Ganga News

Part of the derelict 'Beatles' Ashram, Rishikesh.

The Ganga.

Me, in The Ganga.

Other people, in The Ganga.

Well, after 2 weeks, I finally left Rishikesh. It's a place thats very easy to spend time in. Also got into a routine for the first time. Yoga, Eat, Chill out, Yoga, Eat, Sleep. Anyways, in the end I got the motivation to leave after Christmas.

Now in the capital of Uttar Pradesh- Lucknow, a Muslim city, famous for the Indian Mutiny/Uprising/War of Independence (depending on your political point of view) in 1857. The mutineers/freedom fighters surrounded the British Residency after we got rid of the local prince. 3000 soldiers women and children were then under siege for 8 months. The residency was reduced to rumble and only 1000 odd people survived. And so it goes. Lucknow is the most organised and cosmopolitan city I've visited so far. Lots of posh shops, not many poor people and a Marks&Spencer.

Going to spend New Year here, then head off to Varanasi, the Holiest of Hindu city.

Happy New Year everyone!!

Ganga Bike News

Hope everyone has had a nice crimbo. First off I,m going to start off with some bike news. After 4000km on Indian roads, I thought the bike was deserving of a major service . In the end it did turn out to be pretty MAJOR. In the end I had a new piston and cylinder block, valves re-ground, new clutch plates, fork seals and a general overhall. Ended up costing me just under 60 quid. Man, I love this country!


My first river crossing. Also the first time I've ridden bare foot, with rolled up trousers. The water came above the footpegs!!

Poor old knackered piston. Don't worry, you did your job well:)

Got the paintbrushes out and did a bit of bike customisation. Had to fly the flag for the Empire!

Merry Christmas and all that crap.

Merry Chrismas one and all. Thank god I'm in a predominantly Hindu country, because I've not seen one fairy light, inflatable santa or Christmas tree. In the future I'm definitely holidaying in a non-Christian country over the Christmas period! Bahhhhhhh humbug.
First of all, apologies folks, no pictures. Curse of the crap internet connection has struck again. For the past couple of weeks I've been hanging around in Rishikesh, chilling out. Its one of the more peaceful parts of India I've visited so far. Its a small town in the foothills of the Himalaya, on the River Ganges (Ganga) Famous for its temples, Yoga Ashrams (Schools) and home to the Beatles in the late 60's. The old Ashram where the Fab Four stayed is now deserted and slowly being consumed by the undergrowth. Kind of a spooky, interesting place to trespass in, as long as you bribe/avoid the guards and hold a big stick to fight of the monkeys with!
Pretty much everyday I've been going to Yoga classes, so for 3 hours a day, 6 days a week have been slowly getting more and more bendy. Can now pull off some pretty extreme moves- my best being- The Crow. Hopefully by the time I get back to the UK I'll be able to levitate.
Today I went for a Aruvedic massage. It was a penis out, leave your modesty at the door kind of affair, and not the sort of thing an Englishman abroad should partake in. Never the less, after a hour and a half off having the crap beaten out of me, i'm feeling alot better.
Did only intend staying here for 3 or 4 days, but its such a chilled out place I'm sticking around till boxing day, then heading East to Lucknow and Varanasi.

Happy Christmas Everyone

Himalaya!!

Hello everyone. For the past week or so I've been in the foothills of Himachal Pradesh, a state sandwiched in between Pakistan and Nepal. First up was on old British hill station called McCloud Ganj, that now serves as the base for the Tibetan Government in exile. It definately felt more Tibetan than Indian, lots of red robed monks walking around in Nike trainers. Unfortunately the Dali Lama wasn't at home, off around the world trying to represent his lost country no doubt, very inconsiderate:)

On the road to Manali.

Next up was a ride out to Manali, the Indian equivilent of Chamonix, but with open sewerers. In the summer it has whitewater rafting, paragliding etc. In the winter, snowboarding. The ride up there was fantastic, though I realise now, riding in the Himalaya in winter, I probablly should of packed some warm clothes:) The road continues out of Manali and up to Leh in Kashmir, bit off a motorbike classic, but with passes at 5000m, a bit snowed up at the minute. If anyone fancies doing it one summer, give me a shout.

Monkey contemplates life, above Shimla.

For the last couple of nights I stayed in Shimla, another British hill station. This one served as the summer capital of the British Raj in the summer months when it got too hot on the plains in Delhi and Calcutta. It did feel a bit like a little part of England. Grey sky, lots of police, lots of signs prohibiting smoking, littering, spitting etc. Luckily the rest of India has shaken off all that crap. Stayed in a REALLY posh hotel (it had its own libary, although how you could read a book during a two night stay is beyond me) It was very nice being waitered on hand and foot, although they did give me a funny look when I walked in, in biker gear, covered in dust and engine oil.

Sector22, Chandigarh. The whole city looks like this.

Came out of the mountains today and arrived in Chandigarh, new Capital of the Punjab. The old one was Lahore, but that happens to be in Pakistan now. After partition in in 1947, the Indians took the insane decision to commission the modernist achitect Le Cobusier (inspiration behind the lovely Parkhill Flats in Sheffield) to design a new capital. As a consequnce an entire city off 1 million, looks like.............Parkhill Flats. There arn't any neigbourhoods either. My hotel is in Sector 22! Anyway, had to come and have a look, and it is just as horrible as I thought it would be.

Off to Rishekesh tomorrow (where the Beatles hung out in the 60's) to do lots of Yoga, Meditation and all that other hippy shit:)

Rajastan to the Punjab

Jaisalmer Fort

Hello everyone. Left Jaisalmer 5 days ago, heading north up to the Punjab. It took 3 days riding to get to Amritsar, centre of Sikhism, and the old capital of the Punjab. Riding in India takes time. National Highway 15, the road out of rajastan is more like a British B road, but at least it was straight and tarmaced.


