I’m not one to really have a bucket list, I either do it, plan to do it soon or shut up about it…well for most things.
There was one thing though… I’ve always fancied driving an autorickshaw / tuk-tuk.
Well, today I got the chance.
Yesterday we got an autorickshaw from our hotel in Mysore for Rs70 (I gave him Rs100, that’s £1.15) with a driver named Pappu, well I think that’s what he said. Pappu was very informative on the way, pointing out places and when we arrived at KR Circle, the happening place in the center of town, he gave us lots of warnings about scams and how to be careful. We liked Pappu. He asked if he could drive us around all day for today, total cost Rs500. Without even trying to bargain him down from £6 (for all day!) I agreed.
Our second stop today was at the huge Lalita Mahal Palace and after some lunch I went outside to photograph the building whilst Jane and Amy went to view the Viceroy’s suite. They looked out of the window and saw Pappu driving around and around the large empty driveway and parking area in front of the hotel.
Except it wasn’t Pappu, it was me, he was teaching me to drive his tuk-tuk. I had purposefully engineered the situation, asking him how difficult it was to drive, “I used to have a motorbike, the throttle and brake are the same”, “ah does the left grip control the gears and the lever is for the clutch?”. Pappu said “come on, sit here, I’ll show you”.
That’s me in front of our own small hotel, the Green Hotel, which is rather lovely.
This was seriously good fun, I loved it.
And here’s the video:
As happy as I was doing this, today I bumped into some Australians, Americans and South Africans all driving autorickshaws from Kochi to Jaisalmer, that’s a blooming long way. Their travels sound amazing and apparently there’s companies organising this for those who raise money for charities….I *may* have a plan