Our impressive Logo

Before we even hit the road, we had to come up with a team name. Something that captured the essence of our journey—adventure, danger, and, of course, complete absurdity. After tossing around ideas that ranged from ‘Rickshaw Renegades’ to ‘Mountain Madmen,’ we finally landed on ‘Himalayan Hijinks.’

Now, for those wondering, ‘hijinks’ technically means ‘boisterous fun’ or ‘wild behavior.’ But in our case, it was less about intentional fun and more about the series of mishaps, breakdowns, and general incompetence that would define our trip. Essentially, ‘Himalayan Hijinks’ is just a fancy way of saying, ‘We have no idea what we’re doing, but it’s going to be hilarious watching us try.’

It was the perfect name for a group of guys who thought driving a glorified lawnmower through the world’s tallest mountain range was a good idea. Plus, it had a nice ring to it, like the title of an old-timey cartoon. Little did we know, by the end of this, we’d be living the cartoon, complete with all the crashes, dramatic rescues, and ridiculous moments of slapstick comedy.

Our adventure begins with three brave souls, a glorified lawnmower on three wheels, and the grandest mountain range in the world standing between us and our goal. But first, let me introduce you to the team—each with their quirks, talents, and, of course, vices.

Ram – The Meticulous Planner (AKA Captain Precision)

Ram was our leader—not because he appointed himself, but because none of us were organized enough to take the role. He was the meticulous planner, the one who always needed to know exactly where we were going and how we were going to get there. Ram was the first to get up in the morning, waking us all before the crack of dawn with the insistence that we were already behind schedule. He was the human alarm clock we never asked for, but probably needed.

Despite his best efforts, we were usually late by his standards. It didn’t matter if we were just five minutes off—Ram would grumble, light a cigarette, and glare at his watch as if time itself had betrayed him. Yes, Ram had a constant companion on this trip: his cigarettes. You could always tell when he was deep in thought because he’d light up, exhale a cloud of smoke, and mutter some grim commentary about our situation. Whether we were stranded on a cliffside road or waiting for the rickshaw to cool down, Ram puffed away as if each drag was fueling his next plan.

What really got to him were the little things. Rushi, for instance, had an uncanny ability to do things that drove Ram up the wall. Like flicking on a light in the middle of the night, or adjusting the rickshaw’s mirror by a fraction of a degree. Each small act was met with a deep sigh and an exasperated, “Why can’t you just leave things alone?” But beneath his irritation, we all knew Ram was the beating heart of the group. He kept us moving, kept us focused, and in the rare moments when he wasn’t frustrated with us, he even managed to enjoy himself.

Ram’s passion for planning didn’t stop at the route. Every pit stop, every meal, every potential toilet break was carefully mapped out in his mind. And when things inevitably went wrong—as they often did—he was the one who helped us figure out a new plan, even if he did so with a grumble and a scowl.

Rushi – The PR Guy (DJ, Drone Pilot, and GoPro Guru)

Then there was Rushi, our self-designated PR guy, whose mission was to ensure that every moment of our journey looked as epic online as it felt in our heads. His job? Play the right song, keep our Instagram feed buzzing, and make sure his GoPro captured every twist, turn, and near-death experience.

Rushi’s taste in music could only be described as unpredictable. One moment we’d be cruising to The Beatles, the next we’d be jolted by some electronic beats that sounded like a robot having a breakdown. And just when we were getting used to that, an 80s Bollywood hit would suddenly blare through the speakers, making our rickshaw feel like a moving film set. He called it variety; the rest of us called it Rushi’s ever-changing mood in audio form.

And then there was his obsession with the drone. At every scenic stop (and there were plenty in the Himalayas), Rushi would jump out, frantically setting up his drone to capture what he called “cinematic gold.” More often than not, the drone barely made it into the air before the wind threatened to carry it off into the next valley. But Rushi never gave up, treating every successful flight like a small victory. When the drone wasn’t buzzing around, he was busy managing GoPro footage—switching batteries, adjusting angles, and ensuring that every awkward moment was perfectly documented for future embarrassment.

Shiv – The Quiet Observer

Then there was me—Shiv. Every group needs someone to balance out the noise, and that’s where I came in. While Ram puffed away on his cigarettes and Rushi was buried in gadgets, I preferred to sit back and take it all in. I was the quiet one on this trip, the guy who didn’t need to fill the silence with chatter. Instead, I watched, listened, and observed as the chaos unfolded around us.

Some might mistake my silence for indifference, but it was more about soaking in the experience. I knew this journey was going to be one for the books, and sometimes, the best way to appreciate the absurdity of it all was to just… not say anything. Whether it was Ram swearing at a map or Rushi yelling at his drone, I preferred to keep my thoughts to myself, occasionally offering a nod or a raised eyebrow when words weren’t necessary. But when I did speak, it was usually to bring everyone back to reality—or to point out that, yes, we were once again hopelessly lost.

The Fourth Member: The Glorified Lawnmower

And finally, we had our most crucial team member: the rickshaw. Not just any rickshaw, mind you. We were driving a four-stroke three-wheeled glorified lawnmower. In theory, this model had more power than the standard two-stroke version. In reality, the mighty Himalayas did a phenomenal job of making sure this so-called “upgrade” was still woefully underpowered for the task ahead.

This beast—if you could call it that—was our lifeline. It sputtered and wheezed its way up steep mountain passes, groaned on flat roads, and occasionally decided it needed a break right when we needed it to keep going. It was temperamental, stubborn, and often seemed to have a mind of its own. But somehow, we couldn’t help but love the damn thing. After all, it was carrying us through the adventure of a lifetime, even if it wasn’t exactly built for it.

