Part 7, All uphill from here. Udaipur -> Ratlam -> Dhule

So good so far.

After 2 full days in the rickshaw we had completed enough hours to be good proficient operators. 18 hours in and doing fine, if a little sticky from the sweat. We we're ready to take on the hills. Kindof.

The topology began to take a dramatic turn. The prior terrain closer to the desert consisting of mostly flatland, low lying farmland separated by the occasional dune. We were entering the Northern Ghats, which continues south and becomes the Western Ghats to run the length of the western coast.

This bit

There are highways that run the Ghats and we took one through.
I think highway means something different in this part of the world though.

Tunnels really, really suck. This one was short enough to see the end.

Just some bumps to keep you on the road. NBD.

Common Indian carrovanning

'Highway'

Dad was relaxed gripping on for life on this stretch while I was driving.

Express ramp from the lube shop to the highway

Constant construction, dirt roads, and points with so much pedestrian traffic that you could high-five someone walking on the opposite side of the road (I've learned my lesson, don't do this.)
There is also an astounding ammout of air pollution. What garbage isn't just tossed on the side of the road is mostly burned. As far as we can tell, emmisions standards are either non-existent or so laxly enforced so as to render them as just intentive. The smells generated were aromatic to say the least.

In Ratlam. Fuck Ratlam.

Dusty roads, burning trash, passing diesel trucks.

Anyways, we went quick and tried to get through as expeditiously as possible. These were the towns where we were really feeling like racing through. Ratlam's best hotel had broken windows and a viscous pool, not to mention a festival that started at 11:30pm and might have had a gunfight. It was probably fireworks. I was woe to miss it but was mostly grumpily missing my earplugs.

Bad.

Ride to Ratlam sucked.
Ride to Dhule was almost as bad.

Inaccurate milage.

We even had to do a major repair!

Whered it go?!

Spare tires, v helpful.

Moral of the story, don't go to Ratlam/Dhule.

That's all for now, until next time, cheers!

Mac

Part 6, GO GO GO, Jaisalmer -> Juhdpur -> Udaipur

We we're ready.

Well, no we weren't, but we got to going anyways.

START DAY !

The countdown

Our Rig. Fancy.

We loaded in, got to reving, and immediately got stuck in a traffic jam of Rickshaws leaving the city... But as soon as we got out of town, we were all set... To get petrol.

Couple of goobs.

Gettin er' goin.

Over the shoulder.

Gas Petrol

Patiently waiting

But then we were out, racing about as quickly as we could get the 2 strokes to carry us, bobbing and weaving though trucks, motorcycles, bicycles, cars, pedestrians, goats, and the frequent cow 🐄.

Ere' we go!

On an active road

Traffic

"Road"

To put it shortly, our primer on how to drive on Indian roads was hectic at best, and downright LSD-in-a-house-of-horrors insane at worst.

We can read only half the signs, people honk for every reason, and we're practically maxing out our engines wherever we go.

More "roads"

At one point I reached out my hand to high five a couple kids as we rolled by at about 20mph... One of the kids put out a stick instead, which sucked.

😡

That and the onset of Delhi-Belly that occurred that morning, which was only amplified by the easy motion of riding in the back of a rickshaw.
And it was 106°f by midday, but who's counting
🤷

Either which way, we ended up at a palace in the hills by the end of the night, just outside of Jodhpur (Thanks to some google-fu by yours truly) and we're able to relax and put in our daily offering to the Rickshaw in the sky 🍻.

Day 1

Nice.

RUN DAY 2

After a wonderful night's rest, we headed out for Udaipur, starting out early in a desperate attempt at beating the heat, and got rolling about 8am.

There were cows even in the parking lot of the palace.

Views on the way out.

Didn't take to many photos of Jodhpur propper, so here's this one.

After we cleared the city propper, it was my turn to take the handles. Driving mostly on the highways it was much easier than I expected. Just avoid the occasional goat and weaving though trucks.

V dangerous

The area between the two cities was a little on the blasted-earth side of terrain, but after negotiating most of the incline it was smooth sailing... Until the sun set.

Uh oh.

What's that saying? Up without a paddle?

