Preparing For The Unpreparable: The Rickshaw Run 2018

2017, where'd you go?

After failing to write anything in my blog after Antarctica (quarter life depression) I'm back at it! It's January 2018, and to my future self when you read this and try to remember what happened in 2017, you'll be glad I summed it all up for you in one paragraph.

2017 - You got back from Antarctica, you went back to work, you got tired of traveling for work, you left your old job (IBB) turned 25, went to the Dominican Republic for the rager (video above), went to Japan with Ajay and Vancouver with Kyle. Then you started working at HBR in the city, now your commute is 10 minutes one way rather than an 8 hour ordeal starting at 4AM on Mondays and returning at mid-night on Thursdays. You went to Switzerland, France, and Germany for Thanksgiving and the rest we can glaze over, nothing major happened.

So, here we are! It's January 24th, exactly 57 days away from leaving for the craziest adventure yet, Antarctica was nuts, but could this be crazier? We'll find out! Some of you maybe wondering, "what is the Rickshaw Run?" Before we dive into the who, what, when, let me give you some back story on how we got here today.

Two years ago, Aakash and I were at a bar (what's new) and both of us were trying to figure out what kind of trip we wanted to go on. After a few beers, I flashed back to a specific moment in 2013 while I was on Semester at Sea. We had just arrived to Kochi, India and at a bar I met three white guys driving their own rickshaw across India. I asked them every question imaginable. At this moment, I immediately brought up the Rickshaw Run and for a minute there Aakash didn't even believe that it was real.

So, what started as a drunken bar promise back in 2015 has finally, over two years later, become reality! Ajay has also been brought into the fold, the three of us are less than two months away from driving a bajaj auto rickshaw over 2500 miles from the bottom of India (Kochin) to the top (Jaisalmer).

How silly of me, this whole time you have probably been wondering “what the hell is a rickshaw?!” A rickshaw, also known as a tuk-tuk or bajaj, is a petrol-powered three-wheeled vehicular device of dubious safety used throughout Asia to transport people short distances. Key words there being “short distances.” They are not designed for or capable of driving 3,000km in two weeks without breaking down, not even brand new. Only a madman would attempt such a thing…

Engine: 2 stroke, single cylinder, forced air cooled

Power: 7 HP at 5000 rpm (equiv. 1 family dog)

Transmission: 4 forward, 1 reverse

Fuel Capacity: 8 ltr + 1.4 reserve

Top Speed: 55kmph (downhill)

Engine Size: 145.45cc

System Voltage: 12V , DC

Of course this is not good enough for The Adventurists, who also run other such epic adrenaline overloads as The Ice Run and Mongol Rally. My suspicion that they purposely purchase the most rickety of the rickshaw in order to keep things interesting has been confirmed:

“THEY ARE INTENTIONALLY CRAP, BUT SOME ARE MORE INTENTIONALLY CRAP THAN OTHERS.” - Unknown

On another, more serious note, it’s also for a good cause. All teams competing in the Rickshaw Run are obligated to raise a minimum of £1,000 ($1,500 USD) for local charities working within India. Together with the help of friends, readers and fellow travel bloggers, we hope to raise more than that!

Usually around 95% of the teams are able to limp across the finish line eventually, but there are always those few individuals who manage to crash their rickshaw into a temple, get kidnapped, or just plain end up having to dive out of their rickshaw as it bursts into flames on the open road and then just stand around, watching it and all their possessions burn to a crisp.

Google suggests this route (below), however, this will most likely NOT be the route we follow. The adventurists call this the "un-route". The whole point of this "race" is to go off the beaten path, to take the road less traveled and to get into some shit, meet the locals and pretty much survive like Bear Grylls.

AND FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO DON’T KNOW WHERE INDIA IS BUT ARE TOO AFRAID TO ASK

So yeah, its no task to be taken lightly. And this is coming from the guy who has spent the last six years shrugging his shoulders when you ask him where he is going next. I don’t plan. I refuse to plan. And yet here I sit, f****** planning.

Stay tuned for the next post before we leave for Indonesia and Malaysia prior to arriving in India!

