Nepal India 2010 (revised)

Executive Summary Nepal, Nov 11-24 2010
This was a well-run, exceptional value trip (Exodus:land $125/day). 14 participants - mostly Brits, excellent shocked mtn bikes, the local team was a well-oiled machine, - good esprit, through varied landscapes and good weather (in November). I personally found Day2, Day3, off-road and too difficult for my comfort. Hotels were sort of 2star/adequate or better. Nepal suffers from extreme litter and horn blowing. .... Rating: 7.5/10

Executive Summary India (Raj, Kerala), Nov 29-D 17 2010
This was a ambitious (for Pedaltours), dubious value trip (Pedaltours:land $250/day). 11 participants - older, very well-travelled mostly from US, adequate road bikes, the local team was trying, but needs much improvement - probably not easy to find good routes. Through varied landscapes and good weather (in Nov/Dec). level of difficulty was mostly average. Some hotels were exceptional and quite nice. Rajasthan suffers from extreme litter and horn blowing. ..... Rating: 5.5/10

Photo Albums, click below:
Nepal (best 25), India (best 25), All (all 366)
(after discarding the worst 200-300)

Operator websites :Nepal(click), :Pedaltours Rahjastan(click), Kerala(click)
..................................
Nov 8-10
Emirates Airlines, A380 flight to Dubai was fine, temp 30c at 10PM, onto Delhi arriving 3:30AM. on Wed to a $50night hotel,.... pretty dingy area, but the hotel is adequate, esp for a 5AM arrival, I refuse to stay at $190night hotel when you arrive at 5AM.... off to Kathmandu Thurs AM, to meet up with group, mostly Brits.

• 9 hour time difference to Dubai, 30C not that you'd know it in AC airport, 10.5 to Delhi.
• A380 flight of 11398 Km, 12 hours, was fine, but the passengers were a scruffy dumpy lot (rude, demanding),
• several women wearing outfits with only eye-slits
• must have been 20 wheelchairs, and lots of infants
• Emirates staff, incl pilot, is mostly Australian, cheery but the passengers must get them down, they wont take guff from passengers
• A380 has a ``tail`` camera facing forward, so kind of like looking over pilot's shoulder (so to speak), screen is large, 2'x4' in every cabin-- gives good sense of your whereabouts.
• the basic hotel was in such a scruffy neighborhood, and the driver had trouble finding it at 4:30 AM, ... that I was concerned, ... in fact, it`s OK, perfectly adequate. Slept for 9 hours 5 AM to 2PM, ... pleased. Went for a walk in the market, pretty much I expected, crowded, dirty, horns blowing,... nice thing: all signs are in English, although they speak Hindi or whatever to each other (but can speak English).

Nov 11
1.5 hour flight to Kathmandu n Air India, but delayed by almost 2 hours because they couldnt get the door open (on the ramp to the aircraft)... as the ads say "Incredible India". Met the group of 14 ... all Brits.. seem nice enough, and a wide range of ages, say 30s, to my age. Kathmandu has essentially no infrastructure. Had dinner at a restaurant outside hotel, at own expense. 11Brits, 1 Irish, 2 Canadians, and 4 Nepali staff. Leader (Kamor ), and assistant (Mongol), both speak English well, and we’ll meet the van driver and assistant tomorrow. Dinner was long and tedious, ordered chicken tilkka Marsala. Kathmandu may have a Shangri-la connotation in my my mind, but in reality its pretty scruffy and dirty, and absolutely nothing “Shangri-la” about it.

