Day Two: Vindication

RICKSHAW RUN 2008
Day Two: Thursday 2nd January 2008

It seems our decision of taking the route through the mountains of South India was a right one. This mornings drive we were treated to a glorious drive through never ending lush green tea plantations. This would rival the rice hills in Vietnam for some of the most spectacular sights in Asia. Not surprisingly we got seriously way-laid. Forgetting for the most part of today that this is in fact a race, we swanned around like we were on some over 60's coach party to Bournemouth.

Stopping at the living quarters of some of the workers at the Plantations, we were shown proudly round a dozen family houses, including pointing out the toilet, TV and in some really proud instances, a 1970's Hi-Fi system.
We also had two mechanical issues today. Our knowledge knows no bounds. We diagnosed that the reason for the rickshaw coming to a sudden halt twice in 5 kms was due to over heating. So there we were sitting on the side of the road explaining to passer-bys that the engine was too hot when 30 minutes later the engine wouldn't even start. Hence the brain wave - we ran out of petrol.

Pressing on in the afternoon we still didn't make it to Mysore, our intended destination. Instead we rolled into a run down little town at 10pm when the clutch cable broke. But how is this for a bit of luck, at the exact spot where the cable snapped was right in front of a rake of local rickshaw drivers, who within 10 minutes had located a new cable, and fitted it! On starting up the engine we asked if they knew of a Hotel in the town, only for them all to point at the building directly in front of us with a massive "HOTEL" sign! Hurrah!

Day Two: Admali to Sathymangalam
Total Daily Distance: 274kms
Total so far: 401kms
Total Distance to go: 4099kms