India 02 - 11 December A Big One!
Trip Start
Jul 07, 2008
1
63
229
Trip End
May 27, 2010
Ratnagiri,
Maharashtra,
India
Thursday, December 11, 2008
2nd December 2008
Nest Bamboo House, Murud, Maharashtra, India
Sunny and warm with a slight breeze
Today it is Bryan's (my brother) birthday, happy birthday bruv. Meant to get a card and get Rose to post it but it was a bit mad before we left.
Today we woke up in a hut on the beach. Not the best hut we've ever had but a hut nonetheless. Yesterday we left Mumbai on the bus. We took a pre paid taxi to Bombay Central on the basis that we had a lot of luggage and we couldn't be arsed to haggle. The fixed price was 150rps, about £2, for what could be an hour's drive if the traffic was bad, so we were happy to pay it. We organised it through the hotel double checking that the price included everything, and were told yes it did. Sure as eggs are eggs, when we got to the bus station the taxi driver is asking for another 50 rps for the bikes. I don't think so mate. We commented afterwards, that if you expect them to try it on then you won't be disappointed and get agitated when they do. This philosophy appears to be working.
The lovely guys at Bentleys came running out after we had checked out, with the pile of clothes and bits and pieces we had decided to dump (winter stuff we had worn to the airport) they thought we had forgotten them, so not EVERYBODY is trying to rip us off.
We were dropped off at the bus station and then looking like a couple of loaded up donkeys, began struggling through to the main part where the buses stop. We had to walk through a little walkway with grilling either side and sat beside the opening was a man in a uniform a large ledger and several different coloured tickets. Turns out we had to buy platform tickets to get through, 1rp each and all I could do was laugh. Had we walked to the left or to the right of where we were dropped off we would have miraculously ended up in the bus station WITHOUT having to walk past the platform man.
The bus was old and rickety with limited baggage space on on top but luckily no one else had large stuff to transport. It should have been 6 but ended up being a 5 hour journey, so we arrived at our destination in the light. Murud is nothing more than a large village, so no taxis to be seen around the bus stand which meant we had to do business with auto rickshaws - the bane of every traveller's life. We needed 2 in order to transport us and all the luggage (although later that day we saw double rickshaws and 1 of them would have sufficed) and before we even said where we were going they knew (it's in Lonely Planet).
So off we toddled to Nest Bamboo House which is much smaller than we imagined it would be, and, to be honest a bit of a dump. The huts are pretty basic (which is fine) but they are odd in the sense they have brand new flooring throughout, all nicely, tiled but everything from the floor up is pretty old and grubby. There's a really shabby curtain on one of the windows that my mum wouldn't have had anywhere near the dog's basket let alone her windows. The price of the room was 600 rps, which seems too much to me but we had little choice yesterday, so I bargained for 2 nights for 1000rps. The guy we were haggling with turned out NOT to be the owner and when he went to speak to the owner about registration he wouldn't accept the price. We ended up paying 1100 rps for the 2 nights but the owner is a complete Dick, even the guy we struck the bargain with made a comment about him not having a clue how to do business.
So, having showered (no actual shower but a cold tap with a bucket and scoop) we wandered into town. It's all lanes around here, so we got a bit lost and conscious of the time (sun fast disappearing) and there was no electricity (it cut out just before we left) we didn't want to be too far away from 'home'. Dinner was a thali at the little eatery across the way from our accommodation (30rps) and we treated ourselves to a couple of Kingfisher beers from the beer shop across the way (75rps).
We think we saw an eclipse of the moon last night. When the sun went down there was a little crescent of a moon with two, quite bright, stars above it. Later on the crescent had changed colour, and decreased in size, and was quite red, but it was dipping below the horizon so we couldn't watch any further changes.
