Day 19 A slight problem.

Day 19 A slight problem.

Natraj Yes Please Hotel,  has been a great place to stay, with its nearby bazaar and street parades

Staying at the Natraj until I fly out with a day layover in Bankok. No direct flights to Aus with Thai

Conclusions – and lessons.

Have had some very near death experiences on my side of the road from the TFI drivers who drive like demons so it's a nerve wracking experience at times and you can't relax for a second. I think the Indian guys with me, having a more inherent risk taking mentality, just went for it. Dying or being injured in India, for me, wasn’t appealing, and breaking my shoulder again would have been bad news. One guy in the group came off 5 times and he used to blitz past me regularly.

It's been a tough trip and definitely an adventure so I will store the memory and maybe get a different perspective on it. It's very easy to see all the chaos and dirt and rubbish and shocking air pollution but at least with the boys, we had a lot of laughs and the catch cry we adopted was not "incredible India" but "Fnn incredible india  YEEHAH"

I couldn’t have persisted alone with the crap roads.

The IAA deal was very good and worth every penny. Akarsh is a great tour leader and the support boys were good.

When you look at the daily mileage figures in the brochure, they seem small and the number of rest days, too many but IAA have got it right.

The food was a bit of a problem and the roadside dhabbas were possibly too “buggy” for me. If you eat “street” food in India, then  getting sick seems inevitable. A lot of the bottled water (tested) is very suss and you need to just drink certain brands.

I didn’t bother using an antiseptic wipe when I cut my knees crashing and two days after getting back ended up in Lismore hospital, with a severe patella infection, on an antibiotic drip for nine days. Pretty stupid but you don’t think of the consequences at the time. But butter side up for fallen toast, I end up in a room by myself with the only free TV (movies included) in the whole hospital.  “The discharge transit unit” it’s called but apparently I’m here for a while.

Free TV, free drugs, free tea and coffee – I’m made.

Doesn't last. Spend the next eight in a ward, thoroughly bored.

Get home only to find that there's been a Court hearing while I've been away and they taken my licence for 3 months for going through a speed camera 34 kph over the limit. Fnn Australia!!!!!!!