Nia Hao!

On Thursday evening we attended a coffee night at Trek HQ here in Beijing. The night was the first monthly meeting of the year and was attended by fifteen people - it was a small affair of Trek fans, store owners and ex-pats. We were made to feel very welcome, we both feel very at home when in the company of fellow cyclists :-) K and I were surprised to find ourselves as the special guests. We ended up giving a small presentation followed by a discussion about our plans to cycle across parts of China. It was a really good night and we met quite a few people and got some great advice for our future plans.

The modern looking Trek office. I felt right at home here :-)


We were also well fed :-)


As a result of some of the discussion that we had that evening we have decided to change our plans and we are planning to head to Lhasa via Xi'an instead of Chengdu. There is so much to see here that we have decided to focus on the areas of Shanxi and Henan, to get more cycling in and to cover less distance - we did rage across India afterall.

Until next time

Nia hao!

Language...

We are entertaining ourselves by trying to translate Chinese characters into the pinyin and then into the English translation. We have spent about 3 hours over the last day, trying to translate water bottle labels, phone instructions and street signs amongst other things. Today we purchased some biscuits which came with some tape wrapped around the packet. We thought about putting some of the tape on the bikes to decorate them, laughing to ourselves that it may say "buy one get one free" (we have 2 identical bikes) so we decided to translate it. After some work, we had discovered that it said "special promotional bundle", hmm, maybe not quite what we wanted on our bikes :-)

In restaurants we have been getting out our language book whilst the waitress patiently stands at the table and awaits our order (they do not disappear whilst you select your food and come back later as they do in the UK). We struggle through ordering but finally get there, we always get help if our pronunciation is really bad and we also point to the Chinese characters. We have been gradually expanding our vocabulary e.g thank you very much, excuse me, may I have the bill please - useful things like this. Numbers are going well and we can now count up to 999 :-) :-) I am really enjoying the Mandarin practice and I empathise with the people who we spoke to in India who wanted to practice their English - I want to constantly practice my Mandarin.

I love watching people ride by on their bicycles. Electric power assisted bikes are really popular as are folding bikes. There are also many pick up style bicycles or flat beds as well as the famous Flying Pigeon brand. Today I saw a middle aged women help an elderly man (presumably her father) into the back of a bicycle, he sat rearwards facing in a seat that was built into the flat bed behind the bike frame. She then peddled him off down the street - amazing. I guess that if you have no car then this is a way you can transport your elderly father around quite quickly :-)

Did I tell you that it is cold here! It is 14C (in the daytime, it's 5 or 6C at night) and it is chilling me through to the bone, it is a good job that I have my pink pajamas from Kodai! When we picked up the bikes yesterday it was a beautiful day
and the weather was not too cold last night, but this morning we awoke to rain and there was a brisk wind as we went out to get some lunch.

Until next time - we are off to enjoy our coffee night with the Trek guys, I have a feeling that things may get out of hand (have you seen me drink lots of caffeine after midday? I am strictly a morning only coffee girl)

Can we talk laundry????

We have been doing our own laundry more often than not, but occasionally we have sent our laundry in to the hotel - when we have jeans to wash, when the hotel is too posh or forbids doing your own laundry, when it too damp for anything to dry or when we just didn't have time because we were only there for the night and moving on the next day.

In India it was pretty cheap, in China it's quite a bit more expensive. We usually paid 5-15 rupees an item in India (at 85 rupees to the Pound) and in Hong Kong it was about HK$24 for one small load (1-7 lbs) and for another small load in Beijing we paid 59 Yuan (HK$ and Yuan are about 15 to the Pound). Yikes!

If cost doesn't get us to rethink sending our laundry off, then the abuse it takes should! Our poor underwear have had to suffer terribly! In India they ironed them, so the elastic edges have the occasional melt mark, in one place they wrote our room number on them, in Beijing they were stapled with a tag leaving behind some holes in the fabric. My linen shirt will forever have our room number written in the back and both our hankerchiefs (very handy for India where you need to wipe the dust off your face before venturing into a hotel to ask about a room for the night :) have our room number on them. One place returned our washing to us and it smelled moldy! We promptly sent them in at the next hotel as there was no place to hang them in our room.

When we arrived in China it seemed all our clothes had a not so clean smell about them. I tried to do a good job on the washing but we were a bit limited with a bucket (worse when it was a shared bathroom when you had to be quick). If we sent them off I am sure the water they were washing them in was not the cleanest and their method of washing is whacking them with something akin to a cricket bat. We dried them outside in the sun as often as possible. I once hung my just washed shorts on a line on the rooftop terrace and the wind blew them down...right into a freshly swept pile of cow manure! I washed them again and used the button to attach them to the line :)

The place we are now is really nice - far nicer than our usual accomodation. And it's a bit on the humid side here, so things are not going to dry. We will figure it out, though :) It is also considerably colder here, so the clothes are staying cleaner because we are not in sweltering heat wearing jeans and a jacket - we need our jackets so we don't freeze to death! :)

Catch you later!

Our new bikes!!!!

Yesterday we picked up two brand spanking new Trek 4500 WSD steeds in a lovely Iris Blue. Here is the catalog photo:


and here is the link to the spec:
2006 Trek 4500 WSD (if this link takes you to the main Trek site it means it needs to set up a location/language cookie - choose US/English)

There are some pics of the actual bikes in the last post :)

A's bike is one size smaller than mine and because of her cycling related injury a few years ago we are running her bars a bit higher to give her an easier ride. I have flipped my stem over to make the bike fit the way I usually ride (that would be FAST! :), but we are going to be touring and I can imagine that I am going to want to have an easier rise rather than the racer-boy flat I have now...they are perfect for ripping about town at the moment, though :)

The WSD saddles are cushy, but we are still feeling the effects from all the riding yesterday after not having been on a bicycle saddle for so many months....we will toughen the old sit bones up in no time, I'm sure :)

The frames are stiff - when we hammer out of the saddle at the lights to beat everyone off the line (I told you we were nuts :) the power goes straight to the rear wheel and we are GONE! Woohoo!

The fork is cushy! And we are happy for that, as it should take some of the abuse of those 1000 meter descents in Tibet :) We did venture a bit into the rough stuff yesterday, avoiding a traffic jam, and it felt like old times (I usually ride a Gary Fisher Big Sur and A usually rides her one-off Fuel WSD).

The wheels have a double wall rim - tougher than a single wall - and we wanted V brakes rather than discs, for ease of maintenance and availability of parts (China is moving fast, but discs are not mainstream yet :)

This morning it was raining, so we gave you guys the blog posts rather than go for a ride. Tonight we have a soiree with the Trek China folks...tomorrow we will ride as we see the sights of Beijing!!!!

Onwards, to Mainland China!

Here is our cushy 2 berth cabin and one of the very strange warning signs.
They also had a warning in the train guide book about the toilets dropping right onto the tracks, so you need to be careful with keys/mobiles/wallets/etc., but they should have had a warning sign for using the squat toilet when it was raining outside (the wind brings the rain up through the hole...use your imagination!!! :)



We arrived safely in Beijing and found our way to the hotel...nice room, nice view, and a joystick to operate the faucet in the bathroom :)




After a fabulous night's sleep we headed out into the world to find the Trek office...on our way we saw some interesting things, like this scooter/rickshaw:


We found that Beijing truly is huge and ended up taking a bus instead of being able to walk to the Trek office, but we did find it!


We picked up the bikes and practically raced each other back to the hotel :) We did stop for a quick bite to eat at the Subway sandwich shop and we locked our bikes outside in the bike park (where they outclased all the other bikes! :)


and then went back to the hotel to fiddle with the bikes and set them up for our individual preferences. The people at the hotel didn't know what to do with the bikes when we arrived with them, but we asked if we could take them up to the room and they looked relieved that we had made such a good suggestion, so the bikes are staying with us :)


After we sorted the bikes we, of course, had to go for a ride :) We headed into town...




stopped for dinner and a beer (very well deserved! :)


and continued into the center




and on to Tian'anmen Square


Then we hammered it back to the hotel (even the electric bikes were working hard to keep up with us!) and crawled under the duvets for a well deserved night's rest!

Later!

Nia Hao!

It has taken some work but we finally have some photos for you. We are having to negotiate a Chinese system on the computer and do not have the CD to change it to English language! Anyway, TwoWheelsWhirled loves a challenge :-) :-)

So, back to Hong Kong.

Here is our double size hotel room - no bigger than a broom cupboard!


Chungking Mansions - where we chose not to stay! (I wonder if the rooms were any bigger!)


As we were in Hong Kong we just HAD to sample the Dim Sum :-) and then some more... We chose our dishes from the trolleys that are pushed around the restaurant, the waitresses shout out the contents.


The Dim Sum was devoured within 30 seconds because it was so tasty :-)(here is K waiting for the Ready-Set-Go :-)


...Neither of us fancied buying any of these flattened steamed ducks (complete with head) for nourishment.


The bike store in Mong Kok (a Trek dealer) where we purchased our bike bags for our future travels.


Can you imagine my delight when I spotted this Honda CB400 Super Four in parked up! This one was the same model as mine, the owner had just made a few modifications.


Another exciting moment for me - I spotted my first Wing Chun martial arts training school sign :-) :-)


...and to add to the excitement I saw this statue of the greeting that we used in Wing Chun. In fact when we went to the bike shop in Mong Kok, Ha Wai Kwang used this as we said goodbye :-) :-)


Inside the shopping mall at Times Square on Hong Kong Island. There were 13 floors, the external lifts with glass walls were great to ride in :-)


Some street shots from Kowloon. This is Nathan Road.

Skyscrapers were in abundance, as I mentioned before, they claustrophobically build 'em high in Hong Kong.

Just when you thought that there could be no space for any more people on the streets, night time arrived and humans multiplied.


English language was very helpful.


We took a ferry from Kowloon to Hong Kong.

We saw some more traditional style boats.


...heading to the Star ferry terminal.



Looking across to Hong Kong Kong Island at night from Kowloon and the Avenue of Stars.



The Avenue of Stars had some of the greatest Hong Kong film directors and movie stars. Here is Chow Yun Fat.


...and me comparing my hand size to Jackie Chan's :-)


We just had to have a pint in the Murphy's pub on Nathan road to celebrate :-)

Ah...I am cycling again!
And we are in Beijing! And it is AMAZING!
And the bikes are great! (Thanks Trek!!!!)
And we went night riding...in Tian'anmen Square!

We rode about 20 miles today, after 4 months off the bikes, and we are complete nutters (as if you couldn't tell) so of course we didn't take it easy :)

Goodnight!

Nia Hao!

What a fantastic day!!! :-) :-) :-)

Today we went to the Trek Bicycle office here in Beijing to say hello and to get a few of our belongings that we had shipped there in advance (most importantly our Mandarin language book and dictionary!). Needless to say, the journey itself presented an interesting challenge...

As always, we decided to make our own way there and not get a taxi. We thought that we would be able to walk to Trek by simply following Jingshun Road (where Trek is located), it seemed very straight forward - luckily most of the main roads have their pinyin equivalents written under the Chinese characters. We walked for about 90 minutes in total. None of the buildings on Jingshun road had any numbers that we could see (we knew that Trek was number 52, Building C) which made our locating it quite a task, we did not know whether we were walking in the right direction or not. We tried to ask a number of people directions and were sent one way or another. We thought that we were actually getting somewhere because we were closing the gap having walked left and right however even though we had found number 25, we were still no where nearer. Finally we went into a flower store, we tried to converse in Mandarin but luckily for us the women at the counter knew a little English. I gave her Kai at Trek's phone number and she called him from her mobile. From this we were told that we had to catch the 915 bus and that we would ride for 20 minutes or so! She even wrote the characters for us so that we could show the bus conductor our destination. This was great. Still, we discovered how far out we were from Trek, we were quite spatially unaware of distance involved.

We arrived at Trek quite easily having spotted the Trek sign :-) :-) :-) There was nobody there however a lovely man who spotted us told us to wait (through hand signals) whilst he went and found somebody. We met 2 of the guys from distribution (we think, their English was as varied as our Mandarin :-) who knew that we may have come to collect the bikes. There was nobody else around because there was a problem with the electricity in the area and everybody was either away on business or working from home. The office was familiar, it did feel a little like a home away from home - there was a Fuel EX on display and other bikes, posters of Lance and cycling paraphernalia dotted here and there. Ah fantastic - I love bikes and I absolutley loved working at Trek, it was simply great to be in the Beijing office.