Tomorrow we head off on the bikes. We have to find a place called Ratpuri where we catch a ferry to Dighi and cycle down to Srivardhan. It's only 40kms or so, but we haven't cycled for a while so we need a short day to begin with. I think I mentioned before, we have downloaded some information from the internet. One was posted on the Lonely Planet Thorn Tree forum (I use it a lot) and I've cut off his name but I will reference him when I can get online and find it again. The other is by a Belgian couple (I think I said Swedish previously) www.2bike.be They took pretty much the same route, the Thorn Tree entry has more detail regarding times and accommodation.
Laters
3rd December 2008
Subhan Beach Resort, Srivardhan, Maharashtra, India
Hot and humid
Murud - Ratpuri - ferry to Dhigi (15rps each plus 5rps each bike) - Srivardhan (40kms)
Last night we ate at the same little cafe/restaurant that we ate in the night before. The veg thali was great and consisted of 4 chapatis, dhal and 2 veggie curries, lime pickle and curd. We've never had thalis that didn't include rice (except in Rajasthan where there was a drought and everything was in short supply). So when our thalis turned up without rice we thought it was a local thing and perhaps they only do rice with the lunch time meals. So we chomped away quite happily and as we were about half way through our meal the boy serving came and asked us if we wanted rice. Well, because we'd more or less eaten
everything neither of us wanted rice.
Last night we were absolutely ravenous not having eaten all day, so when the thali turned up I asked for rice, well you would have thought I'd asked him to cut off his right arm 'no' he replied, with a complete look of disgust on his face. At which point he went over to the next table and asked them if they wanted rice, 'yes' they said, and so they were brought platefuls of rice. I was gobsmacked, so on his way back I asked again and this time we got it. You're only allowed to have rice once you've eaten some of your meal, that's obviously the rule.
The ride today was lovely. We set off from Murud, up over the hill and down to the ferry port. The ferry took us to Dighi a small village where we ate breakfast (something masala - which was very nice) before heading off. The first part of the day was quite hilly and it was bloody hot, so hot in fact I felt quite ill. I still haven't got rid of the lurgy and I think the combination of heat, humidity and sinus problems probably contributed to the queasiness. Anyway, after an hour or so I felt much better and began to enjoy the ride.
The road wasn't brilliant and it was single track in places but all in all it was a really good ride. Doing this coast isn't about covering distances or getting anywhere fast, but we're actually quite enjoying the laid back pace (even Dave who often feels as though we should be doing everything quicker and going further). The fact that the coastline is shaped the way it is, with lots of little inlets and estuaries, means we will have to keep taking ferries and that inevitably slows the whole travelling process down.
I'd forgotten about the eternal optimism of the Indian people, everywhere we cycled today people were shouting 'hi' or 'hello', wanting to know where we came from and where we are going to. It surprised me 20 years ago that given their history, and our part in it, they still quite liked the British. I'm glad to see that things haven't changed that much. I know that things might be quite different in the north but for the moment everyone is incredibly friendly and welcoming.
So we arrived in Srivardhan and began looking for the Subhan Beach Resort. As the name would suggest, it's not only near the beach but ON the beach. It's a couple of kms the other side of town, just follow the sign to the beach or ask someone. We've negotiated a room for 450 rps which is probably still a bit overpriced and if you kept at Nisar (the owner) you might get it a bit cheaper.
Mukesh, one of the lads working here is using some real toxic stuff to do the woodwork, I worry about his lungs!
The beach is about 3 kms long, and at the moment completely deserted but it's still too hot to walk. We'll watch the sunset from the double swing and photograph what happens.
Laters
4th December 2008
Gulmore Guest House, Kelshi, Maharashtra
Very warm and loads of mossies
Shrivardan - Bagmandla - ferry to Bangkot (18rps) - Bangkot - Manduli - Kelshi (but not recommended!) 64kms
Today was one of THOSE days. Because it's so unusually hot we set off early this morning, to try and do the first leg of our journey before the sun got really hot. We arrived at Bagmandla in time for the 1030 ferry to Bangkot, that's where it all started to go wrong. The guy in the ticket booth tried to charge us 100 rps to take the ferry but we already knew it was only 6, so we paid the real fare, a grand total of 18 rps (6 each for us and 3 for the bikes).