The point, of course, wasn’t that the rickshaw was unsuited for the job. That was the whole point. Driving a vehicle better suited for lawn mowing than mountain climbing through the largest mountain range in the world? That’s what made it fun. Or at least, that’s what we told ourselves every time it refused to start.

And so, with Ram as our smoke-fueled leader, Rushi managing the soundtrack to our chaos, and me quietly watching it all unfold, we set off. Armed with a glorified lawnmower and a wildly optimistic plan, we were ready for whatever the road—mountain, or more likely, broken-down dirt track—would throw our way.

Our original plan (top left) vs. the monsoon edition (top right) vs. the landslide detour (bottom left) vs. the 'just winging it' edition (bottom right). We're open to suggestions at this point.

So, there we were, all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, ready to tackle The Rickshaw Run Himalaya. Little did we know, the *Adventurists Council of Elders* had a different kind of motivation for us. You see, they decided that before we set off on our joyride in a glorified lawnmower, we needed a little pep talk—one filled with life-altering warnings and some well-placed panic.

**"Greetings, intrepid adventurers!"** they began, sounding oddly like a group of mystical wizards. **"As you embark on this splendid adventure, we must remind you of the monumental risks involved."**

And they weren’t kidding. If we didn’t know we were in for a wild ride, their serious tones should have clued us in. They continued, **“You are about to embark on _The Rickshaw Run Himalaya_. There’s no safety net, no roadmaps, and absolutely no clue if you’ll reach the finish line. Spoiler alert: you won’t.”**

What a confidence booster, right? We leaned in as they informed us, **“The only certainty is that you’ll get lost, stuck, and break down—oh, and let’s not forget you’ll probably do all three at least once per mile!”** Honestly, by the end of their little pep talk, we were convinced that “adventuring” was just code for “a hot mess waiting to happen.”

They painted a vivid picture of the roads ahead: **“Picture hundreds of miles of no-holds-barred, proper old-fashioned adventuring in a machine that’s less ‘vehicle’ and more ‘mobile blender.’”** I mean, if I wanted to travel in something that barely meets the standards of ‘moving,’ I would’ve just gotten on a city bus during rush hour!

Then came the part that really struck fear into our hearts: **“Driving long distances on treacherous terrain in a rickshaw is an extremely dangerous thing to do. If you need a refresher on how dangerous this actually is, please revisit our handbook. You’ll find it packed with a delightful assortment of survival tips, emergency contacts, and plenty of reasons to turn around while you still can.”**

Their suggestion to revisit the handbook was essentially a polite way of saying, “Good luck! You’re going to need it.” After hearing all of this, we left that meeting with our spirits somehow both high and terrifyingly low, believing wholeheartedly that we were stepping into the most hazardous adventure of our lives. Thanks to the Council, every bump in the road now felt like a death sentence, and every turn we took was a dance with disaster.

But hey, who needs a carefully planned route or backup when you can just embrace the chaos, right? After all, this is what life is all about—embracing the madness and wondering how we’ll survive it in one piece… in a glorified lawnmower

As we arrived and settled into the town, the first challenge hit us before we even had a chance to catch our breath—our mobile phones, those loyal companions that had worked perfectly fine in the rest of India, decided to go on strike. The moment we landed in Leh, our prepaid SIM cards turned into glorified paperweights. Apparently, only postpaid connections work here, a detail that had somehow escaped us. So, we set off on a frantic quest to secure a working SIM card. Most agents in the market insisted on seeing an Aadhaar card, which, of course, one of us didn’t have.

Finally, we found an Airtel showroom that was willing to set us up with a connection using our non-Indian passports. And there we stood, in a long line with Chinese tourists who clearly knew this was the place to get a new SIM. After what felt like hours, I finally had a working phone line in the valley. Success, sweet success—at least until the next hurdle appeared.

After a quick trip to town for a decent meal (our first in what felt like forever), we returned to the hotel for what was supposed to be a “power nap.” That one-hour nap quickly morphed into a three-hour hibernation. By the time one of us managed to shake off the sleep and wake the other, we realized we were dangerously close to missing the pre-adventure drinks—the first chance to meet the 22 other groups who had signed up for this madness.

Dragging ourselves out of bed, we headed to the gathering, where we met our fellow adventurers: the Aussie crew, all eight of them named Matt (I swear, it was like a convention of Matts); the Kiwis, who, true to form, seemed effortlessly cool; the Slovenians, a group of six who had matching T-shirts for every day of the trip (yes, they were that organized); and the young English lads who were born the same year we emigrated from India to the UK. And, of course, the local vendors who were trying to sell us trinkets at prices that suggested they thought we’d flown in on private jets.

As we meandered through the deserted town center, we realized that our cool Rickshaw Run wasn’t the hottest thing happening in Ladakh after all. Oh no, we were being totally overshadowed by the Ladakh Marathon and the Khardung La Challenge. Imagine this: the Khardung La Challenge is an ultra-marathon that starts in the scenic Khardung village and then goes uphill all the way to the Khardung La pass, at a mind-boggling height of 5,370 meters! It’s a race for the truly insane—sorry, I mean elite runners—who want to push the limits of endurance on one of the world’s highest motorable roads, surrounded by yak pastures and the breathtaking views of the East Karakoram mountains. And then there’s the Ladakh Full Marathon, the world’s highest AIMS-IAAF certified marathon, just to make sure we knew how insignificant our little rickshaw adventure seemed in comparison.

Before

And after

After a few drinks (one of us was still nursing that altitude-induced headache), we decided it was time to eat something substantial to ward off tomorrow’s inevitable hangover. We left just before midnight, only to discover that Leh’s once-bustling town square had turned into a ghost town. Apparently, most places close by 9 PM, leaving us to wander the streets in search of food like drunken nomads.

