Josh and JJ ride through the morning fog

The crew left Haridwar three days ago after finding a hot-deal on a rickshaw. Unfortunately for us Vishal, our friend and translator, went back to Mumbai for a friend’s wedding. We miss him dearly. And, it’s not only because our collective knowledge of Hindi barely allows us to obtain water, food, and shelter.

Now we are in Moradabad; 159km from where we started rickshaw-ing. As a rolling-unit, we weigh roughly 700lbs (3 backpacks, our camera gear, 3 six-foot-plus Caucasian males, and a baby-blue steel-frame single-speed rickshaw which none of us can lift on our own.) Our average speed is 7.7km per hour. We have to push it up even the slightest incline, and we switch out the poor soul who’s pedaling every 2 hours.

The Ride So Far:

Day 1)

We inadvertently spend our first night camped-out in the jungle after getting lost 26km from Haridwar. “I wish I knew how to ask if this is a safe place to camp,” JJ says. Josh replies, “There’s nobody here to ask.” None of us sleep.

Day 2)

We find ourselves on page 7 of a local Hindi newspaper. We assume it’s about our rickshaw trip across Uttar Pradesh, but none of us know Sanskrit, so it’s hard to say for sure. “Any press is good press,” I say.

Day 3) We experience our first flat tire. Over 40 Indians stop to help. “You always get help in India,” JJ observed. “Whether you want it or not.” Twice, oncoming buses run me off the road.

Day 4)

We’ll see…

Next photo we’re hoping for the front page:)