Nov 12

First full day. Up for 7AM meeting (why so early?) to assign/adjust bikes… primarily Trek 3700 mountain bikes, ... seemed pretty good quality, certainly good enough. Breakfast was buffet style and above average, …. Then 20km to Bhaktapur by van because the road is congested and heavily trafficked. Bhaktapur is a kind of Hindu religious place where we had a local guide for 2-3 hours, then a half hour vanning to our start point for actual cycling at 2 PM. The roads are extremely primitive, not paved, badly rutted, and hilly … overall not impressed… Also its group riding (everybody together) that I’m not used to. Destination hotel is quite nice (rather grand), so rather inconsistent with surroundings. Nov 13
After a buffet breakfast we bused 10k or so to town of religious significance, then after half an hour cycled about 6k to a soccer field where we had a box lunch (not very good), then cycled 9k on a road with a lot of traffic, and I started to feel dizzy so went in the bus, ending up at a very basic resort (if you could call it that). I passed on going to the temple (didn’t miss much), and dinner, and drinking 1Lwater with electrolytes. 2 in total, and stilldidn’t pee much…. So must have dehydrated

Nov 14 Sunday (a work day in Nepal)
Breakfast was porridge and scrambled eggs, rather good. In theory was 65K to Daman with 45 km of cycling, but the terrain was so hilly and the road surface so rough Iendedup riding the bus. We all agreed the Exodus catalogue description is inaccurate … it is not!! a road bike trip, it’s a mountain bike trip over poor unpaved roads, …I’ve never seen roads so bad, and always going up or going down, and rarely a section of 100m flat. Till today it was largely urban (region of Kathmandu), but today became more rural, lots of primitive farmhouses. Lunch was a box lunch, all the way from Kathmandu, and the destination hotel is at 2345 m.(holly cow!). The last 14 km being a climb of approaching 1000m, …. and we were all in the bus.

Nov 15, Monday
We were up at 6:10AM to see the sunrise, rising roughly over Mr Everest (appeared small because it was far away). … Sunrises are always overtouted, in my opinion, although I suppose the idea is OK. The group went on a two-hour trek at 2400m through the woods, but I just rested. After lunch, the group did the decent, 2400m to about 600m, involving about 30+ hairpin turns, an the temperature went from 10C to 27C, to the town Hettaudawith more of an Indian character (to me), at the Orchid resort (which had WiFi in the lobby). The resort had loudspeaker-recorded music blaring away till 9:30PM staring again at 6:00AM, sounded awful: wailing, and sounds like some animal being gored.. Hindu or not, I cant imagine anybody liking that noise .
Because of my dizzy fatigue issue, placed my first call to Brampton’s Dr Mak about my Nov 4 blood test result, and arranged to call back tomorrow, same time. The receptionist wasn’t too keen but reluctantly agreed.

Nov 16 Tuesday
Started off in the bus for an hour or two, then started cycling (me too) off-road with the river to our left. I cycled for 45minutes or so till I was exhausted, and had to ride in bus. Lunch was a box lunch vegetarian and rather good, mainly a kind of pancake-y thing, made of shredded vegetables. Then onto Chitwan park for two nights. The hotel is really quite nice and a few miles from the hubbub of the local town. We went on a local area walk with a guide to see the local people who came from Rajastan in the 14thcentury. Saw the primitive village, essentially mud huts, … one impressive thing was the bio-gas installation, courtesy WWF, where dung is fermented in underground tanks to produce methane which is distributed in small tube to stoves foir cooking, and the resultant dung is fertilizer. There was an evening show of dancing, with a central theme of scaring the animals away.
Placed my cell call to Dr Mak’s reception 10:20 AM Brampton time, … she said my Nov 4 blood tests were normal. …So still no reason why I get dizzy + fatigued + out of breath so easily. I can do easy daily routine effort well enough (and feel fine) but even just 10% more effort (going upstairs for example) really knocks me out, … have to stop/sit and rest, … all very worrisome/embarrassing. Can’t figure out why.