Just when we thought we were out of luck, we stumbled upon a small place that was winding down for the night. After some desperate pleading, the cook agreed to whip up the thinnest chicken skewers I’ve ever seen, along with some momos and fried rice. Crisis averted—almost. The struggle didn’t end there. The eatery was only 200 meters away from where we spotted it, but it might as well have been on top of Mount Everest. That slight uphill climb felt like a full-on expedition—Sherpas, oxygen tanks, and all. Our legs wobbled, our lungs wheezed, and our hearts pounded

After filling our bellies to prevent the dreaded morning-after regrets, we somehow managed to find a cab to take us back to the hotel. We arrived only to discover that the hotel had locked all the doors, and there we were, standing outside in the middle of the night, contemplating whether we should attempt to scale the barbed wire fence like some low-budget action heroes.

Getting the phone number for the next night to ensure that we don’t get locked out again

Luckily, after a few frantic phone calls and some less-than-sane thoughts of breaking in, someone finally answered and let us in. We collapsed into our beds, grateful to have survived our first day in Leh, a place so breathtakingly beautiful it looks like it was plucked straight out of a travel guide. Little did we know, this was just the beginning of our high-altitude hijinks.

Briefing

Before we could take our new partner for a spin, we were herded into a briefing. This was where the organizers laid down the “rules,” though it quickly became clear that there weren’t many. In fact, the main point of the briefing seemed to be, “We’re not responsible for anything that happens to you—good luck, and may the rickshaw gods be with you.” With that, they sent us off, armed with nothing more than a vague sense of what we were supposed to be doing and a map that looked suspiciously hand-drawn.

Test Drive for Pictures

And then came the test drive. This was the moment we’d all been waiting for—the chance to actually get behind the wheel and see what this rickshaw could do. Spoiler: not much. The test drive wasn’t exactly a scene from Fast & Furious. More like Slow & Curious. We wobbled down the narrow streets of Leh, trying to dodge street vendors, parked cars, and the occasional stray dog.

At first, it felt like we were just learning how to walk again—our rickshaw jerking forward awkwardly every time we tried to accelerate. The locals, with a mix of amusement and pity, watched as we wrestled with the tiny steering wheel, clearly wondering how we were planning to survive the next few weeks. Honestly, we were wondering the same.

There are 3 father son groups in this cohort . One kiwi father has got his son and daughter to \240do the run , an Aussie father is doing with his son and another friend and an American father with his son alone …

The Organizers’ Party

That evening, after successfully completing our ‘test drive’ (which was basically just us learning how to keep the rickshaw from stalling), we had the official party hosted by the organizers to attend. It was our chance to meet the other lunatics who had signed up for this madness. Only, we were late. Why? Well, because, like every great plan, ours got derailed at the last minute—by bikes.

Earlier in the day, we realized our route didn’t allow us time to detour to Khardung La, one of the highest motorable roads in the world. So naturally, instead of accepting this and staying on track, we decided the logical thing to do was rent some Royal Enfields for a quick trip up to Khardung La before the rickshaw run. We thought it’d be easy—grab the bikes, head back to the hotel, and get ready for the party.

But nothing’s ever simple. Picking up the bikes took twice as long as expected. Rushi, in his usual way, insisted on triple-checking every detail of the rental, right down to how much air was in the tires. Ram, grumbling through a cloud of cigarette smoke, was pacing around, convinced we were already late. Spoiler: We were.

By the time we rolled up to the party, everyone else had already downed a few beers and settled in. The party felt less like a pre-race gathering and more like a support group—everyone nervously laughing, trying to convince themselves (and each other) that this was going to be fun. It was the kind of atmosphere where you’re half-expecting someone to stand up and say, “Hi, I’m Dave, and I voluntarily signed up for this nightmare.”

The Tug of Head Competition

Then came the night’s entertainment—a Tug of Head competition. If you’re unfamiliar, it’s basically arm wrestling for your neck. Don’t ask. None of us had ever heard of it either. Naturally, Rushi, brimming with confidence and possibly a beer or two, decided he was going to compete. He figured he had it in the bag, until he realized his opponent was a firefighter from Canada..

Rushi stood there, neck muscles tensed, giving it his all while the firefighter barely looked like he was trying. The contest lasted about as long as one of Rushi’s drone flights in high wind—over before it even started. As Rushi nursed his pride (and neck), the firefighter patted him on the back with a friendly, “Good try, mate.”

The Pangong Lake Plan

As if that weren’t enough chaos for one evening, Ram nearly lost it when, in true last-minute fashion, we decided to add Pangong Lake to our meticulously planned route. You know, the same Pangong Lake from 3 Idiots. Ram’s face when he heard the news was somewhere between shock and horror. He looked at the map, then at us, then back at the map, as if he was hoping it would magically change to accommodate this new plan.

Meeting the Marathon Guy

Before we even reached the bar, we ran into this dude who had just finished the Leh Marathon. Naturally, he asked us what we were doing there. You could see the curiosity on his face, expecting us to say something about mountain trekking or extreme sports. Instead, we proudly explained our adventure—driving a rickshaw through the Himalayas.

He stared at us for a second, then deadpanned, “You came all this way to become a rickshaw wala?” He seemed to conveniently ignore the whole ‘we’re driving through the Himalayas’ part of the explanation. Nope, in his mind, we had traveled halfway across the world just to start a new life as glorified taxi drivers.

It was the kind of moment that left us momentarily speechless. Sure, technically he wasn’t wrong, but he was missing the entire point. We laughed it off and moved on, though I’m pretty sure he left thinking we’d all lost our minds. He wasn’t entirely wrong either.

The Middle-Aged Lady and Her Rickshaw Dreams

The rickshaw also turned out to be an unintended crowd magnet. One day, while we were trying to test drive our newly acquired vehicle (which was more like trying to not stall every 100 meters), a middle-aged lady waved us down with such enthusiasm that we thought she was in desperate need of a ride.

