Whilst getting some R&R in the city of Panaji in Goa Tom decided he was in need of a haircut. Finding a street side barbers he went in. As Mel was about to head off to peruse the markets the barber invited her in for a head massage while she waited. Not wanting to be rude, she agreed.
As you can see the massage, turned into a facial with a very strange vibrating massage machine, which we must add was administered whilst the barber was both on the phone and watching the Ashes Cricket, so doing all three things simultaneously.
The comic value of the experience was priceless – however we imagine that the pampering options at The Taj, enjoyed by wiser participants would have been a better option!
Local Panaji barbers
A new type of facial experience - unlikely to catch on....
The next leg from Goa to Ratnagiri was an easy drive, if not a little windy. Each day we were given a number of tasks or challenges to complete for different point values. At the end of the rally the people with the most points win rather than this being a test of driving speed – as that would be illegal and not very fast in a rickshaw!
Today’s challenge was to find a Nissan Hut. We had no idea what one of these was, nor did any other local person, restaurant owner, or even the tourist board. The only people I believe that did eventually find this colonial ‘tin shed’ used by the Brits eons ago were the Hungary team who were determined to complete each and every challenge set.
Most days Ruby Murray opted to seek out good photo opportunities instead, so our points score was rather lacking overall.
Smiles and waves were never ending
School kids waiting for the bus
The next day’s drive to Mahabaleshwa (try saying that in a hurry) was set to be another very interesting climb up a mountain. Based on our previous hill climbing experience we thought it wise to set off at the crack of dawn with team mate’s Roo’s & Poo’s to get a head start.
After a leisurely drive to the base of the mountain we stopped for a spot of lunch. Whilst minding our own business, unbeknown to us the local paparazzi was busily snapping our photo. This later appeared in the local Poladpur rag. It’s written in Hindi (I think) but we are told it translates to say “these Englishmen travelled 1500 km’s from Chennai to eat in my restaurant”. Very comical.
Fame was unbeknown to us
Snapped by the paparazzi
The scenery as we climbed up the Mahabaleshwa mountain range was absolutely breathtaking. It was a rainy day so the mist and cloud closed in as we reached further up to the 1300 meter high point. Along the way we say monkeys and even found a snake, albeit a tiny one.
Up in the town of Mahabaleshwa there was a vast lake and sea side resort with stalls selling corn, and ginger tea to holiday makers. It wasn’t a very pleasant day but Mel had the pleasure of sharing her corn with a cow, which slowly closed in on her until she handed over the goods. Delicious!
What do you have there?
Mind my fingers...
Hum mm delicious!
One of the other teams, Crud Bug reputedly made friends with some locals who were partying in a waterfall further down the mountain. Cranking up the tunes on their rickshaw’s inbuilt sound system they apparently stripped down and jumped into the waterfall to join them. This is the team that won “most bonkers” at the end of the event, you can see why!
Traveling incognito
That night, staying in a very basic mountain resort, where the electricity generator was switched on only while guests were up and about, we enjoyed an evening of playing poker, round robin table tennis and even a game of musical chairs!
The next day we set off down the mountain in convoy again. Along route we saw some horses cantering along the road as if they had just escaped from the asylum, so we don’t know whether they were wild or had bolted from their owner.
As we drove down the windy hillside roads we spotted a hill top plateau and dirt track road on which we could drive the rickshaw. Taking the lead Ruby Murray heading out there for the photo opportunity followed closely by the rest of the gang. Multi-coloured rickshaws racing around on a hill top would have been an interesting spectacle and easy to spot from afar so typically it was not long before we were joined by a television crew and a large group of Indian males, who intriguingly all seemed to have matching moustaches.
One of these people doesn’t quite fit in – can you spot who?
Jocelyn dancing on the hill top with random passers-by
The TV crew were really only interested in the outbreak of Swine Flu which had just reached 30 people in the city of Pune - our next destination. They wanted to know what foreigners thought, but we had suspicions that they were photographing us as the culprits for bringing it into the country, even though we’d not been to Pune yet. There were a lot of questions about how seriously we were taking the pandemic. Obviously it was a little hard to believe with our outfits.
No really we ARE taking swine flu seriously
The last leg to Pune was on a freeway again which was a relief as we were back at our top speed of 50 km’s an hour – wahoo we were positively racing along! On the freeway there were a couple of tunnels, which unlike the western world were not lit on the inside. By the time we realised that we needed to turn our lights on it was pitch black and we couldn’t see where the switch was. A moment of panic from Mel who was driving and some fumbling from Tom (with the lights of course) and all was well again.
That night Mel was interviewed by Chitra Nair of The India Times who had studied and worked in Melbourne before becoming a journalist back home in India. The Mumbai Xpress rally was once again in the paper the following morning!
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