30 January Nepal and Khatmandu

Wow what a ride !

It started pretty rough as there was a strike. Some civil servants were being transferred and objected. So they stopped the traffic. Burning tyres, burning branches across the road and angry young men that were obviously not involved but representing the threat to world peace. Stupid young men.

These ones had sticks and as I was passing took a swipe at me hitting the top box.....

I was pleased to be away and soon into the foothills.

Again the advice on road conditions was more than a bit off whack ! It started well enough as I climbed into the foothills. A magic climb up the mountainside to 1930 metres, and a glimps of the mighty Himalayas.

Well then it got rough and I say really rough. The locals were managing it on their light bikes but for me it was a "handful".

I spent a whole lot of money going on an "adventure" ride labeled the pretentious name of the "World Tour". I had more adventure on this ride than the whole Goat riders debacle. What a ride. It had everything including a water crossing, steep ups and downs and a surface that ranged from stones, to dust and everything between.

It was just amazing and 24 hours later I am still feeling stretched muscles, and no I didn't bite the dirt but I inhaled plenty of dust !

Khatmandu was a shock. Its slums on the river and its full on commercialism. Hotel was good though. Internet, clean, and polite people ! Goodmorning can I help you sir ! Culture shock.

Hope I got some OK pics of the ride and the road. The shot with the bike has a background of road not a shingle slide !

nzl04

Before I go some rural images

nzl04

29 January Patna to Nepal

My last day. It has been rough and tough. The roads bloody terrible to fantastic, the countryside, I loved and the cities I hated. The attractions other than the Taj Mahal were frankly disappointing. The poverty and the dirt and the rudeness just plain unpleasant. As my Granny said politeness costs nothing. Perhaps they have the wrong Grannies ! They sure do have something wrong to live in such poverty and be so miserable.

However the last days ride included the dreadful and the wonderful.

Lets see what inages I can create that reflect the countryside.

Even getting across the border was a shambles. Immigration do not have lighting, so riding past is easy. Customs was a man in the street that stopped me and took me to an unlit office for processing the Carnet. I do not have a passport stamp I said. You do not need one, just go ! I objected but was told to move on.

I was sent back by Nepal to find the Immigration (Police) and get my stamp. Well there you go.

So you guessed it I was again loking for a Hotel in the dark. And I found one and the man was smiling and said welcome ! Aaah a new land !

nzl04

28 Jan Allahabad to Patna

I was up early to see the sun rise at the Sangam. No transport. Fortunately I decided against taking the bike.

The Pics are the tent town, well part of it, a small part of it !

The publicity says 80,000 people were there two days prior on Anniversary day. It that was 80,000 then I am astonished. I reckon there must have been more than half a million still there.

I rode into the "camp" and after a Kilometer was nowhere near the river so I headed back and looked for the bridge out of town. It was just bewildering how big this site was.

I frankly still have trouble believing the size of this riverside campsite. If it was a misprint and there were 800,000 then it would not suprise me.

I was heading for Veranasi where the sacred Ganges flows past the Gats, where Pilgrims wash and float their dead and so on. So as usual I rode right past the city and NOT A SIGN DID I SEE. So being the sacred being that I am I took this as a sign and kept on going.

I was fortunate because I had several hours of beautiful rural riding.

Then I paid. The usual truck jam at the usual rail crossing and 40k of horrible road in the dark to find a dump called a Hotel with rude staff. I think they practice rudeness. Every question is met with a blank expression. After repeating the same question often more loudly there comes the reponse which as far as I can tell is exactly what I had been saying. Then a type of communication takes place.

Now that I have left I can say frankly if there is not an anti white resentment alive and well in India then I am totally mislead. I have not in all my travels mixed with a more humourless, sourfaced, unhappy unhelpful, people. Their arrogance that they speak english and what ever I speak is not, is frankly bewildering.

