Sunday, February 17, 2013

Dirt bikes might have been a better option!

I have no idea what city we are in, but we are at the "Hotel Jamuna Resort" If your thoughts are "those lucky bastards are not roughing it and staying at resorts" I suggest you go rent the Marigold hotel movie. It's a pretty big place, but Mike and I seem to be the only guests. They did open up the restaurant for us and the food was amazing! We had a couple beers in hopes to get a better nights sleep.

We woke up to mild rain yesterday on our first day of riding. We left the hotel at 6:30 and our buddy from Inder Motors escorted us to the edge of the very large city. The idea was to beat the morning traffic.

The parts of the city we seen on the way out were unbelievable. Mike riding ahead of me pointed to a guy on a 3 wheeled bicycle hauling about 12 big blue plastic 50 gallon barrels. It was amazing to see, until we seen the next guy hauling a load of 18' steal angle iron. There must have been 20 pieces. The people of India seem ingenious!

The rain knocked the dirt and dust down a bit which was nice. However, we were a bit chilled as the rain picked up. Since it was early in the day we decided to stop at the next gas station to seek shelter and let the rain let up. 8-10 guys usually work at a 4 pump gas station... We assumed before we left, more people here would know english. Defiantly not the case. But, within minutes we are communicating and making friends without understanding one word each other is saying.

Our new friends wiped off some old plastic chairs for our comfort and warmed us up with a couple cups of coffee. They really enjoyed looking at both our phones and pictures of America. (Mike and I also did this a lot in Central America travels). They really enjoyed the snowmobile pictures I had, but were also very interested in seeing our pictures of family etc.

The rain let up a bit and we were back on the road. Driving on the left was a little difficult at first ,
but I think we have the hang of it. Driving here is about everyone getting along. If you need to go down a highway in the opposite direction great, just honk your horn and flash your lights so others notice you. Green means go and Red means go, but keep honking you horn so you are noticed. It seem like chaos, but generally works.

Some of the roads simple seem like an outline that was once tar. If you can haul two tons of iron on a bicycle, imagine what you can haul with a semi or tractor! So pot holes big enough to swallow say a guy on a motorcycle. The rain added some fun off road mud riding for Mike and I. Many of the small towns were flooded. Looking back, I think we should have stopped and took some pictures. But a dirt bike might have been better!

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