DAY FOURTEEN - TANSEN TO POKHARA

This morning we woke up to the spectacular view of the mountains and the fresh, crisp air. We could see the clouds on lower ground and see the snowy mountain tops in the distance...ahhh,... what could possibly go wrong now?

During breakfast, Shivanee decided to look at the Rickshaw Run welcome pack that we were handed in Goa and she had a bit of unwelcome news... the procession of rickshaws and the big phat party in Pokhara that we were all looking forward to today was in fact, yesterday.

Oh dear.

I couldn't wait to see all the rickshaws and their drivers reunite again to have made the journey come full circle, and the idea of sharing perhaps slightly exaggerated tales of our adventures over a generous amount of alcohol was what I had imagined ever since we set off from the 63 other teams on the sandy shores of Colva Beach. But alas, we're still going to finish the run, and whilst the others will be nursing hangovers, we'll still be driving one of India's finest motors..

Nepal has truly put a spell on us and we're all mesmerised by her magical landscapes and warmth. The roads are generally much better than in India but they're still riddled with potholes here and there and the dogs aren't sprawled across the road with their insides on the outside, in fact, most seem healthy and looked after! Phew.

We stopped off for chai, where Gordon spotted a man with a sugar cane cart, selling the juice. Well, I've never tried it, so we ordered one each and slowly lifted the glass to our lips. One sip later and a face that could've earned me the title of 'Gurner of the Year' and I was desperately trying to find someone to take it off my hands!! It's one of those drinks that must be really good for you as they taste oh so bad!

More mountain views were to follow along with plenty of 'kodak moments' and Pokhara was very much in our sights.

We had been wondering who should drive us over the finishing line but in the end we decided to all sit on the front seat, Gordon in the middle, doing the driving, Katie was on the right, attempting to brake in time to Gordy's command, and me on the left, trying to sort the camera out to film our triumphant crossing.

Over the finishing line we went and we could see one other team watching from afar. We cheered ourselves on jubilantly but truth be told, it was a bit of an anti-climax as we had always thought this moment would be shared with so many other teams. But, at the same time, you had to laugh,... trust us to get it so wrong!! So we cheered ourselves on even more, after all, our lil lady has made it despite almost falling apart across the rough terrains, steep climbs, dirt-track roads, mechanical hitches, not to mention the near-misses with the cows! AND....as a team who started off as strangers, Gordon, Katie and I are closer than ever and have a wonderful adventure to tell (and perhaps bore people with) for a long time to come!

Many of the teams had stayed on and we watched their videos and shared horror and comedy tales alike.

Can you believe that the team, 'Canned Dutch This' did not have ONE single mechanical problem...not even a puncture!! One other team's brakes failed just as they were going downhill (very fast i imagine), another team's rickshaw toppled as it avoided a crash and some locals lifted the rickshaw up off them, only to drop it back on to them after discovering they had valuables to steal!! This resulted in a broken collarbone... the stories go on, and just like Chinese whispers they grow into extreme, perhaps fabricated versions of the truth, but I know everyone will remember this Rickshaw Run as one of the greatest adventures of their lives, and I'm most certainly one of them!!

P.S. Did I tell you about the time that a crocodile nearly savaged one of our tyres? Luckily a passing elephant trod on it and...

DAY THIRTEEN - LUMBHINI TO TANSEN

Today we woke up feeling thoroughly refreshed in our luxurious rooms and after a breakfast fit for a king, it was a mere ten minute walk to our next destination, the place where Buddha Gautama was born.

We took a short cycle-rickshaw trip to the gates of the monastery where there were loads of stalls selling Buddha 'merchandise', after plucking ourselves away from the temptation, we walked further on where the ancient remains of a few monasteries lay and took our own sweet time walking around them.

The trees were adorned with Tibetan prayer flags, which made the gardens feel very fresh and alive. We then walked passed the Holy pond and into the Mayadevi temple, where a group of around thirty monks and pilgrims were chanting the mantra.

We stood in the middle just taking it all in and for some reason I had tears welling in my eyes!! I wasn't sad or happy, I think I was just moved and it was a great way to be introduced to the Buddhism culture here. Then, just a few steps away, there was a wall that was lightly dusted in red and gold and below that, in a glass casing was the exact spot where Buddha was said to be born. It felt significant and very special.

After buying a few things from the stalls (it would be rude not to), we got back in our beloved little lady and headed to Tansen; it would be a steep climb up for her but we have every faith she'll make it!