So I stayed a night in Patna with increasing optimism that my India ordeal was nearly over. The truck is "broken down" and there it sits with the driver asleep in the shade beside it.

nzl04

27 Jan to Allahabad

What a hell of a day. I got the "dinkum oil" on the road to take......well of course when you get over the hill you just pick up speed so a was off and running and not realizing I was on the wrong road.

The pics, the "bridge" and party of the beauty of the paddy field. The rural area is great.
Sorry about my humour but I couldn't resist "port and sta'board"

Well I got the firsyt 25k right then I must have missed a turn. I had ridden the "bad" section I was warned of, and then came a really good road. The countryside was like nothing else. Magnificent. And you know what no traffic, I should have known better.

Soon the good road got a little narrower, then even narrower, and finnally pretty bad just before it petered out in a river bed.

That was a ooohh shit moment. Then I realised people were walking and not out so I carried on and there was a approach to a culvert through which the water was passing and suffient hard fill to ride over. So I did.

The far bank revealed a suprise, as there was a swing arm barrier manned by a bunch of kids. They asked for 30 rupee. I just sat there. After a while they were getting uneasy so I offered 10 rupees which was accepted and away I went.

The road improved as well. So that was good as I made the half way town. I was then back on the actual road.

So then in succession I got good bad, over a hill on good, bad, over another range of Indias version of the Swiss Alps, or what Yanks ( we need to call them something because American covers a continent) call twisties, then bad, then atrocious, then 10k of truck jam. They are a nightmare. Trucks all over the road. Often caused by a railway crossing that they close for up to 40 minutes at a time. So then the trucks line up on the left and cars and bikes line up on the right totally blocking the road. Yep you can see what happens when the barriers go up. Not much ! What a crazy business.

So again I arrived in the dark.

Allahabad is the point of confluence where the Ganges and the Yamuna and a mythical River the Saraswati meet at the "confluence" which are special to Hindu's and this one the most sacred, known as the Sangam.

So I was here to "see" that.

nzl04

Tigers

You thought I didn't get a picture I guess !

nzl04

26 January is Anniversary day in India

The small town of Tala no exception with a ceremony at the school of singing and dancing.

I was also interested in getting the washing done ( well it was Monday, washing day !).

Then the highlight a safari.

I should have had no greater expectation really but I did. After the pathetic performance in the other two parks this was supposed to be good, but when you put a youth in a jeep and let him loose on a closed road what do you expect. Yes a very erratic and rough ride. So we raced round in the trees, the only person having fun was the driver. We saw precious little wild life until the call went up Tiger ! and the race was on. 25 to 30 jeeps taking whatever path they could to find the tiger that had been seen. Soon there was a crush of jeeps reving, people talking phones ringing, cameras flaching as this Tiger ( they couldn't decide wether it was male of female which suprised me) strolled out of a creek bed, rolled in the grass and wandered back into the bush !

That was the show folks.

nzl04

25 January Jabalpur to Tala (Bandhavgarh Park)

I was pretty annoyed to find the grinning twit with the cover off the bike. The Hotel staff did what they allways do apologise and then nothing !

You will see how attractive and interesting the rural roads are.

The road was just a ride North. I did ask about the "other route" but was assured it was a bad road. They were wrong of course, I got the bad road.

It is easy to forget Indians do not travel. They have no concept of where they are on a map, and the next town may as well be in Pakistan for all the interest they have in it.

So I passed a cricket match, that was good, and then found the town. Finding the way out was more difficult because they have no signs and no idea of where the next town is or even its name ! So it was ride and hope.

It didn't take long for the road to deteriorate finally into no road really at all, just dust and stones loosly connected by random pieces of tar seal and potholes but that was after it got dark.

The evening light in the countryside was of course great. This place is really pretty in the evening off the main roads with people going about their lives.

I had other works to do to get the last 35k in the dark with vehicles with no lights, trucks tractors, bikes, carts, the usual, including trips off the road to avoid the oncoming monster as it loomed out of the dark.

