10-14-08
This is another sum up of a few days travel; Jean has covered some of this so it may be a little repetitive, but it is another viewpoint. When RuthAnn and I did our trans-Africa motorcycle trip in 1971, we both kept journals. If you read the journals back to back, you would think that we were on completely different trips and not sitting as rider and pillion on the same bike. So goes it……………
On Friday the 10th we left Haldwani with one goal in mind: to cross the border into Nepal. We rode out of Haldwani on a very nice shaded narrow road with little traffic; this is how we envisioned our travel here on the Indian subcontinent. We were making good time when, near the border, we stopped in a gaggle of buses and trucks and other vehicles; the bridge was out. A few kilometers of back tracking got us to a one lane paved road which soon turned into a one lane gravel/stone road. After approximately 15 km and two intact bridges we crossed the top of a dam and arrived in Banbasa, the Indian border post. After many papers were signed, stamped and delivered we bounced our way across the baseball sized stones that served as a road and lurched up on to the tarmac of Nepal.
After more paperwork and money changing, we were off down the Mahendra Highway to Mahendranagar and the Opera Hotel. Cold Carlsburg beers washed down the food on the menu that sported a counterfeit Pizza Hut logo and even had a “McDonals” section with veg and non-veg burgars. We covered a total of 132 km that day.
Saturday took us farther down the Mahendra highway, the best piece of tarmac to date on this adventure. Traffic was light and we saw many people harvesting rice from the small paddies along the road. Some were even brave enough to leave their rice on a cloth lying and drying in the road. Not sure if traffic traveling in that lane would miss the rice every time. Cows have given way to a type of water buffalo and lots of goats and sheep were being herded down the road. One big difference here in Nepal are the many military road blocks that we have to stop at and show paperwork. The Toyota is not a chase vehicle for us, but a lead vehicle. Sanjay and Mukesh have the paperwork for the bikes so it is Important for them to stop first at the checkpoints. We easily cover 225 km and sleep in Nepalganj at the Hotel Batika which has an excellent restaurant. The rooms are small and have what is becoming a standard bathroom: sink on one wall, toilet on another, and a showerhead sticking out of the third wall. No stall, no tub, no curtains, just a drain in the corner to take away the shower water. There are always flip-flops on a mat by the door to use when entering the bathroom when the floor is still wet.
I will mention here the switches that are in the rooms. All fans, lights, and outlets have separate switches. There are always some switches that appear to do nothing. At the Corbett Park I counted nearly thirty switches in our room and bathroom with only half of them controlling anything.
Before we reached Nepalganj we crossed the Karneli River with a very impressive suspension bridge. Two very tall cement towers located near one end of the bridge held the cables; very modern compared to the 40s/50s style cement bridges we had been crossing.
Lumbini was our next stop and we put in the second biggest day so far: 287 clicks. Most of the driving was on the plains and fairly flat, but we did have to cross a range of Himalayan foothills that was dotted with landslides from the recently ended monsoon rains. If the dirt and rock do not cover the road you just drive around the pile of debris; if the slide completely blocks the road, you flatten a section and just lurch over it. There is usually some water involved, so soon the trucks and buses make some great muddy ruts that are just the right width to allow a motorcycle to pass through. Our boots and riding suit pant legs got their first dose of mud today. We left the highway about 50 km from Lumbini and soon were on single lane roads that turned to dirt/stone which generated lots of dust. After about 6 km of eating dust, we were back on pavement and at our destination.
Lumbini is the birthplace of Buddha and a World Heritage site. We spent most of Tuesday, the 13th, at the site visiting his birthplace and some of the many temples and shrines that have been built there by Buddhist groups from all over the world. We met a young lady from Green Bay (her parents, Zirbells, taught in Green Bay) a Nepali family from Chicago, and Vietnamese people from California and Oregon. As they say, it is a small world. Buddha was born on a full moon, the 15th is the next full moon, so we were blessed with this connection to one of the great religious figures on earth.
