Unbelievable Roads

Sunday, January 30
Bharatpur to Sariska Tiger Reserve – 148 Kilometers/91 miles

Let me start by saying this ride was THE HARDEST ride I have ever experienced or probably ever will. It was unbelievable! When I arrived at the hotel, I barely made it to my room where I collapsed into a ball at the edge of my bed. I couldn’t move! I am writing this entry a day later – there was nothing left in me – the road won!

I have very few pictures because it was a grueling day. We stopped very little and it is NEVER a good idea to take pictures while riding – NOT HERE! Here are the highlights:

We had a few short miles along the interstate – it was a smooth lane with pedestrians, bicycles, carts, camels, rickshaws and sometimes motorcycles going the wrong way. The smog/smoke was bad again but it was too dark to wear my sunglasses (should’ve brought my clearer ones) at 6:30 am so my eyes were beginning to bother me a bit (throat and sinuses too for that matter). We left the smooth road for a fairly good country road passing through villages again until I finally had to yell to Jan and Candie that I was “stopping!” Now we already knew that inside the village is NOT the place you want to stop, but my eyes were tearing up and burning so badly I couldn’t see well enough to be safe - even though I had put my sunglasses on as soon as I could when the light permitted.

We stopped in the village and I raised my sunglasses to explain to Jan and Candie my reason – they saw how bad my eyes were and instantly grabbed their eye wash. After several rinses they were feeling better. But there I was in a primitive village with tears and eye drops streaming down my face, taking a mysterious white pill (Sudafed) while surrounded with an ever growing crowd. And when they crowd in, they get CLOSE – I’m not sure how to say “what the “heck” is she doing” in Hindi, but I’m sure they were saying it.

As we continued, the roads became more primitive but there were still motorcycles, cars, oxen, goats, dogs, pigs, camels, tractors/trailers, jeeps…you name it, it was on the road. But I’ve learned that all the roads are that way… even in the city. That was fine until the road suddenly got worse…WAY worse! It was the width of one vehicle, barely. We had two choices, the broken road which was about 6 layers of arched pavement with varying levels missing, OR rocks and sometimes dirt and rocks (the size of baseballs) on the edges. Mile after mile after mile of it… my shoulders were straining to keep the path of least resistance – meaning if there was a car coming, I had to figure out where to position myself on this gigantic pothole that someone decided to call a ROAD. I kid you not, the holes were huge and deep – 2-4 inches deep and anywhere from a foot across to the entire width of the road. I so wish I had a picture! Every now and then we would come to a village and it was a crapshoot whether it improved thru town or not… mostly it did but then it was back to the same thing.

Now the kids in the villages are excited to see the strange site of us white folk riding thru on our funny bikes – most are waving and saying “tata” or hello (pronounced “haylo”) or” Namus day” (I have no idea how to spell that right… yet). Well these villages had young boys that were out on the outskirts of town in groups of 5-8 kids and they grabbed the back rack of my bike when I rode past pulling me to get me to stop. The first group of boys wouldn’t let up so I stopped, turned and by the time they saw the look on my face, they were running the other direction. I was pissed off and had little tolerance for their pranks. I checked to make sure they hadn’t taken anything from my bike/bag and continued on. The next village, the same thing – except more boys. This time they were harassing both Candie and I. It would be simple to ride away from them if the roads weren’t so broken up, but there was no way of going more than 3-5 mph on these roads. They completely ignored our “stop!” and “NO”s and I was ready to kick some Indian …. Yes, kids I’m gonna say it, ASS!!! I was putting on my brakes when a man on a motorcycle coming at us yelled at the boys and they immediately let go, of course my taillight went with one of them – he broke it off.

One encounter landed both Candie and I in the ditch. Most of the time our best option was to stay to the farthest left side of the road when a car was approaching - they moved over enough to give us just a small amount of space - it was working. But this time, the Jeep-like rig left us only inches. Jan, who was first stopped immediately... but she failed to shout out to us "stopping!" - that's the code! I braked and veered to the left of her so not to hit her or the Jeep. Candie did the same and we both went over into the rocks alongside the road. I need more practice falling because I put my hand out (not good) - glad I had my glove on and wasn't hurt badly. Candie scraped up her knee pretty good though.

Three quarters of this ride was on TERRIBLE roads - I know my body is not conditioned for this kind of beating and I’m really surprised that I did not have a bent rim or popped tire when it was all said and done. The last 20 Kilometers were fairly smooth but you always have to be alert – plus there were quite a few monkey troops along the way.

