There is not a second that passes where I don’t hear the sound of a car/truck/bus/push bike/tuk tuk/tractor/motorbike horn… All day long… My throat feels swollen and sore from inhaling so much dust/smoke and pollution… I bounce from loving the place to hating everything (which usually corresponds with the amount of traffic we are tackling at the time) and every day we are debating if we are doing the right thing by traveling around India on a motorbike or if it’s the absolutely most ridiculous stupid thing ever.

If the people were rude and the food was bad, this would be a total nightmare. Thankfully it isn’t hot yet so we don’t have that against us either!

We’re still trying to work out if travelling through this traffic on terrible roads and risking our lives everyday is worth it. Today it took us an hour to pass about 5kms worth of trucks and buses that had come to a stand still for reasons we still can’t work out. This involved riding in between trucks, off the side of the road going in both directions, riding head on into trucks and riding in fields along the side of the road. We have so many close calls with buses and trucks driving at us and animals crossing in our path it makes for very stressful days! Having to ride off the road to avoid being hit is a daily occurrence. Poor Dean 😔

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it’s been a bit of a mind game so far, it seems that either we’re in dense slow moving traffic, it’s dusty, loud and generally horrible, or we’re on a quiet 4 lane divided road.  So either we’re hating it, or it’s quite easy, there’s not much in between.  On the congested narrow road, after an hour (including ten near misses and half a dozen exit stage lefts to avoid oncoming traffic), I’m hating it.  But then inexplicably the narrow crappy road turns into a 4 lane highway and off we go at 90km/hr, now able to remain mostly on the road, even when things come at us in the wrong direction.  This lasts anywhere between 5mins and an hour, then, as randomly as it began, the 4 lane highway turns back into a narrow dusty road, and after 5 mins I’m back to wondering what the hell we’re doing here…  Hopefully we get a bit more consistency soon!

a bit of today’s helmet intercom dialogue…

S “i need to get out of these warm clothes” (it was really hot in amongst all the trucks)

D “I need to get out of this country…”

S “I want to go home 🙁 ”

Standard daily traffic

At the end of these hard days we end up in a dusty town where we (Betsy) attracts a massive crowd (today the crowd created a traffic jam which got the police involved and the local media along) and it’s almost impossible to find a drink to calm the nerves.

A few of Betsy’s admirers

Thankfully every town is very lively so it’s always nice to walk around and take in the chaos and try random plates of food.

Another very long day ahead of us tomorrow… We are just preying we are on a dual lane highway…. that doesn’t end abruptly and turn in to a single track dirt road at a seconds notice 😁

betsy is in there somewhere!

Just pulled into a town called Burdwan, I went to look for a room and returned to find over 100 people crowding around the bike… No kidding, total chaos, the traffic was stopped, media turned people up and tried to interview us complete with video cameras!!
Finally got the room, parked the bike downstairs and was asked for picture after picture, someone even asked for my autograph!!  Hilarious 🙂
An entertaining end to an otherwise tough day, traffic here is not much fun.  Ten days straight riding, we’re due for a rest soon.
More later xoxo

So how is it??

Well… we crossed the border expecting suicidal traffic, congestion, polluition and staring people who make you feel uncomfortable.  What we’ve found is most of that, but also some surprises.

cows… everywhere.

We’re still in the far east of India, the part that’s surrounded by Bhutan on top, Myanmar to the east, and Bangladesh to the west.  So we dont really feel like we’re in India just yet, which is dumb, because obviously we are, but it somehow doesnt ‘feel’ like it.

For the first few days we were in the mountains, where there is a mix of regular Indian (???) and Hill tribe ethnicity, the Indians look like… Indians, but the hill tribe people look more Mongol.  Either way, everyone is really friendly, interested, helpful and very honest.  No dodgy scams at the border, no overcharging for food or drinks, just really nice people.

these tricycles are also everywhere.

Everywhere we stop we get a crowd of something like 50 people gathered to look at Betsy, I’m not sure she’s ever gotten so much attention before – I think Sal is a little jealous 😉   They have KTM’s that are actually made in India for sale here too, in shiny new orange showrooms, so everyone knows what a KTM is, they just havent ever seen one as big before.

“yes it’s the same as the Duke we have here…”

“the 200 duke?”

“yes, what is this one?”

“950”

“my god! it’s nearly 5x bigger, Oh My God!!”  you need to imagine the accent 🙂

We keep having kids on motorbikes follow us for kilometers taking pictures and video, I wheelied away from one bike and the kids were so excited they could barely speak…

“that thing you do with the front in the sky, please do again, i like very much your bike!!”

so many people staring!

We entered India in Manipur state (a dry state), and the next region had a ban on alcohol for the last and first days of the month (guess when we arrived?), so tonight’s beer was my first for five days, which may be a record, consequently I’m quite sleepy now so will keep this shortish.