Today, the 14th, was an easy day: 87 km to the mountain town of Tansen at about 4500 feet above sea level. About half of the trip was in the mountains with more landslides to negotiate. We climbed high above a very deep gorge on the Siddhartha Highway and arrived at the Srinagar Hotel in time for a lovely lunch on the patio overlooking the city and the valley.
From the gate to the hotel we can see the Annapurna Range of the Himalayas and they obliged by peaking out of the clouds near sunset.
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Birthplace of Buddah
Lumbini is the birth place of Buddah, who was born here on a full moon in 623 B.C. And we were like the Magi traveling over field and fountain, moor and mountain, following yonder van. The fields were wonderful! Lush expanses of various grains, women in bright saris bent over working and children herding goats and buffalo. The mountains were hell! Narrow, twisting roads with mud and rock slides every few kilometers that we were forced to ride over, through or around while dodging oncoming traffic. To make matters worse, we suck in the diesel fumes and are covered in dust from our van and the trucks and buses. On our final stretch, we rode about 15 km on a very rough, broken road which took almost an hour to ride. Then, Eureka! A paved road! We get on the throttle and dash the last few miles.
Bill often makes jokes about going to see another pile of rocks and that’s just what this turns out to be. This is a World Heritage site and is primarily an archaeological dig in progress. The main attractions are a stone marking the place where he was born, a tree his mother held and a pool in which the baby Buddha was bathed. For us the real attraction is people watching. There are monks in their saffron robes, people from all over the world, beggars and believers. We strolled around the grounds and visited several of the many temples built by various countries. These are beautiful, peaceful places with many images of Buddha. Tucked away beside the Nuns Temple, we found the Pilgrims Rest Cottage Restaurant where we enjoyed some cold drinks and listened to the ancient owner give a history of the Temple. On our way out of the grounds, a little girl about four years old, latched onto Ross and kept singing him a song over and over. He melted and made his first contribution of baksheesh. She then moved on to Steve and it was really cute to see this tiny waif walking along side this big, tall guy and the two of them singing together. Naturally, she got another donation.
Thanks for all your comments on the blog. We love reading them!
To answer Wayne's question: We are not using our GPSs for several reasons: First, we just follow our van which is a lot easier then trying to navigate on our own. Secondly, riding requires such strong concentration that you really can’t take your eyes off the road for a second so the GPS would be too distracting. Third, we’re in Nepal and we don’t have those maps.
Bill often makes jokes about going to see another pile of rocks and that’s just what this turns out to be. This is a World Heritage site and is primarily an archaeological dig in progress. The main attractions are a stone marking the place where he was born, a tree his mother held and a pool in which the baby Buddha was bathed. For us the real attraction is people watching. There are monks in their saffron robes, people from all over the world, beggars and believers. We strolled around the grounds and visited several of the many temples built by various countries. These are beautiful, peaceful places with many images of Buddha. Tucked away beside the Nuns Temple, we found the Pilgrims Rest Cottage Restaurant where we enjoyed some cold drinks and listened to the ancient owner give a history of the Temple. On our way out of the grounds, a little girl about four years old, latched onto Ross and kept singing him a song over and over. He melted and made his first contribution of baksheesh. She then moved on to Steve and it was really cute to see this tiny waif walking along side this big, tall guy and the two of them singing together. Naturally, she got another donation.
Thanks for all your comments on the blog. We love reading them!
To answer Wayne's question: We are not using our GPSs for several reasons: First, we just follow our van which is a lot easier then trying to navigate on our own. Secondly, riding requires such strong concentration that you really can’t take your eyes off the road for a second so the GPS would be too distracting. Third, we’re in Nepal and we don’t have those maps.
Nepal!
Leaving Nainital, we headed down the mountains to Haldwani where we spent two luxurious days at a Comfort Inn. There, we enjoyed a very modern room with flat screen TV and endless toilet paper-a commodity much taken for granted prior to this trip!
