Its Monday! I thought about it for a while and worked it out. Couple of days ago and we were in Gangtok about to set off on the Rickshaw Run, and now we are well and truly on our way. Its an interesting machine to drive - first time you get in it, it pulls to the right and I would have easily crashed if a car was coming the other way. McGill almost did - millimetres fromn another car!
we arrived in nepal today. After a fairly routine drive with potholed roads and every vehicle imaginable all trying to use the same bit of road (from pedal rickshaws and bikes to massive lorries and buses) Jukesy navigated us to the border. We then had to register our intention to leave India with the Indian authorities (the guy was halfway through dealing with a German bloke and saw my British passport and dealt with me first - he said 'I'll give you a head start over him!') Then we had to get a Nepal\ese visa, and then had to register the rickshaw - everything is done in triplicate (fill a form in one place, they write it in a book, take the form to another place, they write it ina book, take the form to pay for the transit, they write it in a book!). So we were ages at the border so ended up staying about a mile from the border. First order of business was shower, as soon as I stepped in, the power went off - getting a shower in pitch blackness is an odd experience, especially when you're trying to find the soap!
people here are generally great - very helpful. Trouble is, they will help even if they don't know the answer. We stoipped a guy today and said 'are we on the right road for Nepal?" and he said "yes, this way". We were actually on the wrong road and didn't realise for another ten miles, so we are now going to check everything twice.
weatehr is very humid - think I'd have lost weight from the amount I've sweated but we are trying to replace fluid with beer so I think I've gained a few pounds. Am getting lots of comments about my hairstyle thouygh I'm starting to feel the need to shave it off - unless people make a few donations (we are currently the team with the most charitable money raised so dig deep people and keep us at the top!) Not much else to say at the moment - feel like we've been here for ages because of the cultural differences. people here do everything slowly and it shard to adjust to after our way of life - you can order a round of toast for breakfast and wait an hour for it to arrive, and then your cup of coffee comes after that!
I should add that I haven't said anything bad about McGill in my blog entry, though it would be very easy to do! I love the guy and he can only stoop to insults. I truly feel sorry for him!
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