Agra to Etawah
I left Agra pretty late in the day and made a start towards
the next place I wanted to see, Varanasi.
The roads east from Agra seemed a little more relaxed than those
in-between Delhi and Agra and had much longer stretches of countryside between
the towns. The roads were still very flat and with India being in winter, the
temperature about 28 degrees Celsius.
Just after nightfall the road came to an end as the bridge over the rail
track had not finished being built, so for now everyone was just stepping over
the tracks. After crossing the tracks
there were perhaps 200 people congregated around what looked like a float for a
carnival with elaborate paint and a flashing lights and a single thrown like
chair placed on top about 3 meters high.
Sure enough I found myself sitting in this chair to the delight of the
whole town. I felt like something from a
gladiator film on my way to an honor killing.
A good nights sleep hidden from the roadside.....and a man with a very enviable tash |
Pontoon bridge over the mighty Ganges - i chucked the kid in the river for messing with my brakes |
Varanasi |
roadside wash |
making the most of a burst main |
riding into the night |
Riding in the night is both good and bad. Temperatures are
more bearable and people don’t notice you as easily, so you get hassled a lot
less. However, lorry drivers get drunk for long night rides and finding
somewhere to sleep is more problematic as finding a place to pitch a tent at
night isn’t easy! (Plus hotels are
limited away from main cities in India).
I eventually found a large building which I thought could be a hotel (or
even if it wasn’t a place I could ask to stay). I went into inquire and found
myself sitting a room with 6 men and the door closed behind me, one way clearly
the boss with cigarettes being placed in
his mouth and lit for him. There were also mice which kept running across the
floor. The situation was made slightly more awkward by the fact my feet stunk
too..You know there bad when you can strongly smell them yourself!
It turned out the building was an empty guest house of
sorts/very small hospital. After an hour or so chatting up stairs my plea to
camp on the grass outside was rejected and I was told to sleep in a big
orphanage style room with the patients downstairs.... later upgraded to an
offer to sleep in his personal room. Most kind. The guys all left on motorbikes
and I went downstairs to see what was going
on, where I was told to meet the doctors. What followed was probably the
most bizarre thing that has happened to me in all of my bicycles travels...
I went downstairs to meet the surgeon. Really pleasant chap
a few years older than me and we chatted about healthcare in India. A few minutes later the “senior”
doctor arrived, referred to as his “big brother” or the “master” or “chief”
doctor who apparently owned a hospital over the road. He was completely
hammered, foaming at the mouth and slurring every single word. He kept pointing his finger at my chest and
striking it across my body like a knife whilst telling me he could perform any
operation I required! He then insisted I came into the operating room (a small
dingy room behind the office in which we were standing) and watch the operation
that was about to take place. I had to
change my green flip flops for a pair of white ones and walked straight in.
The lady was just being anesthetized as i walked in and was
made to stand with the best view in the house, directly over her as he surgeon
started slicing the lady open! Although the equipment used wasn't the cleanest
the surgeon operated with amazing skill and had her gallbladder out in no time.
The chief master surgeon walked around in his socks occasionally participating
in the surgery and giving me a running drunk commendatory of what was going on
and simultaneously showing funny videos on his phone. The patient started to come around a bit
early so the chief slapped her in the head which seemed to do the trick.
Etawah to Varanasi
After a very poor nights sleep, partly due to nightmares of
Hannibal removing my organs and probably part due to the mice running around
beneath me i woke up feeling pretty rough and with the shits. Treatment at the
hospital wasn't an option so i decided to hit the road asap. A few miles later I
saw a concrete monument just off the highway, quickly diverted and pulled off
the road and crashed out cold behind it.
Two hours later i woke up and feeling pretty
awful started pedalling again. Cycling with the shits is pretty grim! The heat and exercise is pretty exhausting
already and the fact you cant hold any food down makes you feel pretty
faint!...and having a people ride the motorbikes directly alongside you for
hours at a time looking intently at you like your an alien definitely test your
patience...but i try my best to be nice and remember that to them i do perhaps
look like an alien. One highlight was
going past about 4 tractors with music blaring and pulling 100s of people squashed in like
sardines.