From there, we continued on our way to Nepal. Traffic thinned out somewhat and the road surface improved slightly. We actually started to relax a bit for the first time and enjoy the countryside. Homes are mainly thatched roof huts clustered in small communities with lots of goats, sheep, oxen and kids. There are constant reminders of the recent monsoons. Wide swaths of land have been reduced to sandy river beds full of rocks and debris. Parts of the road are washed away and large rocks on the edge are the only warning signs. At one point, the bridge we needed to cross was washed away and we had to turn back and detour around to another crossing. This turned out to be another little adventure as we took a very narrow road through several tiny villages which were interesting to see close up. We rode alongside a river, crossing it twice on small bridges, then the road got progressively worse until at one point, I stopped a the bottom of a sand dune unsure how to proceed. It was at that point I was passed by two saris and a turban on a 125cc so I screwed up my courage and blasted after them.
The road soon ended and we found ourselves at the border to Nepal! First we had to sign out at the Indian Immigration where we met a girl from Siberia and later, a guy from Elliot Lake, Ontario rode up on an old Enfield. Talk about diversity! Then we went about a kilometer and passed through Nepal Immigration after paying about $50 each.
We’ve now been here two days and are really enjoying the riding. The pavement is very good or as our driver, Sanjay says “No more jumping road”. The Himalayas are on our left as we ride through a long, lush valley. There is a huge military/police presence and we are forced to stop about every 10 kilometers to show our papers. The people are very curious about us and at one rest stop, we attracted quite a crowd of men and boys including one old fellow with only two long teeth, slightly off centre, dressed in a sarong who, for some reason, decided to remove it and display his loin cloth. They called him Nepal Superman but it wasn’t readily apparent how he got that nickname. Anyway, everyone had a good laugh and we got some great people pictures.
From there, we continued on our way to Nepal. Traffic thinned out somewhat and the road surface improved slightly. We actually started to relax a bit for the first time and enjoy the countryside. Homes are mainly thatched roof huts clustered in small communities with lots of goats, sheep, oxen and kids. There are constant reminders of the recent monsoons. Wide swaths of land have been reduced to sandy river beds full of rocks and debris. Parts of the road are washed away and large rocks on the edge are the only warning signs. At one point, the bridge we needed to cross was washed away and we had to turn back and detour around to another crossing. This turned out to be another little adventure as we took a very narrow road through several tiny villages which were interesting to see close up. We rode alongside a river, crossing it twice on small bridges, then the road got progressively worse until at one point, I stopped a the bottom of a sand dune unsure how to proceed. It was at that point I was passed by two saris and a turban on a 125cc so I screwed up my courage and blasted after them.
The road soon ended and we found ourselves at the border to Nepal! First we had to sign out at the Indian Immigration where we met a girl from Siberia and later, a guy from Elliot Lake, Ontario rode up on an old Enfield. Talk about diversity! Then we went about a kilometer and passed through Nepal Immigration after paying about $50 each.
We’ve now been here two days and are really enjoying the riding. The pavement is very good or as our driver, Sanjay says “No more jumping road”. The Himalayas are on our left as we ride through a long, lush valley. There is a huge military/police presence and we are forced to stop about every 10 kilometers to show our papers. The people are very curious about us and at one rest stop, we attracted quite a crowd of men and boys including one old fellow with only two long teeth, slightly off centre, dressed in a sarong who, for some reason, decided to remove it and display his loin cloth. They called him Nepal Superman but it wasn’t readily apparent how he got that nickname. Anyway, everyone had a good laugh and we got some great people pictures.
Saturday, October 11, 2008
A Ride in the Park
There are purported to be 164 tigers in the Corbet Tiger Sanctuary. We saw two. They were in the souvenir shop. But we did have an interesting jeep ride through the park and saw lots of black faced monkeys and white spotted deer, not exactly novel when living in rural Ontario.
We did enjoy our three days in the park where we swam in a beautiful pool, walked along the rivers edge and enjoyed lots of Indian food. The real high point, literally, was an elephant ride. Because we are here right after monsoon season, the park is still quite wet so we couldn't go on an elephant safari but we could do an Elephant Joy Ride down the main road so we opted for that. Each elephant carried four of us on a table-like platform and they lumbered along making for a pleasant swaying motion. Their handlers sat behind their ears with a vicious looking pick and steered them with their feet. Before leaving, we saw all the trappings for a government officials wedding-4 bands, tons of flowers, thousands of lights, 2 elephants at the gate, and men in various uniforms some white with red turbans. Talk about excess! It brought home, once again, the huge disparity between the classes.