We were presented with our bikes, these are 4500 WSD 2007 models. They were perfectly set up for us and only needed some fine tuning fit adjustments (photos to follow soon). We were given our box and claimed our pump, helmets and tools as well as our much desired language books. Surprisingly we could take the bikes away with us - we did not need to hold back. Our bikes were fitted with cages and a bottle each and we were sent on our way. We could not say xie xie (thank you) or hen hao (very good) enough.

We have just spent the afternoon riding around Beijing heading downtown and back.... WOW WOW WOW WOW. :-) :-) :-)

I am so unbelievably happy. We have seen the most amazing sights already, Beijing is truly a world class city. Many people ride bikes here, there are cycle lanes everywhere so travelling via pedal power is easy. We have ridden through Tian'anmen square and cruised down the wide avenues adjacent to it which are lined with the most modern architecture, everything so well lit and bright.

So, we have ridden about about 20 miles, we have conversed in Mandarin and as a result have fried our brains as well as our bodies. We are toast. We are very tired but probably two of the most happiest people in the world right now.

So Zaijian, until tomorrow. Thanks for reading.

Nia Hao!

I am finally in China after all of these years! :-)

The train ride was really interesting...

Due to the weather being so grey outside (lots of rain) it made everything seem so grim and miserable. There were lots of concrete buildings decorated entirely with small glossy tiles, they rose up high and the residential ones were big enough to house a whole town. The sprawl followed us from Hong Kong, although as soon as we left the New Territories the Pinyin and English terminated. We saw much industry, the complexes larger than anything that I have seen before (including Gujarat). Between the industrial complexes lay a blanket of agriculture - neatly manicured stretches of fields, mostly lush and green. Workers were busy kneeling at the crops or splashing water over them using a bucket and their hand to distribute the water out. Amongst the crops we saw grave markers atop small mounds, topped with what looked like white paper. We also viewed some residential areas that were single story and were mazes within compounds decorated with strips of gold coloured Chinese characters on a red background. The land for the most part was flat however we soon saw the odd hill rise up sharply in the distance which eventually took the train through plenty of tunnels. We never saw any wilderness as such, there was always a sign of human habitation or interaction with the landscape. There was a lot of deep quarrying and open mining, some of which seemed to be just dirt rather than any rock. We wondered if it was being removed so that it could be used as new topsoil elsewhere.

We have to get going so will have to share more with you later.

Nia Hao!!! We are in Beijing!!!!

Can you tell we are happy bunnies??? The train trip was really good....despite the fact that the train carriages occasionally banged in to each other as if we were being rammed from behind, once causing the thermos to fall off the small table and hit me on the head as I was laying there on the bench :)

The train was an hour and a half late (the crashing problem? We don't know - the English announcements stopped when we left Hong Kong). We decided to just get a taxi to the hotel and it was an adventure just helping the taxi driver find the place...and it was rush hour. But it was a mini scenic tour as the route took us right by Tian'anmen Square...and a thousand high rises! The roads are amazingly wide here and it reminds me of Los Angeles a lot more than New York - it's very spread out.

We will catch you later, we are off to see what we can see :)

Hello!

Seeing as we are in such a multi cultural city where the citizens speak Chinglish, it seems quite appropriate for me to greet you in the Queens tongue (sorry American readers :-).

I have suffered from some culture shock. Being away from the chaos of the land of mothballs in ATM machines and vegetarian cuisine it is surprising that I feel as though this highly western influenced city is comforting as well as hideous...

It is consumerism on steroids here. In fact I do feel as though I am witnessing a metropolis of the future. Huge skyscrapers and apartment blocks reach up high into the sky taking with them stores, cafes, residential areas, restaurants, dental surgeries, public services and hotels - the list is endless. I have spent much time travelling underground as well as high above ground. Four lane escalators help me reach another level of shopping. I sometimes wonder where the airborne personal vehicles are, half expecting one to fly past the seventh floor window where I am seated right now.

My brain is constantly bombarded with signage each bigger and brighter than the previous, glowing in neon or flashing LED. They entice you to spend your money, ensuring that you do not forget the brand or a service on offer. I can get a break from the advertising by looking at signs in Chinese characters which are equally as abundant.

In the streets and on the MTR some people where masks, I assume that they live in fear of the Avian Flu virus. There are signs telling me that I should only sneeze and cough into a hanky, that I should wash my hands all the time and that I should inform an official if I feel unwell on the metro. When we arrived at HK airport, we had to walk past a thermal imaging camera which checked our body temperature. K has already informed you about some of the other things that we have seen relating to this.

A few nights ago we went out for a drink at the Chivas bar, we sat on the waterfront and looked across to HK from Kowloon. The bar was empty but as the hours ticked by it gradually began to fill with Karaoke revellers singing along to Chinese pop music. We met a couple - Paul and Cindy and engaged in a wonderful conversation with them about language, travel and business. After some hours they had to go, only then Paul informed me that they had very kindly paid our tab. Perhaps K and I lost a little face but we shall know for next time :-)

I keep thinking about all of the Kung Fu and Chinese art house movies that I have seen. I look around me and I feel as though I am in a set sometimes. There is a block called Chunking Mansions, it is dilapidated, a recent attempt at revitalising it has bought it a new lease of life - although you would not think this from the outside. Here the most budget of accommodation can be found which entices backpackers as well as immigrants looking for a new life. I have a film based on this tower block, it is called Chungking Express, you should try and see it. When we took the ferry between islands yesterday, the choppiness of the water and the movement of the boat made me think of Bruce Lee travelling to the tournament in Enter the Dragon.

Sometimes I think that I am in London. The transport outside carries the same sound as the traffic at home, the buses are key to this. I quite often feel as though I am in Soho and that if I turn the next corner then I shall see Tottenham Court road before me, such is the familiarity of my surroundings sometimes. I used to visit Chinatown in London, excitedly taking the train from MK anticipating another glimpse of Canton in the few streets. I would buy Kung Fu books and Chinese health magazines and would savour red bean buns and vegetable dumplings. All these memories are returned to me. I think about the hours and years spent training in Siu Lim Tao, Biu gee, Chum Kiu, fighting sticky hands style and I remember all of my Wing Chun friends...

Quite often in this trip memories flash into my mind as though I am channel hopping through my life. Perhaps it is a search for some familiarity, my brain turns inwards because my receptors are not receiving the information that I seek.

I am almost through with this city, I need to see some countryside. We have not had the chance to go and see some of the areas here where there dwells less advertising and more reality, I am hoping that we shall see at least a few beautiful areas pass by from the train before we hit the sprawl of Beijing.

Trek China has been amazing. Our bicycles are built and await our arrival also J has booked our accommodation which has been a great help. I am very much looking forward to having two wheels of my own again, I don't think that I am entirely cut out for this backpacking business, I do like to have my own freedom of movement :-)

Finally - apologies for not being able to get any photos to you. I have taken plenty but have not had the opportunity to post them due to limited access on the computer. I shall spend some time in Beijing to bring you an update :-) :-)

Thanks for reading. Next time you will hear from me I will be in the land of my dreams... what will the reality unfold? :-) :-)

Civilization is a nice thing....

and we didn't even realize that we were missing it so much! We have been walking around the city for 4 days and we really like Hong Kong...but it's time to move on -we can only take so much consumerism. These people really know how to shop!

One thing I noticed on our first day here is that we never seemed to stop eating. That seems strange, but I think we got a little afraid of eating...well not afraid, just extremely cautious - so cautious that we didn't eat very often. And everyting tastes so good!!! We have had noodles and sushi, red bean cakes and dim sum. Ah, it is fabulous!!!

Everything here is so clean, it's even a bit extreme - most people carry their own toilet paper! And not because it isn't available in the public toilet, but because they don't trust the public loo paper, they want to be sure they have clean paper. We have sen quite a few people wearing masks and I have seen quite a few antibacterial hand cleaner dispensers in public places. The other thing we noticed is that all the personal cleaning supplies are in HUGE containers! We went looking for a small bottle of shampoo and it only comes in massive sizes - twice the size of regular bottles of shampoo and shower gel.

One thing I needed to do when we reached civilization is get my legs waxed...I know, it's painful, but I have alligator skin, so it doesn't hurt very much (it's well worth it! :) This was the strangest wax job I have ever had (and I have been waxing for quite a few years!). I had two women in masks, each sitting on a little stool, waxing my legs while I was standing up...very strange! They did a good job, though, and it was the easiest wax job I have ever had to recover from :)

Tomorrow we take the train to Beijing - 24 hours on the train, but we have our own sleeper compartment with 2 beds (we splurged on it - 70GBPs each :). We are going to look out the window, read and practice our Mandarin!

I know A has a bunch to say, too...catch you later!

Nei ho!

I feel like I am living in a dream, it is so absolutley amazing here. I have wanted to come to Hong Kong and China for so many years and finally I have made it. I am too overawed for words right now!! :-) :-) It is so amazing to see all of the Chinese characters everywhere, I am so happy that I studied Mandarin, albeit for a short time. That is just fantastic.



I hope to get some shots to you soon. We need to get out and walk :-)

Hello from Hong Kong!!!!!

Wow. We are so excited, we are buzzing! The flight from Delhi was delayed...and of course they didn't tell anyone. We were supposed to fly at 11:15pm and it was delayed until 1am. At least we got to watch some of the cricket :) We slept on the flight and arrived this morning. Customs was a breeze, my checked bag appeared in good time...ah, civilization :)

Everything here is so clean and new...and in good working order! We got an Octopus card which is like the Oyster card in London - it is good for one trip in from the airport on the fast train (like Heathrow Express) and 3 days of MTR travel (like the Underground). It is so easy to find your way around, too - we found the hotel, no problem. On the metro we watched the characters scroll on the signs and we recognize a lot of them - our Mandarin classes have left and impression in our brains!

Woohoo!!!!! Catch you all later.

Namaste!

I have just a few things to write about the camel safari before I have to get moving.

Sarjan was married when he was 17 years old to a bride who was 5 years of age. They do not live together yet but when the bride turns 18 (in 3 years time) she will move into his family home. She lives in a village 20 kms away, he has only seen her twice, needless to say, this was an arranged marriage. Sarjan is looking forward to meeting his wife again. Because he is a muslim, he is able to take another too but he informed us that one was enough :-)

Sarjan made my birthday cake out of some ghee, nuts, fennel seeds, cardamon, soft brown sugar and gram flower which he cooked in a pan over the fire. It was a little like a soft flapjack in texture which you had to mold together in order to eat it. When we bumped into some of his family later, when we had left Sarjan (see K's post), I gave them the remainder of it to share with the children at home. There was some language confusion...we wanted them to try it, but they thought it was a gift...no matter :)

We loved the relationship that the camel men had with one another, they way they mocked one another. Sarjan was teased a little more than the others because he was the only Muslim amongst them (the rest being Hindu). The guys had obviously spent a lot of nights together, camel parking as well as on trips, you could mistake them for brothers such was their camaraderie.

When we rested on the trip, I liked to lie on my back and listen to the birds sing in the trees, the bees and flies buzz around, the wind through the leaves and the sound of the camels tearing at plants and trees. Taking some time to stop and listen to the world around me was a beautiful and relaxing thing to do.

I have spent more time riding a camel than I have a horse... :-)

We saw a beautiful shooting star on the eve of my birthday, it was so bright that we thought it may have been a meteorite burning up in the atmosphere :-)

Whoops I have to go - unless we find internet at the airport (doubtful) the next time that you will hear from us will be in HK!!!! :-) :-)

Thanks again for reading.

Namaste!

I am so absolutely excited, tonight we fly to Hong Kong and by the weekend will be on mainland China - I am finally living a dream of mine :-)

The last few days have been extremely busy, we have been running around Delhi preparing everything for China. There is much conflicting information out there and for a while we thought that we may not be able to get K enough time on her visa for us to even get to Tibet. We were going to apply in Hong Kong – hence our flight there, however we found out that it was possible to go to the Chinese embassy in Delhi to arrange it. This was great, it allowed us to try and get the visa prior to our departure and if there were issues then we still had time to adapt our plans.