The traffic is not as bad as I expected, but still pretty bad.  Being run off the road is a regularity, cars/trucks/motorbikes/bicycles/cows/people going the wrong way on dual carriage road is also quite normal (i’m serious, imagine cows on the expressway… unbelievable!), alhtough I’m just pleased there is some dual carriage road!!

Cows are literally everywhere.  As are goats, people and dogs.  At this stage it’s quite manageable though, we’re not hating the roads yet, which is good as we have another 8,000km to get through here 🙂

Petrol is 1.30 a litre, we’re paying about $20 a night for a room, and 20c-$1 for a plate of street food, or $3 for a curry in a restaurant.  The food is really heavy though, lots of deep fried stuff and obviously curry, but also momo’s (dumplings) which is a nice healthy break.

tired now, over and out xoxo

PS we also saw some elephants, 6 actually!  I stopped to take a pic and they crossed the road to see us, quite scary!  (and also 2 rhinocerous  off in the distance)

these are the actual elephants we saw 🙂

it was a long way off, but still visible, pretty cool huh!

Samosa’s and tea, very British India!  HAPPY BIRTHDAY MUM!!!

Today we need to post the two new motorbike tyres we have to Amristar, on the Pakistan border, so we can pick them up as we exit India ready for Central Asia leg of the trip.  Big bikes and tyranny es are pretty much impossible to find here apparently so Dean bought these in Thailand.

After a trip to DHL who said the package was too big we went to the post office and lined up… Well that was a mistake…Everyone huddles around the window and speaks at once so we did the same. We were told that we needed to get the tyres put in a box, wrapped and then we need to go to a tailor to get then stitched with material!

a guy in a white goods store gave me this 🙂

What a mission that has become! In a big busy city with one way streets and not knowing where the hell we are going to find all this it is making us feel like we are not going to make it out of here today. It has taken us about 2 hours already and we have only just found a box which Dean is currently reshaping to fit the tyres. How we are going to get them back to the post office once they are wrapped and IF the post office is even open by the time we get there (as it is a Saturday) are still the questions we have ahead of us!

four rolls of sticky tape later… 16kg to Amritstar!!

Betsy draws a crowd wherever we stop. Here she seems so draw a bigger crowd and people feel comfortable to touch her too which doesn’t usually happen elsewhere. It’s not too bad yet (as I still don’t feel like we are in real India) but from what we have heard it is only a matter of time before people start to get on her and fiddle with buttons! Joy!

A guy has just been shouting questions in broken English at me about the bike (mainly asking how much it is worth which seems to be the main question here) and when I asked him to repeat what he had said, he asked if I speak English…?!

We have spent the night in Kohima which was supposed to be a ‘pleasent town to spend some time’ according to something I read… Well… We may have to change our definition of ‘pleasent’!  It’s ok but it’s busy and dusty and sooooo cold. We were literally in bed under the blankets at 5.30 last night and then proceeded to watch three movies and skip dinner because it was to cold to leave the room… the room isn’t heated… And there is no shower just a bucket…and this state is a dry zone… Living the life!  We were imagining everyone at home imagining us (maybe!) having this crazy, fun, adventurous time and there we were there in bed watching movies at 5.30pm on a Friday night!

living it up!!

As I said we are hoping to make it out of here today to somewhere less cold as we know that if we stay  here (which we may still have to), what we will be doing and I just can’t face another 6 hours of TV 😳

I lost most of this post mid way through writing it last time, so have reposted the whole thing anew, sorry for the repeated bit at the top xoxo

welcome to Myanmar

The middle aged man in the tired black immigration suit with just one stripe on his shoulder has now told me the same thing four times

“You can not enter”
So I switch tactic and tell him I can, because I always do it this way (lie)
“Many times I do this way, many times”
This is news to him, and prompts a phone call, more waiting and then more of the same.
By now there are ten people lined up behind me, I’m getting anxious (freaking out!).
We’ve paid $2160 to cross Myanmar, and now the Thais won’t let me leave Thailand!
More calls and eventually the boss arrives, a 25 year old guy in a smart suit and dark glasses.
“You can not enter”
“Yes I can, I have a visa, so I am allowed to enter” I insist while trying to remain polite.
“No your thai visa is in this passport so you need to…”
“That is no problem” I interrupt. “Please just stamp me out. I will enter with the other one”
Another call, then both my passports are handed to a mignon who runs over the ‘friendship bridge’ to see if the Myanmar authorities will admit me.
More waiting, but eventually he returns with a thumbs up. Ok then, now the young boss of immigration asks me for my paperwork to enter Myanmar. For fucks sake!
“My agent has it all, he is meeting me on that side” I point to the other side of the friendship bridge (now feeling like the hate bridge).