Then it was off to Nainital, a city in the Himalayas, where the British used to go to cool off during the hot summer months. Now that we re away from the cities, the traffic has thinned out and we actually enjoyed the 152 km ride. We find that the best practice is to ride about 20 – 30 kph; slow almost to a stop at the edge of the road when we meet oncoming trucks; and stay close to the chase van in towns where he can clear a path. Fortunately we could relax a bit and take in the scenery which was absolutely breathtaking! We climbed up 6,000 feet along twisty, narrow roads through dense forests but, surprisingly, several types of cactus. Bougainvillea grows wild and there were other beautiful flowers. Naturally, cows are everywhere and rounding corners must be done slowly because one never knows what hazard awaits around the bend-cow, people, pile of ruble, or road out. We re becoming quite proficient motocross riders!
Nainital is a city built on the mountain so the buildings cascade down to a beautiful lake where small rowboats with a seat for two make like gondolas. Unfortunately, we had to take a less then satisfactory hotel so we got to use our sleeping bag liners for the first (and hopefully, last) time. Dinner was Chinese food and breakfast was toast and tea. We are really trying hard not to get sick so are staying away from salads and cold food which limits the menu.
The bikes are running as well as can be expected with this primitive technology, as Ross calls it, They do handle really well in all the dirt, mud and water we encounter and are reasonably comfortable, considering we re riding them for 10 hours a day even if we don't do that many miles. Our mechanic is right there if there are any problems and even turns the bikes around and faces them in the direction of travel when we stop for a break. I m hoping he ll fit in my suitcase!
The India Buttbusters 2008
We did enjoy our three days in the park where we swam in a beautiful pool, walked along the rivers edge and enjoyed lots of Indian food. The real high point, literally, was an elephant ride. Because we are here right after monsoon season, the park is still quite wet so we couldn't go on an elephant safari but we could do an Elephant Joy Ride down the main road so we opted for that. Each elephant carried four of us on a table-like platform and they lumbered along making for a pleasant swaying motion. Their handlers sat behind their ears with a vicious looking pick and steered them with their feet. Before leaving, we saw all the trappings for a government officials wedding-4 bands, tons of flowers, thousands of lights, 2 elephants at the gate, and men in various uniforms some white with red turbans. Talk about excess! It brought home, once again, the huge disparity between the classes.
Then it was off to Nainital, a city in the Himalayas, where the British used to go to cool off during the hot summer months. Now that we re away from the cities, the traffic has thinned out and we actually enjoyed the 152 km ride. We find that the best practice is to ride about 20 – 30 kph; slow almost to a stop at the edge of the road when we meet oncoming trucks; and stay close to the chase van in towns where he can clear a path. Fortunately we could relax a bit and take in the scenery which was absolutely breathtaking! We climbed up 6,000 feet along twisty, narrow roads through dense forests but, surprisingly, several types of cactus. Bougainvillea grows wild and there were other beautiful flowers. Naturally, cows are everywhere and rounding corners must be done slowly because one never knows what hazard awaits around the bend-cow, people, pile of ruble, or road out. We re becoming quite proficient motocross riders!
Nainital is a city built on the mountain so the buildings cascade down to a beautiful lake where small rowboats with a seat for two make like gondolas. Unfortunately, we had to take a less then satisfactory hotel so we got to use our sleeping bag liners for the first (and hopefully, last) time. Dinner was Chinese food and breakfast was toast and tea. We are really trying hard not to get sick so are staying away from salads and cold food which limits the menu.
The bikes are running as well as can be expected with this primitive technology, as Ross calls it, They do handle really well in all the dirt, mud and water we encounter and are reasonably comfortable, considering we re riding them for 10 hours a day even if we don't do that many miles. Our mechanic is right there if there are any problems and even turns the bikes around and faces them in the direction of travel when we stop for a break. I m hoping he ll fit in my suitcase!