I did find Tala. It is a "reserve" town including the Maharaja's now Hotel. He was the one that found and bred the white Tigers which he sold to Zoo's around the world. ( None in India I was told !) He didn't get to be Maharaja by mistake !

So my lodge was found and a price negotiated. And a great nights sleep. You actually have to pay a lot more to get a decent clean bed and a quiet sleep, but even then there are no guarantees.

nzl04

24 January Amvarati to Jabalpur

I am on a mission to make the miles. Its a long ride today and no matter who I ask I cannot get them to agree to a "secondary road". No wonder the main roads are so conjested. It will be about 420 k so I decide not to rebel and head to Ngapur. This would be the most European city I have seen so far. Street signs, curbing, paving, shops, trees without animals under them, some semblance of order and tidyness. Sadly I am just passing and as hard as it is to get round or through a city here I managed this one loosing only about half an hour backtracking.

Sorry I have the wrong pictures. These are typical scenes however. The way out of town is obvious by the road ! and the ladies are everywhere, in great colour, usually carrying something.

The road to Jabalpur is countryside but main road, so trucks, villages where the road disappears and reappears on the other side.

The evenings are a great time to ride with the setting sun and the colours but then it turns to black pretty quick and if a Hotel is not found by then ...problems, because they have no real signage. Anyway I got lucky after trying one place that said "park on street very safe" a journaist said he would take me to a place and he did.

After lengthy explanations and pleadings, "please do not touch the bike" I came down the net morning to find some grinning car park attendant with the cover off showing his mates "his" bike. His explanation, was he was cleaning it ! I really am getting to hate these lying little fukkers.

So another night another Hotel and no internet. Well done India.

nzl04

23 January Ajanta to Amravati

The ride through the countryside when away from the main truck routes are great. These are pictures from "along the road".

I really find the Indian countryside a pleasant place to ride of course that means it is necessary to disregard the the driving, the roads, the congestion of animals bikes people and so on.

As for Amravati, I can find nothing to support any justification at all for ever going to that place again.

I had to get a Policeman to find a hotel for me, and then having put the cover on the bike and as I had thought retired for the night I discovered that the security staff had taken off the cover in order to show their friends, sit on it and take pictures.

The Manager could not work out why I was annoyed. And I was !

This is the second time Hotel security staff has held a little side show after taking off the cover, and just one more of the reasons I rail about a lack of morality in commerce here. Not that it happened but that the management could not see why it shouldn't and why I was annoyed. And why was I, because I lost the lense cover in that escapade, and I still have a problem as a result of the tip over when I got hit by the truck that means another knock and I loose part of my handlebar and I would like to avoid that.

nzl04

22 January Aurangabad to Ajanta

Aurangabad is a major centre in Maharashtra. It has a Taj Mahal lookalike structure. Smaller but nevertheless it is there. It has some caves, and down the road a walled city, and then the Ellora Caves.

It seems that the early religious groups located these remote places to build their temples in the rock walled ravines of old rivers. There are a number of them, starting in Turkey, and so on through to India and no doubt beyond. Some are ornate, some painted but a bit like seen one seen em all. There is not a lot one can do to a hole in the rocks. I do not mean to be disparaging but stone carving that has been in the main mutilated by those that followed is not a major attraction for me. The poor buggers that lived through the construction and the actual living in them I do have some interest in.

However I was off to the next cave system in Ajanta. The picture is of the line of temples in Ajanta and of course the Duddha in teaching pose. I know you knew that !

As it turns out, all caves are pretty much the same. The getting to and from had a distictive aspect however. I have never been on a bus that contained so many people.

nzl04

21 January Leaving Surat for Aurangabad

What a battle getting out of town. The mass of people is unbelieveable. The thing that gets me is that they don't give a damn for anyone else. They drive ride and walk like the world belongs to them, alone. I don't understand that at all. Is it a huge inferiority complex, that says I am so important I can do what I like.....like walk into a moving motorcycle as one did to me, or ride my motorcycle into a far bigger motorcycle as another did to me. What the hell is it about these people that makes them so damn self important that they actually hurt themselves ?

