I love Tuk Tuk's and some people may even call it an obsession. But, with that love, comes the desire to do crazy shit. Has anyone ever done this race, known of others who did it?

 

A good friend of mine is already registered for 2013 and wants me to join him.

 

 

http://www.theadventurists.com/the-adventures/rickshaw-run

I wouldn't have the guts to do something like that. But if you have the courage, I would say go for it. Most people don't have that many opportunities for such adventure in life.

I too would say 'go for it', as you have the time and like that kind of transport.

 

But!! Please don't try the leaning-out-of-the-cab routine as it's a little-known fact that 1 in 10 people who do that on a blind bend end up having their lovely head squashed by one of those horribly overloaded trucks that ply India's roads. No, more seriously, India's roads are bad, their drivers are bad and their road traffic skills pretty poor = lots of accidents. But you've been to India Michael so you know all this I expect.

 

I think going with a group of like-minded madmen is a great idea!

That looks like good fun.

That looks like good fun.

 

It does, doesn't it? But too foolhardy for me. Though I wonder why it's called a Rickshaw Run when tuk-tuks are used.

It does, doesn't it? But too foolhardy for me. Though I wonder why it's called a Rickshaw Run when tuk-tuks are used.

They are called Tuk Tuk's in Thailand but Rickshaw's in other places.

It does, doesn't it? But too foolhardy for me...

 

One man's foolhardiness is another man's risk-assessed fun (exception: idiots who hire jet skis in Phuket).

 

Though I wonder why it's called a Rickshaw Run when tuk-tuks are used.

 

It's odd. I expect the word from which "rickshaw" is derived comes from the Chinese - I know little of that language. But Japanese derives a lot of its words from Chinese, and the original Japanese word is "jinrikisha" - 人力車 [ じんりきしゃ] - which literally translates as "person power wheel". From "jinrikisha" (or its original Chinese equivalent) came "rickshaw". The point is that a rickshaw is a two-wheeled vehicle that is powered by human propulsion. In Thailand these are called "samlor", so the distinction between a motor-powered tuk-tuk and a human-powered samlor is clear. 

 

Why motor-powered mini-taxis elsewhere should be described as "rickshaw" is something of a mystery...

If you take away the front wheel on a tuk tuk and replace it with a man, then you have the simplest form of rickshaw, now only seen in Calcutta as far as I am aware (at least that's the only place i have seen them). Next up in complexity is the bicycle rickshaw of which there are many variants and many names. However they are all designed to carry either one or two passengers, and the classic rickshaw seating arrangement continues in the tuk tuk, although being larger and motorised, many can carry more people.

 

Thank you for explaining the Japanese origin of the word rickshaw Jovianmoon.

Thank you for explaining the Japanese origin of the word rickshaw Jovianmoon.

 

No worries. But as I was hinting at, the original derivation is perhaps more likely from the equivalent Chinese, pre-dating the Japanese definition. My understanding is limited to my own limited level of Japanese only. I imagine a Chinese person might take exception to attributing the word to Japanese - if it did originate from Chinese, which is older - fair enough.

 

I think xiandarkthorne is a native Chinese speaker, and so he may be able to shed much more light on this than I can, if he's reading...  

A wealthy Chinaman presented the first rickshaw to King Rama V in 1871; within a generation there were so many on the streets of Bangkok that in 1901 a law was passed to limit their number.

 

Cars arrived in 1902, and by 1908 there were already more than 300; the invasion of modern transportation spelled doom for the city's numerous canals.

 

Horse-drawn trams operated as early as 1888 and by the turn of the century were electrified. They operated along New Road into the 1960s, when they succumbed to modern buses and the private car.