The India Buttbusters 2008
Thursday, October 9, 2008
FYI
The latest post is always at the top. Jean and I both posted today; Jean a few minutes after me. Our posts were written earlier in the week when we did not have internet access, so you got coverage of several days in one post.
We are currently in Haldwani, India and will get to Nepal tomorrow. We spent more time in the Himalayan foothills than we had planned with one night in Nainital by a lake at an elevation of 6400 feet.
As to beer, we've had Kingfisher, Sandpiper, and here in Haldwani, Royal Challenge is king. We all added minutes to our phones today even though they will not work in Nepal. RA and I have Nepalese visas good for 15 days; the others will be getting theirs at the border. We must pay 50 rupees up front for every day we will spend in Nepal; if we miss our exit time, it will double to 100 rupees on upon our departure.
We are currently in Haldwani, India and will get to Nepal tomorrow. We spent more time in the Himalayan foothills than we had planned with one night in Nainital by a lake at an elevation of 6400 feet.
As to beer, we've had Kingfisher, Sandpiper, and here in Haldwani, Royal Challenge is king. We all added minutes to our phones today even though they will not work in Nepal. RA and I have Nepalese visas good for 15 days; the others will be getting theirs at the border. We must pay 50 rupees up front for every day we will spend in Nepal; if we miss our exit time, it will double to 100 rupees on upon our departure.
Yikes! Bikes!
OH, MY, GOD!!!! The last 24 hours have been the absolute wildest time I have ever spent on a motorcycle in my 500,000 km experience!
It started yesterday morning when our bikes were delivered to our hotel. Crowds gathered around to see these 7 brand new, shiny Royal Enfield motorcycles(made in India) lined up amidst the dust and dirt of Delhi. Arun, the owner, had each of us ride down the street and back to test the bikes and ourselves and we all returned unscathed and satisfied with our mounts. Ruth Ann and I were especially pleased to find that we could flat-foot them once we wrenched the bikes off their side stands. Our mechanic, Mukesh, made last minute adjustments to mirrors and kick starters and then we were off.
We have a support van, driven by Sanjay and our mechanic,, Mukesh who will service and wash the bikes every evening and ride one if someone wants to travel in the van for whatever reason. The cost of such luxury? Mukesh $110 each for the whole two months. Sanjay and the van $286 each for the same period.
So we re off! We all line up and follow Mukesh first to the gas station where we fill the tanks for about $15 (gas is about $1.25 litre). Now we have to get out of town. Traffic is totally unbelievable! First- it is extremely heavy. Second- there are no lanes. Horns are honking everywhere. But there is a system to this chaos which we had noticed when walking, and now we move up from pedestrians (who are the lowest on the rung) to motorcyclists who are above bicycles, rickshaw cabs, tut tuts and scooters but are below cars and, the kings of the road. trucks. Cows, oxen, monkeys and dogs fit in where they can.
Trying to stay together, we dodge between all the aforementioned sundry vehicles with only centimeters to spare. People are so close to each other, one family had their children shake hands with Ruth Ann during a brief stop. Speaking of Ruth Ann, its really funny to see the look on peoples faces when they realize theres a woman riding. Women here all wear saris and ride side saddle so we re a big surprise. Men do an about face then tell the other two men on the bike and they all turn and look. The women, on the other hand, give us shy smiles as we make eye contact from across the globe.
Steve got up close and personal with a tut tut and stopped briefly to retrieve his leg. Other than than, we managed to get out of town where the traffic only thinned marginally but the speeds increased to about 60kph (40mph). Now that might not sound like much, but picture going down a two lane road where you re having to pass pedestrians, bicycles, tut tuts and numerous oxen-drawn carts while coming toward you are cars passing buses or trucks. Yikes! The worst scenario is when the trucks are passing the buses. Then the on-coming traffic, that would be us, have to hit the ditch and ride along there until its clear to get back up on the road. Now I m not a dirt rider, so hitting soft, deep sand the first time was pretty scary but I remembered to power out so probably hit about 150 kph as I blasted back onto the road only to have to brake hard to avoid hitting someone. This happened numerous times.
