THETRIP HOME PHOTOS ANDSOME BORING STUFF |
March 2001 We are probably stranded in the middle of nowhere and cantget near a computer to give you an update. Either that or we are having too gooda time and we could not be arsed. Later! ------(Simon)19 March 2001------ ------(Shane)21 March 2001------
----(FORDY/SANTA)---- (Shane T)13/03/01 Hi we survived the holy festival but no matter what we do we cannot get the paint off ourselves. Fordys hair has gone pink/blue/green/purple etc. It looks hillarious(and actually quite cool at the same time) and there is nothing he can do about it. We are behind schedule for Paddies day but we will hopefully make Paddy Reillys pub in Katmandu for the evening of the 17th. I'll leave it to one of the other lads to fill yee in on our little accident/incident on the road the other day. Ohh and we saw two tigers in Kana tiger reserve. Really class except for the fact that I messed up some of the footage by not having the autofocus on. I know! ghrrrr. We its and early start tomorrow we watched them burnign the bodies beside the ganges today(really weird sight)and we are going for the Ganges sunrise boat trip in the morning. Hopefully we dont run into too many bodies floating in the river. Ohh I have no time to update the other page so Simo might paste this in when he gets his next update(*cheers boss) Talk to yis, Who am I 09 March 2001 (Fordy) The news so far from India...We finally left Hampi on Tuesday (6/3/01) morning, about 8am, heading roughly North (well at least it's generally the right direction). Shane hasn't been well the last few days, so we decided not to go too far toady. Just as well, 'cos the road was brutal. We only got about 120km, before we stopped, at Grooty. I went in search of a hotel for us to stay in, and when I returned, there was a huge crowd where I had left the lads. There must have been over 50 people standing around (swamping) the lads!We checked in, and later, as I have been having some trouble withmy cluch, I decided to try to adjust it. After about 10 minutes, I had a large gathering about me, watching. It's funny at first, but after a while, it just becomes a pain in the backside. Shane had the same treatment when he tried to do some work on his bike, they just drove him Gooty!Yesterday (Wednesday 7/3/01), We travelled from Gooty to Kamareddi (just over 400km), and today, we travelled just under 400km, to Nagapur. We'll travel on tomorrow, to the Tiger sanctuary, north of here.Once again, the roads here just amaze me. I have seen some of the most bizzare things on the roads, including buffalo asleep in the outside lane of a highway, trucks travelling on the wrong side of a dual carrageway etc. I nearly hit a chicken, cow, pedestrian and Tata truck today. The Tata Truck was the scariest. I was about to overtake the truck, when the driver deceded to overtake a vehicle infront, but at the last minute, slammed on the brakes. I didn't have time to stop, so swerved onto the other side of the road, onto the far margin. The truck behind me drove into the back of the truck infront. If I had stayed where I was, I would have been mince meat!Toady, we decided to stop in Nagapur, in the lap of luxury. The hotel we are staying is top class, and is costing Rs750 (the princely sum of $15) per night for the 3 of us! (Shane T)07 March 2001 ****Hi, I'm in an Internet cafe in somewhere with a name something like kamran(no its actually nothing like that-whatever?. Its 100km North of Hydherabad. I managed to finally get myself out of my sick bed in Hampi. I had what we think was heat exhaustion. At one point I was running a temperature of 39.5. I had the usual, vomiting, the runs, stomach cramps. I have never ever felt this bad in my life and never want to again. I was in bed for 4 days. No toilet in the room, no airconditioning, not much at all really. Oh yeah and the jacks at the end of the hallway was a squatter. One of the most memorable things about the whole awful experience happened at about 3 am one of the morings. during my once every 20 min visits to the little boys room I narrowly avoided a rather angry scorpion. I will leave it to your imagination, it was too close to try explain!. Currenlty we are all a bit stressed out with the whole India thing. The noise(beep-beeep all bloody night long-they never stop), the constant staring, the crowding around, the touching and twiddling with everything on the bikes, the being run off the road every 2 minutes, 0 privacy, people everywhere(I'm sure I have left loads of things out)and the heat(+humidity),. Its just all got a bit too intense for now. Roll on Nepal. Ahh thats better- getting a good old moan out of the way. I bet that makes everyone at home feel better as well knowing that its not all a bed of roses out here. We are going to the biggest National park in the country the