Wandering Off Script: The Rickshaw Run

New Years Eve 2011 - What better place to ring in 2012 than a party at a palace in Jaisalmer, India? No place that I can think of! It's the night before the launch of the Rickshaw Run, the latest incarnation of my love for international travel in ridiculous vehicles. Again put on by The Adventurists, this one challenges teams of 2-3 people to drive autorickshaws (AKA tuk-tuk's) 2500 km from Jaisalmer (up near the Pakistani border) all the way down the west coast to Cochin, at the very southern tip of the country, all in two weeks time. Partnered this time with one of my teammates from the Mongol Rally, and a British member of our Mongol Rally convoy, this one was all about fun in the sun...and avoiding being mowed down by giant lorries on the roadways. Baldrick II held up like a champ (even though we lost the cap to his fuel tank and had to replace it with an old sock), and we made it safely to Cochin in only 12 short (but action-packed) days. I think India is a place that you can never really prepare yourself for, but once you're there and you finally begin to surrender to all of the madness that surrounds you, you realize what an amazing place it is. I'd go back in a heartbeat, especially to that one bar in Mumbai with the greatest juke box DJ of all time ;)