Southern India - A Montage

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.

Enzo's Adventure!

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!

Home For The Holidays!

Santa in Varkala, South India.

Beach Kim!

Mountain Kim!

Blackcomb on New Years Day.

What we thought was going to be a Christmas spent on a tropical beach in Southern India with just the two of us ended up being a Christmas in cold Canada with lots of family and friends! It just goes to show, you never can tell what's going to happen. Going home was a bit of a last minute decision and it was due in large part to the fact that my Dad was getting re-married. We really wanted to be there for the wedding and witness their big day and because the wedding took place only four days before Christmas it fit in perfectly with going home for the holidays and giving everyone a Christmas present they'll never forget. Us!

We didn't tell anyone about our plans and except for my Dad and his, now wife, Henrietta, no one knew we were coming. The only reason my Dad knew, and we have to give a BIG thank you to him for this, is because he paid for one of our flights and that turned, what was otherwise only wishful thinking into a reality! The wedding took place at their home in Maple Bay which is on Vancouver Island and it was a wonderful day. Everyone was in a festive mood so it set the tone for a great afternoon and evening. All in all we spent four enjoyable days with them catching up and enjoying the slow pace of island life!

We arrived in Vancouver on the 18th so before we went to the island there was one person we absolutely had to see. Last Christmas was the first Christmas that i'd spent away from my family in 34 years and we knew that my Mom was super sad at the thought of not having us there for a second Christmas in a row. Because of this she was definitely the person we were most excited about surprising. And surprise her we did! We were a bit concerned that she may faint or have a heart attack when she saw us, but when she walked through her door and saw us standing there she did neither. Thank god for that! She did, however, shed lots of tears, shake her head continuously in disbelief and hug us so tightly we thought we'd break. I think it's fair to say she was happy to see us : - ) Attending the wedding, seeing my Mom and watching the look of surprise on other family members and friends faces definitely made the trip home worth it! It wasn't cheap and it certainly wasn't just a matter of a short flight but some things are priceless, just like those visa commercials are constantly telling us! That being said, it was a whirlwind tour and 16 days wasn't nearly long enough to see all the people we wanted to see, spend all the time with people we wanted to spend, have all the conversations we wanted to have, ask all the questions we wanted to ask or share all the stories we wanted to share. But, you make due with what you have and we're thankful for every moment of every day that we got spend with the people we care about. Thanks to everyone who made such an effort to come and see us and spend time with us on such short notice. I know we could have given you more warning and we probably would have seen even more of you but, if we'd done that we wouldn't have had the pleasure of seeing the looks of surprise on your faces and that, for us, was the best Christmas gift we could have had.

Once Christmas was over and New Years was upon us Kim and i made our way to Whistler. We wanted to start the new year off right and we couldn't think of a better way to spend January 1st than by riding powder while the snow fell from top to bottom all day long. Talk about lucky! Whistler is Kim's Canadian home away from home and the mountains of BC are his happy place. So, for him, getting to see his friends and spend time with them in said mountains was a highlight for sure. After New Years it was time to go and, although it was sad to have to say goodbye yet again, we left with happy hearts. Our hearts were happy because every moment of every day that we had in Canada was a gift and it's one that we'll treasure for a long, long time. Watch out Australia, you never know when we might pop up!

Meet Enzo!

This is Enzo. Enzo the Enfield! Enzo is a 2007 Royal Enfield, Limited Edition, Bullet Machismo 500cc. We found him in Chennai after 5 days of searching. As soon as we saw him we knew he was the one for us!

The Enfield is the quintessential bike to travel India on. They're still manufactured to the original 1950's specifications and each bike is hand made and comes direct from the factory. Because of its 1950's construction the bike is very simple and any bush mechanic knows how to fix it, including me!

We purchsed Enzo for 70,000 rupees ($1,600). This is a good price considering a brand new 2010 Enfield costs $115,000 rupees ($2,000). In the end a second hand bike was the only option for us because, as a foreigner, you can't register a bike in your name. When you buy a second hand bike though you leave everything in the previous owners name. It may sound risky but it's not. It's just how it's done here.

Before we were ready to head off we had to get some minor modifications done. We had luggage racks put on, a back rest for Chelle, two new tires and a full service. We also had to perform some modifications to our backpacks. This involved purging excess stuff that we've been carrying around for the past 11 months in order to reduce the weight and bulk on the bike for traveling!

We set off from Chennai two weeks ago and so far we've traveled 1,005 kms and that's brought us all the way to the southern most tip of India. On an average day we might ride for 4 - 5 hours, traveling at speeds of only 30 - 50kms/hr! It's extremely slow going because the roads are bad and there's cows, people, buses, trucks and anything and everything else you can imagine littering the road. Enzo's got a super loud horn though and, in keeping with Indian road etiquette, we use it all the time. If we used the horn like this in Sydney or Vancouver we'd be getting the finger a lot! Over the past two weeks we've traveled the entire length of Tamil Nadu from north to south. It's been a great start to our grand adventure but today we say goodbye and cross into the state of Kerala where better food hopefully awaits us!

Random Facts!

1. We haven't had a hot shower in 3 months.

2. We haven't used a washing machine in 9 months.

3. Kim hasn't eaten meat in 10 months.

4. We've traveled to 4 different continents, 2 of them twice!

5. We haven't cooked a meal in 10 months.

6. We've taken over 10,000 photos.

7. We've spent 297 nights sleeping in beds that aren't ours.

Big City India

The street in front of Deepa's "home" on a wet day and below on a drier day.