We made the mistake of asking the way to Dapoli (our destination today) when we should have been asking the way to Anjarle. There are 2 roads to Dapoli, one which goes via Mandangarh and the other (the way we wanted to go) which goes via Kelshi and Anjarle. The former goes inland and the latter follows the coast. After about 6 kms we realised we were on the Mandangarh road, so we turned round, went back to Bangkot to take the correct road. By this time it was really hot and I was really flagging, we hadn't eaten and I was starving. So having confirmed we were on the correct road we stopped and bought a huge bottle of mango juice and some little pastries stuffed with egg. That's when it all got a bit confusing.
Yes there was a very small ferry the way we were going that MIGHT take the bikes, but, when we got to the other side we would have an 8km walk on sand. Now, our map isn't great and the directions we downloaded from 2 sources kind of contradict each other so we were stuffed. A very nice man, who seemed to know what he was talking about, said we must go back on the Mandangarh road (at this point my heart sank) for about 13kms, then at the electricity substation we turn right to Manduli, straight on to Kelshi and Uttamber, and cross the bridge to Anjarle. Sounds easy when you say it like that, then you realise that not only are we retracing the 6 kms we had already done (that's an extra 12 on the clock) but the 13kms to the substation are up!
One of the main problems we have is that none of the roadsigns are in English. Every now and again we'll see Hindi signs with our numbering system, so then it's a bit of guess work. In the smaller places where we are ending up most of the signs, including hotels or guest houses (a hotel is somewhere you eat rather than stay) are in Hindi so we end up talking to a lot of people asking where guest houses are.
The road down to Manduli was terrible so although it was down it was hard work. Then it was undulating from Manduli to Kelshi. A very nice guy we met on the way told us about this guest house so we just had to find it and hope it wasn't full and not charging hideous prices. We are paying 400 rps and that includes tea, dinner and breakfast, so we're happy.
This all sounds like doom and gloom, it isn't. The scenery is beautiful and the wildlife is amazing. We have seen:
Kingfishers
Mynahs
Lots of wading birds
Herons
Vultures
Eagles
Hoopoes
A variety of small birds that I haven't got a clue about
Monkeys
Frogs/toads
Lizards
The noise from outside our window this evening was amazing, we could hear the monkeys and a variety of birds calling to each other. I bet the dawn chorus will be a noisy affair.
We are clearly still acclimatising to the temperatures, we estimate it to be mid 30s with fairly high humidity, although it's less humid since we left Mumbai. This coupled with the fact that it is unusually hot. Everyone keeps saying this is usually the cool month, and the measure seems to be that you can't ride your motorbike until 9,30 / 10.00 without a coat, because it would be too cold, but that's definitely not the case at the moment. At 7am you can get away with a vest and shorts.
Tomorrow we are going to have a short day and see if we can stay somewhere nice on the beach.
Laters
05th December 2008
Just outside Harnai, Maharashtra
Hot and mossie free (inshallah)
Kelshi - Uttamber - Anjarle - Harnai (30kms)
Today we went swimming. Anyone who knows me will tell you that I don't go in the water unless it's blood temperature and today it was! We have a beach that is several kilometers long, all to ourselves and it's great.
Going back to yesterday, last night we ate a fantastic veggie thali, with everything homemade, even the lime pickle, and it was absolutely delicious. The only odd thing about it was the proprietor decided to watch us eat every mouthful. We were in bed and asleep by 9pm.
This morning we had breakfast and tea before we departed (ditto the watching) and breakfast was a rice dish, cooked with vegetables and chillies, topped with freshly grated coconut, again absolutely delicious. We also discovered as we were leaving that the place we were staying wasn't called Gulmore after all, that was the rather out-of-place looking hotel across the road, although the proprietor didn't do anything to dissuade us from our thinking :)
Today we had a short cycle ride on purpose. We were both knackered after yesterday's ride and if anything, today turned out to be even hotter. The ride was through country lanes and villages, it was like being in a tropical Devon. The road surface isn't much cop so we can't move very quickly, but it doesn't seem to matter. We are really happy just pootling along at the moment.