We did have two breaks today – they served us lunch alongside the road in one spot and again later they had a snack/water break. Here’s lunch – PBJs, mangos, Nutella, apples (pealed), oranges and bananas, water refills, etc.

When one of the sag vans pulled up alongside us about 9 Kilometers from the hotel, I gave them the thumbs down… I was done. Jan and Candie continued on with the thumbs up but it was evening and we had entered the tiger preserve. I wasn’t comfortable riding into the sunset thinking of hungry tigers and me being its first snack of the night. Plus I was physically DONE! Legs shaking, arms shaking, fighting off tears… I was beat!

The van driver was a local fellow who made the ride to the hotel interesting – he pointed to the mountains and told me they were marble – this is the marble capital of the world. He told me a story of a week ago when a tiger was hit by a car… it was chasing a cheetah in the night. Boy I was really glad to be in the van then! I learned that the tigers come out at dark…and as it turned out, the van went back to Jan and Candie because the rule is no one is out after dark. But they decided they wanted to ride all the way, so the van followed them with their lights on them the last few miles.... just glad it wasn't me!
I went to bed after grabbing a bottle of water… I was exhausted, without phone service AND really wishing I was back home.

First Day of Riding

This was a nice short ride for the first day… getting used to the idea of riding on the left side of the road isn’t as difficult as I thought… although it would probably be harder in a car than a bike. The trick is to look to the traffic from the right before making a left turn… I’ll let you think on that a minute. J

One of the most interesting things I saw today were these mud-like huts – and how decoratively they are embellished. In many of the villages, these round discs the size of hub caps were laying out in the sun to dry. As I soon learned, these were cow dung patties that they dry and use for burning both for cooking over and for heat. From what I surmised after passing miles of patties, there were different stages of drying – 1) fresh pile sunny side up 2) flipped over to dry underside and 3) lean them up on one another on their sides for the final dry. These discs are then put inside these mud/straw huts for protection against the elements and are used during the monsoons. Here’s a hut and a pile of discs… that’s a lot of work for, well… you know!

We passed our first camels today – they were pretty cool! Some of them have elaborate necklaces, some with bells, some with beads. Some have shaven designs on the sides and legs… never thought of shaving a camel before - I wouldn't want to try it!

It was a caravan of three:

As the landscape transitions from city to country, the signs of the city power lines behind a small farmhouse seem so unnatural.

We stopped in a small village for a coke… the town surrounded us and we were finally asked to leave by an armed (rifle) policeman. I was happy to – Jan liked the attention, but I was very uncomfortable with so many strangers surrounding me. They were mostly curious, but the size of the crowd was making the officer nervous too.

He escorted us out of town, where we came upon a group of our riders sitting alongside the road at a table sipping chai tea and chowing down on crackers. I ordered & then drank my chai tea from a metal cup – they were actually like a tin can except without the sharp edges from opening it… but I could tell they were made to be cups.

It’s funny what you see at any given time on the roads here… one of the kids that rode beside us was telling us that this truck had burned up a few days earlier. We asked why they didn’t clean it up and he said that they have to leave It on the road for 2 days at least. Hmmmm???? There is SO much of this here:

We made it to our hotel in Bharatpur early enough for me to visit an animal and bird sanctuary just a few blocks away. The local paper took a picture of those of us going to the sanctuary and are going to do a story on us in the morning paper tomorrow. They said they would bring us a copy and that would’ve been a fun thing to put in a scrapbook, but we leave at dawn. It will be along ride tomorrow. 148 Kilometers. At the sanctuary, I saw spotted deer, thousands of birds (to be identified when I get back), wild pigs, jackals, etc. My favorite today is the spotted deer:

Friday, January 28, 2011

Agra

Our bikes are corralled in a small room at the front of the hotel with a guard on duty. After coffee this morning, Jan, Candie and I decided to take our bikes on a test ride to ensure that our brakes and shifters etc. were working properly but when I went to free my bike from the line-up, the handlebars had turned sideways. I had lost one of the two bolts on the extender and it was nowhere to be found. It probably worked its way loose on the taxi ride from Delhi. I have a small packet of spare nuts and bolts but none were the right size to replace the missing one. The mechanic on the tour had nothing like it either and we asked some local fellows if they could find something that might work… they found a nut that fit my thread pattern and went to find a bolt. In the meantime, we tightened the one remaining bolt which secured them nicely. We took our first spin in Agra… I will take time in a future blog to describe what I have begun to understand and call “the Indian dance called transportation.” The honking, the flowing together, the understood language of what happens on a roadway is extremely interesting and without equal!