We awoke very early on Monday morning so that we could get to the embassy for 9am. The restaurant at our guesthouse was not yet serving breakfast so we decided to leave even earlier and to try and find some food en route. This was a blessing in disguise because after riding for 15 minutes (2 up on K’s bike) we got a rear wheel puncture. We were stuck on the ring road with no obvious signs of a tyre wallah. After stopping a passerby we found that there was a tyre wallah hidden away no more than 30 metres away from us on a side path to a small park. Great! We found him!

He removed the innertube only to find that the valve had blown out thus it was rendered irreparable. Eek! His English for the most part was nonexistent but we managed to communicate with him using pen and paper and discovered that he could go and get a tube nearby. Excellent! We gave him 200 rupees and he disappeared on a borrowed bicycle, meanwhile we patiently awaited his return. We entertained ourselves by watching people passing by in the street. We were near a chai wallah, he was sat with his back against some metal railings on a stone slab as though it was his throne. With an air of confidence he made beverages on his small temporary stove and was visited by the homeless, businessmen and police alike. There was a group of men squatting on the floor near to us, they gathered quickly, shared a chillum and then disappeared quite rapidly, the only trace of them left was a scattering of small seeds that they had left behind. Hawkers sold pan, purchasers squatted and tore open pan packets with their teeth followed by the customary tap of the packet with a finger as they emptied it’s contents into their hand before rubbing it and flinging it into their mouth. Cows ran in the rush hour traffic, a man herded his goats. People ran and jumped onto and off of buses that did not stop at the bus stops. Horns beeped, traffic weaved and more chai was sold. We finally decided to get chai from the wallah after figuring that it would be safe having watched for how long the tea boiled and that he could serve it to us in plastic cups (it is not always the tea itself that is a concern, it is the method of cleaning the serving glass that is an issue, we have seen them rinsed in water drawn from the dirtiest of places!). K watched the wallah crush fresh ginger and he added it to the chai along with some sugar, this was then strained after it had been boiled for a while and we were served with the most amazing masala chai :-)

Now time was pushing on…

we waited...

...and we waited…

An hour had now gone by, it was almost nine and we were not going to get there in time for the opening, we did not know how large the queues would be or how complicated the process was and we were now getting concerned. We toyed with the idea of sending me off in a taxi however it was rush hour and even the auto rickshaws were all occupied. Finally another two wheeler rider pulled up with a puncture. After talking to some bystanders he informed us that all of the shops were closed and the wallah should return within 15 minutes. Phew – at least we now knew what was going on. He did arrive and we were soon on our way after he did a quick tube replacement... :-)

We headed to south Delhi where all of the embassies are located. This was a much nicer part of Delhi, strips of grass lining the roads were decorated with blooming flowers, incredibly fragrant and so unlike the nauseating smells that we are used to here. There were many Ambassador cars on the roads with tinted windows and decked with sirens, the number plates informing us that they were on Government duty. The bricked walkways were used by pedestrians and not costermongers or speeding vehicles. There was tight security everywhere, there were police with automatic weapons, razor wire, road blocks and lookout posts.

We found the Chinese embassy. Surprisingly it was rather sedate inside, the process was easy and we requested for our passport collection on the same day (at a slightly extra cost). We then had to go and get a bankers draft from a nearby bank and returned to pay for our visas. On return we discovered that we had to come back at 4.30pm, this was no problem but it did mean that we had to spend the day being anxious about the applications being successful - would we apply for 90 day visas and they only give us 30 days? This was a real possibility - when we applied for our Indian visas we asked for a year and they only gave us 6 months.

We spent the day running around Connaught place and completing some less important tasks. We also went for a sedate walk in the beautiful Lodi Gardens and sat in the shade reading our books.

We returned to the embassy slightly earlier than required to find a small group of people there. The doors were still locked.

Half an hour past and the doors were still locked.

People would occasionally bang on the door but there was no response.

Finally - a small hatch opened and we could see the eyes and nose of a security guard. Everybody rushed to the door and passed through their receipts. It was unbelievable that this was the process. K passed ours through, the hatch slid shut and we had to wait. Ten minutes passed and finally the guard opened the hatch again and slipped the passports out. We opened ours and we had the exact visa’s that we needed, only – K’s had an error! Her date of birth was incorrect on the visa. Knowing how meticulous the Chinese authorities are, we were concerned. We could not get into the embassy to get rectification and would have to wait until the next morning.

The next morning we returned, K was told that she would have to come back later, at 4pm and must not be late. This was incredibly inconvienient because we still had to put our motorbikes into storage but we needed to keep them so that we could get to the embassy, time was pressing. We spent another day busying ourselves with packing etc. As we left Majnu ka Tilla to head south back to the embassy the sky opened up and it heavily poured with rain. We were soaked through and we arrived exceptionally soggy. Again we had to play the waiting game at the door. I have to admit that I was really nervous, we were assured that K could get a 90 day visa at least but I was really worried in case there were any other errors or that it was not ready. We were to fly the next day and I was on the verge of biting my nails but did my best to hide this because I did not want to add to the tension.

The hatched opened 15 minutes later, the slip was passed through and the guard returned promptly. K opened her visa and it was……… PERFECT! :-):-)

Ahhhh, we are so happy, now we can have some fun in Hong Kong and not worry about getting our visas. There is a film festival there, so we shall try and catch some movies as well as do some sight seeing. :-) :-)

Last night after we had completed all of our tasks we went to Connaught place for a nice meal and a beer in order to celebrate the end of part one. It was our most expensive meal yet but it was fantastic (naturally we chose Indian food and Kingfisher beer) We reminisced over everything that we have been through together - the highs as well as the lows.

We will miss the world cup cricket finale (or the War in the Windies as it is called by the Hindustan Times) which is a shame because it is interesting to see how excited people are. We have seen many impromptu cricket games around India but more so in the last week.

Thanks for reading.

Lots of tidying up :)

To finish our camel safari....we rode the camels to meet the Ganesh Travel guy at the jeep, took some parting photos, said our goodbyes to Pepsi, Tara and Sarjan (ah, very sad) and we drove off :(. It was a grey afternoon, so I was just assuming that the weather was reflecting our mood, but that night it shelled it down, so it wasn't us :). On the road in the driver stopped to pick up a couple of people that were standing on the side of the road waiting for a lift - it was Sarjan's sister-in-law and another woman! Talk about small world :)

When we got back to Jaisalmer neither of us were in the mood for a curry - we loved the campfire cooking and we didn't think anything we could get at a restaurant could compare - so we decided to try the Italian place and it was a spectacular choice! The food was very different (bruschetta with tomato and veggie pizzas - spinach, olive and mushroom - it had been months since we tasted an olive!!! :) and it was delicious...all washed down with a celebratory beer (as it was A's birthday :)

Another BEST OF item...

The best place we visited, as a complete experience (roads, food, hotel, sights, etc.) was Bijapur. The ride in and out of town was very good. The hotel had the best beds and the food was good. There was a sweet shop nearby :) and the things we saw when we were riding around town and visiting the sights was just amazing! Bijapur is not a tourist town, which is one of the reasons we enjoyed it so much, and our experience there is not something that any tourist can repeat (it's not guidebook material), it just all came together for us....perfectly :) That is not to say that we didn't have other places where it all came together, we did - Mandu and Bundi were both all good, as was Madurai.

There was only one place we agree on that we could have just given it a miss and that is Pune. Yes, we went to the Mark's and Spencer's :) and they have a decent bookstore, but the hotel was dismal and it was just another stop on the road for us, and not even the best place we stopped just because we had to stop somewhere.

We did have our down times - we have both been ill far too often. It has delayed our journey 4 or 5 times. We thought it would be the bikes holding us back, which is why we didn't go with Enfields and we got the Pulsars, but the bikes have been very reliable...so, on to bike news :)

The Pulsars have been an excellent choice, A's bike being a tad bit more reliable than my bike.

Let's start with punctures. A's bike has had no punctures. My bike has now had 3 punctures. The first was on our second day of riding, just outside of Tonk I got a nail in the tire....conveniently puncturing just meters from the tirewallah. The second one was a slow leak that someone pointed out in Hampi when we had been riding around all day. We rode over to the next village over from Hampi and found a tirewallah and he sorted it for us. It was a pinch flat, but not from the rim - the tube that was in my tire was a size too large (for an 18 inch wheel, not a 17 inch) and the tube had gotten folded and it rubbed a pair of holes in itself. The tirewallah replaced the tube with a 17" tube. Yesterday, when we wanted to be at the Chinese Embassy for it's 9am opening, the bike started handling badly (I thought it was not liking the cool weather and being a bit sluggish) and I checked for a puncture - yup, it has gone again! And again....we were just meters from a tirewallah :) If I have to have all these punctures at least there is someone there to sort it out :) This one was due to a small nail in the tire, but the tube, though it was the right size in diameter, was for a much smaller tire, so it was stretched thin. The tirewallah hopped on his bicycle and rode a couple of kms to find the right tube (at an hour of the morning when most shops are not even open yet) and an hour later we were on our way.

The servicing....We have had 2 dealer services each and my bike has been to the local mechanic twice and A's bike once. Two oil changes at the dealer, but when we got to Pushkar A's front brake was needing some attention and when he checked the oil it was foul! I am not certain that they remembered to change the oil at the last dealer service. When we bought the bikes we had the fuel taps replaced with locking fuel taps as it is really easy for someone to steal the petrol (we were warned about this). A's tap was leaking almost from day one (it was a cheap aftermarket part, not a Bajaj part) and we had it replaced with a Bajaj OEM non-locking one in Panaji. My locking fuel tap made it to Munnar before it gave up the ghost - the key just stopped working. That was a mess and I ended up with petrol all over my arm when we were trying to fix it and I ended up at the local mechanic where he sorted a new (cheap part) fuel tap and tensioned and lubed my chain :). The next service was Ahmedabad, many kilometers later, where we got a full service. I got new chain and sprockets and they cleaned my front brake caliper and they replaced A's clutch cable and fixed her choke switch. I know I got new oil but I think they forgot A's oil. On to Pushkar and I was driving A's bike and noticed the front brake was not working as it should so we asked the hotel guy where he got his bike serviced and he took me over there. A's bike got new oil, new chain and sprockets but they couldn't do much about the front brake (it works, it's just not instant on, like she likes it :)

There is still the story to tell about my battery :) When I bought the bike I watched them top up the battery and it was working fine...about until we got to the cold in Munnar or maybe Kodai. Then it started not to hold a charge overnight. That was ok, I can kickstart it, too and when I rode all day the battery charged up just fine (the alternator was working great :). Then the tachometer started misbehaving until the bike got a bit of a charge (it would be wild or it wouldn't show anything) and then it just stopped working all together. I was getting a bit tired of it and I knew we were going to get a service in Ahmedabad so I lived with it. When we got to Ahmedabad I explained the problem and they offered to charge the battery and I explained again :) and then they brought their battery guy out to have a look, and he checked it with the voltmeter and said I needed a new battery...but they didn't have any. It would take a week to get one shipped up from Pune. Hmmm. So we went to the Exide battery guy in the market and he said it would take a month to get a battery for the Pulsar!!!! Yikes. At that point we didn't know A was going to get ill and that we would spend 10 days in Amhedabad so we didn't order a battery. We got on the road again and I asked the hotel guy in Bhopal where the Bajaj dealer was. He said forget the dealer his mechanic would sort it, his mechanic was just up the street. So, not finding the mechanic's number in his mobile phone, he sent the security guard from the hotel down to get the mechanic's number. Then he called the mechanic and the mechanic said he would come over and have a look at my bike...ah, sometimes this country is hilarious :) Anyway, lots of language difficulties in between...the guy would sort my bike in a couple of hours, the battery was available. When it came back it was freshly washed...and the tachometer worked!!!! I was a happy camper - I didn't realize how much it had bothered me. A's bike wouldn't have this battery problem as she has a kick start only bike, as the battery is a lot different. She has to contend with a wicked kickback on the kickstart though :)

All in all the bikes have been pretty trouble free - they have never once, in 12,500 kms, left us stranded on the side of the road. Excellent!

