The Rickshaw Challenge in Lonely Planet’s 10 greatest adventures.

RACE A RICKSHAW

To paraphrase the office sticker cliché: you don’t have to be mad to drive here, but it helps. India’s roads aren’t for the faint of heart; whether you’re on foot, pedalling a bike or jammed into a bus, the mayhem of packed city streets and truck-crammed highways is enough to bring on palpitations in anyony… except rickshaw drivers.

Helming a canvas-topped, unstable three-wheeler with questionable brakes requires the kind of unshakable confidence and offensive driving tactics that would make a Manhattan cab driver kneel in awe.

The autorickshaw is such an icon of the Subcontinent, that it was only a matter of time before someone dreamed up the idea of a pan-Indian rickshaw odyssey. And so, in 2006, the first Rickshaw Challenge was born.

The other 9 adventures:

CANYONEER UTAH’S PARIA CANYON

CLIMB MT RORAIMA, VENEZUELA

DIVE ICELAND’S TECTONIC PLATES

ICE TREK ARGENTINA’S MORENO GLACIER

KAYAK MOSQUITO BAY

MOUNTAIN BIKE MOAB’S SLICKROCK TRAIL

ROW ACROSS SIBERIA’S LAKE BAIKAL

TRAMP THE MILFORD IN NEW ZEALAND

WALK WITH WOLVES IN YELLOWSTONE

This is an edited extract from Lonely Planet’s Great Adventures © Lonely Planet 2012. Available in stores now.

Via: Herald Sun