Here’s my bike in one corner of the bike corral:

Our test ride was a success and there were no issues besides my missing bolt – we were pleased. And although the fellows that went on the hunt to find me a bolt never returned, the mechanic assured me that it should be fine – I will check it every morning before riding.

There is a great coffee shop right beside the hotel – with espresso, which is rare here. We were VERY pleased! At the coffee shop we met Morgan and a few other people traveling with her. Morgan will be doing this ride using her hand crank bike – she is a paraplegic. She is raising money for two reasons; one is for a $40,000 stem cell procedure that she is a candidate AND the other is also to bring awareness of what someone with paralysis CAN do – she wants to encourage others and support continued research of it. She is an amazing young gal with that can-do attitude that is so incredibly inspiring. A friend of hers is filming her adventure for a documentary and as he prepares this documentary he will be doing what he calls a “blog-umentary” on her. If you want to check out this blog here is the link: www.morgansride.com I will be following it too. She really is AMAZING!

Here’s Morgan:
We went out to visit the Red Fort also known as Fort Agra today. It is an unbelievable in size and workmanship… it comes equipped with a draw bridge, a HUGE moat, massive doors, open courtyards with 16^th century fountains, complex halls, dungeons and an entire wing for the harem, royal baths and the smallest mosque in the world – the Gem Mosque. This is where Shah Jahan, the Mughal emperor who built the Taj Mahal for his (favorite) wife, became imprisoned by his greedy son. He was kept at this location until his death - his view, which is at the top level of the fort is across the river from the Taj Mahal – where he could see his work of love for his wife every day. He was entombed with her at the Taj Mahal after he died. This was his view (without the pollution I would imagine). The riverbed is very low right now but becomes a large river (the Yamuna) when the monsoon rains begin to fall.

Here is the place where he was imprisoned – it has the same semi-precious stone inlays as the Taj Mahal. The fencing keeps people from digging out the stones – some are missing.

And much of it really is RED:
Here I am inside just one of the many entrances to passageways within the fort. I have so many pictures of this place but I figured you might want to see me instead:

Our group meeting was this afternoon from 3-6. It was a productive meeting and addressed every concern and logistical question we could think of. It is nice to have such experienced people heading up our trip. Once the meeting was adjourned, I finished packing my permanent bag (the one that will stay on the truck until our rest day in Jaipur) with the hope that it would fall within the 15 lb. weight limit – which it did - 12.9 lbs. Whew!!! I will turn in my other bag before breakfast in the morning with the very same hope - that it does not weigh too much – I’ve got my fingers crossed.

I was able to buy one hour of internet in the lobby this evening and enjoyed a visit wi my friends at the YMCA at home. I had trouble hearing them because of the noise in the lobby, but it was great to see their faces and join the Friday morning coffee gathering we have all come to enjoy. I also made my first Skype phone call and of course called home to check in – all is well on the home front and my dog misses me terribly… not sure about the rest of them! Haha! J

Tomorrow we load up our bags before breakfast which begins at 5:30 am, then we are off to the Taj Mahal for a group photo. We will leave Agra caravan style (on our bikes of course) and once we are outside the city limits then we will be allowed to break up into smaller groups – always having at least one male in each group is the rule. It’s a cultural thing that is for our protection and I’m all for it!

Delhi to Agra - Taj Mahal

Thursday, January 27, 2011

We had arranged for a large taxi to take us from our lovely Hilton hotel in Delhi to the hotel in Agra where we will meet up with the rest of the tour group tomorrow. The taxi was waiting for us after a terrific breakfast buffet – I especially liked the delicious mango yogurt. It is likely that this was our last risk-free meal for some time. By risk-free I just mean that careful consideration comes into play with our meals from here on out – the risks are real if we eat something bad (which is everywhere).

Although we had requested a taxi large enough to transport 3 bikes in the back, they arrived in a small SUV the size of a jeep. The bikes had to be loaded on top and mine was at the bottom of the pile. They were secured to the roof rack with a rope, our bags were loaded in the back and we were on our way dodging bikes, tuk-tuks (sounds like took-took), cars, buses, pedestrians, trucks, rickshaws, ox carts, tractors and about anything imaginable that moves.