Indian cities are crazy places and Chennai is the 4th largest ctiy in India. It can be described in one word - constant. Constant people, constant traffic, constant shock, constant death, constant life, constant honking, constant poverty, constant noise, constant struggle. It goes on and on and it never stops. It's a country teeming with over a billion people and it's crazy! Crazy how different our lives are from theirs, crazy how unfair life is, crazy how a country can function like this, crazy that this is acceptable. Just plain crazy! That's the only way to describe it.

There're many reasons why we like this crazy country, don't get us wrong. It's an amazing place, we just struggle with trying to understand things like this for instance. There's a family that lives on a chunk of pavement across from the guesthouse we were staying at. The husband has a job as an auto rickshaw driver yet they still live on the street. Deepa, the wife, is a lovely lady of about 23 or so. They have two kids. A one and a half year old and a baby. When we were there it was raining heavily and the street in front of their "home" was flooded with filthy, polluted water. One night we were on our rooftop and we looked down and saw the one and a half year old toddle through the water, which was up to his waist, and go across the street. It's crazy. These people live in filth, at the mercy of the elements and die on the same corner they were born on. Deepa's whole family lives on the street from what we can make out; aunts, uncles, sisters, brothers, mom, dad and cousins. The crazy thing is they're just one family out of millions living the same life.

Kim and i were constanty approached by people wanting something from us whether it was a cup of chai, some biscuits, money, a bag of rice, clothes etc. It goes on and on. It's soooooooo hard because you can't help everyone and even the people we do help we aren't helping, i mean really helping, in the long run. The problem is just too huge. We bought Deepa's kids some new clothes and we bought them some fruit. We also bought the baby a toy truck so he'd have something to play with while sitting on the street corner. They're the one family that never asked us for anything and, despite their situation, they were always smiling and saying hello.

It wasn't all poverty and despair in big city India however. There's a middle class and a really wealthy portion of the population as well. It's a crazy juxtaposition that's for sure. For example we went and saw the movie 2012 while we were there and it was playing in a super plush theatre, nicer than any we know of in Vancouver or Sydney. Another night Kim and i went out on a date to a fancy tapas bar where we drank $10 martinis and ate a lovely meal. It was a crazy feeling sitting in that restaurant, indulging ourselves and knowing what misery awaited us outside. We struggled with that one for a long time. We could have fed many families with the money our bill came to.

We're not in Chennai anymore but it certainly made an impression on us and gave us a lot think about. I don't think either of us will ever forget Deepa and her family. We'll always remember the warmth and the smiles they shared with us and they'll serve as just one more reminder of how lucky we are. How lucky we all are.

Pictures From Paradise!

Why do we have such big smiles on our faces? Because we spent the past month in paradise. You can scroll down and see for yourself! We never would have left but as a foreigner you can only get a permit to stay for 30 days.

This is beach #5 on Havelock Island in the Andamans. The beaches here don't have names, just numbers! That's Kim walking back from an early morning yoga session. It's about 8:00 in the morning and the sun's already high in the sky and it's hot. The sun rises at 5am and sets around 5pm here. Geographically the Andamans are closer to Thailand and Burma but they're a part of India so they follow Indian time. We'd get up pretty early so we could enjoy a full day of fun in the sun!

The sand was so soft and white it felt amazing to walk on!

Postcard picture perfect is what springs to mind when i look at this photo. And then i see the coconut and i'm reminded of just how scary it was to walk around anywhere! There are so many coconuts in the trees and no one bothers to take them down until they decided they want to eat or drink one! Seriously, i felt like i was taking a huge risk any time i walked from our bungalow down to the beach. On our last morning on the island we had just woken up when we heard a loud crash. We assumed that a coconut had fallen on the tin roof of our hut but what we didn't know until we went outside was that it had gone right through the roof and onto our little balcony. Lucky no one was sitting there!

We found this little guy on the beach. After picking him up to have a look at him we put him back in the bush where we thought he'd be a bit safer!

This sunset goes down in history as one of the most beautiful sunsets either of us has ever seen!

This shot was taken at beach #7 at a place called Blue Cove. It was one of our favorite spots on the island. It was about a 20 minute drive on our scooter from where we were staying and the drive itself was breathtaking as you rode through lush, green farmland.

Check out the hermit crabs. We've never seen so many before in our lives. They were fascinating to watch. Along with the dogs they ruled the beach!

I don't know about you but this photo cracks me up!

We did a lot of snorkeling and diving while on the island. This photo was taken at a place called South Button. We took a boat there with some friends and we were really impressed with the condition of the coral and the amount of marine life.

This is a fish we bought at the fish market for about $2! Every day from 2:30-4:30 the fisherman would bring their daily catch to the market and you could go in pick your fish, have it scaled and cleaned and then get one of the restaurants to cook it for you any way you like. We had fish grilled, fried, done with masala, you name it we tried it. Yum!

This is Little Mate, our favorite dog on the island. The dogs here think it's a good idea to lie on the road or by the side of the road and it's not uncommon to see dogs with paws that have very obviously been run over by a rickshaw or car. In fact when we first arrived we were in a rickshaw looking for a place to stay and we're pretty sure our driver did just that. We felt a bump and then heard the immediate yelping of a dog as it scampered off. So what did our driver do? Nothing, he just kept driving along. I hit him and called him an asshole and his reply was that dogs are bad. I felt sick about it and couldn't believe what had just happened. What a way to start our stay in paradise. The next day we saw this little guy hopping about, his right paw was pretty mangled and it looked fresh so we thought he must have been the dog we ran over. He hung out by a place where we ate a lot so we would feed him every day and take him leftovers if we'd had a fish for dinner. We made it our mission to fatten him up and help him get strong. By the time we left he'd put on a bit of weight and his wound was healing. He'll be a hop-a-long dog but we think he'll do all right! India's a hard place to travel when you're an animal lover, that's for sure.