Today marks the end of the first official day of cycling in India!
we began the day in ghotkopar near the airport and bicycled with our hotel friend aneel to a major intersection on the outskirts of town. this is a very VERY tame version of what we did today. not our video there, but we don't have wifi tonight and can't upload our videos yet. look - i've biked in texas, i've biked in LA ... i have never in my life, at the very worst traffic conditions, biked in anything like this. i can't count the times i was nearly crushed, maimed, squished or run off the road. suprisingly, the whole thing worked really well. people just let you go wherever you want, you just have to afford them the same priveledge. while it seemed scary before, while it was happening i was remarkably calm. if you give yourself over the traffic and you're not in a hurry, it kind of moves you where you need to go without much effort on your part.
i don't have any pictures from today, and you wouldn't be impressed if i did. spent the day riding down the highway following buses and trucks and avoiding being runover. it was a pretty easy day of biking but the heat here is killer. eliot took it alot harder than i did, but both of us were suffering. we pulled it over about 2:30 and rested until 4 in a little town, under some trees near a cafe. we sipped lemonade and rested up until the sun moved a little then went down the road a ways to panvel. we're decided to splurge on a nice room at a good inn since the area is a little shady and we're both zapped. tomorrow is another day and should see us moving to the coast a bit (if we can). we may be out of touch, since there is no telling what accomodations or services will look like once we're away from a major highway. on the other hand, it should be much safer biking which is nice. we'll stay hydrated and pack it in again about 1-2 to avoid the worst of the heat.
all our love to you folks back home. expect a big push of updates sometime in the next week - we've got a backlog of half-articles we need to post. lots of travel tips and fun side adventures. alright, stay tuned!
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SO, India is real! Everything you read and were told has come true. It is a little wild and hairy. Here in the states, I drove to breakfast, read the paper, read a book for awhile. No one tried to run me off the road. Got a great nights rest in a nice bed. Oh yeah, the Americans and Canadians are playing for the Gold in Hockey on tomorrow afternoon. THink I will curl up on a sofa and watch it. I may bike to a friends house to watch it-I am learning to use the very safe bike lane in Alamo Heights. So far, not a single person has honked at me or gotten close enough to me to scare me. ROugh here in the states. Oh yeah, I have gotten into curling during this olympics. Does India have a curling team? It is a rather genteel sport, moves a little slow, but can keep you on the edge of your seat. Well, that's a brief recap of my tough day here in remote South Texas. Dad
ReplyDeleteHowdy, boys - well wishes, heart hazahs, and pats on the back all around! What's the good word, fellas? I can't tell you how much I'm enjoying the blog - it's hard not to post rambling, prattling responses to each outstanding GHOST RUNNERS post, what with you guys having occidental adventures and me having a bevy of opinions on just about everything... but I know you guys are busy, so I'll drop a comment/query, and split:
ReplyDeleteI'm fascinated with your reports of navigating traffic in India. Seriously - I watched the video ya'll linked to of traffic in Mumbai, and I ended up watching DOZENS of them. It's like navigating a mosh pit! I used to HATE mosh pits, which is ironic considering my love of brutal, punishing rock music, but I eventually came around on them when I realized that when you stop trying to GO anywhere and just move WITH the crowd, they're actually really amazing. I mean, it's just this giant mass of moving humanity, and if you stop thinking about your own safety and start thinking about how not to kill people, it's actually really fun.
so... is that what it's like riding a bike in Mumbai?
man - that got convoluted. I should really finish up that english degree...