***UPDATE***

We have just designed our rickshaw, the team name and design are below. It's definitely a masterpiece, let's hope the Rembrandt's of India can make our design a reality! See below:

Team name:

SUPER CAPTAINSACHINWONDERIRONSPIDERMANHULKTHOR

25-Hour Days

Hilo was a bundle of joy! The amount of things we had accomplished in such little time was incredible. It all started out pretty late with car rental trouble, which led to lots of lying, pretending to be married, having an adopted sister and much more! After failing to get a car, the agency recommended a tour company, she said for 30 dollars they’ll take us everywhere, and she meant EVERYWHERE! So here we are, sitting outside the car rental place and here comes this van, absolutely beat to hell, doors don’t close, seat belts are far from being functional and the guide was quite a character. Her name was Teresa; she was in her mid 50’s or so but had the mind of a college kid! She tried to get us to go skinny-dipping in the Hot Ponds, she has a friend that grows pot; she looked baked out of her mind and was all around a pretty nice person!

The tour started out with a trip to Safe Way for subs, and snacks, then we went on to see some lava fields, waterfalls, volcanic beaches, and chowed down some legit authentic Hawaiian food. Unfortunately most of the time it was raining but every minute we stepped outside of the van it stopped. Later that night we went back to ship, showered down and went out to experience the Hawaiian “night life”! I’ll tell you first hand that Hilo is not the place to go out at all, super dead, and absolutely no fun…Semester at Sea knew what would have happened if we spent the night in Honolulu. Although 30 or so kids did get their license taken at a local bar which was quite hilarious, it surprises me that of all the places we are going to visit they will have to explain to mommy and daddy why they messed up in the United States!

Phil and I woke up the next morning and went out to the market, did some shopping and came back with some extraordinary souvenirs! I bought a ukulele; a mariachi band will be made on the MV Explorer before the end of the trip! Apparently after walking around downtown Hilo, we decided to go to Richardson beach where everything was going down! Phil and I decided to go check it out, we were roughly 6-7 miles away and the epic walk began! This right here was the highlight of my trip so far, after walking 1-2 miles I just decided it was enough and stuck out my thumb hoping for a ride to the beach. Little did I know the next 15 minutes were going to be the scariest of both of our lives! So two surfer dudes pulled over and offered us a ride, we got up to their passenger window and they just had the most disgusting truck ever. There were also some very vulgar pictures on the dashboard. We were so tired of walking, Phil and I just decided to get in their truck bed and get to the beach. The driver started out offering coconut candy, cocaine, marijuana, and heroine.

We kindly declined all of the above, Phil almost took some of the coconut candy and I just gave him the death stare and screamed NoooooooooooooooOOO!! So he also kindly declined. So here we are on the back on someone’s truck and we think we are headed to the beach, roughly 2-3 minutes into the ride, the driver takes a detour. Phil and I just glared at each other and pretty much embraced the fact that these two guys were gonna rob us and kill us. We started speeding up to roughly 70-80 mph and both of us are in the back of a pick up truck sitting on tire wells. Had it not been for Phil, I would not be writing this post! Thanks Bro!! It was about 5 minutes and the driver slammed on the brakes like an asshole and Phil and I flew into the rear windshield, he asked us “where you going guys”? We told him yet again we needed to get to the beach. He pulled into a driveway that just so happened to be his house, It looked really sketch, Phil and I just stared at each other knowing that this would be our last moments alive. Why were we going to get robbed and killed in Hawaii? We would have been known as the two screw-ups on the MV Explorer. Dying in America would have been a joke. We jumped out of the truck and booked it right to the beach, barely even said bye! The rest of the day was uneventful, as what we had just lived through could not be matched with anything else in anyway. Hawaii was a tease!

