Two weeks of crazy adventures lie behind our 17 brave teams participating in this year’s Mumbai Xpress, a rickshaw adventure across India for the daring ones. We’ve already reported from the first days of the challenge, now you can find our teams made it till the finish line and what adventures they met on their way!
Day 5: Panchgani to Ratnagiri
After Panchagani, the teams left the Millennium Hotel and headed towards Ratnagiri. The day went smoothly and all of them arrived in the hotel before the stipulated time.Team 5, Snap Crackle and Popadum, went on various detours and they were happy to explore India on a totally different route. All enjoyed the beauty of the Western Ghats of India, which was a trip that definitely changed everybody’s perception of India.
Day 6: Rathnagiri to Panaji
After arriving in Panaji, the city worked its relaxing charm on the participants. Most of them went to the Casino on the river, to see if they were lucky – and indeed, Fortuna was smiling upon them, since nobody lost all the amount of money they had spent on chips.
Day 7: Panaji
A well deserved day of rest in Panaji gave all teams the possibility to relax and to recover their strength for the second half of their crazy rickshaw adventure. Sadly we had to say goodbye to Team 16, which left the rally from Panaji.
Day 8: Panaji to Murudeshwara
The next day saw the teams racing from Panaji to Murudeshwara, but not before they had visited a school, where they enjoyed distributing gifts and frolicked with the kids. Another day of easy drive and all the teams had reached the hotel before 6.30 pm. The first team to enter the hotel had clocked in already at 3.30 pm. And even though the teams visited some unknown beaches and experienced the local customs, they always made it in time and still had many stories to share. After a long day of driving, the teams met in the evening for a great night in the Naveen Hotel.
Day 9: Murudeshwara to Mangalore (Mangaluru)
The lovely night in Murudeshwara’s and a warm morning had put all the teams in high spirit. Knowing that it was a short distance to Mangalore, some of the teams had a walk around the city in morning and Team 5, Snap Crackle Popadum, went for a swim at the beach. Surprisingly, they still arrived in Mangaluru in time with an average speed of 40 km per hour. In the evening, all the teams went out to enjouy the night in a bar, which they had discovered in the internet.
Day 10: Mangalore to Mysore
After a short day of drive, the teams spared no effort to make sure, that everything was okay with their rickshaws. Strange noises from unidentified parts of the vehicles had made them become anticipative of a major breakdown. In morning, we had a great school visit and all of the 6 attending teams had an amazing time. By 2pm all the teams had passed Madikeri town. Then the Kushalnagar sign board challenge was posted before they could reach Mysore.
In the evening, many teams visited the market and the palace, which both made for a fun night. As the city was preparing for Dasara, the colours of Mysore were a great sight. Team 11, N2 Extreme Tuk Tuk, went off to hunt some incense and bought some sticks and sandalwood syrup.
Day 11: Mysore to Bangalore
Based on their drive from Murudeshwara to Mangalore, many teams begann their day in Mysore with sight seeing. Six teams turned up for the school visit and enjoyed dancing and signing with the children. Even though today’s distance was a very simple drive of just 30 km to Bangalore, all the teams got stuck in the pitfalls of Bangalore’s traffic. Team 15, the Monsoon Riders, called for support at 1pm, when they had just 15 km left to the hotel in the suburbs at the silk board. The support team was alerted and they found them within an hour and did a great job. All the teams arrived at the hotel before 7 pm and the day ended – where else – at the Envy Bar in the La Classic Hotel.
Day 12: Bangalore to Vellore
Time for one last school visit! All 5 participating teams were warmly welcomed and quickly charmed by the children, like so many teams before. The day went smoothly and even the new hotel, which we had to test last minute, surprised with pleasantness and great cooperation.
The Final Day Bash: Vellore to Chennai
In Vellore, the teams were informed about the day’s program. The morning project visit went as planned and it was great to see 13 teams participating, even though we had a few little hiccups: Team 2 missed the regrouping spot and decided to go back to the hotel, while Team 3 was miserably directed and lost lots of time, but managed to sneak in in time for the presentation.
Chief guest of the meeting was Dhansika an upcoming star in Tamil film industry.
And The Winners Are…
And now finally the part we have all been waiting for! Who is the winner of the Mumbai Xpress 2015?
Team 14, The Indians, scrambled for the victory in our crazy rickshaw adventure! The Charity Award goes to Team 9, Temporarily Misplaced, and the Bonkers Award for “special achievements” goes to Team 4, a.k.a Team Smurf. We congratulate all of you and hope, that you will always remember your epic rickshaw journey with the Travel Scientists across India!!
The occasion was celebrated in a right and proper manner – with a truly epic party!