The other totally freaky thing was road diversions. We would be on a four lane divided highway (I use all these terms loosely. More like two country roads separated by a mound of sand) when we would be shunted onto the other road. Then we would be driving against traffic on the curb! People would flash their lights signaling us to get over as far as we could. Naturally, we tried to oblige providing there was a shoulder we could ride on.
I could go on ad nausea but suffice it to say that after riding 280 kms in 10 hours, the last three in the dark, we arrived quite shaken but intact. We are now staying at the Corbett Tiger Reserve for a few days – taking in copious amounts of alcohol to fuel the next leg of our journey. As for the tigers? They ll be a piece of cake compared to those trucks!
It started yesterday morning when our bikes were delivered to our hotel. Crowds gathered around to see these 7 brand new, shiny Royal Enfield motorcycles(made in India) lined up amidst the dust and dirt of Delhi. Arun, the owner, had each of us ride down the street and back to test the bikes and ourselves and we all returned unscathed and satisfied with our mounts. Ruth Ann and I were especially pleased to find that we could flat-foot them once we wrenched the bikes off their side stands. Our mechanic, Mukesh, made last minute adjustments to mirrors and kick starters and then we were off.
We have a support van, driven by Sanjay and our mechanic,, Mukesh who will service and wash the bikes every evening and ride one if someone wants to travel in the van for whatever reason. The cost of such luxury? Mukesh $110 each for the whole two months. Sanjay and the van $286 each for the same period.
So we re off! We all line up and follow Mukesh first to the gas station where we fill the tanks for about $15 (gas is about $1.25 litre). Now we have to get out of town. Traffic is totally unbelievable! First- it is extremely heavy. Second- there are no lanes. Horns are honking everywhere. But there is a system to this chaos which we had noticed when walking, and now we move up from pedestrians (who are the lowest on the rung) to motorcyclists who are above bicycles, rickshaw cabs, tut tuts and scooters but are below cars and, the kings of the road. trucks. Cows, oxen, monkeys and dogs fit in where they can.
Trying to stay together, we dodge between all the aforementioned sundry vehicles with only centimeters to spare. People are so close to each other, one family had their children shake hands with Ruth Ann during a brief stop. Speaking of Ruth Ann, its really funny to see the look on peoples faces when they realize theres a woman riding. Women here all wear saris and ride side saddle so we re a big surprise. Men do an about face then tell the other two men on the bike and they all turn and look. The women, on the other hand, give us shy smiles as we make eye contact from across the globe.
Steve got up close and personal with a tut tut and stopped briefly to retrieve his leg. Other than than, we managed to get out of town where the traffic only thinned marginally but the speeds increased to about 60kph (40mph). Now that might not sound like much, but picture going down a two lane road where you re having to pass pedestrians, bicycles, tut tuts and numerous oxen-drawn carts while coming toward you are cars passing buses or trucks. Yikes! The worst scenario is when the trucks are passing the buses. Then the on-coming traffic, that would be us, have to hit the ditch and ride along there until its clear to get back up on the road. Now I m not a dirt rider, so hitting soft, deep sand the first time was pretty scary but I remembered to power out so probably hit about 150 kph as I blasted back onto the road only to have to brake hard to avoid hitting someone. This happened numerous times.
The other totally freaky thing was road diversions. We would be on a four lane divided highway (I use all these terms loosely. More like two country roads separated by a mound of sand) when we would be shunted onto the other road. Then we would be driving against traffic on the curb! People would flash their lights signaling us to get over as far as we could. Naturally, we tried to oblige providing there was a shoulder we could ride on.
I could go on ad nausea but suffice it to say that after riding 280 kms in 10 hours, the last three in the dark, we arrived quite shaken but intact. We are now staying at the Corbett Tiger Reserve for a few days – taking in copious amounts of alcohol to fuel the next leg of our journey. As for the tigers? They ll be a piece of cake compared to those trucks!