Since we don't have locking fuel taps we don't put a lot of fuel in the bikes. In the beginning we would fill the tanks (you get better mileage with a full tank) and then ride and top them up when they were about half way. After it appeared that some fuel had been pilfered from my bike while it was parked overnight at Karla (this happened on two nights! Cheeky!!!) we only filled up for the day and left a couple of liters max in the tank. This has meant that we rode to reserve on a couple of occasions, and we fill up every day we ride, but it's not a problem.

On to mileage....as I said, we have done 12,500 kms. We have had a few days over 400 kms and we did more kms in the last 20 days that we did in the previous blocks of 20 days (I have 22 lines on a page where I keep track of these things :).

The bikes are now in storage and we miss them, but we are looking forward to the human powered 2 wheelers that are awaiting us in Beijing!!! It has been one of the hardest things to do - not have a bicycle ride for nearly 4 months.

Catch you all later...from Chinese soil!

TWW Leg 1 Awards :)

We want to let you know some of the memorable items from the first leg of our trip, so here goes:

Best Meal (for two) over 250 rupees: Golden Palette, Mamallapuram
Best Meal (for two) under 250 rupees: New Lucky Restaurant, Ahmedabad (house special thali)
Best Masala Dosa: local restaurant in a small town between Munnar, Kerala amd Kodai, Tamil Nadu.
Best Dal Makhani: Rasoi, Kodai
Best Dal Fry: Hotel Sonali, Bhopal
Best Parathas: Kerala Parathas (all over Kerala)
Best Stuffed Paratha: Rasoi, Kodai (K: Muli Paratha, A: Veg Paratha)
Best Veg Steamed Momos: Wongdhen House, Manju ka Tilla (Delhi)
Best Chai: Kumbha Palace Hotel, Udaipur
Best Coffee: Sunset Cafe, Jaisalmer; Hotel in Kanchipuram (roadside stop)
Best Pancake: Kumbha Palace, Udaipur (K: raisin, A: apple cinnamon)
Best Milk Sweets: special ladoo of Jodhpur, pedas in Pondicherry, fried donut type in Kodai at the IInd floor hotel
Best Namikins (salty snack): Kodai at the IInd floor hotel
Best Nan Bread: sweet - Kashmiri at hotel in Indore (roadside stop), savory - garlic at Haveli Katkoun, Bundi
Best Bed: Pearl Inn, Bijapur (so says A :)
Best Shower: Hotel Mehul, Ahmedabad (only when it was hot, which wasn't always :)
Best Hotel: Hotel Mehul, Ahmedabad; Greenlands Youth Hostel, Kodai
Best Motorcycling Road: To Top Station (and beyond), Munnar; Road up to Kodai from the Tamil Nadu plain.

More as we remember them....

Photos from Bikaner and Mandawa...

We arrived from Jaisalmer with the weather reflecting our mood...a bit grey. And we awoke to pouring rain when we were supposed to be getting an early start for Amritsar. See how wet the bikes are???


Given the weather, we decided to spend the day in Bikaner, we would go and visit the fort and maybe try to see a palace or the rat temple. Our initial thoughts were that it was going to be like the other forts that we had seen - we were in fact pleasantly surprised.


The fort is still owned by the Maharaja and is maintained by a trust that has been set up (similar to Jodhpur). We got to explore it's many rooms, walking along the numerous corridors of the palace. The rooms were beautiful, again there was gold paint and much spleandor and decoration.



This ceiling had been painted with images of clouds and the bottoms of the walls showed rain. This represents the god Indra, who is the god of rain.


An example of the geometric floor designs in the courtyard (yes, it's very wet!).


There were also tiles that had been imported from Holland and China.


We spotted this scraggily plant which had some very amusing wording below it! Maybe we should not sniff it because it would bite our noses off :-)


There was also an amazing display of the Maharaja's arsenal...this is only one very small part. There were swords, knives, guns, swords with guns attached, sneaky daggers, flintlock rifles, shields, armour....rooms and rooms of the stuff!!!! There was even a WWI airplane in one section.


We are constantly amused here in India. When searching for the ladies toilets we found this sign. We just had to follow the pointing breast :-)


We never made it to the palace or the rat temple as the weather was intermittent rain and sun and we frequently had to take shelter. Oh well, we can always go back :-). The next day we were able to move on to Mandawa. We had been informed that it was a great place to stop on the way to Delhi and that we could spend the afternoon enjoying the havelis and get an overnight stop. It is in the Shekhawati region - an up and coming tourist region in Haryana, between Rajasthan and Delhi.

On the way we saw this...interesting sight. We are not sure if it was roadkill or poaching or what. Looks like a buffalo and not a sacred cow, though. I know the photo is small, but up close you can see the big smiles on their faces - they didn't mind posing with their "prize" :-)


Mandawa was a nice surprise - we had a great time here, the haveli's were amazing. The buildings were all decorated with frescos of scenes from desert life, modern life and the classics including the Hindu gods. The owners were trading elsewhere (e.g. on the coast, for the East India Company) and would build these beautiful houses for their families to live the good life back home.

Our young guide took us on a tour of the town. Our first stop was at a Ganesh temple, also elaboratley painted.


Then we were led through the narrow streets to visit many of the havelis. Very few are lived in, their owners now living in the big cities. Many of these abandoned havelis remained in the family, but just have a local caretaker watching over them (to whom we occasionally needed to pay 10 rupees to for the pleasure of viewing the haveli).

Beautiful Belgian glass details on the archway.


Elaborate painting on all the surfaces (if it's white then it's new!)





This was an amazing dining room, complete with chandaliers (well we think it is). The picture does not do it justice!!!


One of the architectural details of a Shekhawati haveli is a dog leg entryway - it provides some privacy for the main courtyard (the women's section) from the front courtyard (where the male members of the house meet with outsiders for social or business reasons). The model in this photo is our young guide :-)


Details from some of the painting....in amongst the images of gods, scenes from the Kama Sutra (involving people and animals, but not together!!!! :-), traditional Rajasthani elephants, horses and camels we found these interesting items:

Surprisingly, bicycles figured in many paintings (of course we had to take photos :-)





There were other modern images...planes, telephones, trains.


The classic Rajasthani elephant.


These are from our hotel - a modern interpretation of the old style.



These are some of the havelis that are currently occupied, the last one has been significantly restored by one of the hotel owners in town.




One of the caretakers was building this bed while watching over one of the havelis...


Here we are...packing up for the last time on this leg of the trip...



and then we were off to Delhi and today we put the bikes into storage for the next few months.

That's all the photos for now. Catch you later!

Our next exciting venture was further west towards Jaisalmer and the desert, the journey became more and more exciting as the landscape changed from arid land to dry sandy desert.




En route we also saw a change in the structure of village houses. Many were built of sandstone slabs in a circular formation to enable the wind to flow around them.


We arrived at the dream city and rode up into the fort on the hill through winding narrow lanes where we would find our guesthouse.



A cow that we spotted in a narrow lane within the fort (they go everywhere, they climb steps and go into houses...) it still had colour from the Holi celebrations (nothing escaped the celebration) :-) You can also see an example of one of the beautiful doors that are on many buildings within the fort.


Looking down from the fort at the rest of Jaisalmer city which was situated down the hill outside the protective walls. Notice the *lack* of blue colour - every other Rajasthani city we have visited is painted some form of blue or at least whitewashed!


A view of the picturesque lake...


Next, on to the exciting camel safari :-) :-) :-)

This is Tara when we first encountered him. If you think he looks like he has a bit of attitude...just wait until you meet Pepsi - Tara is a sweetheart :-)


The camels were saddled and loaded up and we were soon on our way into the wilderness.


K and Pepsi - even though K is strong we thought it best that she should ride the camel as opposed to the other way around :-) Just a note...a camel can carry a 500 kg load on it's back (not that K is that heavy!) or pull a cart carrying 800 kgs - they are truly the workhorses of the desert!


Tara and I, building a lasting relationship :-)



K was able to jump straight up onto Pepsi with no problem, I on the other hand needed much help from Sarjan who lifted me up onto the saddle, particularly after I ended up hanging upside from Tara's side. Riding the camel was OK too but dismounting took some getting used to as the camel would drop it's front legs first thus thrusting you forward with an abrupt movement. (K loves this photo - it makes her giggle everytime she sees it) :-)


En route we encountered some kids that had lost their mother. Sarjan carried one whilst K carried the other on the camel, it was so cute. We eventually found the mother as well as the herdsmen in the nearby village. We were rewarded for our efforts with some lumps of soft brown sugar :-)


We soon joined up with a convoy of other people who were on a camel safari with Ganesh Travels, there was much laughter due to the behaviour of the camels toward one another.


Soon we encountered our first great sand dunes.



K's view from aboard Pepsi :-)


We stopped early evening and set up camp. K and I went for a wander around the dunes intrigued by the shifting shape of the sand formations.


K was surprised to spot this mushroom growing.


I was amazed and so happy to be in the wilderness, I just stood on the sand dunes and stared out for quite some time until the light became low :-)


It was great to watch the sand blow over the tops of the ridges.


Some of the ridges looked like spines of the desert.


It did not take long to get used to the large number of dung beetles roaming the desert. They would come and join us in drinking chai as well as in our beds at night! At night you could hear them scratching around or a tap as their tough shell would hit something solid :-)


We had a great meal that night, afterwards we all sat around the campfire and were treated to some audio entertainment by our hosts :-)


The next morning we said goodbye to everyone else - K, Sarjan and I were now on our own. This is camelman Singh before he left (he's not looking very awake :-)


Soon we were on our way after helping Sarjan load up the camels, we were not pushed for time like the others who had just left. We spent the day travelling jeep tracks from village to village and visiting tubewells en route.


We sat up our lunch camp and Pepsi and Tara had some lunch while...


...Sarjan cooked another great meal :-)


After our nap we were back on the camels for another hour and a half, arriving at the next set of dunes where we stopped for dinner and the overnight. We went for another walk and saw amongst the sand:

Shells, evidence of the life that lived here in a time before humans walked the earth.


Some remains of animals that would have lost their lives in the drought a few years previous (we saw lots of more of this sort of thing while were were riding - even some camel bones). All that was left would be scattered bones and skulls which had been picked clean by birds of prey as well as foxes and jackals.



While we were wandering around and collecting firewood Pepsi and Tara got to feed in the trees and shrubs in preparations for....the camelsutra!


It was great to watch the sun go down in the desert.


Sarjan cooked our evening meal and made my desert birthday cake. He always provided K with as many chapatis as she could eat :-) We spent the rest of the evening talking and sipping on a beer each.


It was pretty cold that night and when I awoke on my birthday morning it took a lot of work to get me out from under the camel blankets and woollen shawls that K had covered me with :-)


Back on the camels for an early departure, we spent the day riding again with a break at lunchtime to rest and sit in the shade for three hours or so. I spent some time listening to the birds in the trees as well as the flies buzzing around. The camels also got to snooze...


When it was time to move on again to go and meet the jeep, Sarjan sent us to fetch the camels who had wandered off to eat more shrubs. We both got to ride the camels back to camp bareback, sitting behind the hump. It was quite an experience! :-)


Our last moment with Sarjan, Tara and Pepsi before we boarded the jeep.


We had an amazing time, it was an experience that neither of us will ever forget :-) :-) Thanks for looking!

Namaste!

Starting with Pushkar I now bring you more photos....

We had an amazing ride into Pushkar, the road which had mainly been straight and flat turned twisty as we arrived at our destination surrounded by hills. The landscape was beautiful :-) :-)



There were many plants in flower including the cacti to be found in abundance on the hills.


K also spotted this banana plant flower as we sat awaiting our chai at a cafe.


One morning we climbed up to a white temple (you can just see it on the right hand side of the photo) on a hill which overlooks Pushkar.


K went for a walk and climbed the ridges and rocks surrounding the temple (from where the above photo was taken) whilst I wrote some postcards.