On The Road, Rajastan


Amritsar is a fantastic city, its a typical Indian city, noisy, dirty and hectic, but right in the middle of the chaos is the Golden Temple, the holiest site of the Sikh religion. Its an incredible beautiful Temple in the middle of a man made lake. Very peaceful and relaxing place. Everyone was very friendly, practicing there English on me. I seemed to be the only honky in the entire complex!

Me, headscarf and The Golden Temple, should really have grown a beard.

No such thing as a free meal? There is at The Golden Temple:)

Took this at a mad Hindu Temple. It was more like a ride at Disneyland. You had to follow a one way path around the complex, crawling through man made tunnels, streams etc.. The whole place was done out in a 70's disco theme.

Sticking around Amritsar for a couple more days, get bike serviced, visit Pakistan border etc Then headin up to the Himalaya!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Police,Drugs & Camels

Whats happenned since the last post! Well, last week was spent in a really nice hotel in Jodhpur, chilling out. After spending a couple of weeks in mad,busy Indian cities, it was nice just to read and chill by a pool. I also benifitted from meeting an old French hippy at the hotel ( who did the whole hippy trail thing in the 70's ) He'd had been givin a load of nepali grass off an icelandic gentleman. Suffice to say some of its now on its third owner. The last weeks been very relaxing:)

Last few days have been spent in Jaisemier, a small fort town about 100km from the Pakistan border. Its right in the middle of the Thar Desert, so yesterday went on a camel safari. My camel was called Raja, he seemed to be the best behaved of the bunch, going vaugely in the direction I wanted him to go. Luckly there is not much to bump into in the desert. Spent the night sleeping under the stars, then came back to town this morning. Turns out the guildes didn't pay the tourist tax and didn't feel like bribeing the cops. We had to take a detour of the main road and through a load of gypsy villages, with a cop car following us. We had 4WD, the fuzz had 2WD. We won.

I would post pictures, but 1) I accidently deleted them all off my camera. 2) Slow computer, the connection for this post is through a mobile phone:(

Anyway, I'll post the safari pictures when my fellow desert buddies email me some copies.

Curry of the Week- Veg Jal Frazi. mmmmmmmmmm



My bike- a 350cc Royal Enfield



Hazards of the road. Not sure how you flip the photo, sorry.



Amber Fort, just outside Jaipor



Jodhpur, for some reason its called The Blue City



Delhi Market, breath in that fresh smog



Holy Cow



Main Mosque, Delhi



Would you buy anything from these guys?



Me in front of a big white building, Agra


Well as promised, heres a best of selection of photos. Finally found a computer that runs XP. till crashes when I try to charge my ipod, but beggers can'nt be choosers.

Motorbikes,Cricket and The Taj

Well, first of all, apologies again, ive failed to find a internet cafe running anything later than windows 95, so yet again i carn't download any pictures. The letters have worn of the keyboard, and an Indian gentleman sitting next to me is browsing porn sites, so again apologies for even more spelling mistakes than usual. Lonely Planet guide tells me theres a good cafe in next town i visit, so i promise photos in next day or so.

News so far is- I bought a 2004 350cc Royal Enfield in Delhi last week for 39000rupees (about 500 quid) Its black and silver, and sounds awsome when its running (it deveoped an electrical/ignition problem just outside Agra, but a trip to the mechanics, a new coil and 15 quid later its was back on the road:) The designs 50 years old, so i'm guessing it wont be the last time i visit the bike wallah.

After getting bike fixed, spent a few days in Agra, visiting Taj Mahal, which off course was very beautiful, and very busy. Day after I went to the Red Fort ( yes there seems to be a red fort in every town round here, but this one was much nicer than the one in Delhi. Mainly because the British didn't flatten the compound to create a barracks and arsenal in this one)

The last 5 days ive been in Rajastan, in a medium sized market town called Jaipor. The main reason for visiting this place is because it hosted the final one day international cricket match between India vrs Pakistan. A real local derby. Unfortunately you were not allowed to take cameras, bags or weapons into the ground, so i'm just going to have to try and describe it. Its not like Lords. Ive never seen so many riot police, mounted police, riot vans, watercannons at a cricket ground in my life. It,s also the first one with 80's style football fenceing and barb wire around the boundry as well. Anyway, India got hammered, but fortunately they had already won the series 3-2. So the army wasn't required in the end:)

Arrived in Delhi

Hello everyone:) Finally arrived in India. First impressions are- it hot (even though its winter), dusty, dirty, smelly and noisey, basically everything i'd hoped for. I feel right at home. Oh yeah, the currys not bad either- best one so far was a butter paneer masala, hhhhhmmmmmmmmmm....... and its all coming out the other end in a controled manner so far.
Well been here 4 days now. First day was spent finding hotel, getting over jet lag, and tentivly exploring the the local market- it was definatley a case of spot the jet lagged white guy just of a plane, but managed to get out alive without buying anything.
Second day was spent looking at bikes in the bike market about a mile from hotel. Had a test ride on a 350cc Royal Enfield, which was interesting. You have to believe in caos theory to ride in delhi. As long as you go with the flow it all seems to work out fine. Gonna shop around a bit more and buy one tomorrow.
The last couple of days i've been doing the whole tourist thing- Red Fort, which was big, red and fort like. Jama Masjid- the biggest mosque in India and the National Museum- which had stuff from 4000bc up to the Mughals (19thC)
I would post some pictures, but this computer doesn't have a USB port, so it will have to wait.

Stuart