Sunday, June 6, 2010
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
The Road Inland - Bribes, Near Misses and Diesel Spillages
We've begun the long journey inland towards a Tiger reserve in the hope of getting to see some wild tigers. Lets just say the usual non eventful days of travelling are no longer.
Firstly, the meercat (Shippers) ran a red light ( of course all the locals adhere to the traffic signals rigidly!!) and we were subsequently stopped by a copper. A simple on the spot fine of 11 pounds was avoided by a simple bribe! On we went!
That day continued and at lunchtime we found ourselves down a dirt track surrounded by grape vines in a local farmers vineyard (and yes, India do make wine....apparently!). We put the very unreliable and inconsistant primus cooker on for some noodles only to find the local farmer approach us down the track....He welcomely greeted us and offered his house for us to stay in as well as the chance to wash. We declined but he did later bring over some drinking water in a pot, thinking of our health we thought it would be best if we'd use the water to wash with instead of drink! We showed the farmer our gratitued by giving him a bottle of Honey Bee Brandy - This had the added benefit of reducing our Brandy supply incase Matt got any more bright ideas about drinking another bottle!
The three white crow operators were now getting confident with its handling and ability but this was to be short lived as we found out on approaching a simple T-Junction. Its not Ideal seeing a 10 ton truck pullout right across you on the mainroad while you're in your Crow doing 50kph. On slammed the brakes, the back wheels skidded sideways and some miraculous driving (if i do say so myself!) allowed us to continue unscathed - Our first close call!
This day we thought had been eventful enough but we were to be proved wrong. Shippers smelt a strong odour of petrol coming into the boudoir area of the Crow. This was first blamned on the primus stove operator Camel (matt) but was later found to be coming from the back of the Crow. We stopped, got the bags out and discovered that the quality local diesel container had split and leaked 5 litres of precious fuel into the storage area. 15 locals from across the road swarmed us wanting to help, one turning up with a new fuel container - result! Half the remainder of diesel went in the new container and half to a grateful rickshaw driver that was passing by. To say thank-you another Honey bee brandy was given out!
Police have now pulled us over around 8 times and we're beginning to develop a strong bond with them. For instance, on one occassion Matt refused to pay their bribe so our forfeit was to go have a drink with them. And there we found ourselves in a small roadside restaurant having Mango Maazaa bounght for us by the local police.....as you do!
During this phase of the journey we have seen quite a changeable scenery, what was initially quite barren coming out of Mumbai soon turned into absolutely spectacular sandy mountains - the 'Ghats' and then as we passed further east the terrain turned to more arid desert. While crossing the desert section the climate has become steadily drier and hotter - today was 48 degrees!! Dehydration has become a regular feature - currently glugging 5 litres of water a day each!!
Todays journey was relatively uneventful, we arrived in Nagpur, the geographic centre of India having been run off the road by trucks only twice......not too bad. Onwards to the tiger reserve!
Firstly, the meercat (Shippers) ran a red light ( of course all the locals adhere to the traffic signals rigidly!!) and we were subsequently stopped by a copper. A simple on the spot fine of 11 pounds was avoided by a simple bribe! On we went!
That day continued and at lunchtime we found ourselves down a dirt track surrounded by grape vines in a local farmers vineyard (and yes, India do make wine....apparently!). We put the very unreliable and inconsistant primus cooker on for some noodles only to find the local farmer approach us down the track....He welcomely greeted us and offered his house for us to stay in as well as the chance to wash. We declined but he did later bring over some drinking water in a pot, thinking of our health we thought it would be best if we'd use the water to wash with instead of drink! We showed the farmer our gratitued by giving him a bottle of Honey Bee Brandy - This had the added benefit of reducing our Brandy supply incase Matt got any more bright ideas about drinking another bottle!
The three white crow operators were now getting confident with its handling and ability but this was to be short lived as we found out on approaching a simple T-Junction. Its not Ideal seeing a 10 ton truck pullout right across you on the mainroad while you're in your Crow doing 50kph. On slammed the brakes, the back wheels skidded sideways and some miraculous driving (if i do say so myself!) allowed us to continue unscathed - Our first close call!
This day we thought had been eventful enough but we were to be proved wrong. Shippers smelt a strong odour of petrol coming into the boudoir area of the Crow. This was first blamned on the primus stove operator Camel (matt) but was later found to be coming from the back of the Crow. We stopped, got the bags out and discovered that the quality local diesel container had split and leaked 5 litres of precious fuel into the storage area. 15 locals from across the road swarmed us wanting to help, one turning up with a new fuel container - result! Half the remainder of diesel went in the new container and half to a grateful rickshaw driver that was passing by. To say thank-you another Honey bee brandy was given out!
Police have now pulled us over around 8 times and we're beginning to develop a strong bond with them. For instance, on one occassion Matt refused to pay their bribe so our forfeit was to go have a drink with them. And there we found ourselves in a small roadside restaurant having Mango Maazaa bounght for us by the local police.....as you do!