The next day it was Holi, a festival of colours. People were wondering the streets with bags of coloured powder throwing it over one another in celebration. Even if you did not want to play Holi you were going to be involved if you were outside :-)


K and I were also covered in powder although I have to admit that K was much more colourful than I was having been acosted by some over zealous teenage boys. No photos of us but from this picture I am sure that you get the idea.... There was so much colour that the open drains lining the streets ran purple for most of the day. Even now roads are still stained with colour as well as peoples hands (well maybe not now...after all that rain!).


We spent our final day on a walk around Pushkar which took us past the holy lake and it's bathing ghats.



We also visited the Brahma temple - the only one of it's kind.


Next it was onto Jodhpur, the blue city. We only spent one afternoon here, we had come to see the Mehrangarh Fort and get an overnight stop.


Inside the beautiful haveli where we stayed the night.


A view of the fort from the haveli where we stayed.


The approach to the fort.


There were still markings left by cannonballs on the bastions leading to one of the gates at the fort.


I present to you the great audio guide that gave us much information about the fort. We were so impressed by it's modernity :-) The Maharaja Through his trust) has invested in the restoration and preservation of the fort.


The rooms inside the palace at the fort were beautifully decked out with gold paint, elaborate painting, mirrors, coloured windows and Jali screens.



In this room the Maharaja would take counsel, his wife would secretly listen from behind the Jali screens seated above the company of men.


On display was the fine collection of howdahs (platforms or seats for people to be seated on elephants) and palanquins (seats carried by 4 men) we particularly liked the peacock palanquin, displaying the national bird of India.


Upon the bastions and walls was the colection of the Maharaja's cannon, there were many of differing sizes, some had been captured from his enemies in battle.


Looking down at Jodhpur city from the fort...that is the Maharaja's palace in the background (with the dome).


...the contrasting blue of houses against the landscape was beautiful to behold.


I would have loved to have brought you more photos tonight but have run out of time, I shall get the remainder out to you tomrrow. Until then - goodnight :-)

Namaste!

It has been a while since I last posted and I have much catching up to do.

Firstly, I would like to dedicate this post to Martin Tucker who passed away quite suddenly this week. I have not been able to write as a result of these feelings of grief and sadness. Again I believe that heaven hath taken a wonderful person too soon. My heart goes out to his family who are in my thoughts.

It is very sad when we have to say goodbye to people in our lives but I do find much consolation in the thought of having known them. It is hard to let go, we want people and places to remain the way they always were, we find security in this. It is hard to accept change as well as make changes. I am certainly guilty of this but one thing that I have learnt on this trip is that we are in control of our lives and not victims of it. Whether you believe in destiny or not I believe that the world about you reflects the world within.

I have spent some time reading extracts from the great Indian epics - the Mahabaratha, the Ramayana, the Bhagavad Gita and the Puranas. These are stories that most Indian people know, whether they can read or write matters not, these epics can be found in fresco's, paintings, graphic novels and children's cartoon strips. They are also recited and performed in villages and they have also become animations and blockbusters. The stories teach morality, courage, responsibility, how one must accept what must be done and how focus and belief can help you achieve many things. Many of these stories are of incredible journeys, entwined with many tales within tales, layer upon layer to create some great classical literature. I have found it refreshing to read tales of Gods and men faced with dilemmas and conflicts resulting in conclusions that may be disastrous or beneficial. Good story telling can give us new perspectives and when combined with travel the effect is accentuated. This is why I travel as well as journey through books - to learn more about the world as well as myself.

I guess that I am writing this because I have needed to justify to myself why I am so far away from my friends and family who remain at the home that I have known for much of my life. When I heard of the sad news this week I found myself questioning what is important in my life. Travel becomes futile when you think about how much people mean to you. If you are reading this, and I know you, then you can be sure that I have missed you at some point over the last three months or so. Memories pop up at the most amazing times, triggered by obvious connections although sometimes they seemed to be plucked at random. Even though I have not been away for very long, the distance that I have travelled multiplies the time spent away. For it is not just the physical mileage that takes me further away it is also the experiences that I have been through which change me and help me grow. It is not an easy decision to tear yourself away from the familiar, where life can be so sweet, we all have to face emotional challenges, the best that we can do is accept them and learn from them.

The trip could end now. There are days when it seems as though I have experienced and absorbed so much that it would be gluttonous to continue. Here in Delhi I could arrange that flight back home quite easily to see everybody again and to be safe in the familiar. Phase One has ended, it could also be the end of the trip but even though the temptation exists there prevails my underlying spirit of adventure. Thus having thought about the reasons why I am here I can safely say that I am now ready to continue on and to prepare for Phase Two. Bring on China!!!!

I am very much looking forward to sharing more stories from Twowheelswhirled with you. Once again, thanks for reading....

Back in Delhi...

Yesterday was a bit weird...we were very aware that it was the end of our riding days for the next few months. It was a combination of sadness and joy - we love the bikes and we love India, but we have also had an amazing trip and we have accomplished our mission.

When we left Delhi on December 1st we chose the biggest, easiest road out of here....on our way back we came in the back door, on back roads, arriving right where we wanted to be and right on time. We are seasoned India motorcycle travelers now :) We have completed leg one of the trip...on to China!

We are settling in for a few days, and we are at the original internet cafe where we posted our first India photos....so that means you can expect some more photos very soon. Just give us a little time to prepare them :)

We will be back with you soon with all the tidying up details...

Later!

Namaste!

I could not have wished for a better birthday present... :-) :-)

In the desert we laughed like children. It was a laughter that could not be expelled from my belly fast enough and caused me to become so weak that I could not hold onto Tara (my camel). Once when seated on Tara I had to beg Sarjan to stop the camels from trotting for fear of my falling off due to my uncontrollable laughter because I could no longer stand to watch K bobbing up and down abruptly on Pepsi whilst I fell to the left and then the right unable to get a grip. Just like children, we had all the time in the world, we did not have to be anywhere, do anything or be someone other than ourselves. It was a wonderful experience that has left me feeling sated and peaceful.

Sarjan's accommodating and warm character welcomed us into the land which he knows so well, I am certain that it was his company that made our experience so fantastic. He shared details of his life and gave us an insight into life in the desert. Sarjan has an amazing memory, his English is astounding, he speaks with colloquialisms and has grasped humour in a language other than his mother tongue - often a difficult thing to do. A man who never went to school, he cannot read or write even his own name yet he has much skill. He is highly resourceful, imaginative, sincere and has a talent in communicating with people. I loved the way he said K's name, drawing it out slowly and deliberately in exactly the same way he said Pep-si. He constantly sang, he looked after us and was a great host. We felt much affection for him - it was hard not to.

Tara and Pepsi made various sounds - occasionally a short high pitch whistle, a gurgle like water running down a drain and sometimes they would sound like Jabbawockies. Sarjan knew what the sounds meant, whether the camel was hungry, thirsty, frisky or tired. He knew which plants and trees the camels needed to feed from, whether they needed something salty or sweet from the leaves. He was commanding of them, even when they were disobeying his commands he still managed to remain gentle and respectful when issuing discipline. They burped and made foul smells as they regurgitated their food, their constant flatulence was also more humorous than foul in smell. They constantly ate, feeding either from the plants around, bags of hay (that they hauled themselves) or from the food brought up to their grinding teeth from their stomach. As they chewed various muscles about their head, around the eyes, behind the ears flexed and undulated. At every opportunity there was the sound of tearing shrub and snapping twig from their mouths as they snacked and walked. They held their heads high as though they were Maharajahs of the animal world in the desert, we were honoured to be in their presence. They sweated only from the back of their neck, it beaded in the small patch of hair and looked like thick blood or oil. When you touched it, you found that it was more like grape juice. They had a unique smell, not unlike a horse but definitely camel, we too had the same smell after three days in their company!

We were constantly accompanied by the wind. It rushed over the hills and dunes, through the trees and around rocks, villages and herds. It was never too loud more like a constant reminder of the space around us in which it flowed, if you shut your eyes you could hear the shape of the landscape because of it.

Of the sand I continued to see a sea captured in time. The region was once covered in salinated water, there is much evidence of this particularly in the vast number of tiny white spiral shells that can be found floating in the sand. I imagined the dunes to be raging waves upon which ships with white sails floated, the skill of the crew continuously challenged. There was spray when the sand was finely blown in the breeze over a soft ridge.

I looked at sand untainted by tracks and wanted to run across it as though it were virgin snow.

I watched our footprints disappear in the breeze as though we had never existed and I wondered whether this is how the ghosts of the desert felt (Sarjan told us that there were desert ghosts).

It was great to dream and observe, to become lost in ones thoughts....the thought of TE Lawrence, Arabia and World War battles. Of African savanna, when graceful antelope crossed our path in the distance. Of Tatooine, Jawas and Tauntauns.

I have much more to share with you but we are starving. I lost this post twice when writing it and it has taken me forever to get it back from memory. I am glad to have gotten this much down..... finally and am now posting before there are any other disasters....!!!! :-)

The next post will be from Delhi. Goodnight.

We are in Bikaner in the Thar desert...and its raining! Really shelling it down, actually...with hail!!!!

I will get back to the camel trip in a minute, don't worry :) After writing the last blog entry we went back to the hotel and went to bed - we were both very tired...so tired that we didn't put the mosi net up or put our earplugs in. In the middle of the night A woke with a mosi buzzing in her ear... and then we heard the thunder. I opened the window and it was shelling it down outside and the occasional burst of lightening was spectacularly lighting up the sky and the fort! We immediately thought of Sarjan and the other camel men, knowing that they were camel parking in the desert...and I was also wondering if Pepsi was afraid of lightening :)

The next morning we left Jaisalmer - neither of us feeling particularly excited about leaving but we had things we wanted to do and get to Delhi to prepare for China, so we had to get moving. Things looked dry after the night's storm and we got on our way...catching up two Enfield riders at a train crossing. We exchanged information, like you do :), and we asked them about the Enfields and they asked us about the Pulsars. They said their bikes are always in the shop and I told them about our trouble free mounts (which they are, for the most part). When the gates went up we left them in the dust... wishing they had Pulsars :) We decided to have a break about 120kms into the days ride - it had been nice and fast so far - and we stopped at a restaurant for a half hour or so.

When we got back on the road the wind started to pick up and we had a bit of a cross breeze....then it was blowing sand across the road. We reached a town and decided to take a little break from the strain of riding the bike leaned into the wind and we sought a place out of the wind. After about 5 minutes we had a look around and saw that there was a proper sandstorm coming! We moved the bikes closer to the building and took shelter against a wall. When it had eased up a bit we decided we had better move on and we headed out onto the road. We raced ahead of a storm for about the next 50kms and then it just took a turn across our path and there was nothing we could do - we tried to ride into it, but the bikes were getting harder to control and the visibility was dropping - now the sand was leaving drifts in the road at the small bridges! We turned around and pulled into a temple on the side of the road and we went into a side building...then it started to rain, so we pulled the bikes in with us :)

We have no rain protection for us or our luggage - it's only rained three times in 3 months, we were going with the odds, and this is very unseasonable rain (we are in the desert and this is not the wet season!). When the rain had passed we got back out onto the road and ripped it up as fast as we could, getting very cold in the process. We made it to Bikaner and with a bit of searching we found our hotel where we were very warmly welcomed!!! The hotel manager in Jaisalmer had recommended the hotel and he had even called ahead to tell them we were coming - that was so nice! It had been raining in Bikaner and the minute we walked in we were offered a nice warm cup of chai before a room was even mentioned and they helped us unload the bikes before everything got soaked - it had just started to rain again. As A and I sat there shivering in our new wool shawls and sipping lovely tea we had a nice conversation with the proprietor. Then it was off to a nice hot shower and then back out for a lovely hot meal! We are so spoiled :)

I will tell you about our time in Bikaner....but first back to the camel safari!!!!

So, we were at the water trough and Pepsi was being a babe magnet (so he thought :). The camel men knew that these camels were going to be a bit troublesome, so we all formed a line and the person in front held the reins of the camel behind - in groups of 2 or 3 camels. Then we headed onto our first big sand dune and it was AMAZING!!! just like Lawrence of Arabia :) And I could look around and not have to worry about what Pepsi was doing...I forgot to mention that he is also what is known as a "butt biter" and you have to make sure he doesn't try to take chunks out of the backside of the camel in front :) For some reason he doesn't do it when being led. We arrived at camp on the far side of this big dune area and we let the camel men sort the camels and camp and get the fire going....and we all went for a walk on the dunes :) We came back for a delicious cup of chai, helped collect some firewood for the night's bonfire and then went to watch the sunset...I said we were spoiled!

