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!!!!!!!

Day 18 Fix it day

Day 18   Fix it day 

Well the outcome was better than I expected .

Despite the team mechanic thinking that the clutch would have to be done before I could get over the passes, it survived and the hirer can replace it, not me.

The engine didn’t run its bearings but I kept pouring oil into it every day and put a litre in yesterday. Now the oil level can’t be seen !!!!!!!

As soon as I got onto the plains, the terrible on/off throttle response disappeared and the bike was was OK to ride. It’s got  fuel injection so should have been a lot better to ride then a carbed version, but despite being of Bosch origins, the management system is crap. One of the ride support guys tried to tell me it was not “chipped” – seriously???????

The bike was disappointing and despite people in AUS telling me, I’d get to like it, I’m glad to be off it and looking forward to getting on one of my BMW Ks at home.

The good – it was capable of surviving dropping into huge holes in the road and the brutal Ladakh roads. Seemingly good fuel economy. Survived a crash with minimal damage.

The bad – gutless motor, no decent engine braking,- seemed to have worn out at 15000kms, - heavy bike with all the grace of a Tata truck, dubious suspension,- dodgy fuel injection system.

Neel tells me, when I get back, that all the Classics with EFI play up and that I should have taken a carbed Machissmo.

Indian engineering can be pretty crude and ugly. This is what the emergency tool box looks like on the Delhi to Rajastan train.

                           HULLO – Is that the axehead in the bottom R H corner???????

Ran far too rich and fouled plugs – used 3 in 3000kms) Geared too high (terrrible gap between 3^rd and 4^th ) Would be  much better with one tooth less on the front sprocket or fewer on the rear.

Akarsh has got one of his boys coming over in the morning to take me to Karol Bagh (motorbike city) and  buy the replacement bits for the bike – headlight surround etc, a mirror, and potential to hit things with a big hammer.

Finally there’s no trace of a prang and so I take the bike out to Neel, who refunds the deposit and gives me a ride back to the hotel.

Day 17 Chandigarth to Delhi.

Day 17  Chandigarth to Delhi (275 kms)

It wouldn’t have been possible to do a one day, McLg to Delhi ride without getting in the dark and being totally stuffed.

There was no internet available last night so I couldn’t look at google maps to figure how to get out of C and on the road to Delhi. I get confused but finally get the right direction and with a good road surface (in fact very good) the ride is great in the cool morning air.

The sky is typically greyish, but is like this pre monsoon and no direct sun and I want to keep it on my left so I am sure of heading south. It seems a bit like those mariners rounding Cape Horn who needed an occasional glimpse of the sun to make sure of establishing their position.

The motorway demands a level of attention though, because there are guys turning onto it or across it and you’re never quite sure what is going to happen. Often trucks just turn on, and so you haul on the brakes and almost stop. As usual there’s no “lane discipline” and there are trucks doing 40kph in the “fast lane”. With farm tractors in the far left, there’s a stupid funneling into the middle lane going on and when a tuk tuk driver decides to overtake the tractors, there’s some pretty dramatic moments.

There’s still a rural landscape until about 40kms out of Delhi so it’s a good ride and there’s no point in doing more than 90kph. At the various toll stations, the tin tops have to pay but the bikes go down a narrow freebie lane, so you end up getting past them. The motorway would probably get a rating of about 2 out of 10 from Germans (because it reverts to pothole city at points) and the driving style would get about  .5.

Most Indians are really bad drivers, and big risk takers but apparently get their licences through the post, not tested.

Their greatest ability is in knowing exactly where the four points of their vehicle are, and not hitting other stuff (generally) on the road. 

Despite all the planning and google maps I printed, the whole thing was torpedoed when I couldn't get off the Ring road at the planned point, and got totally lost . Delhi is hell to try and figure out unless you have a co navigator in a car with you. Got a tuk tuk driver to lead the way for 15kms but I swear he passed my nominated close to the hotel point - the Rama Krishna metro station - and we did a huge loop again.

Finally I get to the hotel and I’m drenched so my jacket is going to the "dry cleaners" and clothes at some laundry. Somehow my stress level didn't get up and I found the riding "style " (pushy no nonsense assertiveness) wasn't as difficult to manage as expected. Two weeks ago I was terrified at the prospect of picking up the bike.

