Well as I told you in my last my bike was delivered but as it was late afternoon and traffic was heavy I decided not to try and ride it until the early morning when there was less risk of my crashing it even before i had started my travels.
I woke up on time, 5am, went down and my bike was still there. Yay, after battling with the kick-starter I finally managed to get it started and took a couple of spins around the block. Easier said than done as the Royal Enfield is based on a 1950s British bike and for me its all ass-backwards, the gears are on the right and the clutch is on the left, the gears are 1 up and 3 down instead of the other way round and it takes some getting used too. But I managed without falling off, loaded my bags on the bike took a last look at the map (and what I hoped would be a last look at my hotel) and set off to find my way out of Mumbai, a huge city of 16 million people speading for miles in every direction.
I dont know if I found the way out or the way out found me, after all, this is India so I guess it is a Zen thing and 25 kms and 1 hour later there was no city aroud me and I saw a sign "To Pune" and I was truly on my way. Outside the city I was still surrounded by vehicles of every description but no buildings, few slums and very little garbage. As I continued the countryside turned green and the city was left behind.
After driving for about 30 mins on a beautiful (relatively) highway I pulled up at a tool booth to be informed that 2 wheelers were not allowed on it. I was even told that I would have to pay a penelty but after a short consultation I was forgiven but told to leave the expressway, which i did.
When I got off I saw 2 roads, 1 paved and 1 unpaved. Of course I chose the paved road - BIG mistake. 20 minutes later after negotiating sheep, goats, oxen, donkeys and cows I was in the middle of nowhere. I stopped at a tiny cafe in a tiny village and asked the tiny owner if he had a large coke, he did. as I sat there people gathered round to see the westerner on an Enfield. I took some pictures and the kids there loved it and kept asking me to take more, I did, and when I showed them on my digital how they looked they were thrilled. That seems to happen with kids everywhere I go.
So back I went 15 or so kms, again passing all the anomals until I reached the unpaved road and took it (again a Zen thing) and believe it or not it took me all the way to Pune, on the way I again passed a largw collection of domestic animals, which I have already described and in addition I met an elephant coming the other way, I swear! Also a caravan of camels going in my direction. Amost interesting ride, what can I say.
On the outskirts of Pune, while stopped at a traffic light my engine stopped - low revs - no biggie, and as I was already stopped I decided to have a smoke and a short rest. As I was standing there a guy came up to me and asked if I needed help, I told him I was having trouble with the revs and he offered to fix it, which he did. Then he said that he wanted to take it for a drive to check it, he looked at my face (you can imagine) and asked me if I was worried and I said what the hell, take it. Off he went, the wrong way into crazy traffic and I sort of waved goodbye to my "junk". But 10 minutes later, or was it 10 years? he was back, gave me instructions how to get where I was going and refused payment. Zen again.Tired but exausted I finally found my hotel and settled in.
Driving in India can only be a Zen thing, people ride where they want, how they want and when they want. There seems to be no rhyme or rythm and red lights are of course only a reccomendation. There is however a pecking order: busses are top of the hill because they are biggest, then come trucks (unless it is a huge truck then it comes before the busses), then come pickups followed by cars, autirickshaws and then motorcycles though because they are quicker than autorickshaws can sometimes out rank them. At the bottom of the heap are bicycles and then, only then, pedestrians - you dont want to be one of them!
Thus ends the lesson for today. Wait for the further adventures of Arie in Pune.
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