The guys cooked up another delicious meal and I had my fill of chapatis :) and then we moved up onto the dune and started the bonfire - it was just starting to get dark and the planets were out and the stars were on their way. The camel men finished their dishwashing with sand and collected some instruments - one tin plate and one 5 gallon water bottle :) - and then they started to sing some songs! We got all sorts of songs in Hindi - love songs, sad songs, Bollywood songs - and they had some parodies (their parody of Barbie Girl - I'm a camel man, in the bloody sand - was brilliant :):):) and they even knew some Israeli songs! It was a lot of fun and then it was time for bed. We decided to sleep up on the dune because there are fewer dung beetles there....but there was more wind and a lot of blowing sand and we were covered (in a light dusting) in sand when we woke up. in the night I woke up to see the most beautiful moonrise...amazing. It was warmer than I expected at night (I did not freeze my butt off :) but it was also a lot more damp than I expected - my hat was wet with dew in the morning.

We had chai with a bit of ginger in it with our breakfast of toast, jam, peanut butter and boiled egg. The other 4 had to get moving but we took a bit more time packing up and then we got under way, just the 5 of us (3 people, 2 camels :). We rode through some beautiful desert and then stopped to water the camels and so Sarjan could go into the village to buy some supplies to make A a desert birthday cake :). We stopped for lunch at about 11:30 when it was starting to get hot. We helped with the camels and got into the routine while Sarjan whipped up another delicious meal and *more* chapatis (my favorite part :). Then it's naptime for us and the camels (this is the regular routine - you rest in the hot part of the day). We headed out about 4pm and rode for another hour and a half to another dune. We did some camel trotting!!! It is very bouncy and there are no stirrups on a camel saddle.

Just before we stopped for the night we stopped to get more water, but before we could get our water we got to watch as a shepherd watered his flock of goats and sheep from the well - it was amusing to watch them fight over the water bowl (quite a large bowl, about three feet across and about a foot deep) - the shepherd got the water by hand using a bucket on a rope and sending it into the well and pulling it back out. Then, surprisingly, the shepherd walked with us to camp and he turned out to be one of Sarjan's buddies. They chatted and Sarjan started on dinner. We were again sent to find some firewood and we had a bit of a walk on the dune and watched the sunset. As Sarjan was putting the finishing touches on dinner another man arrived with a camel - it was the brother of the shepherd with the shepherd's camel, and the camel is a she...can you guess what the plan was??? :) Pepsi got his goiter out :):):) and we had National Geographic, live on the sand!!! I also got a photo for you all....just for educational purposes, of course :)

I do have to mention that when we started to watch they (the men) said that it takes about a half an hour, so sit back and relax....it lasted for all of maybe 5 minutes!!! (this is typical of men, no? They think time passes more slowly when this sort of thing is going on, I guess :) Then, just to be sure that the pregnancy happened for the she-camel, they let Tara have a go at her as well, so Tara got *his* goiter our and started foaming at the mouth (which is part of the show :)....both camels had finished their business and no where near 30 minutes had passed :). The shepherd and his brother left (the she camel stayed with us) and we had a lovely dinner...and the desert birthday cake was delicious!!!!! I will let A tell you about it.

Later the shepherd came back and we sat around the campfire chatting the night away....until the first creepy crawly thing ran in front of the fire!!!! Sarjan attacked it with his shoe (he thought it was a scorpion or a spider) but I checked it out and I know what scorpions are (I am one :) and this was not a scorpion and it only had 6 legs. This looked something like a cross between a crab, a grasshopper and a caterpillar. It had some claw things in front, 2 long antennae, a soft squishy torso like a caterpillar (black and white stripes) and the rear legs were like a grasshopper. Very strange!!!! I threw it in the fire so it couldn't come back to life...or call any friends and relatives to come get us :)

So, problem solved, we went back to our evening of drinking beer, eating birthday cake, telling stories and much laughter....until a scorpion ran across the front of the fire!!!! The shepherd went at it with his shoe this time and killed it and it definitely was a scorpion! Clear (or white?), not black, and about three inches long, from tip to tail. I was starting to think I wasn't going to sleep very well :( But Sarjan said he hasn't seen one for a year, that they come out in the hot weather and it is just starting to be the hot season and this one was attracted to the fire, where we were sleeping was far enough away. It was getting late and we built up the beds and went to sleep. Again I woke just in time to see a beautiful moonrise....and kick a few dung beetles out of my bed :) Then it was back to sleep.

In the morning it was quite chilly...I had to warm A up a bit and then bring her a cup fo chai before she was willing to crawl out from under her pile of camel blankets :) We had a similar breakfast to the day before and then loaded up and got moving before it got too hot. More beautiful desert scenery, another village and then we were among some modern windmills and stopped for lunch. After lunch and our nap :) we packed up and headed out ride the last leg to meet the jeep. We were in good spirits, but we were also sad....so we did more trotting on the camels which had us laughing again :)

I will tell you the end of the story later...must vacate the computer!!!! Be patient!!!!

How many camels can you get for a motorbike????

Today is a special day...it's A's birthday!!!! And Happy Birthday Carl!!!! (he shares the same day :)

Ah, bliss....we had such a good time on camel back. We both found it very hard to say goodbye to Sarjan, Pepsi and Tara and get in the jeep this afternoon :(

It all started early on Thursday and it didn't start well! We got up to get cleaned up, packed up, checked out and arrive for our "camel safari" meeting time of 7:30am. There was no hot water at 6am...neither of us bothered to check on the hot water supply when we checked in - they said hot water, they didn't say exactly when. A remembers them saying until 9pm, so it must start sometime in the morning....nothing was coming out of the faucet at 6am except cold water so we had cold baths (ooooo, that's chilly! :) Well, that made things faster (we do tend to "appreciate" a hot shower :) and we arrived at the meeting place - Sunset Cafe - at 7:10 and it was not yet open so we wandered around the neighborhood.

Someone working a shop told us that it was definitely open now (we knew it was shut, we were just there!) so we went back and the place next door said they should be open...so they pounded on the door and told them to wake up!!! :) A few minutes later the very freshly awake young men let us in the cafe and went at sat at the rooftop tables. We ordered 2 pots of coffee because in our experience a pot is about 2 cups...at this place a pot is about 3 large mugs! Yikes, we had a lot of coffee and not a lot of time to drink it! Handily, everyone else in our group was late in arriving so we got most of the coffee down our necks before we headed out (sheer luck, I say :).

A and I were on the 3 day plan and the other 4 were on just an overnight. There were 2 women from the UK travelling together and 2 Israeli women traveling together. We all walked down to meet the jeep an make the trip out to meet the camels. We all started chatting on the ride - A in front (her potential for car sickness always nabs her the best seat :) with one of the UK chicks and I sat in the back with everyone else. I was chatting to the other UK chick, a police office from Sheffield. Soon we stopped and there were only 2 camels...there were 6 of us, hmmm. Then they said it was the 2 on the 3 day trip, so A and I piled out with our packs and the others went on. We were left with one camel man and 2 camels.

The camels were introduced as Tara and Pepsi and the camel man as Sarjan. We loaded up and moved em' out - A was on Tara, I was on Pepsi and camel man was on foot. Being an experienced horse person I had no problems getting on the camel - they get down on their tummies and they are fairly easy to climb onto (and once you are comfortable, to throw yourself up on...please do not be dyslexic when reading that :). A is a bit more on the height challenged side and Tara is a bigger camel than Pepsi, so she needed a bit of assistance and Sarjan is probably used to being of assistance in this situation so we had success - we were both on the camels. When a camel gets up it pushes it's backside up first and then gets off it's front legs (it goes down just the opposite - onto the knees, then drops it's butt and then settles to the ground). There is one small space of time when the camel's butt to head angle is very steep and when you are not ready for it catches you by surprise - no, neither of us fell off, but you can bet we were both laughing as the camels got up for the first time :)

I should mention now, before it becomes necessary, that both Tara and Pepsi are boy camels with all their accompanying bits. Tara is 10 years old and Pepsi is 8...camels live about 25 years...these boys are very much alive and it's camel breeding season. All the camels in our group were boys to prevent any....problems :)

Neither of us ever having been on a camel, the first few minutes we were both a bit tentative. Camels are controlled by a peg in their nose - when it's a baby they pierce the nose on both sides and leave a wooden peg in to let it heal over. When it comes time to break the camel (for riding or cart pulling) they are about 3 years old and a peg that looks something like a giant thumbtack is pushed from the inside out - the disk on the inside and the pin pointing out. Then a string is attached to the pin end and then a rope (it goes up around the neck and back to the peg) to the small string so that you have reins, just like on a horse. We rode along for about 45 minutes and then hooked up to the rest of the group on their camels and then we rode on to the lunch stop where we all got off (no one fell off, but there was a lot of laughter :) and reacquainted ourselves. The other group had 2 camel men and there were 5 camels (the 3 camel men shared one young camel in training - one riding and 2 walking).

Lunch was excellent! Chai, curry cooked over an open fire and lots of chapatis :) Then it was back on the camels for more riding! That is when A had a bit of a problem getting back on her camel and ended up hanging upside down from a half standing up camel :) Probably a little of A not moving quite fast enough and a lot of Tara jumping the gun to get up before his passenger was firmly seated....it was amusing nonetheless! And I will say it never happened again.

The scenery was gorgeous!!!!! and later on that leg of the ride we came to a water trough where there were many female camels. We not only got to see the camels hoover up large quantities of water (which is cool to watch :) but we also got to see 2 of the camels (one of them happened to be mine!) get into the mating ritual. The mating ritual of a male camel involves arching the neck, ignoring everyone, including the rider and the camel man :), and blowing an enormous skin flap bubble out the side of their mouth while making some interesting noises...being female I am not sure that I understand why any female would find this attractive, but Pepsi seemed to think he was *the* camel of the desert and all the babe camels would be flocking to his lovely display of what A calls his goiter :) It was humorous.

Ok, kids...more on this later, we are getting thrown out!!!!! Goodnight and we'll have more from Bikaner! Photos, too...if the connection permits!

Namaste!

Yesterday, as we rode from Jodphur to Jaisalmer I found myself to be lost in a dreamy landscape. As we travelled further west, the scenery turned from being arid and rocky landscape to that of flat plains covered in sand. The sand was golden, it turned to pink and occasionally would become red whereby it had a rich ore content. When the sand dunes appeared as tall as a small hill I found my self elated further by my surroundings. I looked at the textures of the sand and in it's dryness I imagined it to be water, thus was the affect of the shapes and ripples upon the surface. One moment I would think of a flat calm sea, then the next of a large undulating wave lifting small boats high in it's arms. I have seen desert before but none so freeing as this even though we are not yet in the driest part.

There were shrubs dotting the landscape and trees who's uppermost branches spread out wide and flat like a spanning hand. There were particularly heavy rains experienced in Rajasthan last year - the monsoon, which overstayed it's welcome brought disastrous flooding and kept tourists away for another four months when the season should have already started. Business has been catching up since.

Surprisingly we saw pools of water. There were also herds of long haired goats, sheep and the usual rambling groups of cattle. We also witnessed many small antelope gracefully prancing their way across the brush. Lonesome figures clad in white with bright turbans were picking paths across the sand seeming to be miles from any dwelling. Occasionally there would be a pair of bright saris gliding across the sands too. We even saw hamlets consisting of small round houses built of sandstone slabs of 1' by 6' set upright in the sand, they were crowned with domed thatch. Outside there were cattle, their quantity greater than the number of human inhabitants to be seen.

And camels....

:-) :-) :-)

All of this beauty and we have not yet even headed into the deepest darkest depths of the desert away from the roads and hustle of modern day. Tomorrow we shall go on a camel safari, it is K's gift to me for my birthday, I am looking forward to sleeping out under the stars for two nights. No doubt I shall be lost in a dream world of camels, shifting sand dunes and siestas under the midday sun. I have a slight fear of being eaten alive by creatures of the night (snakes, midges, scorpions and such) but I have been informed that there is nothing to fear. I guess that any demons to be feared will be those in my own imagination - now where is my Edgar Allen Poe? :-)

Agent K, reporting from Jaisalmer...