Yes the chickens were alive !

They drive like that as well. It is not unusual to meet vehicles three abreast coming down the two lane road toward me. In that event its the off the road for me. It is very unusual.

My observation and mine alone is that they are so desperate for some recognition. And in a population of however many billion people recognition may be an issue for some. The commercial morality issue is another matter that vexes me.

Do they say what they think you want to hear to again appear important, or is it a deeper moral issue ? The Satyam issue which in India is big news every day is a case of commercial greed, fraud and immorality. Cheating and lying, but that is not just an Indian issue. America has it. New Zealand has it ( and lots of it ). So perhaps it is unfair to see that as an Indian issue. It is a world issue, the lack of morality in commerce and that is why we have a financial crisis.

So as I battled my way across the flats of coastal Maharashtra these things were not on my mind. Survival was. Then the Gats, the mountains that rise on the western coast, with their colourful people, the Sares in the feilds, the villages, all dirty and dusty filled with animals, carts, bikes animals, people, and people, endless people.

But the roads. Signs disappeard, the sealed surfaces disappeared, and it was just hard riding, but that what its about. Frankly there are times when it makes Russian roads look good. So with the signs missing I got the wrong road at Delia and added to my journey, however something godd often happens and as I rode toward Aurangabad in the dying rays of the sun, the fields turned gold and the parade of people and animals making their way home was pretty magical. The buffalo used as cart pulling animals, some white, some gold, and the black ones, milking animals I suspect with the lower curled horns......and the cart loads of grain stalks, and the fields of cotton buds white in the grey fields. It was pretty good.

But I made it to a Hotel. Dirty, rude ( its not a personal thing, rudeness is an attitude that they accept) and the english. Excuse me if I am repeating but I can not get used to being asked to speak english by someone I can barely understand, with statements like "if you will not be speaking english I cannot be helping you" ...that really gets me.

nzl04

19 and 20 January

A ride to Surat from Bhavnagar.

A pleasant start up the estuary and through some pleasant rural landscapes. Birds, crops animals, all pretty good. Then came the bad stuff. The main road to Mumbai. With excellent planning the roads board are upgrading the highway so they built the overpasses first. No roads, and the old roads have been completely shagged in the construction process. Then of course there are new sections. Not joined, just randomly constructed, and incomplete. Compacted metal, shagged tarseal, new seal, the whole sideshow. And traffic.

So Surat is the textile city and it surely is. Down every side street are rows of weaving machines (and the odd street barber) all clattering away producing fabric by the truckload, ( and I mean truckload) except it is transported by truck only to the market and then it is carried in large bundles on porters heads.
The textile market has to be seen to be believed. Sadly I couldn't find the diamond market. Surat is the diamond polishing centre for India. It is on the coast, not that I could see it as here I am lucky to see across the road through the airborn grime.
What a hellish city, crowded is hardly adequate, noisy is not adequate, and hell to drive in is a total understatement.
I did find a Hotel. I did find a mechanic, a Royal Enfield specialist, and we did manage to get the treacle out of the bike and replace it with oil. No luxury of a new filter, but clean oil is better than nothing.
Same with the Air filter. It was like beating a dirty carpet the dirt that came out, but back in it went.
Why the BMW is considered a bike suitable for round the world rides does leave me with more questions than answers. Perhaps if you have some mechanical aptitude and a box of spares that may be different but the damn thing is designed to break bits and guess what then you have to buy some new parts....I think Henry Ford had a similar strategy.......let it break and sell em spare parts !
I can report that the "gunge" that does have a trade name but is a mixable resin product that was applied to the leaking water pump gasket is still holding water. That was a result of a well meaning mechanic putting the old gasket back because it looked allright. Well it was for 5000 km but then it failed. The reason it was not replaced was "we do not carry spare parts" and it will take several days to get a gasket, "but it looks good to me". It wasn't. To be fair it was replaced under warranty but no one knows where it is ? It was sent surface mail to India ! Good one BMW !
The most number of problems faced by BMW riders (650's) are caused by mechanical error.
I shall prevail, but think Kawasaki.... Kawasaki.... Kawasaki..... or even Honda a bike they have in in the mega millions.......they are everywhere, I have never seen so many bikes. You could walk across the road standing on them they are so thick however I digress.
With any luck I head for the hills tomorrow. Inland toward Ngapur if you are following this on a map.
Then I turn north toward Nepal but that will take a few more days.
So tonight its yes CURRY ! However it is not really hot and it is tasty and I am actually enjoying it.
I am still hoping to find out for my own curiosity why people actually come here ?
NZL04