The people in Nepal have reacted in such a special way to us! Never have we had so many waves and smiles and usually it's them who initiate it. The children shout 'hi' as we pass them and they giggle and laugh, and the ladies will often put their hands together and greet us with 'Namaste'.

I know that Gordon and Katie are relieved to be out of India and I am too, but I'll always have a soft spot for the country as it was the first place I had truly travelled in and it's the kind of place that needs the time to fully appreciate! (I keep telling them this but I don't think they're at all convinced!).

The lil lady was doing well until Gordon noticed a bit of metal dangling besides him; it was one of the ''support parts'' for the roof rack. Oh no! Here we go again! We stopped and Gordy wrapped it up in cellotape and then weaved the spare bit of rope around it to secure it, yes he ruly is a modern-day MacGyver, but little did we realise that just five metres away was a welding place...whoopsy! So we ripped off all of Gordy's work and got it welded back in to place, the guy did both sides - and once back on the road, the annoying squeaky sound had disappeared! Job well done!

The views, the views, the views!!! WOW! We are being spoiled to lush green mountains, with their taller white-topped cousins lying in the background like a movie set backdrop on our ride up, and the air.... well, it's a lot fresher and much easier on the senses too! And to top it off, I haven't seen one doggy roadkill today!

We arrived In our hotel with the best views ever, overlooking the many mountains of the Himalayas. From here, it should be plain sailing to the finish line, but I don't want to think about that right now, I just want to admire what's in front of us.

DAY TWELVE - MAU TO LUMBHINI

We were on the road at 7.30am today, gladly leaving Mau behind us, and hoping that our remaining time in India would paint a better lasting picture. Apparently we were nearly thrown out of the skanky hotel as one of the owners came in last night, saw a couple of us on the bed, then clocked the cameras and thought that we were going to be making a porno!! Ha ha ha! I’d like to think that even the sleaziest “blue films’ would have better bed sheets,… even after the ‘shoot’! Anyway, pornography aside, we skipped breakfast in the morning – that’s how desperate we were to leave the place! We also happened to miss out on lunch after a ‘miscommunication’ about the lunch location (sigh) and so we ate rubbish food on our longest day to date. FOURTEEN hours on the road!

We’re nearing the end of our time in India and although I’ve quite enjoyed the high and lows, the calm and craziness and the beauty and ugliness of the country (we passed even more dog road-kill on the way today), I’m looking forward to seeing Nepal for the first time and learning about the people and the culture.

It’s been a long and sweaty day and it seems that whenever I dare wear white, the pollution levels go up a few levels, the trucks blast their intoxicating fumes right through to us and I doubt that any amount of Daz will ever get these whites white again! We ventured across the border today and waited whilst productions got the permits in order for us but also for all the camera equipment.

We had to fill in various forms and although we were just a matter of metres into a Nepal, you could tell we were in a different country. The immigration officers were organised, easy to talk to and relaxed.

We couldn’t find the hotel we were provisionally booked in to and after fourteen hours on the road without food breaks, the producer made the great (and wise) choice of just booking us into a good, decent, modern, clean and comfortable hotel in Lumbini. After last night’s disaster, I think it was wholly deserved and very much appreciated!

But to top off a long day on the road, we were staying but a mere 10 minute walk away from the birthplace of Buddha! You couldn’t wish for more!

DAY ELEVEN - VARANASI TO MAU - 114km

4.30 am. That’s what time the alarm clock went off today and it felt like I had just a blink of sleep. Katie and I were walking around the hotel room like extras in Night of the Living Dead, struggling to make ourselves look half human for our sunrise boat trip along the Ganges.

As it turns out, it wouldn’t have mattered if we looked half-dead as Varanassi, the oldest city in the world, looks just like a medieval movie set. I’ve been to this crazy place four years ago, where I struggled through human traffic in the narrow streets and watched many of funeral processions, heading to the burning ghats.

This time it was different; we headed directly for the boat, paying little attention to the many sellers on the street and the sadhus. Being on the Ganges was quite cool and yet a little odd to think that thousands, perhaps even millions of body remains are buried deep within its murky waters. With this in mind, the sacred river is also used to rid you of bad karma, to wash your clothes, brush your teeth, and hey, why not, have a little swim or even a paddle!? It’s not something I would personally ever feel like doing (there was even a dead animal corpse floating in it, not far from where someone was ‘washing’) but I respect the importance of this place for the Hindu’s and I admire the faith they have in it.