We are having a fabulous time in Rajasthan!!!! We were in Pushkar for the annual Holi festival on March 4. We participated a little bit, but mostly chickened out (for good reason - let's just say the local men can't keep their hands to themselves where women are concerned), as the town turned all inhabitants and their clothing, locals and visitors alike, bright pink with a bit of blue, red, yellow, green and purple powder thrown in for good measure. Even the cows and dogs ended up getting a bit of color :)

Pushkar was a great stop - we had a great hotel, great scenery, great food...ah, it was just great :) We did the "spiritual walk" around the town, passing loads of the local temples (they have over 800!) and we visited the Brahma temple, which is a bit unique being one of the few in existence. A even upset one of the Sadhus at the temple when he thought she was taking his photo...or maybe he was just a grumpy old guy and wasn't happy with us laughing (at me and my pink dyed bits :). We left quietly...

We headed out the next day for Jodhpur with directions from the night manager at the hotel - a shortcut on back roads, just what I like :) It was a great ride, and fast! We thought we would have to stay 2 nights in Jodhpur, to get there and then have time to see the fort, but we arrived at about 1pm. We found the hotel (also recommended by the hotel manager) and we had plenty of time to tour the fort.

The fort is really unique in that it's managed by the Maharaja's special trust and it is very westernized - the gift shop was not unlike the gift shop in the British Museum! There was an audio tour as part of the admission and it was really helpful - we were wishing some of the other places had something like it (we didn't mention the guide we had at Fatehpur - some of his comments contradicted the plaques next to some of the sights in the palace! We were left questioning most of what he said, it was not money well spent and we resolved not to have a guide again). Back to the Maharaja. He was born after India's independence, so he really has no power as a Maharaja. He was 4 when his father died and he became the Maharaja. He was educated at Oxford and he is very much into preserving his cultural heritage as a Marwar (lineage all the way back to the Sun :). In 1972 the fort was a ruin - locked up and unused and uninhabited except for pigeons and bats. They have done amazing restoration work and the museum is very well done.

The town is notably clean, we ate decent food (a thali for me and a masala dosa for A), found some yummy milk sweets, including a special Jodhpurian one (delicious!), bought some wool shawls for the cool desert nights, it was fun. The people were really friendly and the rickshaw guys were easy to ignore :) We stayed in an old haveli - the property has been in the owner's family for 100 years. The woman owner lives there alone, or maybe with a son, so we had to ring the bell when we wanted to come in :). All the rooms were really nice - some with swings, others with big beds and tapestries. Ours was one of the smaller rooms, but it, like all the other rooms, had traditional Rajasthani paintings on the walls. On top of all that, I awoke to one of the most beautiful calls to prayer that we have heard - the guy had a beautiful singing voice. We really liked Jodhpur and we would have liked to spend a bit more time there, but we really wanted to move on to the camel safari.
We hope to go back to Jodhpur.

We had an early departure for Jaisalmer, miraculously I found the right road and we were on our way. The road on my map is not the road we took...it is all very strange. We took the turn that we found at the town on the map where we were supposed to take such a turn, but it was not the right road - it just circled the little town. So we headed farther on and came to an intersection with an arrow pointing left with the name of the town we needed to go through, so we followed it. On my map the road we took is fairly close to one of the white roads - those that are so small they don't have numbers - but this was a state highway and it was well marked and it good condition. Our good fortune continued and we made it to the main highway to Jaisalmer in one piece (though A was threatening to explode into a thousand pieces as her excitement about being in the desert, combined with 3 cups of coffee, were nearly bubbling over :). She looked a bit like this: or maybe more like this :). We stopped at one of the nicest looking, but the most unpleasant, restaurants where we have taken a road break. The prices were outrageous and it was totally set up for foreign tourists - they must have some agreement with the drivers and bus tours! A even got pressured by the manager to buy more food (we just had a couple of coffees and some french fries) and he led her to believe that Jaisalmer was about 50 kms further away than it really was...so she really should eat as it's so far away....

We bombed it the last 140 kms into Jaisalmer (this is the first half of the road to Bikaner in a few days, so we know it will be easy at least half way) and went right to Ganesh Travels in the fort. Paul and Jenny said they did a good camel safari, so we are booked with them. I phoned them from Jodhpur and they said swing by when we arrived and we can finalize the camel trip and they said they could arrange a hotel, too. We motored up the steep ramps, through all four gates, into the fort and there was someone waiting for us! He knew my name and led us right to the place, helped us get the bikes parked out of the way, etc. (this is a big deal - the streets in the fort are just about wide enough for one cow and one person to pass :). Many people watched us motor in - we have met them walking around and they know who we are (it's very strange :). We wanted a day in town, to see the fort, and then the safari. We head out at 8 in the morning to meet our camels - woohoo!!!! We get 2 nights sleeping out in the open (which makes we think of my brother), 5 1/2 hours a day on the camels (each on our own camel) with stops at an oasis and some desert villages. A is going to wake up in the desert on her birthday..how cool is that??? :)

The fort in Jaisalmer is also unique - people live in it! Most of the forts we have been to have wide open spaces and lots of ruins. This place is chocka-block with sandstone buildings, some with very ornate carving, and a warren of little streets. Very much alive and buzzing. It's pretty amazing. We walked around the outside of the fort (looking for an ATM) before dinner yesterday and this morning we did the inside, the small streets and out on the bastions and even sitting on one of the remaining canon :)

Not that I want to jinx anything, but we have had very good experiences in Rajasthan - from the first leg of the trip down, when we stopped in Jaipur and Bundi, and on the way north through Udaipur, Chittor, Pushkar/Ajmer, Jodhpur and Jaisalmer. We head to Bikaner after the camels and then it's into Punjab.

More news after the safari! Sorry...it's dial-up only, so you are going to have to wait for photos :) Later!!!!!

Salaam!

We also had another religious experience yesterday. Ajmer is 14 kms away from Pushkar, it is an incredibly important pilgrimage site for Muslims of South Asia - second to that of Mecca (apparently 7 pilgrimages to Ajmer equal 1 pilgrimage to Mecca). There is a tomb here, it is the Dargah Sharif-tomb of the Sufi saint Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti. He was a key figure in bringing Islam to India, there had been other attempts previously but it was his devotion and dedication without wealth, power or force that became successful in inspiring the people. He performed miracles etc. - you get the picture.

Us being either dumb or crazy - we decided to go and visit the tomb, not having bared it in mind that there would be Friday prayers (doh!). Outside of the tomb and the adjacent mosque the narrow streets were a bustle of activity. Navigating the bike through the crowds was a bit of a task, but no one was killed :-) There were numerous small shops (some no larger than small narrow cupboards) selling Islamic caps, headscarves, prayer beads, satin cloth imprinted with verses of the Koran, key rings, pens, many different kinds of mementos. There were places selling chapatis and rotis, dahl and chai from dark and dingy open kitchens. The "poor", "infirm" and "disabled" literally littered the streets in the hope of the goodwill of the devout providing them with their next meal. There were women in old and dirty saris, themselves very old or carrying a child either inside or in their arms. There were disfigured and lame people, mostly pulling themselves along the ground, their limbs twisted (or missing) around their bodies like contortionists although you knew that this was no party trick. I saw people with open sores, flies buzzing around their dirty bandages (should they be lucky enough to have some), I half expect that some of these were lepers, judging by how vast and terrible their ailments were. The blind also stood in the middle of the path of the followers with the hope of being seen. I bought some meal tickets worth 10 rupees each, these can be given to the needy instead of money. K and I made our way through the masses, our shoes and socks were wrapped in string and went into safe keeping whilst we entered the important site.

After the entrance gate there were situated either side two giant cauldrons, one donated by Akbar and the other by his son, Jehangir. These are for donations to feed the hungry and usually provided by the generosity of pilgrims throwing rice or money into the giant cooking pots. Occasionally some rich person will come along and pay to fill the entire cauldron (these are HUGE, the size of a decent hot tub!) with a rice porridge to feed the hungry. The cauldrons are mounted high, there are steps leading up to them and underneath each is a large space for a huge fire. Everyday, in the morning and in the evening, they have smaller (but not small!) cauldrons which are used to cook porridge for the needy.

All around us in the various courtyards there were the devout settling themselves for the Friday prayers. All faced Mecca. Men and women were separated, the men were at the front adjacent to the tomb the women sat right at the back. There were literally thousands of people here and more arriving, eventually space became very tight. The hordes of men seated cross legged wore caps and their clothes created a sea of white. The women seated at the back in a narrower strip provided colour with their saris although there was still an occasional black burka to be seen. There were also a number of stalls here selling flowers, candies and strings that were to be presented in the tomb. K and I wandered around a little, unsure of where we could walk or how we should present ourselves, we were wise enough to cover our heads though.

We watched what people were doing, where the women were walking and based our decisions on this. We sat for a while, insuring that our legs were crossed beneath us, and watched people who were already reciting the Koran either with the help of the printed word or from their memory. There were groups of people who had not yet taken up their positions, some were eating food as though they were having a picnic. Children ran around, some toddlers were not dressed below their waist (as is typical in India, before they are potty trained). There was a bustle of activity everywhere and a feeling of exciting anticipation. Finally as the call to prayer came we were shuffled to the back with other women, we stationed ourselves next to a stall and watched the proceedings. There was the initial call and then silence. Again, another call followed by the sound of two gunshots, thereafter the rise and fall of the sound of prayer over the loud speakers which continued for the next 45 minutes. We watched as the men in front of us made synchronised movements, repeatedly, as is required. It was amazing to see the white wave standing, then kneeling, prostrating then kneeling again all in unison. Many listened, some moved their lips in time with the words. I looked at the women behind me, there was less movement but certainly no less enthusiasm.

Besides us a women with small children sat, they tried to climb a stool and were told to get down by someone who looked official. Then one of the children, a very small toddler wet himself, with no nappy this went all over the floor. She changed his clothes then went and got some water in a pot and washed the area, scooping the excess water away with her hands. I was surprised to see that there was still some people walking around, others were talking but mostly people had their concentration in prayer. It was amazing at one point to watch the men kneeling, slowly turn their heads in a very specific set of movements first to the right and then to the left.

I overheard someone nearby speaking in English, he was a Hindu, I could tell by the red marking across his forehead, this is also a holy site for Hindus who respect saints from many different religions. I asked him where we could go and what we should do. He said that we could go into the mausoleum although he was not sure how far women could go and he then told me that we should do whatever is in our hearts, we should give flowers or money, do nothing or tie string. As a result of this I went to buy a strand of red and yellow string to tie to the Jali screens of the tomb in the hope that the saint will intervene on their behalf, or on behalf of whomever the string has been tied for, or even to grant their wish. I was given 10 pieces in one bundle - that is a lot of wishes! When the call to prayer finished, we joined the masses in a walk towards the tomb...

We again followed the women who walked around the back of the courtyard and then up to the queue to get through the front entrance to the tomb. A young woman dressed in a black sari asked me where I was from in very clear English. I answered and then took the opportunity to ask her for some advice. She told me that I could tie the string to the screen in the tomb or I could give it to the Imam, she told me to watch myself in the crowd hustling to get into the tomb and that I should certainly keep an eye on my pockets and belongings. I thanked her and she then disappeared in the crowds with her companions. I shared this knowledge with K and we joined the squash. It was insane!!!!

