Just before we set off...
Phew...what a mental few weeks! We have made the bestest friends and had the most wonderful time! It is far too difficult to explain all that went on during those 12 days, and the few days prior and after, but here is a few high, low, and downright odd points...
Hanging with the Abu Dhabi teams the night before the big off...
1) There are lots of dogs in India.
2) There are lots of truck drivers on speed in India.
3) This means there are lots of dead, bloated smelly rotting roadkill dogs in India. It is rather the most horrible thing about the drive we did. Number 1 gross dog moment... dog eats other dog (which is dead) through other dogs bumhole. Nice.
4) We were photographed by a mental AP photographer who while riding in a car with our friend Josh in the passenger seat hit a water buffalo. Just because. We were shocked the following day to find ourselves all over the internet and in various Indian and Canadian papers (there are prob a few other countries out there too!) and in the legend that is the Metro!
5) Stayed in a tiger reserve which was closed so hence saw no tigers but did see the biggest stag with the biggest horns I have ever seen! And a load of monkeys. And we drank loads of super strong beer and had a giggle and felt awful the next morning.
6)Drove on 'highways' that would be hard pushed to be described as a dirt track! This resulted in the total obliteration of our roofrack and the need for it to be welded twice and still we returned it broken! This also caused our one and only break down in the form of a flat tyre. Luckily as we came to a stop in literally the middle of nowhere we found we were among a large group of taxi rickshaws, apparently waiting for business in the least frequented spot in India! They proceeded to change our tyre for us and refused money! This is when we realised that the Ganesh statue that was in our rickshaw when we picked it up was a magic Ganesh (he is the elephant god that represents prosperity) so we started touching it in a touch wood type manner and nothing went wrong, so thank you Ganesh!
7)Saw the 'standard' burning body in Varanasi. As you do.
8) Almost got into a brawl with a guy at a petrol station, long story but one of the yanks drove into his motorbike and broke the tail-light...wanted 150 quid for it...we refused and he picked up a brick...there were 7 of us and 1 of him, the sight of us all running towards him unsurprisingly led to him putting the brick down and accepting the 2 pounds we had been offerings.
9) Nepal - literally crossing the border and the horns stopped, the roads were cleaner and the beer was cold!
10 ) The convoy, we travelled the whole time with 3 english lads from the Abu Dhabi Team they work there and Josh and Mel from the 'Monkey Legion ' lovely couple from Mississippi and Nova Scotia, they've been working in korea and are hopefully going to get us a job!
The Abu Dhabi Green team freestyle it in their Rickshaw...
11) The drive from the Tansen ( another highlight, stayed at a hotel which overlooked the most beautiful valley scene ) to Pokhara, not only was it the last leg of the journey and everyone was all giddy, but the road was amazing. twisting and turning up through the foothills!
12) The finish Line - Seeing all the guys we'd met 2 weeks previous and hearing their stories, some of which were amazing!
Right that's enough for now, we have a briefing now for our kayaking trip, we're heading down the river, white water kayaking down to the Chitwan national park to see some tigers and elephants! we'll be back in Pokara in about a week and then we're going to trek to annapurna base camp which is 14 days and involves a pass of over 5000m...altitude sickness here we come!
hope you are all well and we'll be putting some pictures up when we get back next week!
Lots of Love,
Nick & Nat
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