We Hit the Road and the Road Hit Back

 Current Location: Kolata (Cloudy, 30C)

 Hi again and sorry for the lack of posts. We have once again found ourselves on the desolation row that is the Grand Trunk Road. Having left the serenity of the Holy Ganga it was time to hit the road again. After a minor detour around the cylindrical campus of the Banaras Hindu University we saw our first km marker to Kolkata - 667km. Hank was feeling revitalised after a two day break and purred as if he were fresh off the production line down the smooth tarmac of the GT Road.

John and Fred with Hank over the Ganga

 We decided to break this leg of the journey down into three days - a Sunday arrival in Kolkata being the goal. But by this point we both knew that goals, aims or expectations are not something that Hank likes to be constrained by. We ended the first at the Holy Buddhist site of Bodygaya - the site of bodhi tree under which the Buddha became enlightened. Having been to Amritsar, Varanasi, Ayodhya and Bodygaya is this the holiest rickshaw in the world?

Hank in front of the giant Buddha making him the holiest tuk in the world

We were now 424km from Kolkata and passed the 1000km marker to Delhi - we were getting closer!

Fred overjoyed at the 1000km marker

Lorry driver gets a phone call whilst driving. Of course its illegal to be on the phone whilst driving so he stops in the middle of the carriageway for a little chat.

Hank and John at the 1000km marker

 The going was once again good up until Assansol where we hit a traffic jam stretching into the horizon. After Fred had climbed down off the roof of a Indian lorry to view the nose to tail jam we skirted off down the outside of the road following the motorbikes in trying to go around the endless traffic. This involved going through a series of large puddles (small lakes more like) and as we found out the next morning drowned the oil filter. Stuck in a tiny village in the pitch dark we decided to hide Hank behind a Chai stall and get a local bus to a hotel 6km away.

One drowned oil filter

Hank showing signs of wear. All our fuel (and fuel cap) was nicked so a T-Shirt was used instead!

After a brief push up a fairly large hill and another trip to a mechanics we were back on the road once more - just 214km to Kolkata! We were counting down every kilometre as Hank crawled up and over the Hazaribagh Plateau. As Freddie reclined in the back the diesel smell returned - we had cut through another fuel cable. We were now only 60km from Kolkata and had to get a quick fix. We stumbled across a town to get a quick road side fix and we were back on the road with  half an hour of sunlight left. We weren't going to make it to Kolkata but we planned to stop in Singur for the night - 25km from our ultimate destination (after Freddie losing his passport we knew we wouldn't be able to get across the border into Bangladesh). And stop we did. As we left the GT road to settle down for the night we heard a load crunk and then lost all traction. With no light to analayse the problem we tried unsuccessfully to get him started again but to no avail. We pushed him into what we though was Singur and dumped him for a second night and headed to a 'hotel'. This hotel turned out be the local railway lodge - the cheapest room was less accommodating than a heroine addicts mattress and the 'deluxe' room only slightly better.

Waking up in a suburb of Kolkata and facing long wait for a repair we decided to cut our losses and save some time by selling Hank for whatever we could get for him. We were both secretly hoping that he had been stolen in the night (but without a working engine we had no idea how) and the reaction when we found him once more was a mix between despair and relief. We found a seller who was willing to take the gamble on the rather abused Hank for Rs 20,000 (£230). Having a closer look at the engine they almost didn't pay us that! We were happy to be rid of him in the end but there was a pang of sadness at letting our travelling companion for the last two weeks leave our sides as we boarded the local train to Howrah station, Kolkata for the paltry sum of Rs8 (10p).

John with Sangreet having brokered the deal. Good luck to him!

I'm your biggest fan. I'll follow you until you love me. Vara - Varanasi.

Current Location: Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh. Humid, 30C.

Howdy followers! 

Today is a day of firsts. The first time we've seen a foreign soul since last Monday and also the first time we've stayed more than one night in the same hotel. Whoppeeee! The huge crowds following us round and staring at the Tuk in rural villages has been replaced by annoying Touts - we're unsure of what we prefer! What is particular fun is when rickshaw drivers shout at us asking if we want a lift in their 'Tuk' to which we simply reply "My friend, we own a rickshaw" whilst pointing at Hank much to the shock of locals.