Ooh, a monkey just ran through the place where we are staying! We've seen several of them on the road now and today we saw a mongoose while walking down to the beach.
So tonight we are staying in a room belonging to a family in a place called Harnai, on the way to Dapoli. We are paying 450 rps for a huge, newly built room, with shower and western style toilet and it is 2 minutes walk to the beach. The family are lovely and we are having home cooked fish thali for dinner tonight (50 rps). To find the place you go through Anjarle, keep following the coast road to Harnai and on the right you will see a sign for The Sea Princess Beach Resort (which as I type is still being finished off - It looks nice, fronts directly onto the beach, but have no idea how much it would cost to stay there). The house that's directly to the left of that sign (fronts the road) has it's own sign in Hindi, is where we are staying.
They tell us the weather is about to cool down, if it does we'll start doing a few more miles, but until it does it'll be very early starts and finishes.
Laters
6th December 2008
Manas Lodging, Guhager, Maharashtra, India
Very warm
Harnai - Dabhol - ferry to Veldur (18rps) - Guhager (68 kms although it should have been 61!)
Lovely fish thali last night, but we didn't get to eat till about 8pm which is too late for us considering we are going to bed about 9,30. Today we are staying in town, opposite the bus station, and the hotel is above a vegetarian restaurant. So we can eat when WE want to, not when other people want to feed us. Also, we can have a walk round town and buy some fruit for tomorrow. It's also possible that we may partake of a beer later, having spotted the beer shop not far from here, that'll be our little treat for today.
Today was a hard ride, still lovely but hard. We seemed to be going up a lot of the time but seeing as we started at sea level and are back there again tonight we must have done just as much descending as ascending, just doesn't feel like it. The one and only time I allowed Dave to say 'it MUST be this way' at a junction, we went the wrong way. From now on we ask every time we get to a junction, a fork in the road or anywhere where there are more than one choice! We find if we sit and wait someone usually comes along failry quickly, I think the longest we've waited so far is 5 minutes.
I forgot to mention that we have seen loads of fruit bats. They are HUGE, with up to a metre wingspan. In fact we saw a dead one on the power lines the other day, obviously his sonar wasn't working very well that day.
We haven't seen a single bicycle rickshaw since we've been here and that got us thinking about the changes or differences we have noticed since we were here almost 20 years ago.
l Very few people smoking
l Lots of places don't allow smoking anymore
l Loads more people ride scooters and motorbikes as opposed to bicycles
l Our bicycles don't look THAT different to Indian bikes now
l Lots of different brands of everything (e.g. crisps, chocolates and drinks - there was a time when Pepsi and Coke weren't allowed in India so if you wanted cola you had to drink Campa Cola or Thums Up)
l Cars - loads of different kinds, including 4x4s, there was a time when all you saw were old Ambassadors
Saw a sign for a farm today with bougainvillea spilling over the walls. It was called Bogan Villa and it was owned by Dr Kickduck:) A truck pulled off the ferry that we were getting onto and written at the top of a list of explanations about what the truck was carrying was the title Technical Name: Explosive, on the side was a picture of an explosion!
Laters
8th December 2008
Hotel ???, Ganpatipule, Maharashtra, India
Just nice
Decided to stay 2 nights here because we both (particularly me) felt as though we needed a day off. The ride yesterday was hard (again) very hilly and 60km. We didn't start off too good yesterday morning as I had a touch of Delhi belly. I'm thinking a great big bottle of mango juice followed by a great big thali followed by 2 glasses of beer PROBABLY didn't sit well in my stomach, but once we got started I was fine.
The route we took: Guhager - Tausal - ferry to Jaigargh (150rps - had to haggle for a private boat to take us) - Ganpatipule (60kms)
We were going to try and stay at Jaigargh Beach, which on the map appeared to be 10 kms up the road from Ganpatipule but once again the map was wrong.
