Namaste everyone, it’s been a while!
Since our return from Canada we’ve covered a lot of ground, seen a lot of things and had more than our fair share of adventures. We’ve zigzagged our way through the southern states of Kerala, Karnataka and Goa, riding more than 4,000 kms. Enzo’s taken us through small coastal villages, large chaotic cities, tea plantations and cool mountain towns. He’s gone from elevations of 4 meters below sea level to 2,000 meters above sea level. He’s taken his first boat trip. And, more recently, he’s gone on his first train trip.
His boat trip was in a small round boat called a coracle. A coracle is a boat made of bamboo and wicker sealed with a tarred bottom to make it waterproof. As Kim says, it looks like a giant soup bowl! They’re used in Hampi - one of our favorite places in India so far - to cross a small river. It’s either that or you have to ride 45kms down river to the nearest bridge in order to make the crossing. At first Kim and I were hesitant but after we watched a coracle carrying two smaller motorcycles and six people cross successfully we thought we’d give it a go. It was a nerve racking experience, wondering if the boat would hold the weight while watching water slowly enter through a leak, but it’s one that we’ll remember for years to come!
His train journey is also something that we’re bound to remember for a long time. It was, without a doubt, his biggest adventure to date and, again, a nerve racking experience! Our Indian visa expired today, March 17th, so we needed to leave the country. We decided some time ago that we would do this by going to Nepal with Enzo to ride through some of the most spectacular mountain scenery in the world. Seeing as how we were in Goa which is in the south and we had to get ourselves more than 2,000 kms to Varanasi which is in the north we decided to put ourselves and Enzo on a train and make the journey that way. This is something that people do every day in India without incident so we had no reason to assume why it would be any different for us. Little did we know…
There’s only one train a week that makes the 36 hour journey from Goa to Varanasi and, even though we purchased our tickets 4 weeks in advance, we got two of the last available tickets and had to make the journey in general class which is a bit of a free for all on an Indian train and another blog entry all together! The good thing about having to travel general class, however, is that the tickets are cheap, cheap, cheap. We paid 540 rupees per ticket or $13.50. Enzo’s ticket for the journey came to a bit more at 2,030 rupees or $50.75. We were ok with it though as he’s precious cargo!
To get him ready for the journey we took off his mirrors and had him wrapped in cardboard and hessian for protection. We filled out all the appropriate paperwork, put a big tag on him clearly indicating the name of the station he was to be unloaded at and were assured that he’d be taken off and waiting for us on the platform when we disembarked. We were a bit paranoid and for good reason it turns out.
When we finally reached Varanasi after 36 hours of travel we got off and went directly to the parcel office where Enzo was supposed to be waiting. But guess what? You got it, he wasn’t there! So, where was he? Continuing on down the line without us because the workers at the parcel office failed to do their job and unload him. They fed us some bullshit excuse about too much cargo and not enough time to get him off. But they didn’t even look, plain and simple. They told us they’d phone ahead to the end of the line and have Enzo put on a train coming back to Varanasi that night. “Relax. Go and enjoy yourselves and come back tomorrow morning at 9am to collect him” they said. So, given no other choice, that’s what we did. We took in some sights and went back the next morning as planned. I’d like to say we were surprised when, yet again, we didn’t see him sitting there on the platform, but we weren’t!
At this point we were starting to get a bit concerned as it was now the 13th and we had to have Enzo fitted with new shocks and still make the two day ride to the border before the 17th. Time was of the essence as they say and we were quickly losing faith in the ability of the Indian railway system to do its job. And their excessive head wobbling and inability to even tell us where Enzo was was doing nothing to instill confidence!
To make a long story short, it turns out Enzo was still on the same train we’d gotten off of the day before and it was due to make the return journey back down to Goa that very night. So, once again they told us to come back and assured us that he’d be there on the 5:40pm train. Having no faith whatsoever in the parcel office or its porters we went back an hour early to supervise and make sure that Enzo didn’t end up going all the way back down to Goa. As luck would have it the train was 2 hours late but he was on it and we did get him unloaded and all was well in our world again : - )
I’d like to say that Enzo’s troubles ended there but they didn’t. We had to have him fitted with new shocks as we’d started bottoming out on the smallest bumps all of a sudden and we knew we had some rough roads ahead of us. We also wanted to have an ongoing problem with the oil return fixed once and for all and, seeing as how we were in a large city that had an Enfield dealer we decided to take him there and have him sorted out. We had to wait until the 15th to get the work done though as the 14th was a Sunday and the dealership was closed. This meant that we only had a day and a half to reach the border so, in an effort to maximize our time we took all our gear with us so we could begin the long journey ahead of us as soon as possible.
After spending 5 hours at the mechanics we were finally on our way. Enzo was all fixed up and riding smooth until about 30 kms out of town when I felt a sudden warmth on my leg and asked Kim to pull over. Imagine our surprise when we saw oil everywhere. It turns out the Enfield mechanic hadn’t connected a hose properly. Luckily we found a roadside mechanic 2 kms up the road and he was able to give us a quick fix. We’re back where we started though and after all that time spent waiting at the mechanics we still have a problem with the oil return. Poor Enzo, he’s had a rough couple of days! The important thing is that we made our deadline and, after a 10 hour day on the bike, ended up crossing into Nepal yesterday with a day to spare.
We’ve come from Varanasi in India which is where Hindus go to die to Lumbini in Nepal which is where the Buddha was born. These two places couldn’t be more different. You could almost hear the collective sigh of relief Kim and I breathed this morning when we woke up surrounded by peace and tranquility as opposed to the usual honking of horns, blaring of Hindi music and loud talkers as we call them! Tomorrow we’re heading to the spectacular town of Pokhara via the Siddhartha Highway which the Lonely Planet says is “regarded as one of the finest and most scenic motorcycle journeys in Nepal”. We’re looking forward to it!
Kim and his young friends showing off their tatts on the beach in Varkala. Who tattoos a 10 year old? 
Riding through the tea plantations of Munnar in the state of Kerala was the most scenic drive we did in Southern India.
A typical scene on an Indian mountain road. Don't worry, in places like this we ride super slow and use our horn a lot! The buses honk continuously too so you know they're coming well before you see them.
These are the picturesque Chinese fishing nets found in Fort Cochin. We really enjoyed our two days spent here. We wandered the streets, had a fancy dinner in a hotel that was built in 1788 and Kim convinced a rickshaw driver to let him have a go at driving. Good times!
When we were in Mysore we found this guy on the street making stickers and decals so we decided to get one made for Enzo. We put it on his headlight and now everyone knows his name!
This shows a market in the colorful city of Mysore. A bit different from going to Woolworths or Safeway to buy your produce!
Out for a walk amongst the boulders of Hampi. This place was incredible. Rocks of all shapes and sizes balanced precariously on top of one another for as far as the eye could see!
Just sitting contemplating the wonders of the world. Hampi was one of our favorite places in Southern India.
This shows Enzo's trip across the river in a coracle. We explain more about this in the post below titled Enzo's Adventure.
Kim took this shot as the sun was setting one day in Hampi.
This is Kudle Beach in Gokarna. We spent five weeks here practising Tai Chi and chilling out.