We're currently in Varanasi, one of the holiest cities in the world for Hindus. It is strung along the huge Ganges river and is full of life, death and everything in between (Many Hindus are cremated by the river here). Its nice just to have a days rest for both of us to be honest - the 13 hours driving a day does take its toll. This also means we can get some much needed washing of clothes in. You get grubby enough in India as it is, driving in an open vehicle makes it ten time worse!

The last few days have seen some more mechanical failings from poor old Hank who's really feeling the effects of the long days and rough Indian roads. We've now managed to get the photos of John's camera so can show you some of the earlier problems including a broken fuel tank and Hank on a bridge over the Ganges!

Fuel tank and diesel on the road

Having lifted Hank onto a pickup truck in Maholi (trust us it wasn't easy), we sent it into a proper Piaggio dealership where he got a big service, focussed predominately on the clutch and gear shifter. Thousdands of things were added in, oiled, removed or cleaned and we were hopeful that may have been all the problems out the way....little did we know. The next day saw another minor annoyance crop up - the engine casing rattling issue. We shoved a bit of chicken wire round it which seemed to solve the problem so we carried on. Then, 5 hours later (after a brief visit to a few temples on our route), disaster struck. PUNCTURE!  Luckily we were close to a tyre man who, after a few brief hours, fixed it up and we were on our way. Early the next day (on our way to Varanasi) came another problem - the rattling engine casing had managed to cut through the fuel cable and began spraying diesel all over the engine. Fun times. After we quickly diagnosed the problem (pretty easy as there was a waterfall of diesel spraying all over the engine), we wrapped a bit of rag round it and drove it pronto to the nearest town. Luckily they had a new fuel injection tube and we were on our way after a few minutes!

Rammed onto a pick up truck

At the official Piaggio dealership

The crowd who formed in the time when the fuel injection tube was being reparied

In general, poor old Hank is taking a bit of a beating. Due to various difficulties (Loss of passport/Lack of Carnet/Lack of Piaggios in Bangladesh), we are planning to sell Hank in Calcutta. As you can see from the photo below, he's beginning to look a bit more decrepid. That hasnt stopped us from picking lifts up with the locals. We managed to fit in 5 customers the other day, much less than a local rickshaw would be able to cram in. Although we could pocket the 10 Rupee fare, we give them their journey for free to 'enhance Anglo-Indo relations'. Their smile makes it all worthwhile....ahhhh. Below is a photo of 'John the Rickshaw-Wallah', wearing the compulsory driving cap we were given by the Piaggio service centre.

The weather's been highly temperamental, given the monsoon. One minute, could be glorious sunshine hitting the mid 30s, the next pissing it down with rain. Below's a few picture of Fred battling it out with the monsoon along a country road!

We leave Varanasi early doors tomorrow morning for Bodhgaya, a town 250km East of here. Who only knows when we'll get there. Could be tomorrow evening, could be in a week. 

Shall keep you posted!

Much love

Freddie and John x

Lucky Lucknow

Current Location: Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh. Monsoonal, 28C


Hello everyone and welcome to what is sure to be a massive blog post covering the last six days. Apologies that we have not posted anything thus far - to say that the shit has been hitting the fan would be a gross understatement. Think more tonnes of faeces hitting an industrial size turbine blade and you get the picture. Talking of pictures, apologies for the lack of them. On Friday, Freddie's entire bag was nicked meaning he is now passportless/walletless and cameraless and we don't yet have a cable for John's camera but we'll be sure to upload those as soon as we have them. Apologies for any mistakes in this post - both of us are knackered and famished!

This is in essence our route - wish it had taken us 15 hours! MAP

Mechanical failings of the tuk tuk


We're not going to lie to you all and say that Hank has been all fun and games - at points he's been an absolute heap of junk (Sorry Hank but you have). We've so far had several mechanical problems which I shall list now. Apologies for the lack of technical detail, often he just broke, we took it to some mechanic, he'd put a new part in, it would start again, we would cheer and then pay the mechanic a few rupees:
- Day 1 - Snapped gear cable - easily replaced by mechanic - 50 ruppees (70p)
- Day 2 - Undiagnosed engine problem. Clapped out going through a town. Given lift to mechanics where so moving piston things were given a good oil and tighten. 100 Rupees.
Day 2- Engine case coming loose. Lodged bit of bamboo in crack - all sorted
Day 4 - Whilst at the police station (see above), Tuk Tuk Wouldnt start adding to the already high levels of stress. Taken to mechanics. Given same treatment as on day 2. 100 rupees
Day 5 - Fuel tank falls out onto road whilst driving. Much pandemonium as fuel starts leaking onto the road. Start emptying out water bottles only to realise water is same price as diesel here. Get towed 20km to Maholi, a tiny town closest to us where there was a 'mechanic'. On the way the tuk slips out of neutral, jump starting it (with no fuel supply as the tanks fallen off) and a loud crack can be heard. Hope its nothing too much. Turns out it was some sort of axel/shaft that had completely sheared off and when they managed to get it started, any gear produced a stall when the clutch was let out. We never really found out what the breakage was but if anyone has any suggestions, put them forward. This series of events led to Maholi-Gate (See below) - some of the most unpleasant hours in the life of both John and Freddie.

