And We Are On Our Way!!

Day One. India!

After leaving Adelaide on the 29th of  December I headed to my old school friends pad in Sydney for three days before flying out to Hanoi on the first day of ‘24. I then spent a fantastic two weeks with Lu travelling around Hanoi and Hoi An. We did so much, saw so much, and had a wonderful time exploring coffee shops and cultural places.

All the time I was there I had however a foreboding about the upcoming trip. I knew HOW I felt, but wasn’t sure WHY. Somehow my heart wasn’t in this trip onwards to India. Everything seemed a hurdle. A hassle. Visas. Booking the bike on my budget flight. And then there was the stress of the traffic, the food and the hideous pollution. Nothing about that said ‘this’ll be fun’! So I slowly, across the two weeks in Hanoi, recalibrated- giving myself permission that at any time I could simply get out of India. I didn’t HAVE to do this ride. And as for my plans for Africa….Kenya visas were proving crazy difficult and my plan to cross Mozambique to Tanzania…..forget the coast route:

Border with Mozambique in Mtwara Region – Avoid all travel

Avoid all travel to within 10 km of the border with Mozambique, in the Mtwara Region, due to the presence of armed groups, the threat of terrorism and the risk of kidnapping.

So, plan A….get to New Delhi any way I can, fly to Kenya if I get a visa, then fly to Istanbul and ride west from there. Plan B ….forget Kenya 🇰🇪 and fly to Istanbul direct and…overland from there! Plan C……get to New Delhi and fly to London. I know I want to see my dad as his decline was so noticeable. And there was a calling home to Cork, to buy a house and have a place I could call my home.
Lu and I agreed to meet in London whatever route took me there, so the end of our time together was a case of ‘see you soon’ not goodbye.

So, I started writing this on board my flight to Kolkata. My dear friend Azi had connected me with a friend in Kolkata who had arranged to meet me and take me to my hotel…my flight landed at 5 in the morning so I was pretty stuffed. I had also connected with a West Bengal cycling group member who had already put the fear of god in to me with his dire pollution warning and a note ‘hope you bought thermals….its cold’ 🥶. That I didn’t mind, but with a pollution index over 370 (danger level) it scared the hell out of me. ‘Wear a mask, you’ll be ok, just don’t ride fast!’ ‘Or long’! Uummm! Q

And sure enough, landing in Kolkata was like landing in a pea soup of pollution! And noise, and chaos, and it was 5:30 in the morning! I was collected and dropped to what can only be described as a shithole of a hotel where I tried to sleep but with zero success….the reception area was right next to my room! It was all a little deflating to say the least, and when ‘breakfast’ arrived well, whatever it was wasn’t consumed! Oh this was going to be an exercise in endurance, not enjoyment! But….i knew all this before I came so I set about getting myself organised to ride north west tomorrow on my trek to New Delhi. I found an ATM that worked, tried to buy a SIM card but failed, got some food …..very carefully chosen….and got Bob reassembled for day 1 tomorrow. And then tried what can only be concluded as a definition of optimism…I tried to rest! Sort of like lying on a runway and catching some zzzz’s….improbable!

What saved the day (and night) was Azis friend Asraf who unbeknownst to moi is a very, very wealthy and successful entrepreneur. He collected me from my little hell hole, much to the annoyance of its owner, then took me for tea at an exclusive hotel and then put me up in one (yes, one) of his penthouses. What did freak me out tho was the journey to his place took us through the city of Kolkata….and there’s no other word than sheer terror and chaos – in Vietnam for example things seem chaotic but there’s method in the madness. In India it’s that plus aggression, sheer bloody mindedness, a hierarchy of road use, with bikes below the feral rat, and the hideous screaming of horns….constant, loud, menacing. In Vietnam it’s a toot to say ‘hey, I’m here’. Here, it’s ’get the f&$k out of my way you waste of road’ I was both mesmerised and terrified. There’s simply no way a bike could survive that. Asraf reassuringly noted that it’s not like this outside of the city. Well….I’ll test that out tomorrow.

Bob was ready to go but perversely, despite much smaller rear panniers the bloody bike seemed to weight more than it did in ‘22. It’ll take some getting used to….and that’s on roads that make the Whacky Races seem like a kindergarten play session! Gulp!

Day 2…Back on Bob

Asraf arranged a fantastic breakfast at his penthouse suite which took most of the morning….so much for an early start! His driver then took me to where I had intended to start the ride, somewhere out of the city, but alas when we got there it was roadworks all the way, with the track now being used as a road worse than any gravel road! He kindly took me to another hectic road but at least it was a road! So I got sorted, said my goodbyes and, well, that was it. I was off! And hand on heart, it was actually quite enjoyable- I relaxed in to the chaos, fought for my space, stayed focused but not stressed at all. Yes…..it was utter madness, with cars, motorcycles, buses, tuktuks and cows all competing for some tarmac real estate but other than a few ‘oh feck’ moments it was great. As soon as I stopped I was surrounded by staring people, they didn’t speak, just stared and invaded your space. And kids riding alongside asking for money. The poverty is gut wrenching and everything one reads about issues like sanitation and mountains of waste/rubbish is laid bare on every street.

I got to my ‘hotel’ at around 4:30, had a cold shower and used my own sleep bag over the stained sheets….all very very unhygienic. That’s been the hardest thing….not drinking water, using hand sanitizer every time I touch something, not using water to brush my teeth, and despite being surrounded by food, choosing to not eat over getting some nasty stomach pain. I’ll get more confident once I’ve worked out what I can eat! I’m struggling with a head cold which isn’t helping but it’s manageable.

Tomorrow’s my first real day in the saddle -around 80k. I’ll just go with the flow (or lack thereof) and soak up the intensity and incredible immersive experience this is.