18 January to Bavnagar

I planned to go to the coast where there is a "special" state that allows the sale of alcohol and is billed as a resort. Yeah !
It took me half an hour to ralise that I was in the wrong place. The portugese influence has long been lost. So I was off to Bhavnagar a city on the coast.

There is nothing like a Temple and some caves......plus a parade !
It was just a night in a city however I did get a direction to a local restaurant, the Gujjerat Thali Restaurant.
8 small dishes great flavours....breads 4 types.... and buttermilk and it was great great great !
nzl04

16th and 17th of Jan Sasan Gir

This is a very small town based on a few villages in the wilderness and a Lion reserve.
Why its called a Lion reserve is interesting as I think it should be a people reserve for Lions.
The day I arrived four young men went for a wlk to look for Lions....the lions ate one of them.
The next day a Lion that was living near a village and eating the odd buffalo was tracked by some young men on motorbikes, and one got mauled when they got too close.
But of course you guessed it......I spent a day driving round looking and could not even see one in a distance....dammit !
So that was Sasan Gir.
I must observe however that the Gujjarat countryside is fantastic.
This is so far the most "habitable" part of India.
Sorry still no pictures......in order to get on the net I have to provide proof of identity ! Thats just to get on the web......so WIFI....you must be joking ! But of course this is the IT capital of the world.....again you must be joking.
Their idea of attracting tourists is to charge a 500 rupee "camera" fee in the game parks. OK its $15 nz but they want tourists and tourists take pictures that attract their friends to visit so am I missing something here ?

nzl04

15 Jan Nondescript city in India

An overnight stay in a scrungy city

14 Jan Udaipur

More to come

12/13 January to Pushkar

This is the clasic tourist town, not just foreighers but locals as well. It has a religious past.
For me it has been a place to sit in the sun, eat some lunch at lunch time and do some bike maitenance and laundry duties.
In fact a day off in a short sleeved shirt.
The beauty of the town is destroyed by the idiots on motor cycles that roar through the narrow streets with blaring horns. What a damn shame.
I got a reprimand from an Indian gentleman that read my blog, very nicely, but he was concerned about my criticism of Indian driving. Well there is no doubt it is the worst in the world, and thats a sad fact. That Indians make some concession and adjust for speeding cars that do not indicate and drive on the wrong side of the road because it is smoother, does not change the problem. Dangerous drivers. Another biker has ended up in hospital with some breakages sadly, don't know who caused it but India takes its toll on foreign riders.
So tomorrow I head for Udaipur in the South of Rhajistan. With luck I will find the right road, a new one, it will be fine and sunny and the other vehicles will stay on their side of the road !
With luck I will also find a Hotel with an internet connection so I can add some pictures.
I better add that India is part of the experience. Its a tough part but not to be missed.
nzl04

12 January Bundi

A short ride. But what a ride.

This was supposed to be a good road, however I was directed 3 times to the "olf road" and was it old.

Fortunately it was mostly me and the goats.

Despite the atrocious road it was actually a hellofagood bike ride.

The best part was however riding into Bundi.....at last it felt like an Indian town. And it was sort of warmish.