We stopped, thinking maybe we had accidentally joined a rickshaw service. Her first words were: “Finally, someone’s starting a rickshaw service in Leh!” She practically cheered as she stood beside us. Before we could explain anything, she was already on her phone, calling friends and neighbors to check out “the new rickshaw guys in town.”

Now, Leh wasn’t exactly known for its bustling rickshaw services, and this lady was beyond disappointed to learn that we were not, in fact, starting a taxi service. “So… you’re not picking up passengers?” she asked, looking at us with what can only be described as pure dismay. She did, however, manage to drag two more people over to admire the rickshaw. It was a huge hit in the city, and every few hundred meters, people stopped to gawk at the vehicle.

Meanwhile, we were struggling just to move forward, fighting with the gears as our poor lawnmower on wheels sputtered its way down the road. Each time we stalled, it felt like the rickshaw was protesting the idea of continuing this trip. Honestly, we couldn’t blame i

Then came the night’s entertainment—a Tug of Head competition. If you’re unfamiliar, it’s basically arm wrestling for your neck. Don’t ask. None of us had ever heard of it either. Naturally, Rushi, brimming with confidence and possibly a beer or two, decided he was going to compete. He figured he had it in the bag, until he realized his opponent was a firefighter from Australia.

The Middle-Aged Lady and Her Rickshaw Dreams

The rickshaw also turned out to be an unintended crowd magnet. One day, while we were trying to test drive our newly acquired vehicle (which was more like trying to not stall every 100 meters), a middle-aged lady waved us down with such enthusiasm that we thought she was in desperate need of a ride.

We stopped, thinking maybe we had accidentally joined a rickshaw service. Her first words were: “Finally, someone’s starting a rickshaw service in Leh!” She practically cheered as she stood beside us. Before we could explain anything, she was already on her phone, calling friends and neighbors to check out “the new rickshaw guys in town.”

Now, Leh wasn’t exactly known for its bustling rickshaw services, and this lady was beyond disappointed to learn that we were not, in fact, starting a taxi service. “So… you’re not picking up passengers?” she asked, looking at us with what can only be described as pure dismay. She did, however, manage to drag two more people over to admire the rickshaw. It was a huge hit in the city, and every few hundred meters, people stopped to gawk at the vehicle.

Meanwhile, we were struggling just to move forward, fighting with the gears as our poor lawnmower on wheels sputtered its way down the road. Each time we stalled, it felt like the rickshaw was protesting the idea of continuing this trip. Honestly, we couldn’t blame it.

By the time the night was over, we were all feeling a little more confident—or maybe that was just the beers talking. Either way, we went to bed with a sense of excitement, ready for the chaos that awaited us. Tomorrow, the real adventure would begin.

Decided to give a try on some of the road with a two wheeler so got Royal Enfield hired for a quick trip the khardungla pass tomorrow

Last minute change of plan to add Pagong Lake ( yes the one from 3 idiosts) to the meticulously planned route by Ram

That’s an early start for tomm at 6:30 so signing off now to catch my 5 hours of sleep before we leave

This was still better than some of the other parts where I don’t think they can be called roads

Another reminder on why this in on the list of one of the most dangerous roads in the world and why would it be as there were no guard rail on quite a few sections of the road

As we almost reached at the top of the pass , we were hit by a convoy of army trucks who refused to turn back and forced the rest of the cars to turn back and form a single lane so taht the trucks could pass ( to be fair the double road was already covered to a single road due to road works , which was going on almost the half of the distance ) and obviously the military gets priority . After spending an hour to get all ten other cars and bikes into a single lane so that the trucks could pass , we finally moved ahead

The traffic police trying his best to salvage the situation

Whilst we were waiting there for so long we sorted of started feeling funny . I was finding it difficult to move the bike 5 meters to the left ( manually ) and saw a bunch of bikers breathe in oxygen from a portable oxygen cylinder

Checked our blood oxygen level as we weee at 71, 76 and 91 each , so clearing the altitude was impacting .

Reached the top and saw the fight at teh milestone as everyone wanted a picture but no one wanted to quue. The common phrase was just give me a minute and I will be gone

Ram manage to convince a bunch of ppl to form a queue ( the English in him as well as common sense ) . So finally ppl formed a quite only to be broken when we finished our customary picture

Managed to come down and we’re knackered

We still had to pick up a few parts to give the finishing. Touch yo the rick which we did

Attended the mandatory briefing sessio, were spectator to the eventual breakdown of the groups even before the run started but no one knew exactly what happened

Overall a pretty hectic day and giving us a precursor of what’s going to happen for the next few days

Finished planning for the next day Abe dozed off for an early start for the D day

Talk about how the fuel meter suddenly tirene to zero at one isolated part and how there was mini panic . But sense prevailed and with some hot air blowing into teh tank , the meter showed the right fuel level again

And there we go on our epic ride

Spent two hours jazzing up our fourth partner and the end result is here

And now we are ready !!!

