Adventures in The Lost World 5 - Back to the warmth

It was a cold night. Although there was hot water in the bathroom, the bathroom was cold. Alex explained how he and Vidhya had filled water bottles with hot water. I didn't have a problem with warmth from the duvets, but a wash in the morning was a brisk and minimal affair.

Downstairs we could luxuriate in some morning sunshine. Breakfast meant chai and a local variation on an omlette. It was made with rice and went either with ketchup or jam. And lots of toast. It was interesting and certainly did the job of refuelling.

So we geared up and collected the bikes from their off street parking.

 So back down the mountain we went. Luckily it hadn't rained and again I followed Will. We set off steadily. Following another bike means keeping a sensible distance and in traffic keeping to a different part of the lane. So if they are on the outside of the lane, stay back a few yards and go inside, to maximise your line of sight. As you get out of town then it is easier to follow a decent line around the curves. And there were curves, right hairpins on a downhill. It's harder and slower going downhill than up because your stopping distance is longer so you need an extra margin of safety, which was a lesson I had forcefully bashed into me yesterday.

The group quickly overtook and scooted off, Abhi patiently played back marker, with Ashraf, who was running in the other bike. Ashraf was wearing the crash helmet he bought at the border check yesterday. He'd spent the first day riding without, but the mountains are different. 

A lot more dangerous, especially going downhill.

But the weather was good and we could look around a bit and appreciate the beauty in brief snatches before coming to another bend and worrying about a lorry lumbering on the wrong side of the road. After 90 minutes or so we met up with the rest of the group and waited for the van to catch up. The chai stops help to refuel the riders, let the adrenaline levels go down a bit and importantly let the van catch up. So Doc is never so far behind. Doc had given me an anti inflammatory pill as my wrist was a bit swollen, and some support with my many old bandage.

So refreshed we set off again.  The hard parts of yesterday had dried out and we faced them going uphill so it was lot faster, 10 kph instead of 3 kph! And the normal stretches were a lot faster, just assuming there would be potholes and oncoming traffic reports nd every corner. Which turned out to be true most of the time. Today's additional challenge was from jeep taxis charging mercilessly up-country. They would be overtaking on sharp corners, taking the racing line on bends, or just not liking bikes so forcing you to at least consider the off road options, if not have to take them. And judge your pace to either speed up or slow down to meet them at a slightly better part of the road.

We passed a truck that had its front wheel hanging over the edge and four guys armed with what seemed like a string preparing to get it out. Goodness only knows how. 

I stopped a couple of times pretending to take photos or take off some clothing as it was warming up. But I just need a rest from the relentless ride. Trying to find a good line and minimise bashing the bike, while keeping a reasonable speed and being ready for danger at any moment got wearing. If there had been any spots to stop for chai I would have done, but there weren't so we took a quick breather and trundled on. 

By the time we got to our lunch stop of the day before I was five or ten minutes behind the group. But well ahead of the van. I arrived as the food was ready and before it had all been eaten. So perfect really. More of the delicious soup and momos. We had eaten the lady out of momos yesterday so luckily she had had the chance to restock. 

The eight of us would be a major impact on her day. 

We stood around for a smoke afterwards, swapping stories and comments, joshing and watching the well behaved dogs devour a pack of biscuits Ashraf had bought for them.

And the boys took a more photos.

 This is a long way off the beaten track and I'm not sure I'll get to put comments on Trip Advisor about individual spots, but this was excellent.

And the kids cute. Often the girls would be wearing what would pass for princess dresses in the west. Maybe they got dressed up for us, hopefully they normally go around like that.

But it's a sad world as we didn't take photos of them. There is a pressure to not show any interest in young girls, however innocent it would be taken as suspect. Which is sad because they like pretty dresses and being complimented. But we don't. We saddle up and move on.

But one minute outside the village we faced on-going repairs. Which was quite lucky because Michael remembered he had forgotten his phone back with the momos. So there was no delay while he went back. As soon as there was a gap we went through but I got shouted at by a Tourist Taxi Jeep as I would not give way. All for the sake of 5 seconds.