Got the usual bum steer from the Lonely Planet on accommodation but it has now been replaced by a Rough Guide. There are many unhappy people in India with the Lonely Planet.

However met a guy from Florida and we had dinner together (thanks Sean) at a nearby Hotel. Home grown organic food and cooked under Mum's supervision. It was great. So hear is the plug, and thank you Mrs Singh at the Nawal Sagar Palace in Bundi.

The town is great and only the pctures will show you that.

You will have guessed that India is far behind the rest of the world with Internet. In a word, bloody hopless ! How they can claim to be an IT nation is a sad joke.

Never mind, it was warmer.

nzl04

11 January Tiger Day....yeah !

The reason for visiting this area was to go to the Tiger Park. Best chance to see a Tiger ! Well as the Hotelier said when I was lamenting the wasted day, "you should be here in the summer, then you see Tigers" !
So I have yet to see my tiger !
nzl04

9 January to Sawai B

I have had a change of plans so instead of heading north I am continuing south. I am not enjoying the cold.
The ride across the plains, yes more plains to the town of Sawai B... was pretty ordinary. There is not a lot to see, other than villages and fields of crops between but not luxuriant crops...mainly just green something !
However I found the town, after a battle with conficting "turn right" meaning turn left, and straight ahead, but failing to mention the left turn....
However the room was OK but expensive....hellish when one considered that there was no heating.
So I tough it out.
nzl04

8 January Bharatpur

I did make it to the sanctuary yesterday.
Took a rickshaw ( the pedal kind). The Sanctuary was a Marahaja's duck pond, and by the look of it all they did was to put up a fee collection office and a gate keeper.
Yes there were birds however perhaps I was expecting too much.

So Today I finally succumbed to the throat infection that had been building as I "ate my way through the dust". A face mask is essential. Sadly with the fog I was not aware of the dust factor until I got pretty sick.
Never mind, thanks Doc the Anti biotics saved the day.
I still do not quite comprehend that this is India and I am freezing cold !
nzl04

7 January Bharatpur

Hoped to go to the sanctuary but it is encased in fog....maybe this evening.
nzl04

6 January to Bhartapur

A short ride in the fg.
Went looking for ruins after a very difficult exit from Agra. No signs.....
Still made it, didn't stop at the ruins as there is little known about them and on to Bharatpur to the bird sanctuary.
Took a ride through the town. Another Mughal fort with a moat.
nzl04

5 January in Agra

Sightseeing.....more later but nothing had prepared me for the Taj Mahal. It was simply awesome.
nzl04

4 January ?

Lost a day

3 January Karnal past Delhi to Agra

Quite a ride. Lots of traffic and not much to be entertained by.
So it bacame a haul to Agra which I made in the dark and was fortunate to find the right street for the Hotels.
Anther pretty dirty, run down expensive dump, sadly
nzl04

Tattapani to Karnal 2 Jan

Today I rode out through Shimla.
It was a better trip out than the ride in. A pretty good ride until I hit the traffic on the main road to Delhi and the traffic hit me. But of bike damage but nothing too bad.
I am just biding time waiting for parts.
As you may expect nothing happens very fast.
nzl04

New Years Day in Tattapani

This is just a wierd "resort" in a valley in the Himalayas where I spent a day trying to enjoy the hot spring.
nzl04