During this phase of the journey we have seen quite a changeable scenery, what was initially quite barren coming out of Mumbai soon turned into absolutely spectacular sandy mountains - the 'Ghats' and then as we passed further east the terrain turned to more arid desert. While crossing the desert section the climate has become steadily drier and hotter - today was 48 degrees!! Dehydration has become a regular feature - currently glugging 5 litres of water a day each!!
Todays journey was relatively uneventful, we arrived in Nagpur, the geographic centre of India having been run off the road by trucks only twice......not too bad. Onwards to the tiger reserve!
Saturday, May 29, 2010
North to Mumbai !
We finished up our time in Goa with some more beach time and some more Indian Brandy, resulting in a day in bed for myself (Ships) and the Camel (Matt).
The journey north to Mumbai proved to be quite long and more difficult, mainly due to Fyvie being a bit ill and it being extremely hot. The Crow is still proving to be a ridiculous piece of engineering, with still no repairs made and only a small bit of oil usage. It is starting to complain a bit during the heat of the day - particularly as we've been dragging it up some pretty big mountains, lots of second gear, 20km/h climbs. Stunning scenery throughout. We have to stop during the absolute heat of the day and remove all of the kit and the engine cover just to let it recover a bit.
While preparing to leave Goa we realised that we better wash some of the more disgusting of our clothes and so the first bit of the drive was 'laundry hour' with various wet t-shirts and boxers decorating the crow, accompanied with classical music hour and Rhydian, producing even more wierd looks from locals than usual.
We have also had a few firsts during this phase of the journey - first crash witnessed, saw a 4x4 smack the side of a bus just in front of us, aswell as a lorry swerve and almost overturn, there have also been a lot of wrecks on the side of the road - mainly buses and the odd obliterated rickshaw!! We have also had our first few police encounters, generally seem fine and just want to say hello, one wanted a bribe. One very frightening encounter was a woman who decided to walk out in front of the rickshaw while carrying her baby and then promptly fell flat on her face! We came to a stop quite easily before her, but had we been in a bus or truck.....
Both Fyvie and Matt are feeling a bit rough now, food during the night stopover on the way was a bit suspect, quite a remote place, the restaurant staff and locals came to sit and watch us eat. The following day saw a big lunch order in a roadside cafe, three cokes, three plain naans and a boiled rice!!
There also seems to be a lot going on in the country at the moment, as we drove through Mangalore a plane crashed, yesterday a train was derailed too, therefore we're still backing Rickshaw as the safest method of travel.
The journey up to Mumbai saw the Crow pass through the 1500km marker, with the last 50km into the city proving to be pretty horrible with ridiculous traffic. Upon arrival we weren't sure that we were allowed to take the Rickshaw on the toll road in - went for it anyway and just got a big laugh and cheer from the toll booth staff, got pulled over a bit later on and fined by the police, 3 quid well spent. Also, in town, we noticed that there suddenly were no other rickshaws (we later found out that Rickshaws aren't allowed in the southern part of town where the hotel was) but just decided that ignorance was the best policy and carefully evaded policemen!
The people in Mumbai seemed to be even more friendly - nearly every car laughing and waving. We had 3kg of Bananas tied up in the back and chucked them out into passing rickshaws, much to everyones surprise.
First night in Mumbai, met up with Charlie, a friend of Fyvie's brother in-law and his colleague Martin. They took us to a ridiculously nice bar on top of a skyscraper, even got driven there by their chauffeur - bit of a change to the Crow!!
The day after the roof top bar and Charlie offered to show us around the city, again with the help of Jay the chauffeur.
We visited the Darubi slum area - where slumdog millionaire was filmed. Very humbling to see the area, unbelievably big - apparently around 40% of the cities population (of 20million) live in the slum, we only strayed a few streets from the car but it was very interesting to see the hive of activity surrounding the recycling that goes on.
Afterwards we retired to their private members club and had some drinks in the sunshine, a very contrasting day for what seems to be a very contrasting city.
Thursday, May 27, 2010
This Will Improve
We'll put pics on etc when we get a bit more time to make it less boring, just a bit of a ball ache at the mo! Off to Mumbai tomorrow at 5am!
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Tarmac Terrorists with our Weapon of Choice - The Crow!
Finally we were ready to depart early doors, lead to the boat by Prem (chief of the homestay). Looking at getting some miles under our belt we prepared for the long haul, heading roughly north with the help of a compass we had acquired. (This has proved very useful with the lack of any road signs!) 
The first few hours were basic familiarisation, especially for Shippers who had never even been on a scooter! Anyhow we were off, making good progress all the way up to Kannur (somewhere on the west coast - 320km north of where we left off) So not so bad in a skip on wheels, 14 hours later. Seeing it in shop windows is hilarious and does remind you how actually crap this thing is. 395cc, with 8 fine horses under the boot!
En route we managed two boat rides, a bit of night driving (which is not recommended due to the drunk lorry drivers, bad enough in the day let alone night with no lights and crap road discipline, but we made it after a lot of perspiration and nervy moments in the cab of love. First nights accom was pretty shit but did the job and in the morning after finding that the chef hadn't turned up by 0830 to cook breakfast we made off like a donkeys dick and hit the road!