Men and women were just as pushy, I can compare it to being at the front of a music gig when people push forward from the back of the crowd, you could feel the pressure around your body and had no choice but to move with the sway. There were people touching the top of the entrance, fanatically praying, some kissed the silver doors. A man tried to touch my breast, I used my elbow to forcefully push his arm against his body and gave him a scornful look to demonstrate that I was not so dumb to not notice. He smiled and I scowled, that was the last of it. We were mushed forward in the increasing body heat. Once inside, to our disappointment we were ushered straight out of a side door by an official. Not to be defeated we joined another squash but this time through the side entrance, there were also more women here. K got to the doorway, somebody pushed a huge basket - too wide to fit through the doorway! - containing flowers across the top of her head and tried to barge their way through but she was as solid as a rock and was not losing her position. She was shoved in. Almost immediately I followed. Somebody tried to send us out again but K stood her ground and again I followed. She got to the Jali screens and started tying the threads (some for her family and one for twowheelswhirled). I was a little panicked, there was no room, I could not see K and did not know where to go. I feared I would get pushed out again. I could see people waving fans from the centre, these were Imams but I could not see any space for me, everybody was taller than me and in this crowded space it was hard work. I focused and tried not to push too much but flowed my way passed the people fanatically praying at the sides and those awaiting their blessing around the Jali screens of the tombs. I saw K and squashed in next to her, our heads were bowed but we had found a little enclave amongst the shape of the bodies. She had almost finished but I could not reach, the Imam was telling her to go, she replied that she had a right to tie the threads - she is such a good lass (pushy!). She made space for me when she was done and we swapped positions. By now though people were really pushing. Hurriedly and scrappily I tied the strings not having time to focus on what I wanted to achieve, I had to contend with the thoughts of those who are in my heart.

Strings tied we now wanted to leave quickly. An Imam waved a black feathered fan over our heads and blessed us and then demanded rupees. We parted with 10 rupees each (no small change left) and tried to quickly get around the perimeter so that we may exit. Another Imam tried to get K but she stated that she had already been blessed and got away. I on the other hand following close behind and the Imam grabbed my head - I was not so lucky in my escape. Standing behind the Jali screen he pulled me towards him. I tried to pull back but his grip was too strong. There were many men in front of me but he shouted at them and they parted so that the Imam could pull me to his chest. He held me there and chanted and prayed. He then let me go, dusted my head with the feather and demanded money. I had no more money to give, I said so, I informed him that everybody else had taken my money and that I had already contributed with the other Imam. He demanded again. Another Imam close by gestured kindly that he should let me go. I got away quickly and found K waiting for me. After all that...we didn't even get to see the tomb - there were too many people and too many Imams behind the screen. Oh well, we're not going back in there :-)

Did I get anything out of this experience? Yes, I did. Again I was disappointed by the importance of money and the pushiness of people, perhaps it is a cultural difference, but I am not so sure. When I was a child I gave money at the services in St Augustine's church but there was no obligation, I remember seeing people giving just coppers if that is all that they had. Nobody had a problem with that, no priest stood over and watched the amount that the laity had to offer. I am however content that with K's help and our determination we achieved our goal. It makes me happy to think that I tied my strings to the Jali in the holy tomb, I cannot imagine that I will ever go to Mecca.

Last night I had an amazing dream, perhaps I did gain something spiritual from our experiences yesterday....
:-) :-)

Thanks for reading...

Hello from Pushkar! Have I mentioned that I love camels???

I saw more camels on the ride from Agra to Pushkar than I have ever seen in my life (in total!). They were *everywhere*! They were pulling carts on the road, waiting here and there with full carts or empty carts, having a munch of whatever they put in the feed bags, having a nap, milling around as a herd of camels (alone or with a...camelherder?). It was great :) They shave shapes into the camel's sides, sometimes dying the area (henna?) and then shaving suns or flower shapes. Sometimes it looks like a black camel - an all over dye job :) The other thing we spotted on that ride were the kos markers for the pilgrims making their way to Ajmer. Akbar put the markers in when he was doing pilgrimages to Ajmer from Agra. We also saw some on the road from Fatehpur Sikri to Agra.

On to the Taj Mahal :) We were never going to give it a miss entirely...we just didn't want to go there when we left Delhi - we had had just about enough harassment and we were told it was really bad for tourists in Agra. It was a good thing to delay, too, in hindsight (it's nice when it works out like that :) because I don't think I was ready to see the Taj Mahal, I was too excited to be out on a motorbike those first couple of weeks :)

That evening in Gwalior we decided that we were only going to stay the one night. With the thought in mind that Agra has a reputation as tourist-hell, and the LP saying the place we wanted to be gets booked up, I called to book ahead (we never do that, we just rock up and see what we like). The place *was* booked but they had a sister place so we reserved there...and we were very glad for it, as it was a bit farther out of the melee :)

The ride was easy, and miraculously there was good signage in town :) As I said, the hotel didn't have a sign, so we had a small problem finding it but we got there in the end :) We did not like the smell (that terrible Bangalore smell!!!) of the hotel restaurant so we looked up a decent place to eat in the LP and headed in to town on the motorbike (not necessary, but we didn't know that and I was starved, AGAIN :). The place had a decent view of the Taj Mahal....well, decent enough for us, we hadn't ever seen it and we were already impressed!!! The thali was delicious, when it finally arrived, but it must be said the service was abysmal! But we got to see the Taj Mahal as the sun set and that was well worth it :) We got to bed early so we could get back for dawn...though I don't think either of us slept very well for the excitement :)

The walk to town in the dark was really pleasant. It was chilly and damp, but there was no one about (bliss :). We arrived at the east gate well before the gates opened (it's closest to the hotel) so we decided to make for another gate, but lookee what we found: a cafe open at 6 in the morning (it is so rare, in our experience)...and the coffee was delicious! It's not so much a problem for me being up and about that early without coffee, but A needs a bit of a kick start in the morning, just like her bike :) We were warmed up, wired up and ready for our visitation with this wonder of the world. We were told by the coffee guy that the south gate didn't open until 8am so we hot footed it to the west gate where we forked over some serious cash and in return we each received a ticket, a free bottle of mineral water and some shoe covers.

I will mention the ticket...it was big and blue and said it was 500 rupees, but we had just paid 750 rupees for each one (yes, ladies and gentleman, nearly 10 Pounds or 20 US bucks!). There was also a section with 5 different tourist images with an accompanying punch hole mark (to be punched when you visit) - they punched out the Taj one for us when we entered the gate. On the back it says "visit these sights together" and one of them was Fatehpur Sikri - the implication was that it was an all inclusive ticket. When we went out to Fatehpur Sikri and handed over the ticket they told us that it gave us a 10 rupee discount off the 260 rupee entry fee...even the touts had told us it wasn't an inclusive ticket, so if they knew to tell us I am sure it was fooling a lot of people. It's just another way they stick it to the tourists when they come to town. It would be interesting to see how many foreigners went to any sights in the US or the UK if they were asked to pay 20 times what the locals pay (which is typical, the Taj was nearly 40 times what the locals pay) to get in....ok, enough about the cost :)

It was still really dark when we came through the gate. The coffee guy had told us that call to prayer at the mosque inside the Taj complex was at 6:10, but we didn't hear it. We arrived at the platform (where all the photos that are known all over are taken) and there was already a crowd and the crowd was growing! We didn't want to be part of that, so we decided to head down the side. It was starting to lighten up and the Taj was sitting there very peacefully wearing a lovely soft grey. We did the tourist thing and stopped every few feet and took photos....the best of our photos (we had 220 of them!!!!) were from much later anyway, but we were so mesmerised we wanted to record it all!!!

This is one of those early photos :)


A parked her butt on a bench and I went up to the main platform (it's on a raised platform so that when you look at it there is only sky is behind it - smart design, eh? ). There was a sign that said "no shoes" and another one that said "please don't remove shoes here" so, of course, I took my shoes off there :) I didn't remember my shoe covers in my pocket - I am already very used to having to remove my shoes to go into temples...at least I didn't look as silly as most of the people - wearing shoe covers over skimpy sandals (what were they thinking, anyway?? It was bloody freezing!) I walked around the building, feeling the cool marble, taking tons of detail photos, watching people and generally having a good time - I was feeling like I was glowing :)

I was very impressed with the details - you only ever get to see the main shot, who knew there were such intricate inlays and carvings all over the surface? Not me, obviously :) I went inside to see the tombs (or the tomb place holders, the real tombs are locked in the basement). No photos are allowed inside, but the inlays are even more intricate and they cover both tombs (that of Mumtaz and Shah Jahan) like a highly decorated floral bedsheet. If you got the light just right you could see the surface reflection of the inlay and you could see all the little pieces that made up each small flower - AMAZING! Around the tombs, except for directly in front of them, there was a carved marble screen that was also amazingly carved. Some serious work went into the building of this monument!

No one knows who the architect was, outside of Shah Jahan, of course. And I would suspect that he was the driving force in its design - the building exudes the love he felt for his wife. I felt that when we had seen it the night before from the rooftop restaurant. I know that I will not be able to say anything truly profound, so I won't even try :) But the building seemed alive to me when I was viewing it from a distance - like the surface of the building was real skin. Up close it is less alive, but no less beautiful. It was so much more than anything I had seen in countless photos...you just have to be there and see it with your own eyes. We have seen some really fabulous things on the trip so far, but this is right up there near the top of the heap!

It was well worth it to get our butts out of bed for the sunrise, not just because of the light reflecting off the dome, but because we only had to share the place with a hundred or so people when we arrived....and maybe a thousand by the time we headed out of there a couple of hours later :) The touts were out in full force by the time we were on the road to Fatehpur Sikri and when we came back into town the queues to get into the west gate had 50 people in them to get through security (we had waltzed through without waiting at all :)

Here ends our story of the visit to teh Taj Mahal :) We are now in camel country and should be celebrating A's birthday from the back of a camel in about a week's time...stay tuned :)

I am not sure whether to say Namaste or Salaam...

We are in Pushkar, it is a very holy place for Hindus. There is a lake here which has 52 ghats (platforms for bathing down by the waters edge) leading down to it's side. Legend has it that the lake was created when Lord Brahma (he is the creator of the world in Hindu mythology) dropped a lotus flower whilst contemplating a suitable place to perform a fire sacrifice (Yagna), where the flower landed, the lake was thus created when water started sprouting from the spot. There was some disagreement between Brahma and his wife here (he invited her to the ceremony and she did not come so he.....married someone else!!!!) and in retribution for his behaviour she said that he would not be worshipped anywhere else other than Pushkar. As a result of this, Pushkar is meant to have the only Brahma temple throughout the country and even the world - although apparently this is not entirely truthful, we certainly have not seen any on our travels. Hence it is a very special pilgrimage site, especially for followers of the Lord Brahma, bathing in the lake or performing Pooja here is very significant. The town is incredibly excited at the moment in anticipation of the Hindu festival of Holi, as I type I can here chanting and the dinging of small bells, there is drumming outside and cheering. All day we have heard drumming and trumpeting throughout the town, we walked up to the temple on a hill and could here the chatter from the streets below (there is very little traffic here). People have been buying coloured powder and flowers in preparations for the forthcoming event. Holi is the spring festival, it takes place over two days. Tonight there will be the lighting of bonfires to mark the sacrifice of Holika (the kings sister) as a result of the defiance of Prahlad in worshipping his father (the same king) as a god but instead remaining as a devotee to Vishnu. Tomorrow people will go around throwing coloured powder over each other. We have been advised to cover ourselves in oil from head to toe so that we are not stained for the next fortnight, apparently this stuff does not wash off. We have also been informed to be vigilant and to stick together because the celebrations can get very rowdy.

Yesterday we received our Pushkar passport. This is a scam by "holy men" who will give you flowers to take to the lake to perform pooja. They will accompany you, befriend you, help you to pray for good karma for your friends and family, then will ask you how much they are worth in rupees. Anything less than 500 rupees for each person is not enough for good karma apparently. What a scam! They were professionals, they separated K and I and sucked us in. K had it sussed quite quickly and questioned the man about where the money was going, that you could not place any money on her families happiness etc, my guard was down but as soon as the demand for money came into it I was pretty hacked off and wanting to bail. The so called Brahmin was trying to get at least 500 rupees from me and wanted me to give money to his accomplice. Anyway, K and I decided to put 20 rupees each in the locked donation box much to the disappointment of our perpetrators - our own little retribution. We have been tempted to go back and push them\m in the lake... Anyway we have our string on our wrist now which is a passport to show other con men to leave us alone :-) I felt terrible after the experience, I hate the manipulation of people here for money, the more money that you give the more devout you are... There is no monetary value that can be placed on spirituality it should not be a commodity.

This leads me onto Ajmer hence the Salaam.... TBC.

Thanks for reading!