Bye Bye India

Even with the best laid plans things just seem to take a life of there own. 

It seems that there was an unknown force that just wanted to keep me from getting to Central Asia. 

Option one was to go with a group through Tibet to the Stans of Russia. That fell apart due to the various timing schedules of the members. 

Option two was to drive through Pakistan and Iran with an American rider. Due to regulation changes Canadians are now required to use a guide when crossing Iran. So the more people to share the extortionist cost the better. Well the Iran thing fell apart after my fellow rider was hit by a truck in northern India breaking his leg and damaging his motorcycle.

So this left me looking for alternate options as I need to be out of India before my visa expires. 

So what is option three? I am now off to Turkey and will have to figure another time to hit Central Asia.

The way I see it no matter where I go it is somewhere I have not been before and therefore will be a great experience.

Fred being crated for the voyage across the high seas.

Final crate inspection then off to the customs warehouse.

Need to remember to buy a hammer when I get to Turkey so I can get Fred out of that damn crate.

See you in Turkey my friend!

It looks like I will be a typical backpacker for a month in Turkey while I await the arrival of Fred. How bad can it be hanging around for a month eating Kabobs, Turkish Delight and drinking strong Turkish coffee mmmmmmmm.

Sites of Delhi

The Red Fort

India Gate

Can't remember the name of the place but it was made to read the declination of the planets/sun etc.

Indira Gandhi

click on above photo to enlarge for reading

Where Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated

A little wee bit o' maintenance

I know everyone thinks it is all fun and games out here on the road. But just like taking care of myself I need to look after my mate Fred as well. So while chilling at a hotel I gave Fred a good look over and realized it was time to throw a new set of breaks on. 

So with beer in hand and iPod playing I had a new set of front and rear brakes on in about one hour.

Now the bike itself has performed flawlessly to date. And any issues i may have had have definitely be self inflicted. Once again I blew the front fork seals from riding way to hard. The first time was in Peru when I hit a huge bolder at speed and dented my rim (blew the tire) and jammed the forks so hard that the left seal was damaged. This time I was so fed up with the piece of crap roads (or lack of) that i was riding to hard for the conditions and bottomed the forks one to many times. And the result is not just one but two blown seals.

Thankfully I was only 500km away form Delhi where they had a Triumph dealership. And as per usual I was treated like royalty. When I arrived they dropped all other projects and went to work on Fred. 

A few hours later and Fred was good to go!

Here is proof that I have been sitting on my ass for the last three years. I wore out the top of my Airhawk riding cushion. So off I went and found a tailor in the market. And for $4 including material he replaced the top.

The Taj Mahal (Agra India)

Southern entry gate

The Taj Mahal was built by the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan for his third wife.

Construction started in 1632 and took about 22 years to complete.

The latest in mausoleum foot wear. Get yours quick before they run out!

Looking back to the southern entrance

He built the Taj because he was grief stricken when his wife died giving birth to their 14th child. 

Ya think so buddy!!!! 

Poor wife.

There are many rumours surrounding the Taj. One being that he was building a identical black one across the river. Nothing has ever been found to support this though.

Could not resist this photo op

"A" is for adult VIEWER DISCRETION IS ADVISED

I thought it would be far easier to describe the site if you just click on the below picture to enlarge enabling you to read about this world heritage site.

You do not see a lot of clean and quiet space in India so just to sit in the park area was a nice relief.

All the carvings are in sandstone.

Local resident

Ok, now for what I like to call stone porn. It seems back in 900AD they walked on the wild side and were free about sexuality. They loved the human form and everything it represented in all its glory. This is also the origin of the famous Kama Sutra.

People People People

Well I am back in India and the intensity of the country is prevalent again. As usual Fred and I seem to gather a crowd no matter where we stop. Point in case is the crowd in these pictures which formed while I was waiting at a train crossing.

Any stop longer than a minute will gather a crowd. But as usual everyone is very friendly and just curious about who Fred and I are (Fred more so than me) damn attention hog.

Driving through the country side I noticed that there are no longer a lot of trees left around the agricultural belt.  Wood in the past was there main cooking fuel but they are now using cow dung as a  fuel source. All along the road you can see neatly stacked and moulded piles of manure. 

For some reason it decided to rain for two days and the very poor roads turned into mud. Basically you have two choices when driving in India. You can drive through constant dust or mud if it rains.

 I would not want to see the driving conditions during the moonson season! 

Welcome to the holiest city in India....... Varanasi. 

The city runs along the river they call the Mother Ganges. 

Tourist loading up for a riverboat tour.

All along the river you will find Ghats (steps leading down to the river). There are over a hundred different Ghats and many are used for daily life like bathing and washing clothes. 

A few of the Ghats are used exclusively for cremation. You are not allowed to take photographs of these sites. But you can walk along these Ghats and watch a cremation take place. And fear not as there are cremations going on continuously, so if you are so inclined you will not have an issue viewing one. 

The Manikarnika and Harishchandra Ghats are dedicated to the cremation ritual and handle about 80 cremations per day. 

Daily life along the river.

The old school way of washing clothes 

Now time for the dry cycle.

A family of street pups enjoying an afternoon nap along the river.

The streets of the old city are a hive of activity.

March 6th is the start of Holi festival. It celebrates the coming of spring and is also called the festival of colours. If you are out on the streets in the morning of March 6th make sure you are wearing old clothes. They celebrate by throwing paint at each other in bags mixed with water or water guns. Or just taking the dry powder and throwing it at each other.

Powdered paint ready for sale for Holi.