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
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
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