Race Day 15:Varanasi to Patna…
Money raise for charity:$1,354
Distance Traveled: 3600 km
Fender Benders: 12, our side view mirrors take a pounding and we're clipped 3 times by passing traffic.
Near Death Experiences : 13, see below for details
At 4pm we arrive in Patna exhausted, frustrated and ready to quit. We've crashed, lost a team-mate and nearly died a dozen times. We're done, we've had enough, we decide we've put in a good effort and now it's time to quit.
Here's the story…
"To survive India's roads you need good horn, good brakes and good luck", parting words from our hotel clerk in Varanasi. We hop in our freshly fixed up rickshaw and discover our horn has developed a strange new quirk. The horn button no-longer sounds the horn, instead it sounds when we turn on our lights and sputters a weak, "honnn….nnn…nnk".
Driving in India is horrifying with a working car and nearly suicidal without a horn; we're run off the road and nearly die 3 times because we're hornless.
To make things more interesting the roads between Varanasi and Patna are littered with unmarked speed bumps. One minute you're driving along, thinking everything is fine when suddenly BAM!!! You smash into a speed bump at full speed, your rickshaw pops up half a meter and everyone is nearly ejected through the roof.
India has 3 types of speed bumps
The single - a single speed bump, usually 1/3 meter high with no visible markings, if you hit one at full speed everyone in the shaw is guaranteed to hit the ceiling
The triple - 3 speed bumps positioned very close together, driving over these at full speed results in massive fishtailing and potentially flipping your rickshaw.
The fiver - 5 speed bumps in a row, driving over them at full speed results in a smashed groin, motion sickness and may cause to projectile vomiting.
We arrive in Patna exhausted, frustrated and ready to quit. We've crashed, lost a team-mate and nearly died a dozen times. We're done, we've had enough, we decide we've put in a good effort and now it's time to quit. We head to an internet cafe to plan our escape. Just before booking our tickets we check our email and discover letter upon letter of support and encouragement from friends, family and strangers who have written to us. Chris and I look at each other and without exchanging a word we know we've got to keep going.
We hit the road hard, drive through the night and around 2am pull into a gas station and sleep in the rickshaw.
Keep going Ced, you guys can do it.
ReplyDeletePete thanks for the support, we've pushed on!
ReplyDelete