Land sickness was just starting to settle in and here we are getting back on this BOAT. I refuse to call it a ship when you can’t even walk straight to class or get a cardio work out going to dinner. It was back to pasta, pork, and potatoes, and a good yelling from Tom Jelke. It was a monologue, not a dialogue. Apparently 30-40 kids had their licenses taken at a local bar. Yes I was there but right as a girl said the words Call and Cops we were outta there! We sailed for Honolulu that evening to refuel, since it wasn’t a scheduled stop we spent 2 days on the ship just staring at Diamond Head. The captain had decided to leave Hawaii a day later due to severe storms in the pacific, after taking a massive detour and 3000 gallons of fuel later we hit the perfect storm. So much fun, from what I heard, there were 30 ft waves and our boat was rocking all over the place. A girl in my psychology class was launched across the room, and yes we still had class. Life onboard was somewhat of a drag being cooped up in a ship, not having the option to see different scenery for days on end was growing on everyone. I along with 600 college students never lived January 21st 2013. Martin Luther King Day was non-existent; as we crossed the International Date Line a day in my life never happened! 25-hour days became routine as every night we set our clocks back an hour, in theory it sounded amazing! Living an extra hour got old very quick! I have picked up morning yoga as a new hobby. There’s nothing better than seeing the sunrise, trying to stay balanced and finding inner peace while the boat sways from side to side. I would write more but I am too tired! Hope everyone is doing well back home!!

Raj Patel

Sea Legs

Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Mpilo Tutu

The last week has been amazing! Cannot begin to describe how much fun I’ve had since I left America! I was one of the very few that was the first ones on the boat, work study students got to get on early and start helping the staff prepare for more students to arrive later. My work-study was great; I walked into the computer lab and BAM! Desmond Tutu needs help with his computer and iPad! Of course I was very honored in helping the archbishop of South Africa! I was so nervous being in front on such a big religious figurehead, I almost destroyed his iPad by dropping it on the ground, the almighty father was so forgiving and looked right past my clumsiness!

MV Explorer

The drive from San Diego was amazing as we drove down Oceanside and looked at the great wall of Mexico. The bus drivers were a little sketchy though, we almost had three near death experiences while making our way to port, almost fell off cliffs 1-2 thousands feet in the air that literally faced down into jagged rocks and ocean! Ensenada was beautiful! The boat was rocking quite a bit for it still being docked in port. I finally met my roommates and I have to say, these guys are the best! I had the option to get my own room but decided to make this trip even better by sharing this world class experience with a few people and man did I get quite a handful haha. Matt Irish and Philip Bergen are my roommates for the next 100 or so days; we’ve already settled into the room, unpacked and met a lot of new people. They are really outgoing and very energetic! Matt is from Detroit and attends the University of Michigan and Philip is from South Carolina and attends school at the Citadel! The Citadel is a military school so when Matt and I met Phil we imagined him being a hard ass. I guess when you get yelled at on a daily basis, you either get wild or keep composure, Phil has switched to the slightly wild side!

The first two days of Semester at Sea were very boring, as we had to do numerous safety drills and Orientation. I now know how to abandon ship when shit hits the fan I guess, as some would say! Finally on the third day class had started and life had finally begun on this voyage, we began slowly trying to get our sea legs, as weather was absolutely horrendous right as we left from Mexico! Kids were quarantined for 24 hours due to strong seasickness! The ship was pitching and yawing like crazy and no one could walk straight. I didn’t get sick at all, seems like everything I do works out…like a boss! The food has already started to get really repetitive, the three p’s of semester at sea were clearly stated by alumni and should not at all be questioned! Pasta, Pork and Potatoes are clearly the perfect 3 meals a day aboard the MV Explorer! After a while you just eat salad or the occasional hamburger at the poolside bar! Alcohol service had officially commenced on the third day as well, I went to the bar and the line for a beer was incredibly long, people waited up to two hours to get a miller light…what a bunch of alcoholics! I started getting very involved within the shipboard community as sitting around on a ship all day was just not going to cut it for me!

I am officially working with a company currently called Evotech, which is trying to develop a cost efficient way of creating an endoscopy machine that can be used in third world countries. The co-founder and CEO of Evotech (Moshe Zilversmit) and I are working on a new light source to incorporate into his custom made endoscope, the idea is to get more light inside the human body during invasive procedures while also trying to reduce heat being generated by the light! Current endoscopy machines are very expensive and inefficient. Evotech has decided to create a mobile endoscope that can connect to a laptop or tablet to allow surgeons to operate on women during pre-birth. I am slowly starting to work with most of the unreasonable institute companies working on artificial vision for the blind and solar powered hearing aids! I am totally loving every second of this semester so far and already dreading counting down the days. I know it’s just started but I hate to think about it ending. There is so much yet to do but so little time. We have until the end of this voyage to get a prototype built using the light source I have developed to incorporate into something that could possibly save thousands of lives if all goes well. The companies apart of this unreasonable institute program are very excited to be working with students one on one exchanging ideas and possibly creating new ways to change the world thorough social enterprise!