This time though, Varanassi had lost part of its magic. I think you have to explore this place on ground level, not just on the Ganges from afar. Plus, as sick as it may sound, there was no visible cremation taking place on the burning ghats and that is part of its bizarre yet truly historic appeal for many tourists.

After our boat trip we headed straight back to the hotel where we were allowed a few hours sleep. Hooray!! It was very much needed. In fact, I feel that our somewhat unenthusiastic outlook on Varanassi was mainly due to lack of sleep as well as the visit being rushed.

Two hours sleep later and I was fine and dandy and ready for the road trip ahead. The other two were still feeling the strain so I was first to drive the lil lady. The roads were bumpy and we saw a cloud ahead... yes, it was going to rain, and I don’t mean spitting either. So, having learned a lesson from yesterday, I put on my floral raincoat, whilst Katie and Gordon wrapped themselves up in the tarpaulin sheet in the back, not only that but we managed to finally fix the hole in the canvas by sowing a plastic bag over it! It might look a bit odd, but it certainly did the job! The rain absolutely hammered it down and it was like being on a ride in an amusement park, every bus or truck that went passed us completely washed us out- don’t forget, the il lady doesn’t have any doors, and we were all shrieking and laughing like mad. It was actually the highlight of the drive!

We finally got to Mau (having taken a wrong turn and apparently travelled through a ‘terrorist hotspot’) and were quite looking forward to a nice, comfortable sleep.

The hotel we were booked in to was anything but comfortable. The sheets were dirty, the pillow looked like it had been chewed on by a goat, the fluorescent green carpet only highlighted all the grit, chewing gum, dead bugs (and live ones), whilst the sockets were hanging out, the bathroom was crawling with bugs and didn’t have a mesh thingy on the window –meaning that it was a free-for-all for all the bugs in town wanting somewhere to hang out, and the shower sprayed upwards and towards the door. Oh,...and the air conditioning wasn’t working, which wouldn’t have been an issue had our room not had a temperature of 35C (we found this out when it did eventually work during the interviews). Phew,... sounds like I’m moaning, but add the fact that the mattress had more bumps than the Indian speed humps, then I’m sure you can sympathise.

Needless to say, we agreed on an early start the next day, just so we could say ciau to Mau.

DAY TEN - REWA TO VARANASI - 243km

Every tide has an ebb and flow, every mountain has a high and low and today it was time for our low.

The late nights, early starts and long driving hours have taken its toll on us and has hit us like a tonne of bricks. The rickshaw sucks in the air like a hoover when you’re sitting in the back, and if you’re driving round the countryside that’s a pleasant thing, if you’re driving through towns and cities or dusty roads, it’s not so great. All the pollution and noise along with the rickety ride on bad roads has caught up with us. We look like crap and no amount of make-up will disguise it!

Gordon’s eyes are withdrawn, Katie’s sinuses are playing up and I managed to get a rare migraine that held my left eye socket to ransom for just over eight hours. Add our longest drive yet; 270km to the equation and the result was three unhappy bunnies. Despite this we did hold it together even after poor Katie got her first ever wasp bite whilst on the road!

As we entered our fifth Indian state, Utter Pradesh, we realised we were indeed nearing the end of our visit in India and getting closer to the finish line. Another tell-tale sign that we were no longer in the sunny state of Goa, for example, was the fact it decided to absolutely pee it down and all we had was my ‘primarni’ raincoat to protect s! We pulled over and got some shelter underneath the tree and ate the box of maltesers that I had saved for,… well, a rainy day and eventually convinced the crew to give us the spare tarpaulin cover as Katie and I in particular were absolutely drenched! This was actually a perk of the day but despite the screams of the rain pouring over us we were still shattered and in need of a good rest.

Instead of having a late lunch, Katie and I decided to have a catnap in one of the crew cars hoping that would make us feel better. It didn’t really do much but it was better than falling asleep in a plate of dal and rice.

Katie did her first night drive in a city and the girl did good! Varanassi is one hell of a busy place and the noise, pollution, crowds and smells were overwhelming. Needless to say, our hotel was a welcome sight, being told that we had t get up at 4.30am the next day however, was not!

DAY NINE - KHAJARAHO TO REWA

Just when you think everything’s hunky dorey, something is bound to go wrong. Quite drastically wrong as it turns out. Our lil lady hasn’t had the easiest of rides, two punctures, five breakdowns, one severed roof rack, the electrics have been playing up (or should that be playing down?) and we have an idle that’s well,… a bit too idle causing us to stall more often, and now? Well, we got a mechanic to check her over and it appears the chassis had split. Whoopsy. It’s the backbone of the three-wheeler so it wasn’t welcome news but we sent it off for repairs so that we could venture around Khajuraho’s famous, raunchystonewrok representing the Kama Sutra. Not a bad deal I feel.

