Throughout the many Indian states we have passed through there has remained a few constants. The first and most disconcerting is the staring. It is understandable when you live in remote areas of India, and you see a White man practically wearing a rickshaw, that a reaction would be to stare, however some have gone beyond that. The worst offender was a motorcyclist, he had 3 passengers (standard in India), his stare was held for almost half a kilometer, and only broken to avoid hitting a cow that was making it's way accross the 3 lanes of traffic. The other constant is bad driving. I am not saying all Indians are dangerous drivers, but 99.99% certainly are. The worst of these are the lorry and bus drivers. Right of way in India goes to the largest vehicle and in most cases the one traveling the fastest. These are usually the aforementioned. To make matters worse in festival season these vehicles are festooned with flower chains and tinsel, obscuring all but a little piece of windscreen. This has been terrifying!
Alleppey is a charming city referred to as the Venice of the East. We arrived in good time and went straight to the pool. The two days we spent there allowed us to recuperate and prepare for the final stretch. The food there was excellent, some of the best curries I have had on the trip. We left refreshed and ready to finally finish our epic journey.
I would love tell you that our union flag fluttered gloriously as we hit the NH47 on the final stretch, however the previous night some beastly little git saw fit to rid our magnificent wagon of all it's patriotism by snapping the flag pole and stealing the flag. Not content with ridding it of its flag, they also ripped the horn wires out. This is the first instance we have had of any wanton vandalism or negativity, and it left us with a tainted memory of Alleppey. The actual drive to Trivandrum was effortless, the road beautifully smooth and the weather wonderful, and we made good time. Our final destination wasn't in the city itself but slightly south on the coast, in the seaside town of Kovalam. We thought it would be nice however, purely for ceremonial reasons of course, to drive through Trivandrum city itself. Perhaps it was the lack of a finish line, a welcome party, or jut a sign that we were in the actual city, but it was a rather subdued affair. In fact the gravity of what we had a achieved didn't actually sink in until we said it to ourselves several times overlooking the setting sun from our balcony.
With the journey over we still found ourselves in possession of a 2004 reg, diesel Piaggio Ape rickshaw, and we needed to sell it. Again this was a lot less painful than we thought. We simply asked the hotel if they knew anyone and within 2 days we had met, negotiated and sold the rickshaw for a fraction less than we paid for it, a real result.
With the journey finished and the tuck sold, we were still desperate to see a tiger. We made some enquiries, did some research and found a wildlife reserve 30kms away that had Leopard, Tiger and elephant etc. With no rickshaw we suffered the 3 hours it took public transport to get there, only to find that they close on Monday's, something which no one told us and isn't made clear on the Internet. We then had to wait two hours for a bus to show up, for it to then take another 3 hours to get us back, a thorough waste of a day.
Tomorrow is our last day, I am writing this watching the sun plunge into the Arabian sea, nursing a kingfisher. We have conquered India by rickshaw, but I know I will be back. It is only through adventures such as these that you see a country at it's best and worst, that you discover what it is like to live among natives and drive like they do. If it wasn't for such silly ideas as driving a tuck from Nepal to South India I wouldn't be able to tell you what a fine vehicle that rickshaw was. That chariot of tin and iron took on some of the worst terrain I have seen, and never faltered. It is a triumph of engineering and one that deserves a better reputation than it has.
That is all I have to say. Until the next stupid idea..
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