All had there faces
painted purple and pink and they sung and danced and shouted "Happy Hindy!". They
also pelted me in purple dye. I was now indistinguishable from an Indian man.
I couldn't find any guesthouses whatsover (India seems to
have very few hotels outside main attractions/cities) but had a touch when I
came across the creme de la creme “welcome break” of India service station with
an impeccable garden out the back (rare!) . About 20 blokes helped me erect my
tent and i fell asleep for about 15 hours!) Probably the most luxury and easy
camping I’ll ever find again in India!
The next morning i headed eastwards (just south of Kanpur)
and made good progress. There were a few
nice bridge crossings over small rivers flowing from the Ganges. One i stopped
to take a photo and was quickly surrounded by people wanting selfish and people
parking their cars and motorbikes directly in front of me on the bridge. I was beginning to master the art of causing
huge traffic jams on Indian roads. One
guy started acting as a road traffic warden to stop vehicles coming over the
bridge just so I could take some pictures.
My 2nd nights camping were not quite good as the
first. I pulled over for some food of the main road and asked if i could camp
by the side of the restaurant. I pitched
the tent just before nightfall and after food and a chat said i would go to
bed. He followed me to my tent, which i zipped up and said goodnight. A few
minutes later i opened the front of the tent and found the man still there
starring at me, this was a little unnerving but i put it down to cultural
differences. The choice of camping spot
was a poor one. About 20 minutes later they started up a generator which was
about 2 meters from my tent, this went on throughout the night!.
The following day was for the most part a nice ride. Slightly more undulating (too much flat is not
a good thing for long distance cycling! – it becomes mundane and kills your
nuts!) and greener and more tree lined. I at one point found myself cycling
with about 20 school kids occupying half the street (waiting for the comments
from my friends at the fire station following this sentence). I decided to push on into the night to give
myself an easy last day cycling into Varanasi. I stopped for dinner just after nightfall
and the guy who lived next to the eating place offered me a bed in his house. I
noticed there was only one bed in the house and decide to reject his kind
offer.
Just outside of the town
i saw a small field which was partly hidden by a pile of straw which i saw as a
good hidden little camping spot. However, on leaving the town i had a convoy of
people following me on bicycles and motorbikes (the smaller and more remote
then town the greater the harassment!) I need of a good night’s sleep I cycled
right passed the camp spot, slammed by breaks on ad turned my lights off and
cycled back to the spot, darting off the road and into the field without anyone
seeing me. I was able to pitch that tent
in complete darkness – its a single pole one man tent so pretty easy to pitch.
Apart from getting a few dead arms as i forgot to bring my Carry Matt it was a
pretty good night’s sleep!
The following day was an easy 65 miler into Varanasi.
My map showed a small road heading
towards the Ganges with a single black line crossing it. This ended up being
the most awesome pontoon
wobbly bridge, see pics! The road turned into sand as I reached the far side
and after 15 miles or so I rejoined the Grand Trunk Highway Road into the city. On arrival in Varanasi i encountered the worst traffic i've experienced in my life. After being knocked off my bike into the central reservation i came to a road junction with traffic so intense you could not even walk through never made cycle. The Junction was managed by the "Traffic Brigade" who would smash on the back with a big stick anyone who disobeyed there orders!
I'm surprised you didn't help with the operation mate, what with all your medical training!!! If you keep getting hassled by drunken motorpedders, try shouting chale jao aap paneer aur machhalee kee badaboo
ReplyDeleteHahaha sorry Jim just seen that. Crossed my mind to stick my hands in there and give it a bash.
DeleteI'll take on board the moped advice!!
Wow great pics and you look handsome whit your beard leave like this it's great and how the food )???
ReplyDeleteWow great pics and you look handsome whit your beard leave like this it's great and how the food )???
ReplyDeleteHaha thanks mate! I have to shave it at work but if I had it my way I'd never touch a razor. Food is great but much hotter than at home..and without any hygiene! :-s
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