Day two was eventful to say the least, Chico didn't see a speed bump which would cripple the Crow if hit hard (imagine a pissed Indian trying to build Everest with crap tar old bits of road and anything else he can find, and put it randomly in the road, unmarked of course) and so we all shouted, at this point, poor lad, was a tad maxed out, went for the brake, forgot the clutch, belted the speed bump and rolled very quitely into the town in a stalled rickshaw, all of us in fits of laughter with the town in silence and disbelief at what they were seeing. The India flag was also still paying off, bringing with it muchos encouragement and waves along the way, all very friendly! The only other thing to note on the road was an attempt by Shippers to embrace the Indian driving methods and try and overtake uphill on a blind corner doing 29km/h with the truck in front doing a mere 27km/h! Apart from that all was going well! The day ended at Maventhe in our second state Karnataka, along an idillic stretch of beach that only locals go to, stopped off and went for a swim much to their amusement as most of them can't swim and generally count putting their feet in the water as an aquatic adventure! We then stumbled upon a government approved hotel, which was bascially paradise with its own private beach for about 7 quid each, after several beers and a curry we hit the beach with a bottle of brandy (marked for Indian Defence Personnel Only) that Prem had got for us somehow and lay under the stars talking shit, it was brilliant!
The first few hours were basic familiarisation, especially for Shippers who had never even been on a scooter! Anyhow we were off, making good progress all the way up to Kannur (somewhere on the west coast - 320km north of where we left off) So not so bad in a skip on wheels, 14 hours later. Seeing it in shop windows is hilarious and does remind you how actually crap this thing is. 395cc, with 8 fine horses under the boot!
En route we managed two boat rides, a bit of night driving (which is not recommended due to the drunk lorry drivers, bad enough in the day let alone night with no lights and crap road discipline, but we made it after a lot of perspiration and nervy moments in the cab of love. First nights accom was pretty shit but did the job and in the morning after finding that the chef hadn't turned up by 0830 to cook breakfast we made off like a donkeys dick and hit the road!
Day two was eventful to say the least, Chico didn't see a speed bump which would cripple the Crow if hit hard (imagine a pissed Indian trying to build Everest with crap tar old bits of road and anything else he can find, and put it randomly in the road, unmarked of course) and so we all shouted, at this point, poor lad, was a tad maxed out, went for the brake, forgot the clutch, belted the speed bump and rolled very quitely into the town in a stalled rickshaw, all of us in fits of laughter with the town in silence and disbelief at what they were seeing. The India flag was also still paying off, bringing with it muchos encouragement and waves along the way, all very friendly! The only other thing to note on the road was an attempt by Shippers to embrace the Indian driving methods and try and overtake uphill on a blind corner doing 29km/h with the truck in front doing a mere 27km/h! Apart from that all was going well! The day ended at Maventhe in our second state Karnataka, along an idillic stretch of beach that only locals go to, stopped off and went for a swim much to their amusement as most of them can't swim and generally count putting their feet in the water as an aquatic adventure! We then stumbled upon a government approved hotel, which was bascially paradise with its own private beach for about 7 quid each, after several beers and a curry we hit the beach with a bottle of brandy (marked for Indian Defence Personnel Only) that Prem had got for us somehow and lay under the stars talking shit, it was brilliant!
Next day up again early but Chico had lost his wallet (or so he thought), the place was torn apart, steps re-traced, 2 and half hours later he realised that he had put it somewhere 'safe', 2 minutes after all the cards had been cancelled, we now look after it for him, not that it is much use now! We set off again soon after that towards our third state, Goa, looking for a bit more luxury, just one night in a five star! This was reasonably un-eventful, of course the roaming cows and cheering bystanders were still present and generally crap driving, but the roads were good and we were just eating up the kilometres, oh we also bought a branch of bananas for the Crow which we mounted to the roof inside the cab which is basically a mobile boudoir!
We entered Goa, the first night we stayed at Palolem beach, quiet tranquille place for some sheesh and a chillax, the second, 30km up the coast in a booming 5 star. We did stop off on the way for 24 bottles of water, and 3 big bottles of brandy at a costly sum of about 8 beans (pound sterling). Initially after ringing the manager explaining they had a banged up rickshaw with 3 lads in it looking to stay at their hotel the response was, we're sorry we are full, after getting dressed, and vaguley presentable we were allowed to walk in only and have a word. 10mins later we were given a presidential suite and allowed to use the facilities for the whole next day, with a slightly stunned manager who didn't believe that what we had done was even possible. Another night on the beach with a bottle of brandy had to be done!
After a chilled day in the sun which was ridiculous, about 40 degrees we whizzed a bit further up to package-holiday-centrale to see what the crack is via the tourist office in the capital to see if we can change our visas, but it seems this can only be done in Kathmandu, a small risk may have to be taken... wrtiting this just before another night on the sauce..
Chow
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