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Delhi is like no other city and the contrasts are huge. This shows the billion dollar new metro passing in front of a 'religious icon' . Not sure if it's Shiva or Hanuman. 
From the swanky consulate section of the city with its greenery to this, adjoining the trainline to Rajastan

And the old. - Shiva statue (or is it Hanuman? ) with a train, part of the new billion dollar metro, passing  in front.

The now forgotten and dilapidated vestiges of the British raj era. This one in Chandi Chowk.

But this photo, I took, opposite the hotel, says that happiness is not the preserve of nations that have more.

next

day 15 rest day at McLg

Day 14 Nurpur to McLeodganj

Day 14 Nurpur to Mcleodganj (Dharamshala)  85 kms

By 6am the noise level had risen to that of the Chandi chowk market but that was Ok because escape was always attractive option.

Best part of the whole ride (was this morning coming up fr Nurpur on a good piece of road (very unusual) up a long climb through the hills to Dharamshala to Mcleodganj (where the Dali Lama, took refuge when he fled from China.

So why is it that this road is smooth and well maintained while the Dalhousie road is like the frontline in France in WW1 ???

Only a few more days before I go down to Delhi and return the bike, so I need to make the most of them.

Cool and cloud cover comes down and envelopes the place. Better chance of finding food that is suitable , not highly spiced stuff that the road side dhabbas dish up (rest of boys found this OK, but I struggled to get stuff that was not to oily and spiced.

The hill towns are wonderfully cool at 2000m, in contrast to Delhi, so it's great being here. I stopped at this church which I saw from the road as I climbed up the wonderful road from Dharamshala to McLeodganj

(classic stone type -1863) - St John in the Wilderness, and it was just a wonderful setting, being surrounded with terraces of daffodils. Walked through the graveyard and it was very emotional reading the inscriptions -  " ..............  22 years, darling beloved wife bride of ................  of the Indian Civil Service. Daughter of ........... (some english village). I I I I      I imagine the parents eventually getting the news months later, that she had died in some remote Indian hilltown.

Even if you survived being shot at, you could get wiped out by an earthquake. This guy only aged 25.

There is very little trace remaining of the Brit presence, here now, and Indians do not want to keep anything that is a memory of the Raj. The Tibetan influence is very strong here and the town exudes a tranquility that is probably a by product of this. It’s hard not to smile though, when you go into a ‘western’ coffee shop and the monks are all in there tapping away on their WIFI I phones or laptops and ordering lattees.

The place I am staying at- Mcleodganj  Homestay is fabulous, being an offbeat place with great rooms and scrupulously clean. Straightaway I ask for another night and will stay here for a couple of days and relax.

There’s just something restful about the whole of MCLG despite the streets being clogged with cars, and the market stalls are full of good craft gear.

This shows the architectural flavor of the place –

And the view looking south down the mountain and out over the Indian plain, way below, in the far distance. (very top of pic) 

Maybe the Dalai Lama’s presence is responsible for the more relaxed feel of the town and the Tibetan monks are there in big numbers.

I see this, where women are bringing baskets of rocks from the hillside behind and wonder if this is a new type of 'static load testing'.  

I spend day 15 here as a rest day and get ready for the ride tomorrow to Chandigarth, down on the hot plains, by tipping in ½ a liter of oil but the bike has only done 200kms since the mechanic filled it at Pathankot and the level still seems to be low. I’ve just got to get back the 800kms to Delhi without the motor seizing  

Day 16 McLeodganj to Chandigarth

Day 16 Mcleodganj  to Chandigarth  (250kms)

Set off about 6.30 am and it’s a great morning with it being nice and cool. I head south down the mountain and the road is good so it’s a great ride. The route is not well signed so I miss a crucial turn and have to double back about 10kms. The names of the villages are not signed either so I really don’t know where I am but just have to try and relax. Further on in the Punjab, village signing is done but not here. After 2 hours I stop at what seems to be a more westernized dhabba, because the basics ones just don’t do toast and tea. Even so I end up with a toasted butter sandwich and honey or jam is not available. Still, it’s food.

The road winds around the hills and climbs occasionally through cuts in the hills and the ride is great. The last couple of days have been the best, visually and road condition wise and I’d like to be visiting more of the hill towns. I cancelled Shimla and Mussoorie because I realized that I just wouldn’t have the time to get to them.