The valley opens up and we went back down to the border checkpoint which seems to be a look quicker going out than coming in. Maybe I just took longer to catch up with the group, maybe it was just easier. But it was a day to take photos. 

Vidhya worked her magic and we did not have to sign individually or produce documents.

The road opened up, was almost entirely tarmaced and was for more like the riding I normally do so I was happy to race along close to Alex. He steadily pulled ahead and I eagerly looked for spot to take photos, but only found a couple. 

There are too many shots of fields and mountains and roadside huts, it needs a more professional camera and the eye of a portrait artist to get a good feel for life up here.

Many of the landscape shots had huge pylons in them. The electricity for a large part of northern India is probably hydroelectric and generated in the mountains. I was thinking this was a blight on the romantic 'natural' landscape, but it is probably the story. India developing rapidly. The pressure of more than a billion people.

And that pressure built as we got closer to the town. The road was bordered by shacks, then buildings and the traffic got more and more dense. And the dust and the fumes. And we were bobbing and weaving up the constant queue of slow moving traffic. And a sharp left into the hotel, who were more prepared than two nights ago. We could get all the bikes in without a huge kerfuffle.

We got to the rooms and waited for the van. And waited, and waited.

Some got a shower and siesta, most got on the internet umbilical to connect with the comforts of home.

I took a stroll down the street, biker jeans and boots are not the best kit in the heat.

There was little to see and a lot of traffic to avoid. So it was a short stroll.

Coming back to the hotel, Lewis was still keeping watch for the van. Michael and I were talking about going into town and inflicting our combined 200kg on a poor rickshaw driver looking for business. But we decided to chat and wait, keeping an eye out for the van.

So it was a surprise to see Doc crammed into the front of a tuc tuc. In the back were all the bags and Lovely. The van was back up the road without a clutch.

Somehow with the miracle of India things would work out. 

We unloaded bags and grabbed a shower. I spent 30 minutes trying to unblock my bank card. I had told the credit card company but failed to phone the bank before coming out. Trying to get cash out of an ATM in Delhi airport had lit up the fraud department. To get through the security checks I got asked questions that did not reflect my account, so I offered to check the details online and call back. But they blocked my internet access when I suggested that and I had to go for a second level. I was left on the line, perhaps to check how serious I was. The lucky part was that Michael had recommended I use Skype, which saved a lot of money. 

All this while sitting on the stairs because the Internet did not work in the room. While on a roll I had a video chat with Hamish in Thailand. Strangely for a 17 year old he had run out of money but met lots of interesting party people!

And out of the lift stepped Paul. He was on the 3 Mile High trip in 2015.

He was a few days late because he'd been biking in Laos on a trip arranged a long time ago and had added this adventure to the agenda. His luggage had got lost in Vientienne, Bangkok or Abu Dhabi. He had his own adventure getting it back and sent on to Guwaharti, where he was booked through to and had stayed while waiting. The adventure involved taking names and phone numbers, photos of each document, buying the taxi drivers SIM card off him and spending a lot of time on the phone.

People emerged from their rooms and lots of happy greetings. While he got sorted the others went to the bar and I finished my chat with Hamish. Behind me there was a gentle thud as if someone had dropped something down the stairwell, then another. Perched on the railings were two monkeys. I guessed they were not hotel pets and had found a way in through the roof. So it was time for the bar.

The tasteful one...

 A couple of self confident young Indian girls asked to have photos taken with us. We went off to an excellent supper, where Alex asked the chef to come out to receive our congratulations. He even whipped up some Mnchurian chicken on request within a few minutes as well.

Back in the bar the girls were in a far corner talking Assamese, Abhi said, but came to the bar and started talking English. We talked among ourselves.

Alex and Michael kindly split the bill, I offered Paul earplugs but he didn't bother with them and I was asleep within minutes.

We both woke with the dawn and the muezzin at about 05:15. Good man his first thought was a brew and even better he had teabags.

So we got chatting and I failed to write much for the blog... But we were getting ready for a long ride to Nagaland...