Nov 17 Wednesday, Rest day in Chitwan
A busy day…. a wakeup call at 6:30AM, convened 7:00 AM for ‘tea’, then a 2 hour walk through the jungle, where we didn’t see much of anything. Breakfast 9:30. Then a 45 min ride in the buloch carts (not as rough as you’d think, 5 people per cart), to the start of the dug out canoes, 14+3 guides all in one large canoe, a peaceful ride down the river to the hotel, lunch, then off at mid afternoon to the elephant safari, almost two hours (quite long), and the highlight was the rhinoserouses, got a few good shots
Nov 18 (first day in three with wifi)
photos (click) .... now available Nov 18
Group cycled till 2:30 then long ride 130km to Limbini,Budda's birthplace. ... pretty much squalor as you go through towns on the way. Nice hotel at destination.
Nov 19 Friday Rather nice hotel in Limbini, matching NA standards. Up for 7:30 breakfast, then a 9:00 AM visit to the birthplace of Buddha (just 1 km away), with a local guide, … took about an hour … was not particularly impressed, … pretty seedy in fact, St Peter’s it ain’t. In a sizable land plot, many acres, a steel girder and stucco structure 200’x 200’ covering some brick ruins, with an ugly square concrete pool nearby. Good news: I cycled the planned 65 km without any of the dizzy-fatigue problems of previous days. Itwasn’t that much of a test (not really hilly) I suppose, but it was done without any difficulty. I followed Ann’s (in her 70’s I guess) slow pace which suited me just fine, … I didn’t want to push it. I had been concerned about being incapacitated through the next two trips in India. I’m not saying the problem has disappeared, but there is no longer manifestations of it. Lunch was in an open courtyard restaurant; quite nice really, had a mixed pizza, … very good. Then we all got in the bus for a two-hour climb from 200m to 1400m to the town of Tansen over treacherous roads. Dinner was at the town centre, where my choice ‘mutton dal baht’ was close to inedible, oh well.

Nov 20, Friday, to Pokhara It was a clear day so many got up to see the sunrise, not me. Rather than the planned 5-hour trek, we just did a town tour for an hour or so. Then cycled down from 1400m to 600m, with long stretches of fairly flat, and a simple box lunch on a roadside cliff with commanding valley view. Then on the bus till the last 15km, and we cycled in heavy rain (to Kamor’s surprise) to the hotel, rather unpleasant. Dinner was a bus-ride to lakeside Boomerang restaurant, … chicken almond dinner/coke, all for about $8, with a constant stage show of Nepali music and dance, which tended to dominate conversation.

Nov 21 Sunday Today is a rest day, so-called. Misty in the morning but warmed up to the mid 20s and sunny. Went on tour of Davis falls, then hiked through caves (hot steamy), then bus’d to the base of a Buddha pagoda climbed 100-200m to the pagoda then down to the lake, had lunch at a lakeside restautant (took far too long for service). Then a boat ride to a island temple, and on to Pokara lakeside for shopping and we had a drink with Mongol to discuss his 2012 Olympic possibilities.(mountain biking representing Nepal).
Nov 22 Monday, Pokhara
On the bus at 8:00 to go trekking, after 1 hour ride foot climbed to get a view of another lake then lunch (from the German bakery), then a 10 K ride down to base on hardtop. Overall I felt fine. Then a 45 min visit to the Ghurkhas museum, back to hotel for 4:00. Dinner at Mama Mias, pizza.
Nov 23 Tuesday, back to Kathmandu
Up for an 8:15 transfer to Pokhara airport and a 25 min flight back to Kathmandu. Then a pretty full day for city tour with the local guide, including where they have the funeral pyre, and dump the ashes into the river, that ends up in the Ganges. Talked with Mangal's tour operator about sponsorship possibilities for Mangal in London 2012. Had a Nepali dinner in large palace-like building, with local traditional dancing, and Angus made the tip presentation. A well run trip
.Nepal trip evaluation
5 good things:

1. The British group was a big bonus, polite and a fun group, Graham was montypython-ish
2. Kamur was an exceptional leader, fun, his timing estimates were spot on
3. Day in Chitwan was the highlight, busy day elephant ride, rhino siting
4. Coordination of the 1,000 Rs tip was a great idea
5. Little things (many) such as the rickshaw ride, restaurant choices in |Pokara

5 bad things:

1. Day 2,3 riding was far too difficult, then got better
2. Exodus description in the brochure of MNN is deceptive
3. Bus roof top riding is bad judgement
4. Dinner in Tansen was essentially inedible (animal inards), for several of those I spoke to
5. .... cant think of another.

