We land in Cochin at around 8 am and gather our visas from the border control. It is pouring outside. This is when we realize that we prepared for the blazing sun, rather than the monsoon season. Although the rain is so heavy, the temperature really wasn’t too bad. I’d compare it to a cooler Phillippines.
Fun fact: Uber works in India. We called an Uber to drive us an hour and a half away from the airport and the total came out to be about £12.
Sleeping in the car was maybe the best idea in the entire world, even though Antoine kept trying to keep me awake. The first thing we did when we got to the hotel was take a shower, the room has AC, a working shower, and a toilet, everything we ever need for three nights. We take an hour nap and then make our way into the city. Suddenly, we find the Rickshaw Run home base! So we go in and check out Rickshaw. At first, we couldn’t spot our rickshaw, we went all the way to the back of the field looking for it, only to find out that it was right next to the entrance. Let me tell you, our Rickshaw looks so cool. It straight up looked like it is on fire. We make a list of things that we need to buy, met the camera crew, and test drove our rickshaw a little bit. It’s easier and harder than it looks.
Making an attempt to head into town, which really didn’t look any different from where we were, we buy 20 meters of fabric, a pair of flip flops, a bundle of water bottles, many bags of chips and nuts, and some instant noodles. We drag everything back to our nice little hotel room and find somewhere to eat.
We managed to pick a little restaurant that was right next to our hotel and turned out that it was a restaurant that is considered fine dining. We even got bread before our meal. It was super fancy but outside, and that was where we got our first bug bites. One mosquito was even brave enough to get me right below my mosquito repellent bracelet. Antoine got bit on his feet and neck. Now we know to douse ourselves in mosquito repellent.
-Jamie