10% of the way, and some other progress

Progress! Hurrah!

In the week while I was in Malaysia we've made some significant progress, the first of which is that we've hit 10% of our donation goal!

That's over $1000! Whoo!

On behalf of The Third Wheel and our beneficiaries I'd like to make a big shout out to Mun Ping, Andre and everyone else who's made this happen - Thank You! Without your generous support we'd still be stuck at the starting line waiting to go. It's a great start and it couldn't have happened without your help.

To anyone else who would like to support any or all of our causes, donations can be sent directly to us or through our fundraising page HERE.

Also, we have about exactly 2 months before we leave for Kochi, and about half a week on top of that before we begin driving proper. Which brings me to...

Status: Confirmed

2. Buy air tickets.

That crosses something off the list, at least. 

Many thanks to Andre for the use of his computer, complete with swanky keyboard and big monitor

That's us hard at work picking our seats.

As it stands our route will be:

Singapore -> Kochi (plane)
Kochi -> Jaisalmer (presumably driving our tuk-tuk)
Jaisalmer -> Delhi (???)
Delhi -> Singapore (plane)

Interestingly, the distance between Jaisalmer (our race end point) and Delhi is another 800km. Which is pretty much an extra 25% to our travel distance. We'd probably end up taking a 14 hour train ride which I suspect will be an adventure in its own right.

Image from: http://www.icytales.com/anything-can-happen-indian-trains/

I really hope to not have to do this for 14 hours. In fact, if this is the exterior I'm not sure what the interior will be like. But we'll cross that bridge when we get to it. And I'll be sure to let everyone know what it was like.

Yeah. So that's pretty much what transpired since I got back.  Till next time!

Cheerios, Jik

Updates on random stuff, otherwise known as our plan.

So here I am in Malaysia for the week having procrastinated just about everything I could procrastinate on and this shows up in Melaka to remind me of what's just over the horizon.

Also a grim reminder that the trip is just slightly over 2 months away. Ohmygodthisisgettingreal.

A rough timeline for the next few months is as follows:

From now to 27-ish of December:
1. Figure out our rough route (although we've been advised that will absolutely be of no help).
2. Buy air tickets.
3. Raise more funds (need all your help here, esteemed readers, please please)
4. Figure out what to pack, and how to pack it.
5. Discover more things to put onto this list.

28th Dec:
Get our collective three-wheeled butts to Kochi.

29th-30th Dec:
Practice driving the monster, last minute admin, get working mobile Internet so everyone can see us in all our glorious adventuring and/or suffering.

31st Dec:
New Year's Eve party. Party like our lives depend on it and there's no tomorrow, because there is a non-zero possibly that this trip will be our last.

1st Jan 2017!:
I don't drink (much) and even I do I rarely get hungover. Maybe I'll get to watch other people's hangovers. The team's are supposed to play a cricket match. How do you even play cricket?

2nd Jan:
Race starts. Drive like madmen through what I hear is mad Indian traffic on a mad vehicle.

3rd Jan - 14 Jan:
??? I have absolutely no way to estimate what will happen. Some parts adventuring, some parts loving, some parts hilarity, I wager.

15 Jan:
Hopefully finish the monster drive. In one piece. Without destroying the tuk tuk. Savour our sweet triumph over the absolute worst idea we've had thus far.

And that's the timeline, somewhat.

Also, I cannot stress how much it would mean to the beneficiaries what your support would mean to them. Also what it would mean to us too. The fundraiser will run all the way until we're back from India so if our antics amuse you please donate more. Yes, I said more because you can already make donations before we go :)

Please don't hesitate to get in touch, or go through our fundraiser HERE!

I added my personal account for updating via a mobile device, so the author isn't the team account. It's still me though. So far it seems to be working fine, aside from being a little clunky.

As always thanks for reading! If you think what we're doing is fascinating, or even just plain ridiculous, please donate and/or help share the word! I'm perfectly fine with providing amusement for a good cause.

Cheerios, Jik

Charity and fundraising details

I said I'd set aside a post specifically for the fundraising section, I guess this is it.

Also, being caught up in the happiness of the moment while setting everything up and pushing everything out I neglected to consider the realities of how things work. As a first-time fundraiser, we'd totally underestimated the amount of work that goes into these things.

Holy crap is there a whole bunch. And we're not even professionals, we're just doing this because hey, it was part of the deal and now that we have to, we might as well make the best out of it.

As a quick reminder, the charities we have chosen are:

The Heart Fund by National University Heart Centre, Singapore. It's clear that Dr Yinghao feels strongly about his doctoring. Full support, here's someone who really walks the talk for a cause.

Arts for the Community by Esplanade - Theatres on the Bay, Singapore. Artsy stuff by our artistic designer Wenwen. Again, someone who's committed to the cause.

If it hasn't yet occurred to you, I didn't pick a charity, because I think both these causes are very worthwhile and I don't want to split the pie any further to dilute our efforts. Also, I'm cool with Cool Earth. Cool. Get it?

Cool Earth is the charity adopted by The Adventurists, the organizer of The Rickshaw Run.

We're aiming to collect $10,000, although there is no actual limit on how much goodwill can be given to each beneficiary. Whether you want to you support our hospitals, arts scene or even rainforests around the world, there's something for everyone.

Currently as it stands between the 3 of us we've pledged 500GBP* to Cool Earth as the adopted charity of the organizer.

*500 Pounds ~ 850SGD (presumably the form that most of our readers identify with).