Rating ... my recent trips, overall subjective satisfaction
Vietnam ..................... 9/10,
Eastern Europe .........6.5 /10
Nepal .......................... 7.5/10, scored well on being "exotic"
Rajasthan/Kerala......... 5.5/10
Nov 24
Back in Delhi, after 90 minute flight from Kathmandu, twice frisked and twice my hand luggage was manually examined, once right on the boarding ramp ... seemed wildly excessive.
Nov 25
Up at 4:00 AM (simply mad) in time for a 6:30AM (started at 6:10) “Delhi by Bike” for 3.5 hours. The range of pricing to get there was $35 for Triangle car, $15 for hotel taxi, and $3.75 for a tuk-tuk.... took the tuk tuk. Elements of the tour were passable (parliament, president's residence, stepwell), and the woman guide was quite bubley and chipper, but generally it was littered, dirty and though parts of town that were squalid, and why we started so early (partly our fault) is a puzzle was dark for first 1/2 hour.
Then the Triangle guide met at noon and a car/driver, and we saw the Red Fort, Qutb Minar complex, etc and a rickshaw ride through the market of fabric, scarves, whatever.... which was really quite interesting. The rickshaw drivers work their butt off.

Nov 26 Thursday

Up for a sensible 9:00AM departure for Agra (Taj Mahal), with the same driver for the next 4 days, … took about 4.5 hours and arrived at the Crystal Inn, a small modern hotel. Had lunch and dinner in the hotel, although the driver would take us anywhere, but there really didn’t seem to be that much of interest, other than the Taj.

Nov 27 Friday

Up at 6:30 for a daybreak viewing of the Taj Mahal. As the guide said, many people aren’t exactly sure where India is, but EVERYBODY!! knows that there’s a building called Taj Mahal. The skies were sunny, so we were pretty lucky (it has been raining. The crowds weren’t excessive, and 99% of the impression comes from the outside beauty, very little from inside. Then onto the Agra fort (2 km away), which while not grand is more peaceful, in a way. The street vendors at the gates are persistent and you’ve got to learn to ignore them, and its not that easy to do.
I confess (silly me): I went to an ATM, took out 10,000 Rs, and forgot my debit card (how careless, but realized it right away), phoned BMO (instant cooperation) to cancel it, all within 10 minutes, … so there’s no real loss, just inconvenience. I have my 2 credit cards with deliberate >$1000 credit balances, so no trouble expected. Then a 5-hour drive to Jaipur, arriving at 5 pm. The Jaipur Palace is an older hotel, fairly big, and a heavy rock beat from the wedding going on.
I find all this non-cycling typical tourist stuff really tedious and am anxious to meet the Pedaltours group on Monday night back in Delhi.Strange, when you are cycling, and have an occasional rest day for tourist sightseeing it’s quite welcome, … but sequential days of tourist sightseeing day after day becomes a grind.

Nov 28 Sunday, Jaipur, (third city of triangle)

Up for an 8:30 start for Jaipur tour, a place I never heard of. First a drive through the ‘Pink City’ (buildings painted pink) then onto an elephant ride to the top of Amber Palace. I rather liked Amber Palace maybe because, compared to the Taj Mahal, I had no expectations, and everythng seemed quite impressive. Then through various palaces, where you learn about the excesses of the maharajas. By the way Indira Ghandi got rid of the state-support of them in the ‘70s. Lunch in the palace café (quite nice) curried lamb (turns out to be goat), and then a 2-hour walk through the famous “Pink City” where there are sections (dozens of stores) devoted to one item, e.g. saris.