I am very excited to see what there is too look forward to for the rest of the semester but right now I’m just trying to soak it in and live and love every minute of it. Spending roughly six days so far on the open ocean makes me realize how vast the oceans are and actually how big the world really is. I can’t help but to get off topic in class and start looking out the windows to mesmerize the ocean! The girl to guy ratio is exactly what I was expecting and I am loving it! There are very, very cute girls on this voyage and I have the pleasure of getting to know many of them as we travel around the world! On my beijing trip its just me and five girls…what are the odds?

Yeah tons of people are pretty jealous but the same ratio also exists in my classes which I am also not going to complain about. I have met 3 girls that live relatively within an hour from my house which is very interesting, hopefully we stay in touch and meet after the voyage. We are currently less than 4 hours from the port of Hilo, Hawaii and a lot of us are very excited to get off the ship and finally have some fun on land. Classes have temporally ceased until we return to the ship, I will be posting pictures and more as I will have cell phone service one last time in Hawaii before I officially begin my International travels!

Cheers,
Raj Patel

Irish Kilt

This card came from the the guys mouth…

Well Here I am in San Diego, my last domestic stop before I board the MV Explorer tomorrow! My time spent in phoenix was very fun. Visited old friends and made many new ones, thats for sure. My last few days in Arizona I decided I would visit a good friend from my past job, we went out to a bar, watched RG3 tear his knee to hell, and met some very interesting people all at the same time!

Good Times in Arizona, now on to California!

I checked into my hotel at the Embassy Suites and got settled into my room, made my last few phone calls back home and to family and friends, letting them know I was all ready to go. Shortly after, I decided to walk down the road to the Hilton Hotel (where all the SAS kids were staying) to meet all the kids I would be living with for the next 4 1/2 months! There were plans to go to a restaurant called Dick's, don't know why it's called that and maybe I don't want to know, but after a 20 minute walk and arriving at the hotel, the plan seemed to have died off.

It’s supposedly stuck on their ceiling, FOREVER!

I finally met Kayla Hauser, a fellow SAS'er that I had been talking to for a very long time trying to prepare for this voyage. Putting words to a personality is always fun and meeting her in person was great! We all had decided to go grab a bite to eat before we called it a night and officially kicked off this semester! We walked around downtown and found a restaurant called Tilted Kilt, great food along with an amazing magic show live one on one!

After we had ordered our food, we meet the restaurant magician! I can't remember his name but this guy was LEGIT! Let's just assume his name was Bob. BOSS LEVEL. Totally a blow your mind kind of guy. Of course I was the closest next to him so I was forcefully volunteered to be his guinea pig! As all magicians do card tricks (or at least most) he asked me to pick a card, I picked a card from the very bottom of the deck, a seven of diamonds! He then hands me a sharpie and asks me to write my name on the card in big letters. After I get done we place the card back on the deck and he starts shuffling like crazy. After staring at the deck for such a long time he then snaps his finger and bam, theres my card! Yeah, my mind was blown! BUT! It wasn't over…he then took the card and made it disappear, and yes I said disappear, he placed the card on a table and after he lifted his hand it was gone! He then pointed towards his lips, we gazed at his face as he slowly opened his mouth and smoke started to come out, I was thinking all sorts of things at this point, then he slowly regurgitated my card.

He made the card disappear while it was flat on a table and when it came out it was folded over 3 times into a small square. At this point I still was pretty much clueless how this all worked, and for the finale of course it had to be BIG! Bob had us pick one last card, he then made all of us sign the card, we then placed the card back on the deck. Bob's plan was to permanently stick this card to a 20 foot ceiling so that if we all ever came back our names were still going to be on that same wall. Bob had the deck rubber banded over 2-3 times and then threw the deck up towards the ceiling. Right as it hit, our card magically somehow came out from where ever it was within the deck and had in a sense glued itself to the ceiling. After a while I started worrying, feeling around my pockets to make sure my wallet, phone and watch were still where they were before!