All other funds will be primarily be directed at our selected beneficiaries. I say "primarily" because unfortunately we don't know what the outcome of our fundraiser is. These are our general guiding principles:

1. Funds that are requested for a specific cause will be allocated to that cause.
2. Funds without specific allocation requests will be split evenly between our two chosen charities.
3. You can specify a donation to Cool Earth through us, it works that way too.
4. No donation funds will be used for any personal purposes. This trip will be entirely self-funded. (Unless some kind soul would like to sponsor us...*insert shameless plug*)

As of now, we can take donations through several means. If you already know us personally (which I suspect, a large chunk of the donors will), we accept bank transfer, cash, cheque. Funds will be mainly handled by myself, although you can pass it to any of us who will eventually get it to me. Even if you don't know us personally but wish to make a direct donation that way, you can contact me at my personal email - arkaine@gmail.com, and I'll be glad to assist.

We've managed to find a Singapore-based fundraiser HERE by GIVEasia, so that eliminates a lot of currency conversation and bank rates. There are still some fees involved (taken from their website):

Singaporean Visa and Mastercard: 2.2% + $0.30c
All Other cards: 3.4% + $0.50c
All transactions below $4: 5% + $0.10c
FX: 2% (if applicable)

As always, thanks for reading, I hope this clears up some of the more common questions people have with regards to the fundraising portion of this!

Cheerios, Jik

What, When, Where, How, Why.

So what exactly are we doing? And why?

Whee. That's a long drive.

That's our route. As I previously mentioned in our team intro, we're driving from Cochin (Kochi) to Jaisalmer. Both of them are cities in India, and are between 2500km- 2800km apart. To give a sense of comparison, I've also added a scaled image of Singapore and peninsula Malaysia, and a little bit of Thailand into the picture. Not really close. In fact, we could almost reach Hanoi with that amount of distance.

Google maps says it's between a 40 - 45 hour drive if we're in a car. Unfortunately, we're not in a car. We're in a auto-rickshaw (like the one you see in our banner picture) which has a top speed of 55km/h (downhill). Absolutely beastly. Also, one major consideration is that it isn't fully sheltered.

We have a few days of  driving practice and general admin time in Kochi before we leave on 2nd January 2017, and we're aiming to get to the finishing line at Jaisalmer on 15th January 2017. What a way to spend the New Year.

That gives us about two weeks and a bit, and because I fully expect to be driving somewhere between 30 - 40km/h most of the time, puts us at about 70 to 90 hours of driving. That's about 6 - 7 hours a day for two weeks. My legs are feeling the cramps already, and I don't think it matters whether I'm the driver or a passenger.

We're probably going to take the coastal route, which means Kochi -> Goa -> Mumbai -> Surat -> Ahmedabad -> Jaisalmer. Generally speaking, of course, because we have very little idea what the road conditions will be, how far we can go each day, and whether or not we'll be able to find lodging in between cities. Ideally, we'd have a few days of tough riding and questionable lodging before hopefully getting some rest and recovery in a nice place for a day, and we'll repeat this cycle until we get there. Ideally. Personally, I would just prefer not to sleep in the wilderness. 

And that's pretty much the long and short of it.

Except for...why?

Uhhhhhh...this is tough.

To quote the official organizer's website:

"These are not holidays. These are adventures and so by their very nature extremely risky. You really are putting both your health and life at risk.

That's the whole point."

So I polled our merry crew again, because we basically signed up for this sometime in July pretty much on the spur of the moment. Not one of my finer life decisions, or it could be one of the finest, depending on how you look at it.

Yinghao: "Just want an adventure."

Wenwen: "Support my boyfriend." (aww.)

Me: "Why not? It'll be fun. Right? Right?"

And so it begins. A tale of Adventure, Love and Hilarity.

It's gonna be great. Yeah. (Now that I think about it, I just want to come home in one piece, preferably alive)

But seriously. Between Yinghao and myself we have one of these little adventures every year or two as and when we can. I mangled my leg in Cambodia, his bike broke down in Thailand, in the middle of our happening trip in Taiwan he found Wenwen, then we took a break for a bit and now we're back with a vengeance in 2016/2017. Along with Wenwen (who's the 3rd wheel now, huh?) , the adventuring continues. More good stories, more good experiences.

And you gotta give it up to Wenwen. I mean, supporting is one thing but actually going on the trip to suffer? Hoo. That's dedication.

It'll be a journey of discovery for us, and because we don't know what we don't know, I can't really say what we hope to discover. Some amounts of excitement, adventure, learning how to take some risks (okay, maybe more than "some)", becoming tougher and hopefully, see a whole different world from what we're used to.

At the same time, we're embracing a few charities in the process of this race, and they are:

The Heart Fund by National University Heart Centre, Singapore. Helping needy patients, supporting medical research, education and training.

Arts for the Community by Esplanade - Theatres on the Bay, Singapore. Bringing art performances and programmes to the elderly, children and other needy beneficiaries.

Cool Earth. Working with indigenous people to save the rainforest.

Cool Earth is the adopted charity of The Adventurists, organizer of the Rickshaw Run,  while The Heart Fund and Arts for the Community are charities adopted by us. (Doctors with their doctoring and artists with their artistry)

We're seeking your help for donations on behalf of these organizations! As part of the race we've pledged a minimum sum to Cool Earth, but we'll try split all donations equally as best as we can. That said, you can also direct any donations to a specific cause. You can make donations directly to us (contact us!) or visit our fundraiser page!

Whew. Pretty long read. If you're still here, thanks so very much for being part of our adventure!

Cheerios, Jik