I was riding shotgun and had the best views of everything we passed... or almost hit. When we stopped at a light (which was rare), little kids would come over to the car and tap on the window, begging for money. When we stopped for gas, us girls got out and bought a coke and some Lays potato chips from a stand along the road. Here’s a little girl that was begging from Candie’s window:

After unloading our bikes and locking them up with the other bikes from the tour, we got our rooms and then had lunch – naan and dal. Naan (pronounced “non”) is a flatbread and dahl is a lentil dish (steaming hot – perfect). Then we were off to the Taj Mahal which was only a mile from our hotel. We decided to take a tuk-tuk for 150 rupees round trip… under $2. Here’s a picture of our tuk-tuk from the inside:

The Taj Mahal - this time a WOW!!! Here's Jan and Candie there - sorry no picture of me on my camera:

As a side note – it appears that my wireless adapter on my computer will not work with the wireless here in India so I may be limited to ethernet cables to upload my blog. I will do my best to get them uploaded as often as I can. If you don’t hear from me for a few days, keep checking back. Tonight I was able to get online for 100 Rupees/hour and I will log into Skype tomorrow to see if I can see my friends at the Y and check in with family.

Hello India

Wed, Jan 26 Dubai – Delhi

The Dubai International Airport was modern and bustling with activity the entire night. We left our room in the airport hotel at 1:30 am in search of a Starbucks. “Surely there MUST be a Starbucks,” we thought and in fact we spotted one just as we exited the elevator from the hotel. Grande decaf mocha, extra foam – YES! We shared a tiny table with a fellow who didn’t smile and who did a good job of ignoring us by sliding his chair back and away from the table, raising his newspaper and pretended to be someone very important.

After coffee, we perused the concourse with amazement at both the number of vendors AND the prices. This was definitely a tourist destination. I really wanted to stop at Cold Stone for ice cream but I resisted… I decided I would save that for when I am back home – for movie night in CDA. Ice cream and a movie go so well together… especially in the summer. It's very natural to drift back home... I find myself doing it all the time. I already miss my friends and family!

The 2 ½ hour flight to Delhi was crowded but uneventful. I watched another movie - SALT with Angelina Jolie (on steroids). When we off loaded, the air smelled of smoke or smog or a combination that was nothing like the fresh air back home.

Getting through customs went smoothly and I was hopeful that both of my checked bags AND my bike had made it in one piece. We snagged a couple of carts and headed for the turnstile and as I waited for my bags I secretly chuckled when I thought of the comedy of errors that played out the last time I went to retrieve my bag from one of these hungry beasts - the time I had to pry my bag from its jaws!

Jan’s bags came thru right away – she was sure that it had nothing to do with the fact that she was in first class but I knew better AND I also knew that the hungry turnstiles prefer first class luggage accessories to those of the economy class every time. I watched with anticipation to see if her first class luggage would survive – which it did! Whew! She was one of the lucky ones! J

Then we waited for mine……. and waited. The turnstile stopped spewing luggage from its mouth… and we waited. Then round 2 sent more luggage down the chutes… and we waited. Large RED North Face bag, small TANGERINE North Face bag… that’s all I cared about, come on, come on!!! And we waited. It was a beautiful thing when I finally saw my tangerine bag followed by my red bag dropping onto the moving belt… but of course they would have to ride the beast all the way around the loop before I could rescue them. And I waited… I calculated where they were when they went out of my sight… then my fears were realized when Jan said… “hey, some guy has your bag!”

Inspired by Angelina Jolie, I commanded Jan to stay with our stuff and I took off after the thief! I rounded the corner and sure enough “Red” was in his hands! I was on my way to rescue Red from her abductor when he tossed her back onto the belt, two bags down from Tangerine. Thank heaven that I wasn’t forced to use my unrehearsed ”female on steroids” routine on him! And Thank heaven I had my bags!

My bike was waiting for me too – no holes in the box, but it had been opened and the straps were gone. The box was heavy – that was a good sign. When we got to the hotel we assessed the damages… and other than my bike box and my small bag being INSPECTED, nothing was missing or damaged. This is a great picture!

I knew the time would come when I would be riding a taxi in India – we prepaid for a van and then pushed our carts thru a throng of “solicitors” out the front of the airport to the awaiting van. Our bikes and bags barely fit inside but we scrunched in and were on our way thru the streets of Delhi.

As we left the airport, I kept hearing myself say “wow” in a low and breathy tone, not audible to Jan or our driver - only to me. This “Wow” is the kind of wow you say when you’ve heard bad news or the unbelievable. “Wow,” there were armed military men on the streets leading away from the airport; “Wow,” there are young men playing cricket in the large dirt field to the left; “Wow” our driver is honking his horn every 5 seconds; “Wow” there’s a dog… with mange, poor thing; “Wow” people drive fast here; “Wow” even the trees are covered with dirt; “Wow” am I the only feeling stressed in this car?; “Wow” there are cows laying down between the lanes of the road; ”Wow” we are ¼ inch away from that motorcycle; “Wow” that gal on the back of the motorcycle is sitting side-saddle holding a baby; “Wow” the buildings, shacks, tents, clotheslines, garbage and dirt – they are everywhere…. Wow.

