin - a great place although I do appear to be sharing my room with a smoking teddybear! Very surreal here - Christmas carols and decorations, Nat King Cole in the restaurants....but fish curry for christmas lunch and it's 30 degrees! Much more laid back than the first bit of my trip - we're even thinking of asking the local kids to give us some cricket coaching in preparation for our match on the 28th.



Spent Xmas day on a canoe and houseboat in the Kerala backwaters (didn't see Doug or Sam/Jennifer)....and then had my evening fish curry in a restaurant boasting a live version of the music I normally experience at the City Tandoori, London Bridge.



On boxing day (today) I met up with Ingo and Sam (Bombay Buccaneers) and Andy (She's a Goa) on an Indian Mobile Phone hunt. I also learn't that Andy's co-driver Espe (his girlfriend) has a few reservations about his choice of team name! We are having a roof top BBQ tonight (fish again!)



On a sadder note I learn't on Xmas day that my dad hasn't taken up Dog-lifting - he just can't use predictive texting!

Delhi to Cochin in just 22 hours! 23rd December 2003

I'm no longer a great fan of fog - not that we were on speaking terms really anyway. It delayed my flight from Delhi by 4 hours - so I missed my connecting flight. Fortunately the airline were sensible and decided to continue selling tickets on the only other connecting flight whilst were still on the first one, thereby managing to successfully sell them all before we landed!

So a few more hours in an airport, another flight to nearer our destination and then a very long car journey (ideal just before undertaking a very long Rickshaw journey!)

But - on the plus side I met a great couple from San Francisco (Doug and Sam - who also goes by the name of Jennifer - you'll have to ask her why!) who actually made the trip enjoyable. They had booked a day on a houseboat at the lake palace hotel ... but ended up arriving at 2am with only a few hours of their stay to go

Dad's new hobby: 23rd December 2006

Fog seems to have brought Delhi and Heathrow Airports to a standstill. I texted my dad to see if he could find out any information on the internet about my 6:30 am flight this morning. Unfortunately I think he forgot in his haste to tell me about his new hobby - Dog Lifting. I hope it has more in common with weight lifting than shop lifting as I don't think his bridge club would look too kindly on one of their pensioners receiving an ASBO

Golden Triangle: 18th to 23rd December 2006

I was told by my flat mate Sid (who possesses a few Indian genes) that I wouldn't survive a week around Delhi without getting ill.....I so nearly proved him wrong. I ate only at hotels, drank bottled water and beer and generally took a Michael-Jackson approach to hygiene. I went to bed early on the 22nd (had to leave at 5am the following morning) happy that my years of dedication to South London take-aways had immunised me against anything - but at 01:00 everything I think I've eaten since mid June decided to try and escape via my mouth. Anyway, enough about bodily functions - I'm not at work now!

Delhi: Whistle-stop tour in one afternoon. The poor photo quality is because the driver didn't stop (or even slow down) for some of the photos in case we ended up missing a sight! I did learn that if you see puddles of water on the pavement - don't assume it is because someone from the sanitary department has decided to wash the street.

Agra: Spent a very romantic afternoon wandering through the Taj Mahal with a man with a 'tache. At the end of it though we decided that a long term relationship just wouldn't work....anyway I think his wife and kids would have been jealous.

Jaipur: Saw the Water Palace where they filmed Octopussy - although as this is the dry season I think it should be renamed the Mud Palace. Spent 2 nights in a vegetarian hotel - ended up gnawing through my left arm in an attempt to get some protein....now finding buttons a little difficult!

Meeting The Rickshaw Design Team

The Rickshaw Racers met their design team for the first time on monday (18th December). Lunchtime turned-out to be the ideal time as it gave Paul a chance to experience the London Monsoon on his way over to the the Evelina Children's Hospital - Rickshaw Development Centre. I'd like to thank Claire, Laura and Cathy for arranging our appointment with the busy design team. I'd also like to thank Mike for recording the event for posterity (see photos!). Finally I'd like to thank the team: Marieka, Robbie, Zoe, James, Matthew, and Jonathan.

I am going to amalgamate their plans into one "Extreme-Rickshaw-Racing" design for our man-in-Cochin to get his teeth into - I'll also be checking on his dental progress when I arrive in Cochin on 23rd December

Rickshaw Driving Academy

A big thankyou to Mr Tom (the RickshawRun founder) and Mr Steve (from www.tukshop.biz) for organising the first every Rickshaw Driving Academy at Ocean Village Marina in Southampton. The Tuk Tuk blended-in perfectly with the million-pound racing yachts in the background. Also many thanks to the lady from the cinema for shouting at Tom when he was talking to the BBC South team...it had all been going too smoothly up till then! Having successfully missed 3 BMWs, a Merc and a Lotus whilst roaring around the carpark in the rickshaw (in third gear at one stage) I believe I am now probably over-qualified to hit the roads in India. But I guess I could leave my glasses at home (they'd only get scratched anyway) and that might even things up a bit.

It was also great to meet the other teams - this is going to be one hell of a trip!.... although I am a bit concerned about our lack of cricketing prowess (even though we do have about 60 people in our team to take on the local 11). I'd also like to thank Tim from team "Curry on Rickshaw" for filming my driving lesson... I like the instructor's quote at the end: "good enough!"

Here's the link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCdR3CrM93g