The Great India Adventure

Most importantly I have to say that the rickshaw assignment gods looked favorably upon us and Eric and I were lucky to get one of the handful of rickshaws with 4-stroke engines. Most are 2-stroke. But ours did die when the fuel gauge read half-full, leaving us dead in the water in the middle of town. **If you know of our last trips to Utah in our beloved Landcruiser, you’ll see why we knew we could do THIS trip** We received kind help from locals, got a, uh, rickshaw-for-hire ride to a shop to get two 5-liter petrol containers (that look more like heavy-duty cooking oil jugs) and to the petrol station to get one filled up. 2.5 liters of petrol filled up the rickshaw tank that is supposed to have a 5-gallon capacity (in other words, apparently it wasn’t out of gas when it was dying) and it purred like a kitten. Hurray! We’ll see what happens on that front.

Rickshaws had to be returned by 4pm. Where they are all parked is right next to the waterfront, so we had a lovely stroll on the promenade. We then attended an amazing local classical dance performance that is like musical storytelling that originated in the 17th century and involves elaborate costumes and makeup. For the hour prior to the performance the actors put their makeup on onstage. Fascinating!

Unfortunately we had to sneak out of the performance to get to the mandatory team meeting. It was a humor-filled welcome/introduction/let’s go over the loose guidelines talk, and my biggest take away was that right at the beginning he said there are 20 women and 169 men taking part in this event. 🤣Lue lisää

Lunch break in Rasipuram at Classic Rider Cafe. Their motto “Eat Ride Repeat” fits us for sure. Checked the oil this morning (it looks great), met the cutest gal working at a petrol station (she was all smiles until the photo!), saw what looked like sandstone hills you’d see in Utah, and seeing lots of beautiful Hindu temples. I’m eating a paneer burger for lunch, which is deep-fried paneer (cheese) on a bun. And a honey date milkshake. 😋Lue lisää