day after tomorrow so I'm looking forward to that. From there we head for Varanassi and then on to Katmandu. We are running behind schedule but we got over 400km done today so thats caught us up a bit. Its been over six weeks since myself and Kevin left and I'm sure yee have all missed us loads. Ohh yeah my beard is coming along nicely. Should be handy for those sub zero temperatures in Nepal. Oh to be cold again 05 March 2001(Fordy)The ongoing saga.....Well we arraive in Bangalore on 27/02/2001. Kevin had to get his bike serviced here, so that took a few hours. Later we stopped on Mahatma Gandhi road, and then Brigade Road, which is where the 'hip' people of Bangalore hang out. It looked pretty much like any US mall town. A few moments after we pulled up, someone behind me told me I would have to move on. I was about to tell him where to go (you normally don't get told what to do here) when I realised it was a cop! Bangalore is a bit different to the rest of India....We stayed in a Hotel called the Airlines Guest House, which had hot water (or so I thought). Shane had his shower, I had mine, and then when Kevin went in for his, the hot water stopped. Well actually all the water stopped! I went down to investigate, and was told that there was only hot water in the morning. Big argument with the manager, 'cos I was pretty tired after the driving that day, and we hadn't eaten all day. Anyway, Kevin got a bucket of boiling water in the end (which is more than we get in most places!).The prices here are a bit outrageous. Between us we spent over Rs1000 (about $20) on dinner and beer, which is normally enough to keep us for 2/3 days.The following morning (28/02/2001) we decided not to stay in Bangalore. Too much culture shock! We headed north to Nandi Hills, where there is a hill fort. Quite impressive, at about 1500m, overlooking the surrounding plains. Kevin lost his camera here, and when he went back to get it, it was gone.Anyway, we headed on, and on the way, picked up two hitch hikers. Ended up driving for about an hour and a half in the dark, because none of the towns we passed had guest houses. Finally found a guest house in Penukonda, and stayed there the night.The following morning, (01/03/2001) we go up quite early, and hit the road about 10am. On the way out we passed a sigh fo Timbaktu! Couldn't pass it, so we followed the dirt track for a few km, where we passed two guys walking. Kevin gave one of them a lift, as far as Timbaktu. He showed us around what was just a collection of houses. He invited us on a little further up the road to a Ashram, where we met their Swami (holy man). Kevin: "Is this you place?" Swami: "This is Gods place"He wanted us to stay a few days, but we declined. We stayed for lunch anyway. Before lunch we climbed the hill behind the Ashram, and got some breathtaking photos.Left there about 1pm, and headed to Hampi over 130km of the worst roads we have travelled so far (Anantapur-Bellary-Hospet-Hampi). My back was in bits after the drive. When we arrived in Hampi, there were flys and hotel touts everywhere. Kevin went off and selected a hotel, the Hanuman Guest House. Good place at Rs50 per room.On Friday, 2/3 I headed in to Hospet, the nearest large town to Hampi, to get my bike serviced, but cant get it done till tomorrow. Went back to Hampi where I met the lads on the main Bazzar. They had been up to one of the main temples, but the charge was $10. They climbed a nearby hill overlooking the temple instead - nearly killed themselves in the heat! Later we went to see the temple in the middle of town. Rs2 cover charge. Not much to see really - sitting in the middle of town watching the monkeys, pigeons, hens & people was more fun!Saturady 3/3, got up early to get the bike serviced. Met Shane, who said he wasn't too well. I headed into Hospet and left the bike in. Wandered around town for a few hours. Pretty class place really. Had dinner and a coffee for Rs11 (about 22p). People everywhere greeting me, Kids asking for "chocolate", "school pen", or "one rupee". Went back to the bike shop, but the bike still wasn't ready. Finally, about 6pm the bike was ready. They had pretty much rebuilt the top end of the engine (somthing wrong with the rockers). Headed back to Hampi, where I met Kevin. Shane had been sick all day. Kevin reckoned he had heat exhaustion from the climb yesterday.Sunday, 4/3, lazed about all day. Wandered about the bazzar, and met some people. We had intended leaving tomorrow, but Shane is still in a bad way. We will probably have to leave it for a while, until he is well enough to drive.Monday 5/3, Shane's a bit better. Probably leave tomorrow. Shane met a scorpion in the toilet this morning. He'll probably write about it all himself!Tune in next time to hear more from Pigs in Space..... THERIDE HOME PHOTOS ANDSOME BORING STUFF |