In general, there are two problems with the Tuk. Firstly, he's an absolute bitch to start. Forget about electric start or anything like that. We get a rope, wrap it round the starter enginey thing and 'coax' it out. Failing that, bump starts have been a successful hit with the locals and often get Hank started better than other methods. If anyone knows if this is bad for an engine, please comment below and we'll try and do it less.

Secondly, the gears are an utter wreck. We summed it up as 'an ocean of neutral interspersed with tiny islands of gears'. Finding first is easy enough but from there, you can have a lot of fun finding anything between there and 4th.

Maholi-gate - Day 5/6.
I think that before we start telling you about Maholi-gate, we should put it in context. Day 4 was going pretty well - we were well into our morning (following the standard 5am starts) when we were going through a busy town. When asking for directions, we were distracted and Freddie's bag was nicked from the Tuk (inc phone, passport, wallet, camera, ipod etc). After much searching and asking, we headed to the police station where a 'report' was filled in and a day wasted in bureaucracy. Hank was playing up (as usual) and after many hot, sweaty bump starts later, had to be taken to a mechanics. The night had to be spent at Shahjahanpur and we were a day behind.

Day 5 saw and early rise and a non-starting Hank. After feeding him a bit of oil (He loves his Oil), and several epic bump starts later, he was started and raring to go. Driving about 50kph down a highway, we suddenly heard a loud crash and screech come from below the tuk and john's exasperated shout of 'The f**cking fuel tanks fallen off". Anyway, we managed to get a tow to Maholi where the next 30 hours would be spent in utter hell. We think that whilst towing, Hank sustained a life threatening injury of a sheared axel. Anyway, after attaching the tank once again, the engine started but any removal of the clutch led to a stall. After much engine seperation and heightened Hindi conversations, we were informed that the piece we needed was back in Shahangpur (Shah) from whence we had come. John hopped in a taxi and headed off whilst Fred was left guarding the bag and Hank in a mosquito infested mechanics office.A piece was bought in Shah for 900 rupees, brought back 5 hours later and then told that it did not fit. At 6pm. In a town with no hotels. The temperature was scorching. The mosquitos were out. Hell was descending.As the town was so rural, many of the peopel there had never really seen a white person before so the crowds who followed us round were unbearable. We were never left alone for one minute and often during discussions with the mechanic, 40/50 people would be watching. Freddie tried to nap for a bit during the afternoon, with a spectator audience of 10 young kids. Luckily enough, a very kind family came to our rescue and offered us a bed for the night. This turned out to be the 'family communal bed/sofa thing' but we were grateful for somewhere away from the teething masses that followed us round. A sweltering night later - no fans/AC filled with Mosquitos, we were up and waiting for the mechanic to go to Lucknow at 8am where he claimed he would be able to find the piece.

Faith was already low in the mechanic, we're not going to lie. Then by 8:30, when he finally rocked up, he said he was no longer going and we'd have to find alternatice means of fixing the tuk. At this point, it became clear that the mechanic had been having us for a ride all along. He had probably received comission for both the useless spare part and the taxi ride - and now (according to a secret spy in the form of a child!), he hoped to buy the tuk for 30,000 rupees seeing as we couldnt get it fixed.

Not this time. We hired a lorry, rammed the Tuk onto it and headed to Lucknow with the vain hope of finding somewhere to fix it in this massive city. By some stroke of luck, we got in contact with a bi-lingual pastor here and he helped us find an official Piaggio service centre. Checking into a (relatively) nice hotel (John screamed for joy when he saw they provided soap), Hank is ready for a full service tomorrow and, all things being well, we hope to be on the road sometime in the next few days.

We aim to be headed to Ayodhya once Hank is fixed then onto Varanasi the day after.

Will try and keep you better posted (with pictures) in future.

Much love

Freddie and John x