We firstly went to the MTDC Tourist Resort as we'd had a look at the Lonely Planet book and they said you could get rooms on the beach from 400rps. Turns out there's nothing less than 1200rps, so, coming back from the resort, there's a huge tree in the middle of the road and on the right is where we are staying(Hindi sign). As we arrived a young girl, aged about 12, was in the hallway and we heard her shout 'Muuuuuuum ............ foreigners!', her mother asked a question and she turned to us and said 'where from?', 'England' Dave said, which she repeated to her mother, we heard some more murmerings from inside and then the girl shoulted in 'two of them'. We have a HUGE pink room, with a balcony and ensuite for 500rps.
Having got our accommodation sorted we both flopped. I had been feeling nauseous for the past couple of hours and Dave suddenly began to feel queasy too. We haven't eaten since yesterday (and even then it was a couple of bananas and a few biscuits) and the thought of eating turns my stomach. I'm just feeling exhausted and the only thing I could manage this morning was lime juice. I don't know if I feel this bad because I've been sleeping for the past 16 hours, or, I have something nasty and it hasn't quite showed it's hand yet. I haven't been sick or anything else yet, so I think I have to just wait and see.
Laters
9th December 2008
Ganpatipule, Maharashtra, India
Very pleasant, sat on our shady terrace
Yesterday I still felt terrible all day. I hadn't eaten anything for almost 48 hours so the prospect of cycling today was slim. Last night I managed to eat some rice, dhal and veggetables but that was it. Today I feel a lot better, although still not fancying really spicy food. Went in search of fruit this morning but none to be had, that will have to wait until we're on the road tomorrow.
Talking of food, it's a tricky ole business here, getting the food you want. Last night I still couldn't face anything really spicy, so I had set my heart on a masala dosa. Dosas are large rice flour (I think) pancakes stuffed with vegetables and served with fresh coconut relish and sambal. Even if a restaurant advertises dosa it doesn't mean that you are guaranteed to get one IF you are asking at the wrong time. But what is the RIGHT time? That's what we've been trying to work out and we'll let you know when we have an answer.
Today we learned that Ganpatipule has a helipad. We haven't actually seen it with our own eyes but we have seen a hotel car and it's address written on the side was 'near helipad'.
The temple here is a very holy place with one of those stories attached about somebody's cow not producing milk, then suddenly it did, so everyone starts worshiping at the place where the cow starts flowing and then they build a temple. I decided to go visit the temple this morning, Dave looked after my sandals. They were cooking a shed load of food in one of the rooms, presumably to feed the masses later. I had to walk through a metal detector gate (which I'm pretty sure wasn't working) plus they had cctv cameras throughout.
As you walk through the buildings, everything leads to the shrine which is a kind of pit with lots of holy people sat around chanting, tinkling cymbals, holding burners and saying prayers. The main man, was mixing some paste (the kind you have dotted on your forehead when you visit the temple) and adorning a figure at the centre of the pit. Turns out, the main man is the son of the woman who runs the hotel where we are staying, AND, like a child he had ridden Dave's bicycle around the hotel grounds the afternoon we arrived!
The masses hit this place in buses during the day ,then at night the people who are left are the ones staying in the hotels. These are the people with money. We have seen more cars in this little place than in any other, the obvious exception being Bombay. We've got a bit of a competition going at the moment, who can spot the most people in a vehicle. I spotted 14 people in a double tuk tuk the other day (a 3 wheeler but with 2 benches to sit on rather than the normal tuk tuk which only has one). It's quite normal to see a small Muruti car (about the size of a Micra) with 8 or 9 people in it. They also have these very annoying reversing tunes on their cars, so rather than just a beep which we might have, they have Congratulations by Cliff Richard. I suppose Sir Cliff is happy that SOMEONE is playing his music! (sorry Maureen, I know you are a fan).