“Are you sure?”
“Yes I’m sure”
“Because without the papers you can not enter”
“I know, I have them, over there”
“Ok then you walk over, find your papers and show them to me, then you can go”  he’s not really being very helpful.
It’s a fifteen min walk there in my motocross boots, and I can’t find anyone…
So I resort to just yelling out in the chaos on the street “Burma senses! … Burma senses anyone?!”
A man points at a car, and two other men appear, they smile broadly and shake my hand introducing themselves as Ni and Hey.  Ni and Hey seem nice, they have a backpack full of paperwork, this is highly calming.  They seems to have it all under control.
Ni tells me to return to Thailand and he’ll meet me there in ten minutes.
I walk back over the Hate bridge expecting to find an irate girlfriend on the other side, but Sal hasn’t been dealing with all this so is only mildly bored…

On the other side  I’m greeted by Ni again as if my magic, I’m confused but he explains that he drove across, thanks for the lift I think, but ok now we’re getting somewhere.  Ni and I knock at Unhelpful Man’s door and let ourselves in.  Ni gives him all the paperwork, (which he cant read as it’s in Burmese), so he just flicks it to one side and now asks me for my conveyance documents…  A little light bulb in my head is flickering with recognition, but i tell him I don’t know what a conveyance document is… “conveyance document conveyance doicument…” he’s one of these guys who just has to have the last say.  Then the dimly flickering bulb goes to full power and I remember this form, it’s the form I gave to another guy an hour ago at a different window, in return for 15 baht and a dodgy receipt.  At the time I smelled a rat, so asked for the receipt, which i now unfold and give to Mr Unhelpful, pointing to the previous cubicle saying “I pay already”

He looks at this receipt in disgust, I suspect because this means one of his guys is corrupt, or because he cant ask me for money,  and now he cant argue with me anymore either.  Either way, he screws it up and tells me to get out of there.

Excellent.  We load the 4 tyres, one chain and a rear tube into Ni’s van and get ready to ride across the Hateful bridge, Ni takes off and we follow but I’m interecepted by another man asking for customs forms… FFS!!

“We do already customs!”

“No no no, customs forms window 12”

He insists that I park the bike out of the way again, probably meaning he’s expecting us to be a while.  Sal gets off swearing, I push the bike back and wander over to the window, where they wave another form at me, which like magic I produce from my document wallet.

“this??”

“yes yes, good good, passport please, please wait, we make copy… sign here… and here…  ok all finished”

Unbeknown to me at the time, Ni has tried to return to help us out, but the Thai’s wont let him come back into the processing area, apparently his pass is only valid once – crazy.  FINALLY we get moving again and ride over the now not only slightly angry bridge and park in front of the Myanmar customs point.

This side goes like clockwork, mainly because of Ni’s help, and we’re ready to leave in ten minutes.  But not before the Tourist police come over to say hello, take a picture, and welcome us to Myanmar.  We love the Burmese.  Most friendly people on the planet.

We ask Ni if we can eat something before we leave, and he says of course, there’s a restaurant just across the street.  I walk back to the bike to put back all my docs and see a puddle of oil under it.

Today has not started well.

The sight glass has fallen out of  my rear brake master cylinder, and it’s lost all the fluid.  This means the rear brakes don’t work.  The sight glass is clear (like glass!) and the size of a 5 cent piece, it would need to be special ordered from somewhere not here, so I go looking for it.

Walking back over the bridge again it seems like a futile effort, I have terrible eyes and it’s tiny, but i spot a freshly leaked drip of oil, so I follow it, all the way back to Thailand!!  Approcaching the Thai border the authorities try to usher me to the appropriate window for immigration, but i manage to explain that i’ve dropped something, they relax and I go back to looking.

By now the trail has literally gone dry, i resign myself to finding another solution and head back, but then, just a little way across the Now Quite Friendly Bridge i see a big splotch of oil, hmmmm.  Then a little further on, FUCK YEAH!!  It’s sitting in some sand in the gutter, I pick it up laughing and head back to Myannar 🙂

Meanwhile the Tourist Policeman who’d introduced himself earlier, along with another 4 guys have followed me across the bridge to try to find the sight glass too.  One of them got all the way to Thailand before turning back, i cant think of another place in the world where that would happen.  I meet Sal halfway across, and give her the thumbs up, she cant believe it either, we return to find Ni laughing.

It takes 5 mins and a zip tie to get the brakes working again, then we finally go eat breakfast.  By the time we leave the border post it’s 10:30am, and we’re really happy to be moving.

In many ways our journey actually starts here, this is the part of the trip that we really wanted to do, and was the seed for the idea of riding all the way to Europe.  It went like this.

“It would be great to ride around India, Nepal and Myanmar”

“Yeah so how do we get the bike there?”

“Why dont we ride it?”

“From here?”

“Yes”

“Well if we do that we should just keep going all the way to Europe”

“ok then!”

and so we are 🙂