We're On Our Way
Monday 10-6-08
I am writing this Monday evening before we begin our push into Nepal tomorrow morning. This will be a quick summary of the events since Thursday night.
On Friday the third, we had a busy day getting the final bike rental details worked out, hitting an ATM at Citibank downtown as we needed to put down half of the rental agreement in cash, and buying mobile phones that will work all over India and can also be used to call home. After a nice dinner at our favorite restaurant, we all adjourned to our rooms in Delhi. We are being accompanied by a chase vehicle with a driver/mechanic and a second mechanic riding shotgun to keep things running smoothly.
On Saturday morning the bikes were delivered to the hotel and after a two block test ride on the bikes, the India Butt Busters were in launch mode.
Mechanic Mukesh led on a bike with Sanjay herding us from the back with a Toyota SUV. They did a good job keeping us together and many of our previous night’s worries went out the window as we fit into the giant, three dimensional jigsaw puzzle that is Delhi traffic. It was noon when we started out and the temps were in the 90s, so we were all soon drenched in sweat as we zigged and zagged our way out of town. At one point a tut tut (moto rickshaw) and I literally got tangled up. My right leg was trapped between the two vehicles with my crash bars wedged into his frame. Sanjay was soon there to pull the back of the bike away from the tut tut, but the bike was still stuck. After lots of pushing and pulling I was free with virtually no damage to the bike other than few scratches on the crash bar, a tiny dent in the tank, and a floppy mirror that eventually fell off. I caught the mirror and jammed it into my partially open jacket as I bounced across a stone and dirt “diversion” while dodging an on coming farm tractor.
Organized chaos is how I characterize the traffic here. If you follow the “rules” you will be ok. The Number One Rule: your size determines the pecking order; honor anything bigger than you. Number Two: announce yourself with your horn. We probably all honked our horns more on Saturday than we have in the last ten years!!
I think we all took the road shoulder more than once in the 180 miles we rode on our first day. Unfortunately, the shoulders are not that user friendly. Sometimes it is dirt and rock, other times powdery soil or sand, punctuated with whoop-de-doos. Sometimes the road is no longer paved and the tarmac begins off to your left, so you bounce over and start again. One diversion got us onto one side of a four lane, but we missed the crossover to get back on our side of the road and we were now riding the wrong way on a four lane divided highway!! But this is not an unusual thing here--you often meet other motorized vehicles bucking traffic; it is a subset of traffic that exists and you must take that into account with the mix of traffic that is moving in the same direction you are. We had a few close ones: Jean felt a pedestrian’s hand glance off her hand on the left grip and Bill brushed an oncoming truck with his shoulder and felt the lug nuts of the front wheel on the side of his leg.
Due to a communication glitch with our drivers and their boss, we ran out of daylight about 55 kilometers from our destination. We now had to factor night driving in to the equation. A lot of the vehicles you could see in daylight now became invisible, and cows, carts, bicycles, pedestrians and who knows what else do not have lights. The oncoming traffic blinds you and you hold your course and follow the taillight of the bike in front of you. Forty kilometers per hour (25 mph) is the absolute maximum and we were probably average about 30 kph. We eventually got the chase vehicle to lead as he could see the obstructions in the road with two headlights much better than we could with the bikes. After dark, the cows which were upright earlier now sleep on road to add to the mix, The most interesting road kill we saw was a monkey.
We finally arrived at our destination near the Corbett Tiger Refuge and settled into a very nice resort. The day was hot and dusty, and we all looked like we had just come in from working in a coal mine; the pollution and road grime was evident on all of our faces.
We all hope not to repeat the mistake of night riding again; we knew it was a no-no, but circumstances sometimes trump common sense. This time we were successful and we hope that the first day out will be the worst of the trip, but time will tell. The learning curve was steep and we are looking forward to entering Nepal tomorrow afternoon.
While here at the Corbett River View Retreat along the Kosi River north of Ramnagar, we have taken a “jeep” tour into the park to look for tigers (did not see any but saw lots of deer and monkeys) and an elephant “joy ride” for an hour along the road south of our hotel.