The others are way ahead while the rest are stil jazzing up ( us being one of them)

Route Intended - Leh to Kargil

Route covered - Leh to Kargil

Starting point and time:- Hotel Zypher . Flag off at 9:15

Started journey after rickshaw work at 11:30

Altitude:- started from 3250 and finished off at 3200. Reached a max of 4000 meters while Passing the

Route taken:- Leh - Saspul - Khalste pass - Khalsi - lumayuru - fotu la - namila la - mulbekh - paskhum - Kargil

Key stops/attractions visited:- Experiences/activities:-

1)The rickshaw update shops :)

2) Finding a lunch place in the middle of nowhere and Rushi asking to check Google ratings of the restaurant . The fact that we found some restaurant itself was a big thing

3) place of sangham of two rivers

Challenges faced:- pulling the rickshaw up the mountain on the narrow roads where every vehicle wanted to overtake us. Stopping the rickshaw as it gets overheated constantly

Fun Cues to Reflect On:-

Quote of the Day: Share a funny quote or mantra that resonated.-

Top3 Moments:

List the three most memorable moments.-

no 1 - two ladies Ealing up to us and asking about the rickshaw and why we were doing in . And then wanting to take a picture with the rickshaw

N

o 2 - hunting for petrol in the night when most of the petrol pumps were closed and we were below reserve on our fuel

No 3 - multiple locals being astonished that we are driving a rickshaw in the Himalayan range . One group even took over our rickshaw

Food Report:

What was the best (or worst) meal you had?

Just Indian food for both lunch and dinner and probably spent more time eating that driving

Travel Mishap:

Did anything go hilariously wrong?

Looking for fuel in the middle of the hilly terrain and after 10 pm. We had two Jerry cans in the rickshaw but we didn’t want to fill it up as we were lazy to take it off during the night stay . So our plan was to fill it up the next day morning , but the hilly roads threw our planning into complete disarray

Song of the Day:

What song became your anthem for the day?

Nothing special , but we had a DJ in the rickshaw who was managing driving , the play list , the Go Pro camera and his phone camera

Friendship Meter: 10

Rickshaw Rant:

Rushi - you are very fiddly and I want you to focus on only thing while you are driving . This formed the basis of so many conversations . It was this constant bickering between the two like a husband and wife

The hairy bends going up to LOC

Whenever I was not driving I was just sleeping

Visiting the coldest place in India as per records

Some glorious landscape as we travel through ladakh

Again spending an hour for lunch

Driving through Zoji La pass and where the roads were as good as absent. driving down the Zoji La pass which was truly scary and very adventurous and the rickshaw being stuck a couple of times in the broken road and water flowing through the main road

Somehow managed to get down from the pass and found this big town with lots of hotels so we gave up on our plan to go to Srinagar and instead spend the night in the town

Stopping near a glacier to take some pictures

Again getting a lot of honks from strangers who might be thinking why are these guys doing this

We got more horse for our auto rickshaw

Reached Sonamarg ( decided to call it a day ) as it was getting dark and we still had 3 hours or driving

Took 10 hours for driving 125 kms

being stopped outside the hotel by the security and being asked “ kahan chale ? When we said we are staying here , he have a look” \240when I asked “ kya lagta hai ki hum yahan par reh nahi sakte”, his answer “ rickshaw chalake ?”

The nearest decent hotel we found was a pure veg and the whole town is alcohol free zone , so much so that if hotel Employees go to pick up alcohol then they will be penalized by the police . We asked for a name to go looking for alcohol and we were told to Look up “ truckyard”. Assuming that the town has a cool named bar/ pub we went there to realise it was a yard for trucks plying the National highway and hence the name :( that place was already closed by 7:30 and we reached at 9

Ram and Rushi picking up a fight as Rushi offered the duck pack that we got of the chicken from last night to a shepherd , as ram was plnnning to eat it later in the night ( after microwaving ).

Little did they know that the chicken was give to the shepherd’s dog then and yehr

1) Did white water rafting as we had free time today

Add picture or video from the event

Ram getting upset with Rushi as he splashed water into his eyes ( with his sunglasses on), but he used his sunscreen soaked hands to rub his eyes and hence his eyes started burning

3) chatted a lot to a couple of military ppl about the conditions of Kashmir

On their request their faces have been obscured so that they don’t have any issues for taking pictures with us

Reached Srinagar Finally which we were supposed to reach yesterday and took a leisurely 11 hours to complete the 90 km journey .

Met the Matt square ( The Apprentices) from the land of kangaroos as they were also in srinagar and had a lot of banter till 1 am

Ram was probably not enjoying the fact that the Aussie chaps were pulling his legs

Rushi wares to get a valet parking done for the rickshaw and his desire was answered

Took the wrong way( we were following Google Maps to the T ( not the idea of adventurous trip ) and ended up on a narrow road where the rickshaw pulled through one of the most precarious bridges I have seen . Ended up in the middle of Dal lake and saw the not so beautiful part of the lake and Ram eas saying “ is this really meant to be this dirty “?

We

The water of the lake made us change our mind about staying on a houseboat and we quickly dropped the idea and found a hotel on land

4) hunting around for a rickshaw mechanic to fix the issues with our slow rickshaw and now it runs like a charm. Went to two mechanics , the first one fixes the clutch wire which helped with the clutch a lot but asked us to change to clutch plate . After going to a few mechanics , quite a few said that they wil only fix piaggio but not a bajaj ( for reasons still unknown to us ), we found someone in srinagar who worked ok the acceleration and then it got better

2) turned the car into a school bus momentarily. The smile on the faces of the kids was the most satisfying moment of the whole trip .

