Adventure in The Lost World 3 - Bikes away

Our first day of biking.

This was to be a gentle ride up country to get us used to the bikes. So we were told to meet for breakfast at 7 for a briefing. I was fully kitted out, ready to ride and banged on Michael and Will's door to find them in a similar state, but we were all confused as we thought we maybe heard something about leaving at 10-ish.... Anyway showing willing wouldn't matter.

Of course it did. Alex thought we were silly, but those were not his exact words.

Nevertheless we got a rundown of the North East of India, with tales of state partitions, the birth of Bangladesh from a natural disaster in the early 70's, of animism, and multiple more formal religions, of tribes and insurgency, newly discovered species and roads on the map that don't exist on the ground. The tension is being built. "On this stretch of road we'll have to do 50km without stopping, for any reason." "Here they ambushed a police convoy last year and killed 17 policemen." But we have an advantage, we're white. Which means we are not seen as threatening. The local people are proud of their area and want people to appreciate it. We look forward to the chance.

Then the rules of the road briefing. There are none. So be aware.

In India we should drive on the left. In theory. We had already encountered lots of bikes and tuc tucs and the occasional car riding the wrong way up the side of the road. But if you see a right hand indicator going this could mean someone is turning right, or overtaking, or that you should overtake. So you overtake at your peril, because they could be turning right.

Use your horn, all the time. Don't have your headlights on, it confuses people. It normally means you have no brakes but are riding or driving anyway. Interesting.

So after the briefing we had a relatively quick breakfast, which meant just three omlettes for me, along with toast and chai. Always chai.

Then we gear up and conscientiously check our bags are loaded on the truck. Too many stories of missing bags, then you are in trouble because getting it back is a lot of extra work.
Gearing up means different things to different people...

And the new bikes.

A quick talk through the technical stuff like cylinders and torque and horsepower and stuff. I understand a couple of things like the bikes seeming more powerful than the specs and they have cc, I think.

They feel really good and we check that the main things work, like the horn and the throttle. The indicators as well, just to show willing.

I take the bike for a test spin round the car park, at 3 miles an hour. But manage to park in the shade as the day was heating up. Or was it nerves.

Then Alex led us off. Luckily Will went ahead so I could watch his speed and line. I made it to the bottom of Turn Off A/C Drive and onto the flat road. It stayed flat for a while, running alongside a tea plantation. As we came out of the side road there were lots of very different looking people at the roadside huts. This area is a mix of faces and races, with a lot of 'almond eyes' as the Italians like to think romantically of Asians. Most people were smiling and some waved.

The road east ran parallel to the mighty Brahmaputra river, but we couldn't see it. Close to town there were a couple of cars, a lorry and some tuc tucs that chose random lanes to drive on. So on the dual carriageway they would be coming at you head on, on the side of the road, or even in the fast lane. Just stay alert and give them a wide berth.

Up through the hills, past the rusty remains of former factories, girder skeletons and flaps of corrugated rust. Then a small quarry, or a huge brick factory and more ruins. Gradually the countryside opened up, tall straggly trees in small groups, and open fields, and lots of ponds at the edges of settlements. We knew from the briefing not to go in the ponds. All sorts is in there, none of it good.

After an hour or so we stopped for chai. With a local style fan oven.

We saw guys up to their waist in water, harvesting or trying to catch something. We saw vultures and storks soaring, cattle and goats on the road.

On through the more open countryside, with fewer motorised contrarians coming straight at us. And a stop for lunch where we had some of the best Dahl ever made. Under a tin roof, with tables and plastic chairs that Lewis tried to break. But the food and the chai very good.

We were not sure if the chef was Nigel Farage in disguise, or a close relation.

Hanging around for a smoke afterwards a kid of about 6 or 7 shyly clung to his mother before she let him come and introduce himself, proud of his English. He asked about us and talked about school, very politely shaking hands. He came back a few minutes later and introduced his older brother and the rest of the family. As Will said, the wonderful difference is that in the UK strangers would be avoided. Here we are welcomed.

And back on the bikes to cross the Brahmaputra. It's really big. I got told off for measuring it at this narrow point, 4 1/2 km. Vidhya and I stopped to take photos on the middle of the bridge and the panorama stretched all the way around,180 degrees. Luckily this is the dry season. Monsoons start in a couple of months, then the river really gets going.

Iti s incredible to believe these two photos were taken from the same spot. Its a big river!
A new bridge is going up. You can see the pillars steadily rising with people clambering among the rebars, but I didn't get a picture though it looks as though the pillars are being hand built.

On the far side we roared on the open road with similar countryside, clumps of tall trees and open fields into Tezpur. Still in Assam, but a big town with the usual bustle, seeming horribly confusing as multitudes of people go about their daily lives with multiple individual solutions. 

And in among the concrete chaos was the hotel, where we crammed the seven bikes into space for two cars and unloaded, waiting for the van with the luggage.

Vidhya got everyone sorted for rooms and since Paul would not be here for another day or two I got a room to myself.

That was a mistake...

We showered and tried to get on the wifi, which worked if you sat on the end of the bed with the device pointed north north east and at chest height. But there was internet.

I tried to write some more, but failed to figure out how to save and it got lost.

So down to the bar for a beer. The bar is really quite surprising, more like an 80s nightclub, or naughties lap dancing club, said one of the guys, who'd heard about the style from a friend who overheard it in a bar, apparently...

The beers were more western prices, as was the excellent selection of whiskies. But we stuck with beer, followed by a superb dinner. But we were not allowed to drink booze there, so we had water. Which felt strange. Good, but strange. The food was delicious and it was easy to eat too much, especially the chillie chicken.

Then Alex decided we should have a party, in my room. Michael brought the whisky and we started with the usual ragging. Alex asked if he could smoke, so I said no. It sort of helped because he smoked out of the window, but I drew the line at cigars. Everyone got the wrong side of the driving limit and I started comparing the insistent demands for smoking to kids who push and push to find the boundaries. Of course explaining this out loud set off a new line of ragging. And it's been a recurrent theme. Boundaries. And ratchet straps.

When the party wound down I opened the door, turned on the fan and hoped the draught would get rid of some of the smoke. I really did not fancy sleeping in a smoky room. Another of those social changes, It's a rare thing to smoke inside nowadays.

Hopefully I'd get a reasonable night's sleep. It was into the mountains tomorrow. And we know what that's like, with the weather and the landslides...