I am writing this Monday evening before we begin our push into Nepal tomorrow morning. This will be a quick summary of the events since Thursday night.
On Friday the third, we had a busy day getting the final bike rental details worked out, hitting an ATM at Citibank downtown as we needed to put down half of the rental agreement in cash, and buying mobile phones that will work all over India and can also be used to call home. After a nice dinner at our favorite restaurant, we all adjourned to our rooms in Delhi. We are being accompanied by a chase vehicle with a driver/mechanic and a second mechanic riding shotgun to keep things running smoothly.
On Saturday morning the bikes were delivered to the hotel and after a two block test ride on the bikes, the India Butt Busters were in launch mode.
Mechanic Mukesh led on a bike with Sanjay herding us from the back with a Toyota SUV. They did a good job keeping us together and many of our previous night’s worries went out the window as we fit into the giant, three dimensional jigsaw puzzle that is Delhi traffic. It was noon when we started out and the temps were in the 90s, so we were all soon drenched in sweat as we zigged and zagged our way out of town. At one point a tut tut (moto rickshaw) and I literally got tangled up. My right leg was trapped between the two vehicles with my crash bars wedged into his frame. Sanjay was soon there to pull the back of the bike away from the tut tut, but the bike was still stuck. After lots of pushing and pulling I was free with virtually no damage to the bike other than few scratches on the crash bar, a tiny dent in the tank, and a floppy mirror that eventually fell off. I caught the mirror and jammed it into my partially open jacket as I bounced across a stone and dirt “diversion” while dodging an on coming farm tractor.
Organized chaos is how I characterize the traffic here. If you follow the “rules” you will be ok. The Number One Rule: your size determines the pecking order; honor anything bigger than you. Number Two: announce yourself with your horn. We probably all honked our horns more on Saturday than we have in the last ten years!!
I think we all took the road shoulder more than once in the 180 miles we rode on our first day. Unfortunately, the shoulders are not that user friendly. Sometimes it is dirt and rock, other times powdery soil or sand, punctuated with whoop-de-doos. Sometimes the road is no longer paved and the tarmac begins off to your left, so you bounce over and start again. One diversion got us onto one side of a four lane, but we missed the crossover to get back on our side of the road and we were now riding the wrong way on a four lane divided highway!! But this is not an unusual thing here--you often meet other motorized vehicles bucking traffic; it is a subset of traffic that exists and you must take that into account with the mix of traffic that is moving in the same direction you are. We had a few close ones: Jean felt a pedestrian’s hand glance off her hand on the left grip and Bill brushed an oncoming truck with his shoulder and felt the lug nuts of the front wheel on the side of his leg.
Due to a communication glitch with our drivers and their boss, we ran out of daylight about 55 kilometers from our destination. We now had to factor night driving in to the equation. A lot of the vehicles you could see in daylight now became invisible, and cows, carts, bicycles, pedestrians and who knows what else do not have lights. The oncoming traffic blinds you and you hold your course and follow the taillight of the bike in front of you. Forty kilometers per hour (25 mph) is the absolute maximum and we were probably average about 30 kph. We eventually got the chase vehicle to lead as he could see the obstructions in the road with two headlights much better than we could with the bikes. After dark, the cows which were upright earlier now sleep on road to add to the mix, The most interesting road kill we saw was a monkey.
We finally arrived at our destination near the Corbett Tiger Refuge and settled into a very nice resort. The day was hot and dusty, and we all looked like we had just come in from working in a coal mine; the pollution and road grime was evident on all of our faces.
We all hope not to repeat the mistake of night riding again; we knew it was a no-no, but circumstances sometimes trump common sense. This time we were successful and we hope that the first day out will be the worst of the trip, but time will tell. The learning curve was steep and we are looking forward to entering Nepal tomorrow afternoon.
While here at the Corbett River View Retreat along the Kosi River north of Ramnagar, we have taken a “jeep” tour into the park to look for tigers (did not see any but saw lots of deer and monkeys) and an elephant “joy ride” for an hour along the road south of our hotel.
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