We asked the school principal ( or so we thought ) if we could get a picture with the kids and the rickshaw , But for some reason he started lining the kids up and we were thinking that maybe he wanted the kids to take turns to get into the rickshaw , but we couldn’t figure out the reason . Finally it took some other lady to explain to the man what we wanted and the end result was this picture with the kids cramming inside the rickshaw . I think I counted adound 25 kids in there ( Rickdhaw is meant for 4 max)

Flag of sad Kashmir

Traffic jam of a different kind

This is Ho we started the day with such gorgeous views from the hotel we were staying in

Funny incident - the constant bickering between ram and Rushi like a married couple and the topic of the day was Rushi’s driving and how he was hell bent on damaging the clutch plate even more before we take the rickshaw to the mechanic for fixing

Rushi driving like a true Bombay auto driver when we reached srinagr city and trying to squeeze between a parked car and ongoing traffic was hilarious to see from the back seat

The a lady who was doing triple on a scoot y decided to come and bang our rickshaw form the side and damage our mudguard

Continued our way through the apple orchards and we were invited by one of the orchard owners ( maybe impressed by the fact that we made it to there with the rickshaw ) to try out thejr apples and we gleefully accepted

The holy fish outside the temple at Mattan

Our attemp at finding the worse road that we could possibly find to pack in more adventure ( some by choice and soem without choice )

And then a real attempt at putting the rickshaw through the paces in water which ended up in a nice shot

But the end result was us pushing and getting \240the rickshaw out of water manually as the exhaust was just sputtering water and the engine refuses to start . Thankfully after getting the rickshaw out of wait and letting the water drain out for 10 mins , the rickshaw started and we were relieved . We have alrwdy spoken to a tractor guy nearby to help us pull the rickshaw which gave us the confidence to try this stunt . The tractor guy was equally flabbergasted when he heard where we got the rickshaw

After experiencing the straight and boring national highway there was some serious discussions about changing our route to make the drive a bit more entertaining and we came up with a revised way to go through patnitop and dulhausie

After a heavy meal we decided to take a break

Again bickering between ram and Rushi and this time about not honking and Rushi have the rickshaw to Ram to drive , saying I can’t drive with this back seat driving . Thankfully it lasted for only 1 hour and then both were back to normal

Crossed and reached the Betabi point ( betabi movie was shot here,). The view from the top was much better than what works have seen if we would havd gone down into the valley

The. We continued our way to Chandanwari where the road finishes as and were met by some BRO ppl who explained their work . They have to stay away from their family for long stretches and keep repairing the road which keeps breaking very year with the rain and snow

This is the point from where people start for thei amaranth yatra where no vehicles can go . We tried asking if we can take our rickshaw for some fun and we were told, the horses are slipping right now due to loose soil, so please go ahead and try and that was enough encouragement for us to turn the rickshaw

Destination - Patnitop ( after some last minute change of plans to avoid using the boring national highway )

Driving distance ( by car ) - 5 hours

Strat time - 07:00 ( this is getting harder- \240getting up , shower and leave by this hour 🤭

Altitude - 2200 meters

Terrain - max altitude 2200 m

Temperature - 15 degrees

Excitement level - high

Friendships level - still the same

Challenge for today - navigating through the multiple hair pin turns up to Patnitop

Funny - rickshaw went Straight into a bump and rams dialogue “ Aoyoo Appa”

Decided to change the route a bit and instead of reaching Amritsar quickly we decided to spend more time in the valley

decided to have a play with the monkeys but not sure if they were having a play with us

Started chatting to te he herders and realised that they fake their herd go Jammu ( which is about 270km away ) during the winter and they walk from their place to Jammu and takes about 1 month

seeing the strong military presence all over srinagar and Anantnag and how these convoys of 40-50 trucks move around the highway with armed military personnel guarding a big stretch of their route

Complete change of landscape from snow to rugged terrain to greenery

The view at the top of Nathan top. Rushi tried to take a picture with the drone and the shop keeper asked to get the drone down and soon a little kid came with a phone from the army guy asking him again to take the drone down ( the army guys have their network within the area )

Beautiful and scary drive down from Nathan top to Patnitop which had a very thick cover of Fog ( the picture probably doesn’t do justice to what was the actual condition to drive )

Surprisingly no bickering between Ram and Rushi today

Song - Yeh dooriyan

Route taken - Pahalgam - anantnag - qazigund - banihal - ramban - batote - Patnitop - Nathantop - Patnitop hotel

We are bidding adieu to the high altitude regions and the cold climate on our way down from patnitop.

Since we have been skipping breakfast at the hotel to leave early without spending too much time eating and spending more time actually driving . Though as lee Rushi eating is an integral part of the journey….

Our first stop was at this roadside place to eat the local delicacy which was only available in a few selected restaurants. It was mainly cheese meted between the bread. There we got chatting to one of the locals who asked us to visit a couple of places that we had not planned for . He even asked for phone number so that he can take us around when we visit next

Finally found a waterfall that we have been looking for although a very small one

The roads to the lake were horrible and just taht day Rushi wanted to do his audition for the next sequel of Fast and Furious with the rickshaw edition.. finally after a tortious ride we reached the lake (Mansar lake ) only to leave in 5 mins . So all this trek for nothing

Thankfully on the way down the roads were good and we were exposed to some nice views and the ride was also enjoyable

But when we reached Jammu ( which was hard to say if we’re in jammu or Amritsar already with lots of punjabis around ), our bodies were treated for a rude shock. We started off from a place which was 18 degrees to land at a place in the afternoon which was 35 degrees . We had to uplift our rickshaw with some make shift dupatta accessory to protect us from the heat .

A visit to the border which was totally unplanned but since we came so close to the border we thought we might as well try it out

We got turned back at the first place we asked for permission. The visiting hours was till 5 PM and we reached three at 3 minutes past and hence no permission given. However the commander at the post told us a way to reach the below point ( thoug he told us that he didn’t know that we will be going there ) where we could see the border wall .