31 December to Tattapani in the Himalayas

The bad thing about rushes of inspiration is that they are often not well researched, and this was not. I decided that after riding to Chandegarh yesterday, a dismal ride in the fog, that I should celebrate my success with the epoxy by taking a detour.
So I set off into the Shimla Hills, about 100k I was told and Tattapani a few kilometres beyond that.
The ride to Shimla was an expedition. Bad roads, worse driving, and fact pandemonium and chaos on the road. The road steadily climber from about 350m up into the Himilayas. It was dramatic. Steep sided hills with houses clinging to the sides. Some bush cover, but mainly quite thin and dirt and dust in clouds. The drivers were all over the road. Left right and middle. If an obstruction occurs, they just pile up around the stoppage, both sides of the road until no one can move. Lots of honking as every available inch becomes occupied. Then of course the detanglement must occur and that is a time consuming process. At risk of offending these people are the stupidest drivers I have ever encountered. Rude, selfish and just plain bad drivers.
However I made Shimla after 127k only to find that my destination was another 50k further on on even worse roads.
I had no option but to continue. Past the highest golf course I have seen at 2600m perched on the side of a hill. Very odd. However I still had to go from the top of the mountain to the valley floor at 650m. That was one ride in the fast fading light. The sun on the mountian tops was dramatic but not as dramatic as the road that clings to the hillside and winds its way to the river bed. Goats, monkeys, people, the usual hazzards, and of course buses and trucks with no respect for motorcycles. It was get out of their way or wear them.
Eventually in the dark I found the place reccommended by Lonely P and why did I expect better. A dump which I found had been condemned due to constant flooding, and now they plan to build a dam and flood the area properly. The dam up river releases at night and the river rises by 5 feet in minutes.
However the reason for coming was the "sacred" bathing in the hot water. Now that was good, well did not compare to even a poor facility, in a grimy concrete tub, but it was hot water and I enjoyed the therapeutic benefits. Everything else is unmentionably bad. Bad food, dirty rooms, dirty beds, cold shower, pretty grim.
I lasted two nights. It was cheap but that sometimes is not the issue.
So on the 2nd I set off up the mountain. It was to be fair a damn fine ride in the daylight. Dramatic scenery, I did not see any leopards which I understand live in these hills but the usual goats, dogs, monkeys and women cutting and carrying. In Pakistan the donkey is the "workhorse" in India I think its the women.
The day was pretty clear and it was again a workday so initially the road was not too crowded as I got to Shimla. It amazes me how they make a rubbish heap out of a town even on a mountainside. However the bits of bush were good but again the relentless dust......as I descended the mountain again into the madness of the traffic where a typical idiot in a truck, they have no idea of the extremities of their vehicles, as I stopped for an intersection ran into me knocking the bike amd me over, and breaking the hand protector and clutch lever. He kept on going the bugger, but soon a crowd gathereed and lifted me up and I was again away down the road.
The weather is really suprising. It is cold and foggy. I ran on for 260k for the day, a long way in this traffic, and found the town of Karnal. Not chosen for any purient thoughts I can assure you.
Found a Hotel. A grand place, managed a haggle on the price and decided to stay and catch up on emails and washing.
Washing is a real chore. Clothes are at a minimum. Mostly one of everything and they all need washing, frequently.
So the parts for the bike are still somewhere in the air. My chosen machanical shop in Delhi expects the parts on the 9th. I expect them sooner but I am reluctant to put all my faith in an epoxy patch on the leaking water pump gasket.
That is the problem. Getting repairs done in the UK on the problem caused by a mechanic that did not do the water pump repair properly (left out a washer). As far as I can tell 100% of the problems apart from breaks, are caused by mechanics. Not just roadside mechanics, BMW workshops are places of hazzard that cause untold problems for cross country bikers. They are in the main "not competent". They also lack parts, the BMW model of not carrying any stock at all.
I have to say I question the BMW and its suitability for the job. The engine is a Rotax, but badly maintained by BMW. The body is pure BMW fantasy. To check the radiator first take off the rear top box, then the seat, then the engine cover...... Its not a joke its pathetic design.
So I am in Karnal.
Where to next ?
nzl04

Few Days in Amritsar

I needed to rest the fott which is bruised ugly and sore.
The protection equipment we wear is sometimes as hard on the body as the fall. This time the knee protector in my riding suit has given my poor old leg a real bruising. Never mind it still works.
India ( well the north part) is shrouded in fog. Airports closed in Delhi and it is very dismal.
Lets hope for better days soon.
nzl04