Picture this: it's 6pm, we're driving around Udaipur to get to the side of town with the hotel, and the sun is setting. Almost scenic, right?
Well, turns out we'd picked the truck bypass road and you can't farther than a blind man with some cool sunglasses on when highbeams are pointed at you.

Don't night drive in India. We learned that lesson the hard way.
The hotel was nice tho.

Day 2, note that the distance is off.

Our Hotel.

Heh.

And thus came to a close day 2. Day 3 & 4 in the next one.
Until then, cheers!

Mac

Three or thirty days later, I forget

We are now in Ratlan, about 100K from our start point in Jaisalmer.  We have been on 4 lane highways, two lane secondary roads, passageways through tows and villages that should never pass as roads, and thorough it all thanks to Mac in the cities, Morrie and Kyle, we have navigated the labyrinth with minimal conflict or confusion. Mac has excelled at securing good (here in Ratlan) to fabulous accommodations for our road weary bones. I don't think there exist any hotels that go into that great list in this town. Perhaps the first alert was when we saw a truck parked in front with speakers larger than most family cars we have seen n the road. Promptly at 1100 PM we were awakened by Indian music, drums,fireworks/gun fire and sundry other explicitive inducing disrupters that sleep was not possible for another hour. The occasion has not yet been identified. Breakfast now. More to come. 

Part 5, Pimping and Partying, making the Rickshaw our own.

What good would an adventure story be without some embellishments?

As it happens, with ours its embellishments of the Rickshaws.

Glitter things, beads, toys, sticks and paint.
We added quite a few shinies.

After all that was done we got a quick once-over of how to keep the Rickshaw running while driving through the boonies and secured our key. Nice.

I don't​ think it can do donuts, but I guess we can find that out later.

Well, anyways, we had a few days to fart around Jaisalmer and pick up all the extras we needed to aquire the disposables (Fuel filters, head gaskets, spark plugs, etc...) And then it was time for the party.
I don't have too many photos of it, but I assure it was a good time.

Church enjoying the pool

One of the security guards and I hanging out on the roof of the palace.

The wiring for the lit dance floor

The party, in full swing (~200 people)

Snuck back on the roof

The aftermath

And with that we're about to start our lil trip.

Cheers!

Mac

Part 4, love at first sight. Meeting the Tuk-Tuks.

This one is going to pick up about mid-day Wednesday the 29th, as WiFi in this town is about as reliable as a rickshaw going down the country of India (read: not). I'm sitting at the one Italian restaurant in Jaisalmer mid day Saturday, eating an endearing attempt at a pizza margarita, because Trip Advisor said this place has good enough WiFi.

Anyways, I'll keep this one brief as I've a lot of catching up to do. We'd arrived in Jaisalmer on Wednesday, and after treating ourselves to a few rounds of THE SWEET NECTAR OF THE GODS known as Kinfischer, we check into our hotel and started up towards the fort, where rumors of a dark gathering of mostly white people was occuring.

Thank goodness

Jaisalmer, near the fort.

From the top of our hotel, the Jaisal Palace.

More fort/Jaisalmer

Our lunch spot on the fort.

With one helluva view.

The gathering turned out to be all white people, with the offerings to the Tuk-Tuk in the sky being more Kingfisher 🍺.

The Bristol Boys and another group from LA

After consumping our fair share, the we went and took a sneak peek at the launching point of the Rickshaws, the Jawas Niwar palace, and enjoyed a dip in their pool.

Come the next day it was time to lay eyes on the Rickshaws, and see our stress for the next two weeks.

Look at that beautiful rig

The lineup

The full spread.

Per the Adventurist page regarding the Auto-Rickshaw...

Engine: 2 stroke, single cylinder, forced air cooled
Power: 7 HP at 5000 rpm  (equiv. 1 family dog)
Transmission: 4 forward, 1 reverse
Fuel Capacity: 8 ltr + 1.4 reserve
Top Speed: 55kmph (downhill)
Engine Size: 145.45cc

System Voltage: 12V , DC

Underpowered and soon to be overworked for our task, but she's ours, and soon to be put to the test.

That's all I've got for now.

Until next time, cheers!

Mac