Argent between ram and Rushi on being subtle about clicking pictures and Rushi just jumps out of the rickshaw to point the camera at the border and take a picture . Ram’s answer, “since you are on Indian part of the border why don’t you go all the way till the wall and make a video “ and if you get fired at , say you can’t fire as I am on my side of The land “

Asked the villagers about any other point that we could go to and they were equally intrigued about our drive

Made another attempt to go to the border whilst it was nearing sunset but failed again as BSF told us we can’t take pictures

Finally after a few attempts drive to Amritsar for the local dhaba and again we broke our single rule “ no driving at night time “

Some more admirers

Reached Amritsar at last 11 pm

We did more than double of what we intended to do and covered 400 Kms in about 16 hours as we added quite a few places to our itinerary speaking to the locals . Thankfully we have a rest day tomm so can get up late and rest up

Highlights of the day

1) suddenly moving from 18 degrees to 35 degrees was a torture so we had to modify our rickshaw with a few dupattas

2) coming so close to the actual border but bot viewing it legally even after speaking to multiple BSF personnel to let us visit the border . So just about managed to get a picture

3) found the waterfall that we were looking for

https://www.instagram.com/reel/C_n5ypluZmn/?igsh=YmZsYXNwN2w2bDlj

He is trying to get into the Limca book or world record for getting his car( by a differently abled person) to the highest motorable road in the world

Hired a driver who will take us around the city and also take us to the India Pakistan border

The grim bullet marks on the walls where people were trying to escapes the indiscriminate firing

A quick lunch stop to the try the local Amritsari cuisine which is very famous and when we asked the driver what is Amritsar famous for , his respinse was “ for food “. He was trying to talk about his stories and at one point annoyed ram as well as he was hardly letting us talk :)

A trip to the India Pakistan border where we were entertained by the soldiers who were each trying to outdo each other.

The parade was e

Reached Bathinda at 2 PM and that was it for today .did only 200km for today and then decided to call it off as it was too hot to handle and the rickshaw was like an oven .

We were stopped by this guy on his bike as he mistook us for another team that he had seen on YouTube ( it was lassi loving kiwis ). We did try to explain that we were not the same team but he was too excited to hear anything and did get the picture that he wanted

We even met him sit inside the rickshaw which got him super excited

We carried on our way to Hanumangarh which has one of the oldest standing Fort in India and it was indeed a spectacle to see such an old fort standing but it was not maintained properly . As majestic were the walls from the outside , it was equally rundown from the inside

The massive gates to the fort which still stand tall even todays , but that was all . Beyond this was a place in total ruins

A visit to the Hanumangarh town centre to refuel ourselves before ee carried on further . Standing at the local rickshaw stand to pick up any passengers for Bikaner

One of the alien \240looking vehicles ( maybe from the farmland )

The advise tha we don’t pay heed fo resulted in us being out of gas in the middle of desert with no fuel station in sight . All the fuel stations that we noticed along the way ( with a very clear sign of exit) were either no construction complete of if they were construction ready , don’t have any fuel supplies yet. Thanks to this angel on 2 wheels agreed to share some of his fuel with us, that our 3 wheeler beast was able to continue

Just as we resolved the petrol crisis , we started moving ahead and there was. Cloud burst whcih resulted in a heavy downpour for about an hour. It was just today that we decided to move another bag to the top of the rickshaw to make some more space inside ( assuming that we wil not meet any rain in the desert ).

The rain was so intense that we had to seek shelter in this tiny place along the highway.

The locals gathered as well (not sure if it was for the rain or for the rickshaw ) and wanted to know more about our journey . We decided to have our lunch while we waited . Shiv was def getting into a Hangry mode as we had skipped breakfast as well to cover ground .

Another admirer on the way who wanted to do something similar , so it’s our hope that we have seeded this thought into some people’s head that this can be done

Some of the Niue packaging to carry as much load as possible

The rain goddess subsided and just like that the sun came out and it was hot once again. Once the fuel tank was completely empty , we added the 1 litre of borrowed petrol that we had taken from the motorbike guy , but the engine refused to start . Maybe there was air on the fuel pipe or something else , but it took half an hour of pushing , jump start , clutch start before the engine finally sputtered on and we were on our way to the petrol station.

In the expressway that we were travelling , we went expecting to pay any toll as we had not paid any toll on. We even tried to argue that 3 wheelers don’t have any toll as per the government website to which the response was , 3 wheelers are not allowed ( though there were no such signs ) and since they allowed , they would charge the rate of that of a 4 wheeler

Finally reached the hotel and this was an old palace converted into a hotel. The hotel was well kept and was well the money spent

Reached bikaner at 7:00 PM and checked in into a palace converted hotel which has a very royal feel to it

Ram wasn’t feeling well and had a medicine for his upset tummy , but at night time he even had a slight fever , so he had another medicine and we all then hoped that the fever will start going down by the morjungb

A trip the Bikaner fort and the backdrop of the fort made for some fantastic photo opportunity

The fort was built over XX years and 16 different generations built different parts of the fort. The whole fort was beautifully and some of the art work in the fort was very intricate

The Royal Tache where we found many people sport such tache

The erstwhile maharaja had a Royall Airforce plane gifted by the British which had had kept in his personal collection and on display in one of the rooms of the fort

An example of some beautiful artwork down inside the fort and being built by 16 different generations meant that every generation provided a different touch to the fort / palace .

A 3D poster which will stare at you no matter where you view it from

Made for another Picture of the Day submission which won us another beer at the finish line

The famous Rajasthani Thali with Lal Maas ( red mutton )

Another person along the ay thinking why would we do this trip . He happened to be another Ricksahw driver so understood the pain and challenge of driving this glorified lawn mower along the Himalayan range

After much debating we decided to visit the world famous “ Rat temple “ where Rats crawl over . The legend is that the Goddess of the temple asked for the life back of her Nephew from Yamaraja and in return traded that all members of her lineage will reincarnate as a Rat, so in essence all the rats in the temple belonged to one lineage

At the entrance lots of people were hunched over to see inside an enclosure kind of place . In enquiry it was revealed a that those people were hunched over to spot the “ white Rat” which is considered as extremely lucky. The fact that everyone was trying to see inside an enclosure with millions of rats and rats almost moving around their feet didn’t seem to bother anyone . I also managed to spot a white rat in a picture that somneone had taken , so will this being good luck to me ? There was no clause that you had to physically see the rat yourself as long as you see the rat .

