Udaipur and Limping Toward the Finish Line
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| India's largest state by area |
The party in Jaisalmer was scheduled for the 15th,
so assuming we had no major issues with the rickshaws, we could spend the day
in Udaipur and have two comfortable days of driving on the 13th and
14th. As it turned out, we had our share of issues; but let’s not
get ahead of ourselves here.
First, Udaipur. We planned to spend the day there because
the city is one of the most famous tourist spots in India. Every major city in
Rajasthan is associated with a color; Jodhpur is the blue city, Jaipur is pink,
and Udaipur white. It’s also well known in the West as the setting of the James
Bond film Octopussy. If you’ve seen
the movie, in one scene Bond, disguised as a crocodile, swims up to a floating
palace in the middle of lake. That palace is actually a hotel in Udaipur where
you can blow a ridiculous amount of money. If you haven’t seen the movie, there
are plenty of spots showing it in town. And if you don’t have the money to
blow, there are plenty of rooftops with amazing views of the hotel.
We had again arranged a hotel stay with points, so Mike, Sam
and I shared a room, and Pat and Tim were in another. The Deere left later in
the morning—who knows what time they got back the night before—so our three man
crew dropped off our bags at the hotel and went for lunch in the old town. We
were lured in by the advertisement boasting the highest rooftop in the city. I
think one or two others might have beef with the claim, but with that view we
weren’t complaining. Mike and I even went back to the same spot later that
night for drinks at sunset.
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| View of Udaipur from our lunch spot |
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| Mike (right) and I went back for a rooftop sunset |
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| The hotel from Octopussy lit up just after sunset |
That afternoon we headed back to check in at the hotel and
meet up with Pat and Tim. Unfortunately Pat had to make an early exit from the
run—work was calling—so our night in Udaipur would be his last. Pat and Tim
were content to chill at the hotel with drinks, and Sam had work to do, but
Mike and I wanted to see more of the city while we had the chance. The two of us
took a rickshaw taxi to visit the City Palace, had a couple beers on the
rooftop spot, and then met up with everyone later for dinner.
A group of Runners organized a meet-up on our Whatsapp
group, and about 20 of us came for dinner in the old town. We had seen
others’ rickshaws at various points during our trip, but for the most part we
rarely met on purpose. It was fun to share stories from the past week with a
few familiar faces. The night never progressed past the rooftop restaurant, but
we stuck around until closing time and drank more than our fair share of beer.
Tim was feeling good, and at one point I remember him chatting up the staff in the
kitchen and delivering rounds of beer to the table. When things are going right
he can certainly be the life of the party.
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| Riding with Tim the morning we left Udaipur |
The closer we got to Jaisalmer, the longer it was in between
towns and gas stations. The morning we headed out from Udaipur things went
smoothly; I rode with Tim in the Deere, and Mike and Sam took the Steamer.
After a late lunch in Sirohi Sam and I switched ricks. We were headed toward
the town of Barmer, but probably wouldn’t make it there in one day. As it
turned out we definitely wouldn’t make it.
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| Scenery just north of Udaipur |
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| Tim's rickshaw was already worse for the wear |
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| This guy was the mechanic that Mike and I picked up to check out the Deere |
The good news was that the mechanic could fix the problem.
The bad news: the spare part was back in Sirohi. This meant we had to wait for
someone to drive a motorbike from the no-name town where we were stranded to
Sirohi, and then carry it back before the repairs could begin. We also had to
tow the Deere to the mechanic’s shop, which we accomplished using our mundus (a
traditional male skirt in Kerala, which we bought for the opening day of the
run). We tied two to the Steamer, and Sam held on while sitting in the Deere.
We could only drive a couple miles and hour, lest we rip Sam’s arm off, but
hey, it worked!
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| Aside from axle problems, the Deere also lost its battery when Tim sped over a speed bump. Thank goodness for duct tape! |
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| While waiting in town for the spare part, the kings of Indian roads made an appearance |
While waiting for news we got dinner at the one guesthouse
in town, and then loitered anxiously around the mechanic’s shop. It took two
hours for the part to arrive, and over an hour for the repair job. In the
meantime the sun disappeared and the sky turned pitch black. We could have
called it a night, but we were still over 300 kms out from Jaisalmer and it
seemed a bad idea to leave one of our longest days for last. Instead we decided
on an even worse idea and drove in the dark.
At that point Tim was mentally finished with the Rickshaw
Run; he would have easily put it on a truck and paid someone to drive him the
rest of the way. One of the locals said he knew a guy who could do it for
20,000 Rupees, but nearly $300 seemed steep. I also wanted to finish the right
way—we were so close! Tim and Sam set a plan to drive straight through the
night, while Mike and I said we’d keep up with them until we felt tired. I was
fine with driving a few hours, but not a 10 hour bender just to get there half
a day early.
For the first hour, driving at night seemed fine. We’d done
it a few times before, but tried to avoid it when possible. The worst part was
the oncoming cars and trucks who would blind you by driving with their brights
on. But since the stretch of road we were on was quiet, we had few cars to
worry about. I soon would learn that cars weren’t the only issue though.
While I was driving on a windy country road, I saw a sign
for railroad tracks in the corner of my eye. The next thing I knew, the road
suddenly jutted 90 degrees to the right. In that split second I saw another
road sign and drop-off in front of me; it seemed the wiser move to pull a hard
turn rather than risk smashing into the sign or rolling down the hill (the
drop-off was only a few feet, but still, these rickshaws are fragile).
The next thing I remember is the Steamer tipping on its side
and smashing into the gravel. I turned the ignition off and hopped out pronto. There
was a random guy sitting at the railroad crossing who came over to see what
happened. I remember climbing out of the rick, in the middle of a country road,
and thinking, “wait, where the hell did that guy come from?!”
Fortunately Mike and I were both okay—a little banged and
bruised, but nothing serious. We lifted the rick back upright and surveyed the
damage. The side mirror was broken, the roof tarp was slightly torn, and a
few medal bars were bent out of shape. The window glass fell out of place, but
amazingly it didn’t shatter. The Steamer looked worse for the wear, but all
things considered, I think we got off lucky. Yes, I was going too fast. And
yes, I shouldn’t break and turn the steering wheel simultaneously. But I’ll
defend myself for a minute—out of the thousands of speed bumps in India, why the
hell didn’t they put one there? And with so much open space, why the need for
such a sharp turn?
I didn't want the crash to leave a bad taste in my mouth, so
I decided to keep driving…slower of course. The Steamer started up and ran
without any issues, and Mike helped navigate through the darkness. We drove for
another hour or so before stumbling upon a small hotel where we called it a
night. I have no idea which town it was; the only thing I cared about was that
we survived the night driving and the rickshaw was in one piece…mostly.
We checked in at about 10 pm, and after a couple beers Mike
got a message from Sam: Tim lost his phone and they were retracing their steps
to look for it (it probably fell out as they drove). As expected they couldn’t
see anything, and the phone was forever gone. They also gave up on driving
through the night and after midnight reconnected with us at the hotel.
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| The roads were nice and quiet near Jaisalmer. Better stick to day driving! |
The next morning Sam and Tim were off at the crack of dawn.
Mike and I both need our beauty sleep, so we waited until 9 to leave.
Thankfully there were no more crashes or breakdowns, and after the town of
Barmer the road really opened up. The last 100 kms we hardly saw another
vehicle on the road. With empty, straight roads we made good time and arrived
in Jaisalmer by mid-afternoon. WE MADE IT!!!
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| In the crash we lost our funnel, so for the last two fill-ups we had to tip the rick on one side to pour in the petrol |
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