We have also seen other foreigners. The MTDC Tourist Resort has some of it's rooms fronting the beach. Right next to it, at the top of a slight incline are two houses looking out over the beach and the sea. These are obviously rented out because we've seen foreigners walking down to the beach and playing frisbee. Anyway, I'm sure if you googled Ganpatipule and house for rent, you'll probably find them. A great sundowner place, everywhere needs a gin and tonic terrace and they definitely have one.
Laters
10th December 2008
Regency Hotel (nonetheless), Ratnagiri, Maharashtra, India
Fiercely hot (AND the electricity has just gone down)
Ganpatipule - Ratnagiri (the short way) 38km
For those interested in cylclng this route there are two ways to Ratnagiri from Ganpatipule, the long way and the short way. When you leave town you go up a big hill then it flattens out. Approx. 5kms out of town there is a right hand turning, take it. The way isn't obvious at all so I suggest every time you get to a junction of any kind, ask.
And what a lovely route it turned out to be. You go through lanes and villages and finally end up on the coast road. As most of the cycling we've done on this coast, there's hardly any traffic and it's an absolute delight.
Ratnagiri is the biggest place we've hit since Bombay, and what a shock to the system. People, cars, animals it's a really busy place. However, we got here early (11am) having set off early in anticipation of hot weather) so we were able to have a wander round and buy 2 very nice printed, cotton sheets (110rps) for use when bedding don't look too savoury and our own padlock for hotel rooms. And we managed to get a masala dosa, having waited what seems like an eternity.
We will go wander round a little later when it's cooled down. There appear to be a few cyber cafes so we'll see what we can do about uploading some of this garbage, I mean diary, I've been writing.
As I'm writing I'm looking at the tube of sun cream we are using - Cyclax spf 30 with green tea and aloe vera - wouldn't recommend it. It's very gluggy, as a lot of them are, and it drags on the skin, It does what it says on the can though. What I WOULD recommend however, is a Loreal spf 30 (with honey) in a tall bottle with a strange quirky lid that you twist to get the stuff out, it smells lovely, does the job and goes on like a proper cream.
Laters
11th December 2008
Regency Hotel, Ratnagiri, Maharashtra, India
Warm and cloudy
This would have been the perfect day to cycle, but guess what, we've had to stay put for a day to sort out 'stuff' on the internet. Unfortunately, it was the kind of stuff that couldn't wait till Goa, so here we still are.
The internet connections are SO slow we had to stay another day to do everything, so this morning we installed ourselves in a booth smaller than an average sized wardrobe for 2 hours (Dave gave up his jobs after 1 hour). There was Hindi music blaring out from one corner and Bruce Willis f'ing and blinding from another. They don't use headphones in India. I still didn't manage to upload my blog or do a couple of other things I meant to do so that means going back again tonight. As for loading up photos, forget it. That's going to have to wait till Goa when hopefully we can get access to an open wifi network. Apparently there's an Apple store in Panjim that even the Washington Post recommends, and it's free to log on.
Paranoid about key logging and spyware etc, we made sure that all the passwords and account numbers we entered were copied and pasted from other documents, logged everything out and of course deleted all the cookies and temporary files. It's still a bit dodgy, but what can you do?
Some of the people who used the machines before us weren't quite so particular, and the history showed sites like www.spermsex.com and www.duskyasianwomen.com. Mmmmm, I thought, and butter wouldn't melt.
Anyway, Ratnagiri isn't such a bad place, it's quite busy, there's lots going on, there's a palace somewhere but we have no idea where, our book doesn't tell us. In fact the book we are using, The South India Handbook, has been a bit of a disappointment so far. There's virtually nothing on any of the places on the coast between Bombay and Goa.
There's a place called Gokarna on the coast, just south of Goa, that I'd like to go to, it's a pilgrimage site, but apart from that there's very little we want to see until we get to Calicut. We're thinking that we might take a bus(es) from Gokarna down to Calicut. The book gets better further south so we've been working out a route between Calicut and Kovalam, going inland through the tea and coffee plantations, and hill stations.
But first we have to get to Goa and we reckon another 5 days of cycling should do it.
Laters
