My last few weeks have consisted of Vaccines, macros, four wheeled vehicles and boxes (Not listed in any particular order or with any conjunction) :-).

After the off road training day it took me at least a few days to come back down to this planet, not because I did the biggest dirt bike jump known to woman or man that day :-) but because of the emotional elation that I felt from learning some new skills along with combining a few of my favorite things into the agenda which are as follows......

1 - Mud

2 - Two Wheels

3 - Being faster than K

4 - Having a merry heart through laughter

5 - Elephants

Well there were no elephants that day but I like them too.

My Birthday Weekend

On Friday I gave myself a birthday present - a new tattoo. I have a bike chain on my ankle and now I have a beautiful set of Buddha's Eyes on my stomach - a protector for the trip, if you like :) I went back to Duncan at Into You, he did the original bike chain 5 or 6 years ago. I am very very happy with it, it's just what I was looking for :)

Most of the weekend was spent moving house for the second weekend in a row - my second home, sort of, as this is where I am staying up until we depart. The move went very well - the weather cooperated and it all went smoothly...and I didn't knock the fresh tat on any boxes :) With the tat and the move all being successful and that free hour of sleep...my birthday was really good this year :)

Homeless!!!!

It's not so bad :) I have wonderful friends that are taking care of me - feeding me and letting me crash in their place, providing clean towels, lots of hot water and a snuggly duvet. They are so wonderful!!!

The move was an immense effort, and I seriously could not have done it without A - it was so much better than expected, but we were still shattered by the end of it (I HAVE SO MUCH STUFF!!!!). We have a very full storage room...where will we put the last bits and pieces????

I got my new camera and I have taken a few photos...this is Thames Ditton, where I work.

I have done all my change of address tasks, sent off a few feelers to magazines, to see if they would be interested in a few articles about the motorcycle side of the adventure.

Only 1 month from today until we fly!!! WoooHoo!!!!!

I'm about to be homeless!!!!

This weekend my lease is up and I am moving out...and on to the kindness of all my friends who are willing to put me up for the next month :) My flat looks like a disaster area with more boxes, bags and piles of stuff than I know what to do with. Two years ago, when I moved to London from the US, I came with one pallet of my stuff, 2 massive duffle bags of clothing and a bicycle. I know bought things to kit the flat out...but this is ridiculous :)

I have my bag packed for the first leg of the trip - with the wearable items lined up and ready to go (motorcycle boots, jacket and helmet). I have another duffle full of kit for the next two legs of the journey - mostly bulky warm stuff that I won't need until we hit altitude. I have packed my books into boxes and my clothes into bags, but the mass of paper and all the bicycles are still queuing. I have rented a van for Saturday and it's all going into storage to await my return. All this activity makes our departure seem all the more imminent!

Off Road Training
Prep for the Himalayas and the dodgy roads of India!

Yesterday A and I went down to Yamaha's Off Road School and spent a day with Barry, Steve and Mick (and about a dozen other trainees :) at Golding Barn off road track down near Brighton. WOW, what a day!!! So much fun!

We had be out on the town the night before and had to rouse ourselves to rip it down to Brighton on the street bikes for 10am. We made it just in time, got ourselves kitted out and then we were split into groups to get aquainted with the bikes on the practice loop. That was ok, it was pretty tame....we were ready to move on to the big track!

I think it needs to be said that neither of us are very tall and these are very tall bikes....it was pretty precarious. Left foot on the ground to start the bike, then slide the butt over, right foot on the ground to put it in gear, then release the clutch and slide the butt into the middle, both feet on the pegs and off you go. When you come to a stop it's slide the butt to the left to get the foot down while trying not to topple the bike on top of you :)

On the main track we really started to have some fun, just down the first straight was the first corner...and the corner was a BIG wet mud hole! So much for being clean - the bikes and everyone's left foot were now covered in brown mud :) The course was a series of rutted tight turns, muddy sections, steep ups and downs, and lots of lumps, bumps and jumps. When we had mastered the easier lower section of track they let us loose on the whole track, with a huge off camber hillside. It's amazing what these bikes can do. One of the instructors would take time out to have a rip round on one of the motocross bikes - he was FAST! Way faster than us, and would catch big air on some of the jumps.

All in all it was a beautiful day - the weather was brilliant, but we still had some slippery surfaces to learn some offroad skills and to gain confidence in our abilty to handle whatever terrain we may come across in our travels. We are tired and sore, but we have huge grins on our faces :)

Bajaj Pulsar 180 DTSi

We plan to acquire a pair of these beauties for our transport around India. We have done quite a bit of research as to what might be the best bike to take and this is the answer we have come up with. It's a 180cc single cylinder, air cooled engine making about 16.5 bhp....quite a change from our current bikes (a Honda Super Four and a Yamaha Fazer). However it's reliability and parts availability have determined it's selection and it comes highly recommended from the guys at xBhp. Bajaj Auto makes the Pulsar motorcycles in Chakan, India and has a technology partnership with Kawasaki. You can get more info on the bike at the Bajaj website.

I cannot wait to get going.

