On Day 7 teams enjoyed the wonderful town of Murudeshwar.
The craft beers of Day 6 didn’t stop the Malabar Rampage teams leaving bright and early on Day 7, which was a smart decision as we had a gorgeous destination in our sights: Murudeshwar. This day was what the Rickshaw Challenge is all about. A stunning setting, a bit of adventure, and a lot of fun.
Road With a View
The day’s route passed one of our favourite sections of road in the whole Travel Scientists‘ calendar. Teams drove with the coast directly to their left, and backwaters on their right, and who can blame them for stopping to admire the view (and for coconuts, as ever)!
Selfie Season
Thomas’s ‘unique’ wig somehow didn’t scare off the Outlaws’ new friends…
Sun, Sea, Sand
Did we mention it was hot? Luckily, this beach was a stone’s throw from our hotel, and participants took full advantage.
Spiritual Maintenance
Murudeshwar isn’t just golden sands. It’s home to the world’s second largest Shiva statue, which was unfortunately partially hidden under scaffolding — its very big though!
Lift-off
The best view of the Shiva statue (and the beach, and well, anything for miles around) is from the top of Shri Murudeshwar Temple. It’s not as old as you might think: in fact, it’s so modern than it’s complete with an elevator to the 18th floor. Unfortunately, it’s not so modern that it has a reliable elevator — it broke down repeatedly. Still, for those not of a nervous disposition it was worth it for the view!
Time to Celebrate
After swimming and sightseeing, it was time to relax. It’s a tough town to find a drink, which actually made for a better evening — lots of teams ended up in the same bar!
No Phone Zone
Nobody likes it when people choose social media over real-life conversation, so an “all phones in the center of the table, the first to answer theirs pays for the drinks” rule was in place [enacted by the participants, not the Travel Scientists, it should be noted!].
Dinner Together
The highlight of the evening, and maybe of the entire event, was a group dinner in the only restaurant which served beer. Team Namaste kindly provided a soundtrack by bringing their rickshaw right beside the tables! Several rickshaws were also involved in giving quite a few people a lift home. This confused the local police, who presumed (reasonably, to be fair), that we’d stolen the vehicles. However, we managed to convince him the rickshaws were our own.. but only by giving him a ride!