We had a driver take us to see some of the sites of Delhi – today was a national holiday here – their independence day. We saw some of the parade floats, visited a temple, saw the Sikh temple and India Gate. Here is the India Gate:

It’s night now and we leave for Agra in the morning. We’ve put our bikes together and will leave our boxes here, load up in a large rig at 8 am – it will take 3.5 hours to get to Agra. My computer still won’t access internet – I’m disappointed but am journaling my trip until I can update my blog... hopefully tomorrow.

A Day of Night

The nearly 16 hour flight to Dubai "flew" by - two movies then two Advil PMs and I was good to go until they served us breakfast about an hour and half before landing. Well, except for the elderly gentleman who sat across the far aisle from me. I had the 4 center seats to myself and was looking forward to stretching out for a semi-comfy sleep. But while I was watching the last movie before settling down with my blanket, he scooted across the aisle and stretched his legs out to cover all three vacant seats! I have a soft spot for the elderly but I must admit that it took me a few minutes to surrender those seats... with a good attitude. :-)

We left San Francisco in the evening and flew north east - the polar route. The screen in the cabin showed our flight status the entire trip and I enjoyed seeing where "in the world" we were as we were flying over each country/ocean. As it turned out, we flew just far enough north that we missed all but a few moments daylight of Tuesday - we landed around 7 pm in the dark.

The Dubai airport is impressive - very nice. We have a long layover here and are staying at the hotel IN the airport so we don't have to go through customs when we go to get on our next flight to Delhi, which leaves here at 4 am. This is a perfect spot to get cleaned up and update our blogs.

Here's the room and the view out the window:


I'm using Jan's laptop to post this blog... mine won't connect to the internet here. I hope this isn't a sign of things to come!

Hike

Bella and I went for a hike this morning... beautiful! We climbed to the highest peak behind the house and enjoyed the breathtaking views of the Golden Gate bridge, Angel Island, San Francisco, Oakland and what seemed like the whole Bay area!

I am almost ready to head to the airport and you will not hear from me again today... but I'll be back as soon as I can get settled.

FYI: Upcoming Travel

I leave Spokane for San Francisco on Sunday the 23rd then off to India on Monday afternoon. I'll begin posting to this blog after I leave on Sunday.

Two Hairdryers?

Sunday, Jan 23rd

An unexpected change of plans last night is the only excuse I have for finding 2 hairdryers in my luggage after arriving at Jan's house this afternoon. Geeze... I don't really even need ONE hair dryer let alone 2! Did I do that??

I HAD a plan for today that included one last inspection of my bags/gear before zipping them up and heading out... that didn't happen. My flights changed last night and instead of leaving at 5pm this evening, I was in a plane on my way to Oakland at 9:30 this morning. Needless to say, I didn't get to visit my dad, or have breakfast with the kids like I had PLANNED. Those will have to be first on my list when I get back home in March.

It was nice to arrive in Oakland and find 70 degrees & sunshine... AHHHHH! NICE!!!!! No snow... no ice!!!

Zubin, the driver who picked me up at the airport, pointed out different landmarks as we worked our way to Jan & Maxwell's home in Tiburon... we passed the Oakland Stadiums, Berkley campus, Golden Gate Bridge, Bay Bridge, Angel Island, San Quenton and an oil refinery that I can't remember the name of. That's alot of sights in the short drive to their home.

The tour of the house and property here, after a bowl of homemade soup was a fun treat. The acreage is landscaped with stone paths, oak trees, palm trees, grasses, gardens, patios and water features... it's beautiful! It overlooks the San Francisco Bay where Maxwell swims every day (every day that he's home anyway). Here's a picture of the oldest building on the property. It is now Maxwell's office right down at the water's edge:

Maxwell took us out to dinner here in Tiburon - wonderful food! It was a bon voyage dinner for Jan, Candi and me. One of Jan's friends, Kathy gave each of us girls a Ganesh - the Indian god of success (who looks an awful lot like ALF to me). Here's a picture of us with our orange Ganeshes: (from left: me, Candi, Kathy, Jan)

Today I left the familiar faces and places I am closest to; tomorrow I will venture outside the country, outside the continent to visit India - Holy cow, I better get some rest!!!