This trip has been a dream of mine for many years and as a result my excitement is sometimes overwhelming and at other times I am content and settled with the idea. I feel as though I have done much preparation for it over the years, reading about eastern cultures and having studied Mandarin last year. I have always been drawn to the exotic east and this opportunity is truly a wish that has been granted by a fairy godmother.

I have lived here for most of my life and I am feeling suffocated by my surroundings. It is a wonderful place to live, it is my home, it is the only place that I can remember living in and my friends and family are around me but I have always had this desire to breathe and be out in the world.

Unsurprisingly I have spent much of the last month in preparation for the trip and in many ways my journey has already begun. Sometimes when I am doing something toward the trip, whether it is getting a jab, reading about a destination or informing someone else of my departure, I become so excited I want to pour out my heart to the nearest soul. I want to talk about how we can set ourselves free from the mundane everyday routine and I want to delve into the deepest parts of my and your souls and question everything about us. I find more queries arising by the day and I want to find the answers to them in action. I want you to disagree with me. I want to have different points of view (I want to see different views!) and I want a challenge.

It is wonderful to be surrounded by comfort and luxury but for a long time now I have not found contentment in their accumulation. About a month ago I started to go through my belongings and to rid myself of anything that I had not used, read, looked at or even cared for in the last year. Many months before I had not been ready to disassociate myself from the treasures that I had stowed away, the emotional preparation has been an ongoing process. It was so incredibly liberating to finally designate items to family and friends, charity or recycling and I found that with each decision to rid myself of an object I also freed my memories from the clutches of some mad obsession in keeping them captured within this historical (Hysterical) collection. Now I feel less burdened and much happier - I care less for ownership and instead I am uplifted by my new found freedom. This in turn has lead to my subconscious rushing free at night and a flood of dreams have flowed from deep within. It has been amazing.

I am breathing again.

I hope that you will find this blog interesting reading and will enjoy travelling with us through our often differing points of view. When I travel I find myself looking towards the innermost depths of heart and mind, intrigued by new sensations, if I were to make a note of these on a map it would be an interesting scrawl - "This is where I realised......." etc etc. Already I am beginning to feel incredibly different about aspects of my life, it is going to be intriguing to see how we both, as individuals, change on our journey. We will face many challenges, which is what attracts us to the open road...

I cannot believe that I have not even gotten onto the plane yet :-) :-)

Until next time……….

Two Wheels Whirled: General Timeline

Date	Location	Method of Travel
	+++ Phase 1 +++
2006 Late November	Depart London, UK for New Delhi, India	flight
December	New Delhi to Kerala via Mumbai	motorcycle
Christmas/New Year	Kerala (with Kate and Carl)	motorcycle/car/train
2007 January	Tamil Nadu (Chennai), Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra (Mumbai), Gujarat	motorcycle
February	Gujarat, Rajasthan	motorcycle
March	Dharamsala (Himachal Pradesh), Agra, Varanasi, New Delhi	motorcycle
Late March-Early April	New Delhi, India to Hong Kong, China Hong Kong	flight
	+++ Phase 2 +++
April	Yunnan, Sichuan, Yangtze River, Hubei (Wudang Shan), Shaanxi (Xi’an)	train/bus/ferry
Late April	Lhasa, Tibet	train
May	Lhasa surround then Friendship Highway to Kathmandu, Nepal	bicycle
	+++ Phase 3 +++
Early June	Kathmandu, Nepal to New Delhi, India	bus/train
June	Uttaranchal, Himachal Pradesh	motorcycle, trekking
July	Leh, Ladakh, New Delhi	motorcycle
August	New Delhi, India to London, UK	flight

Map of Phase 1:

So...we have most of our kit ready to go, we've gotten most of our jabs....we are working on the paperwork and last bits of finance.

The trip plan is ever changing..... It's now looking like 3 to 4 months on motorcycles in India - heading south to Kerala, back up through the Western Ghats to Mumbai, into Gujarat and Rajisthan. The Dalai Lama is in residence in the first half of March and we hope to make one of his lectures. Then a flight Hong Kong, get our Chinese visas and it will be of to Chengdu for us for a few months in China. There is so much to see - the pandas, the Three Gorges, Wudang Shan, Tiger Leaping Gorge...and then to Lhasa, Tibet where we hope to ride bicycles to many of the surrounding monasteris and to Nam tso before riding the Friendship Highway (1000 kms with 5 5000 meter passes!!!) to Everst Basecamp and on to Kathmandu. Back in India we will get back on motorcycles for a couple of months - we will head for the hills and Leh, climbing the three highest motorable roads. All along the route we will be riding motorcycles, bicycles or hiking to get to some of the most beautiful sights on the planet. Stay tuned for more commentary and photos :)

Introducing, the spectacular, the compassionate, the adventurous, the incomparable, the truly stupendous, most righteous Angemon.......

OK, I know, I know, perhaps a little overindulgent but I cannot help myself. Think about it, if you were to undertake such an amazing adventure, you too would be as uncontrollable as I am right now.

More to follow....