After eating dinner, we started walking back to the Hilton, talking along the way about the adventures we would have in the next 100+ days! Unfortunately I was still another mile away at my hotel, as I began my walk a guy offered a bike peddled cab ride, how could you refuse when you were about to walk a mile in 40 degree weather? This guy had neon lights and a sound system on his little bike buggy. It was like a pimp my bicycle type of moment, if anything like that were to exist! All in all I had a great night meeting tons of new people and possibly starting out my semester with a bang!

Expect new updates when I arrive in Hawaii next week, more stories to come!

Adiós América, Hola mundo!

New Years!

WOW! 2013 Already?

It surprises me that its been thirteen years since the turn of the century, it all started out being in the 3rd grade and now here I am a Junior in college! Most people start their new years out with a bang...Mine not so much. Although it was my mom's birthday on New Years day (which went very well) I was leaving for semester at sea only two days after! Time was winding down as I spent time with my family as it would be my last for a very, very LONG time. The excitement had been building since be beginning of December along with the dreadful idea of all the things that could possibly go wrong on a trip of this magnitude...

And things started to go downhill two hours into the start of my lengthy journey.

I started missing flights, weather got bad, 100 mph head wind (don't know what that means) and being stuck at O'hare International Airport! Being in Chicago has it's perks, especially if you have family, which in my case I did. I took the train into downtown which took nearly an hour after going through what may have seemed like the projects, I made it safely to my cousin's apartment! What an amazing view, right next to the John Hancock tower and a great view of the Chi-Town Skyline.

Thankfully Nina, (my cousin) had not for left rochester that evening, surprisingly we walked to her mall in less than 5 minutes and got some food. We chatted for about an hour and caught up on each other's lives before she headed out taking an overnight train to new york.

After spending a night in Chicago, I made my way back to the subway, going through some sketchy parts of town to make it back to the airport and then finally boarded my flight to phoenix!

Man was it cold when I got off the plane! Who would have thought Arizona would get cold? I decided to go shopping yesterday with a few friends at fashion square in phoenix, talk about hurting the wallet! Seeing the various types of stores compared to what we have back home may have scarred my mind. Who would have thought they started to sell cars inside the mall? This tesla to the right has pretty much turned into my dream car…which in the near future will hopefully turn into reality!

Only 3 days away from boarding the MV Explorer and starting my worldly travels, although my nerves are on edge, I am prepared to face the challenges yet to come and possibly have the best time of my life! I am looking forward to meeting lots of new friends, learning new things, and most importantly figuring out how Social Enterprise will change the world. Getting to know some of the brightest minds on earth has always been a dream of mine and in just a few days will become reality, who would have ever thought I would possibly be attending a formal dinner with Desmond Tutu? Or maybe helping multiple tech companies achieve their goals developing life changing technology such as artificial vision for the blind, or Carbon Nano-tubes that capture the carbon product from automotive or industrial exhaust and converts it into nano-tubes that can be used to build cars, space ships, buildings, laptops and mobile phones!

I am very excited to begin this chapter of my life, I am ready to expose my self to the world and see what I can do to help change it. I'll miss everyone plenty, hope a lot of you try to keep in touch! I will try to update this blog when I can or if I have something cool share since these last few posts have been pretty dull.

I will follow up with one more post until I reach Hawaii and hopefully all goes well all the way there.

Take care everyone!

Can You Imagine?

After around 6 months of paperwork and prep, the logistics side of things is done. I have one week before I begin my journey around the world! All that’s left to do is email SAS my transcript whenever grades are posted. Beyond that, it’s time to start collecting gear and packing up. There’s an immense list of things that need to be addressed, not to mention I need to buy my books. I’m afraid with limited internet access, my usual method of total book avoidance won’t function as well at sea. The timing isn’t very good either, as my Amazon Prime subscription just expired, which makes me a sad panda, but I don’t think having free two-day shipping is going to benefit me much while I’m in the middle of the ocean.

Soon, I’ll be anxiously boarding a plane to San Diego, and the next time I set foot in Kentucky, it will be coming from the other side of the world. I don’t know what to expect at all, but that’s a nice feeling. While I love living here, I’ve been here long enough for most things to be predictable. I’ve become comfortable, and it’s about time I got a little less so.

