Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Day 12 & 13 - Reached Siliguri - only 2 more states to go!

So apparently the 'strangers' I mentioned in the last post they had to stay with was actually a roadside restaurant, like truck stop. They often call restaurants "hotels" in India and this was where they were directed it would be possible to sleep. There were no rooms, but they had to sleep, it was dark, foggy and were told there may be some place 6kms behind them or 60kms ahead. They opted for the roadside 'hotel'!

When I spoke to them today they had already experienced a mechanical mishap, the starter cable fell onto the carburetor and burned up, they had to stop to have it replaced. K. said that the Steering was messed up, in order to go straight they had to hold the steering to the left...making it more challenging to avoid pot holes. (which i could here in the background, the auto shaking because the road was so bad and potholed).

The map they had turned out not to be much use in the North. They at this point were having to completely rely on roadside signs or stopping and asking people. They roads were either not on the map or if they were, in wrong places. At one point on the 12th I believe, they took a road that was on the map and they ended up in a tiger reserve! They ended up backtracking to get out of there. A few days back she said they drove through rice fields, for 5 or 6 kms.

What looks like a National Highway on the map turns out to be dirt road. When they try to ask for directions many times the people on the side of the road (or in it) are drunk and can't give proper directions. This is at 11am. I have seen this in the villages i have worked in, alcoholism is one of the more prevalent problems in the rural areas. They often drink toddy, a cheap homeade liquor.

They slept in Siliguri on the 12th, they met up with 6 or 7 other teams there. So far, as far as repairs they have had to:
  • repair the carburetor 5 times
  • Exhaust pipe 3 times
  • had the engine rebuilt
  • Steering repaired
  • Windsheild wipers (does not even sound worthy of mentioning! ha!)
  • Sidebar
  • Had flat tires
  • Spare tire stolen
They were not sure if they were on the correct road when i spoke with them around noon on the 13th. Karilyn was asking paul if they were going north, she was afraid they may have crossed over into Bhutan! ha!

They had hoped to complete about 300kms by the day end, leaving them about 60 to 80 on the final day to reach Shillong by mid day. This was the first day they had phone coverage and thought that once they reached Assam they may loose it again! The adventure is almost over, I am sure they will have great photos and stories to share once they are back.

No comments:

Post a Comment