The architecture was stunning, quite how they managed to build them with such detail and perfection is beyond me. Most of the intimate poses were harmless enough, but by jove; they certainly got a bit heated in others! Orgies, oral, animal sex, you name it and they did it -and before you even thought of it!

Saying that though, I wouldn’t describe it as an erotic experience, it was more a respect for a) the artwork and b) the experimental nature of the work (nudge nudge, wink wink!),… oooh…those naughty nymphs!

After our enlightenment, Katie and I did a spot of shopping –it would be rude not to- and also bought Gordy a present. Yes, it’s Gordon’s birthday and although we decided to ignore his earlier hints, we did find him a Kamasutra keyring, which you can move ..i’ll let your filthy minds think how,.. and a cake that read ‘Happy Birthday you dirty pervert’. Love it! After munching through our second cake of the trip we headed off in our repaired rickshaw and headed to Rewa.

We celebrated his birthday further by sneaking a couple of beers in the rickshaw but were later told off by crew who were worried we’d be spotted by police, so we took note and were more subtle about it instead. Then out came the make-up and we made Gordy look like Ali Baba. The funniest thing was when he went to fill up the tank further down the road, we usually get weird looks but with his psychedelic make-up, he got…well, a few more and longer looks.

Once at our hotel in Rewa, we enjoyed a luxurious alfresco dinner, sweetie dahling, which was made more comfortable by the lack of mozzies. It was however a late night again! I was waiting to type up my blog (we have to share one computer-hence the late entries sometimes) whilst Gordon was on skype to his wife and I ended up falling asleep on the bed with my notebook and pen in hand. Once I did awake it was one o’clock, Jon was still working and Gordon had finished his conversation and had a late night shower. It was time for me to find my room and get some real sleep after a long, yet fun day.

DAY EIGHT - SAGAR TO KHAJARAHO - 208km

After a mere three hours sleep (the alarm went off at 6.30am -ouch) and we were facing another day on the roads. The time we spend on the roads seem to be getting longer but we have to factor in possible -or should that be inevitable- breakdowns, getting lost and of course emergency toilet breaks, on top of that the we have thirteen people on this trip with us and finding a place that can cater for us quickly is nigh on impossible.

We promised to take better care of the lil lady today, trying to avoid the right tyre hitting any potholes in particular as she’s now a bit lopsided, poor love.

Driving through Sagar town was nice, the scenery we faced after leaving was a treat too. It’s such a privilege to be so far removed from “Western civilisation”, with its high-rise buildings and stressed out people. Home now, seems very far away indeed.

We weren’t planning on stopping until we got to our final destination, Khajuraho, but Steve the cameraman, aka “Gypo”, spotted an old fort as we were going through Gulganj, so our convoy headed through the narrow streets, passed the cutest community village you have ever seen. All the children ran round our rickshaw and I greeted them with a smile and the traditional ‘Namaste’, which is always returned. By the time we had parked our lil lady, around 50-60 people had gathered, all smiling and giggling and it was extremely contagious – even the crew were at it!!

Although the fort has been abandoned, it’s still very much a place where the locals hang out and the children play (the sweet wrappers left behind was a big giveaway) and being India, we even stumbled across a cow up there!

After taking lots of pictures inside, we headed back to the village where an even bigger crowd awaited us, watching with amazement. So many smiley faces (I really want you to imagine every single person around you looking at you and smiling- it’s truly bewildering and so special!) and it was a humbling experience to have so many beautifully warm people all together in one little community. We had our picture taken with the children and the women gathered in a couple of houses, watching from a short distance. The men were all assembled on the other side of the narrow road and one guy, who I imagine to be India’s Hugh Heffner, wanted a photo with Katie and I and he was being egged on by the whole crowd! The cheeky mite! But we were more than happy and everyone was laughing as he put his arms around us.

I think we all felt a bit sad to have to leave the village and its people behind but at the same time, they had made our day and it will truly be remembered as a highlight of this adventure. One girl in particular never left my side and I found a big flower hair clip in my bag to give her, a little gesture for such a great time.

Feeling completely relaxed, we arrived in Khajuraho in daylight for the first time, so we celebrated by toasting our great day with a Kingfisher beer on the rooftop of our hotel, whilst watching the sun set over the temples we were going to explore the next day.

What a perfect ending to a perfect day.