Also, I’m working on my writer’s voice and the way I deliver content. I don’t write much, so establishing a “personality,” so to speak, will be challenging. Bear with me.

Close your eyes and try to imagine this…oh wait, you can keep your eyes open so you can read this. You’re leaving home for 4 months. LEAVING. 4 MONTHS. You will have very limited and sporadic internet. You’re not allowed to use Skype (not enough broadband). NO cell phone (service WAY too expensive). You have only email with which to communicate with the outside world. Those emails are text only, no pictures or attachments. We could stop right there – some of you probably have increased heart rates already. Who’s going to handle your bills and run your life while you’re gone?! No phone? What?!

Now, the places you’re going will range from 20 degrees and probable snow, to 100 degrees with horrific humidity. There is potential for torrential rains in some places and scorching sun in others. There are approximately 8 different currencies involved and the risk of being robbed in many of the places. There are malaria-carrying mosquitoes and lots of food that is, um, strange and may not agree with you…I mean, really not agree with you.

Wow. You wanna stop?

Nah, let’s keep going.

You will be swimming in the ocean and rivers. You’ll be doing some strenuous hiking, kayaking, riding a bicycle over long distances and tons of walking. You’ll go into temples where your legs and shoulders must be covered. You may be walking through very unclean water and trash at times. You will be sleeping in places that are not super clean or have any amenities. You may have to use the bathroom squatting over a hole. You will attend a formal dinner with Desmond Tutu. You may be going into Universities, banks, hospitals or corporate offices. You will be staying in the homes of local people. You will be riding on camels and elephants. You will be planting gardens and teaching school children. You may be crawling through tunnels or helping build a house. You will be attending classes. You will participate in fitness classes. You’ll go to puppet and acrobat shows. You will go dancing in clubs. You’ll shop in markets. You will do your laundry mostly in the sink. You will be eating the exact same food every day for about 95 of your 106 days. You’ll be studying, reading and writing papers. You will want to take pictures of every moment of every day.

Now try to Pack!

First Post!

Hey!

Welcome to my blog. I am going to try my best to entertain and update you while I embark on this crazy adventure. It is November 29th, or more importantly, THIRTY THREE days before I begin my worldly travels, Lexington Bluegrass Airport is where my journey begins. The MV Explorer (my home for next 4-5 months) is scheduled to leave San Diego at 5pm on January 9th. I'd like to give a big shout out to the world’s most loving and generous family members (parents, cousins, aunt's and uncles and ESPECIALLY Farah; my sister in law that helped me get this show on the road! I really appreciate you helping me!! Expect tons of awesome things!) and friends for helping me get to where I am today and for giving into without a doubt, the craziest idea I've come up with over the past 20 years. After weeks of pestering you via all media platforms mixed with my finest powers of persuasion and a crafty video presentation, you really made my wildest dream come true. Over the next 160+ days, I will be taking classes aboard the ship and visiting 12-15 different countries along the way. I will have limited internet usage on the ship but unlimited email through our SAS email addresses, so please contact me!

raj.patel.sp13@semesteratsea.org

HERE WE GO!

PHOENIX, ARIZONA
SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA
ENSENADA, MEXICO (BAJA CALIFORNIA)
HILO, HAWAII
YOKOHAMA, JAPAN
KOBE, JAPAN
SHANGHAI, CHINA
HONG KONG CHINA
HO CHI MINH, VIETNAM
SIEM REAP, CAMBODIA
ANKGOR WAT, CAMBODIA
SINGAPORE, SINGAPORE
RANGOON, BURMA
COCHIN, INDIA
PORT LOUIS, MAURITIUS
CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA
TAKORADI, GHANA
TEMA (ACCRA), GHANA
CASABLANCA, MOROCCO
BARCELONA, SPAIN
TBA...

My biggest pre-trip anxieties: getting sick from rough seas and proving my pops right, forgetting something important, tropical storms, friends ruining the ends of tv seasons before I get caught up and not wanting to come home.

I will follow up with a post in the coming weeks as I wrap up my fall semester with finals and begin packing for my best semester of college yet! Still need to look for airfare, hotels, figure out how to take enough clothes but not to many, buy books, take tons of movies, and learn how to PROPERLY use a DSLR camera!

Until we meet again!