There are still the drivers who run up behind you, honking madly , and there’s one TFI in a Tata shoebox which looks as if it would have all the dynamic stability of two Vespas tied together, who just about takes us both out as he passes and comes head on with a truck. Some how gets past, brake lights flashing at every corner (the sign of a truly great driver) and then I pass him minutes later when he pulls up at a shop. So what was that all about ? – getting there before the shop went into liquidation ? .

I beginning to think that there’s an inverse relationship between the size of these guys cars and how much of Michael Schumacher they think they have in their genes.

The boys on bikes, hot little 150 CBRs and things like this, ride as if they’re practising for the Moto GP and their level of competence seems higher but again they are scary head on.

My overnight stop is Chandigarth ( not a good choice ) and the traffic into it is pretty bad. I should have printed off a large scale google map and finding the hotel in sector 22 (this is how the city is cut up) is beyond me. I ask a Sikh (generally likely to speak English) the way and ask him to tell a tuk tuk driver to lead the way and I will follow. Next thing he climbs into the t t and when we get to the hotel he has paid the driver, refusing the offer of tea. I’m blown away by the kindness of so many people and I have his e  mail address so if he comes to Australia………….

The hotel is a bit of a dump and overpriced but it will have to do. I go out on to the street past all the electronic and phone shops and the latter are packed. Phones are a must fashion accessory and even the some of the bicycle rickshaw guys have them,despite the fact that in India they are a very expensive bit of kit

Day 13 Pathankot to Nurpur.

Day 13  Pathankot to Dalhousie and Nurpur   (143kms)

I’m going up to the hill stations alone, so have a slow breakfast and get the mechanic to do his final oil check. He pours in nearly a litre. This engine is really bad and is drinking oil, so I buy a litre pack for the following day

Now after coming down to the plains and the heat at Pathankot, I have headed for some moderate altitude and am now travelling on my own, the others in the bike group having returned to Delhi. I am going to several of the hill towns that were the refuge of the British  civil service (1840’to 1947) , people esp. the wives and children when the heat down on the plains made life unbearable.
I have this fascination with the hill towns, probably because I read Ruth Jahablava's "Heat and Dust"
years go. David Lean made a film in the 1980's and it is worth seeing.

The lush Indian Hill Country

Road is crap to Dalhousie for a good portion of the way and I had thought things would now improve.

Car drivers constantly charge up behind you, horn going and attempt to pass even on the corners, Having done this, you often find that they’ll then stop a kilometer up the road at a dhabba or have a leak. Just a different mindset, and one that you’ll never understand. If I pass something, then there’s a furious round of horn tooting. What’s this all about – injured national pride ?

When I find the hotel (confirmed resvn) the guy says that there is no room and that they were shut. HULLO – there are 2 lackeys at the front desk (of sorts) so it’s just BS and he's just sold the room to someone else. I will check my card and see if they took the money. No point in arguing, you'll never win in India.

There seems to be little else visible of the British colonial presence, just a very Anglican church near the central square.

It starts to rain and I go to 10 hotels in an effort to get a room but being the tourist season, there’s nothing available. Rain gets heavier and I see that there’s a building labeled as a library so I get in there. It’s filled with locked cases of books, all in English and they’ve been there for a very long time, probably rarely read. “The problems of Leninism” by J S Stalin is one I see.

After an hour I bite the bullet, because there’s no way I can sleep in the bus shelter without a sleeping bag, and decide to head down the mountain to Nurpur where I’m told there are hotels. Now 5.30 and I need to get there before dark.

I get there at 7.30. It seems to be Nurpur although I can find only one hotel called Royal Dreams. – IN YOUR DREAMS !!!!!! but it is getting dark so I just have to take it but look at the room first. Moderately nauseating smell in foyer and sheet on the bed looks as if it had not been changed since last person (and probably wouldn't be changed for next.) Sleep with all my clothes on but the logic of this as a bedbug anti dote is questionable. Can't clean my teeth - the water is too bad and don't use the shower.
This is depressing and for the first time in 3 weeks, I wish I was home.

A pleasant streetscape view from the “In your dreams hotel”