Another sun set picture opportunity

And what was meant to be a rest day also ended up in us driving in a bit of darkness to reach another former palace coverted to a hotel . The palace was grand but we were there only from 8 pm to 5 am so could hardly experience the grandeur that was there to offer.

We decided that we will have an early morning deive the next morning so that we can catch the sun rise in the middle of the desert and hence was an early night .

Dinner time was all about Ram’s upset tummy and how Rushi had given him a medicine which at first helped him but later on turned out to be more of a menace rather than help.

The early morming sunrise picture which was the cause of the early morning fight

Whilst two people ( no points for guessing who) were busy trying to get the perfect sunrise picture the third member was trying to catch up on sleep by lying on the road

A quick breakfast place by the roadside turned into a 90 minute lunch break and only option available for 8 in the morning was Roti and Sabji. Ram using his karate skills to kill some of the numerous house flies roaming around in the place

Whilst we’re waiting for the breakfast we were convinced ( rephrase , one member was convinced ) that we should def visit the annual meal happening that day in the village where people from the neighbouring village were also visiting .

We indeed saw that members from the neighbouring villages were also visiting in droves , some coming in make shift travel jeeps , some walking and another couple even crawling to the place ( must be some wish he had taken up)

Some more admirers along the way and at the mela

People even peeping inside as if this was some alien vehicle for them , though we saw rickshaws plying in the big cities of rajasthan

A very definite give away that we were in Rajasthan

As the sun continued to rise so did the temper and there is Ram complaining to someone ( presumably Geeta) on how he f***ing wants this drive to end specially he person driving , who someone always seem to be wake him up with sudden breaks Whenever he used to sleep

It was long drive .Finally reached Jaisalmer at 6 PM after almost 13 hours on the road. Staying in a camp 30km away from the finish line and have to reach the finishing line between 1 and 4 pm tomm. So finally ( and we are glad that it’s finally over ). We all were roasted like sitting chickens inside tge rickshaws today .

There was some drama at the hotel as well . We relied on an agent ( the only time we didn’t book the hotel ourselves ) to make the booking for us and turned out that the booking was done in a completely different one than the one we were sent the photos for and we didn’t want to feel like being ripped off ( which the agent was trying to by selling us the other hotel for the same rate that we agreed on for the good one ). After some quick search online and tired of being on the road and tired of checking out anymore hotel , we decided to give up and checked in the hotel right where we had stopped . It turned out to be a bad decision as the hotel had hardly anything working , no taps , an AC which made more sound than Cooling and since this was in the middle of the desert, there were all sorts of insects and creatures in the room ( ants , beetle bugs , even a frog which was resting inside Rushi’s shoes the whole night and making its croaking sound the whole time ).

But the good part was the sand duning which we did being in the middle of the desert. Those drivers are very skillful going through the dunes like a normal road . And then again we did another sunset picture.

We didn’t want to spend inside the room except for sleeping so after some cultural performance , a dinner and a few drinks , we decided to call off the night , sleep till morning and then check into a nice hotel where we could rest up before handing over the rickshaw

But before we hand over the rickshaw we wanted to give another shot at Picture of the Day completion by taking a picture of the rickshaw in a desert . After some unsuccessful discussion with a couple of jeep drivers whom we asked to tow the rickshaw in the middle of a sand dune , we decided to try out regardless .

Luckily we met a crew who were happy yo help us achieve our challenge in return of us making them happy happy

The result of all the hard work is the picture on top of a sand dune

The crew of camel riders who luckily helped us achieve the challenge

They literally picked up the rickshaw whenever it got stuck ( which it did every 10 meters ) and then again we would try pushing on the first gear . With. Lot of pushing , lifting and sand drifting , we finally managed to get our picture and that was an achievement for the day

A very early checkin in the next hotel ( which was just across the road from the finishing line ) where we met up with one of the other teams who had been camping at the hotel for the last 3 days ( guess they had enough of the heat , rickshaw, the uncomfortability or India , not sure which one)

After a good shower ( felt like we wer having a shower after ages ) we headed to the town to experience some of the highlights that the city had to offer

This is Jaisalmer fort , the only living fort in the whole of Rajasthan where people actually live inside the fort . Apparently all the people who served the maharaj in the olden days were given a place inside the fort ( made up of 80% Hindus and 20% Jain population ) and this is being passed onto generations

One of the 4 gates which you had to cross and each one was as elegant and purposeful as the other.

Some of the intricate artwork inside the fort which still stood eloquently after all these years.

A very impromptu photo shot

Some of the local musicians at the entrance of the fort giving it a very distinctive rajasthani feeling

A picture at the insistence of our guide who has a very unique marketing skill. He didn’t want any payment from us for his work but just wanted a Google review from us ( especially drwn in by the fact that we have travelled from Leh to his city in that auto). Ultimately we did pay him for his work and even gave him the review and the picture much he no doubt will use on his profile )

The happiness on our faces on the way to the finish line . Happy that we did finish our run without any major breakdown , happy that we no longer will have to bear the heat and happy that we all can go back to our normal lives.

A finall picture with our humble rickshaw which did pull through the hilly terrain of the Himalayas , the plains and fields of Punjab , the sand dune and the heat of Rajasthan and all of this without a single breakdown ( thanks to all the TLC provided by the Himalayan Hijinks team )

A celebratory drink with our award for raising the maximum fund for Cool Earth ( the charity we were supporting ) in our similar looking Rajasthani T shirt whilst we wait for our early morning train to Jodhpur ( the nearest airport for our flights back home )