Nov29 Sat

Long 5.5 hour ride Jaipur back to Delhi, to stay atRamada Plaza very posh, kind of over the top. Met Marylyn ( the new NZguide) at reception. Met most the others around the pool, mostly older, and only a couple connected with the Cascade Bicycle club, others are joiners the trip, like myself. Weather is consistently nice, sunny and maybe 25 C at 2:00pm

Nov 30

A 7.5 hour train ride to Kota, and tomorrow we outfit the bikes. Train ride was tedious, but all right. The hotel was rather grand old maharaja building,
Dec 1 Wed
Been several days since any wifi. After 61 km cycling (cycling was fine, … no strain), beautiful weather 25C, ... then 45 km busing we arrived in a castle kind of Bijapur (near Kota) for two nights, a band, a torchlight entry (after dark) dinner will be by the pool.... all rather grand (mind you a bit "faded").
Misc little trivia items

• New netbook works well. My 3 cell battery lasts about an easy 3+ hours which is plenty, charges to full in about an hour
• Wifi in 70% places of, but mostly is chargeable, 3.25 -$3.50hr
• My “pirated” Windows 7 Home Premium upgrade from ‘Starter’ seems permanent, …runs well, worth the difference
• Main courses can be quite good at 300-400 rupees ~$10, not exactly cheap e.g. chicken tikka marsala, +coke +service charge +VAT ends up at $12.
• Found the 4day non-cycling portion is rather tedious, looking fwd to cycling Pedaltours late on 29thth.
• Taj Mahal today was pretty impressive as expected, ...but other stuff, not-so-much
• Think (mostly hope) my dizzy-fatigue issue is over … seems to be.
• Really hate the tipping but at-every-turn, maybe I’m just a cheapskate
• Till 27th there hasn’t been many annoying street vendors, but now are in full force and really persistent … hate it.
• See lots of dogs hobbling with broken legs, strange…sad.
• The litter issue is so pervasive, everywhere you are shuffling through inches of it. When there’s so much of it, you even do it yourself, or it all seems at least pointless.
• The quality of the mountain bikes in Nepal was perfectly adequate (for me)
• India is noticeably richer than Nepal, … preferred Nepal, but I’ve really just started India
• After 2.5 weeks of road travel, I haven’t seen a single restaurant where I’d even remotely want to go in. Restaurants of ANY kind hardly exist at all. They no doubt exist, but you need guidance to find. The hotels we stay at are fairly nice, ( in a sense they attempt at 3 star), but the calibre of most things we pass daily (inhabited areas) is essentially squalor.
• A street vendor offered to exchange his professional photo of me on elephant for my new Nike baseball cap (bought in Kathmandu) rather than 200 Rs ($5) … I was flattered.
• Generally, f you are not in tourist areas, you are not bothered by hawkers.
• If you lose your debit card, it's important to have the bank’s tel no handy to cancel, …I did….. called in 10-20 minutes after loss.

Dec 2 Thurs cycled with the owner, though his property ...fairly hilly, 50km wide by 56km long (hard to believe), to have lunch at a tent resort, sort of. Highlight was stopping and seeing the food preparations for a wedding for 4000 attendees. Wedding was the granddaughter of of one of the tennants. We also stopped at one of the govt sanctioned opium farms, ... didnt understand what that was all about. Dec 3 Fri Cycled (again with the owner) about 33km to visit a 13th C 700 acre fort and have lunch in Chitogga (?), then bused to Udaipur, where we will stay 2 nights at a rather nice hotel by a lake. Dinner on the hotel rooftop....really kind of special. Dec 4 Sat Cycled 45 km to a lakeside resort (rather modern posh) and very much out of keeping with the surroundings. Doug was attacked (sort of) by gypsies who tried to steal his wallet, bike bag, ... no harm done, Weather is consistently nice, I cycled in a tank top (despite the local customs) since we did a bit of climbing say 1000 ft. but the locals dress as though it was 10C but when you climb it seems 25C- 30C. Dec 5, Sunday
Cycled about 55 km to Kombi, actually found it rather tedious cycling, and had a kid throw a rock at me, … the locals, the older kids can be kind of aggressive, not exactly sure what motivates them. Saw Casaba, 72, fall in a filthy greasy black puddle, … but he has a good attitude, washed his wound, and cycled on despite heavy bronchitis. His fall caused a crowd of about 25-30 to form, more intrigued by the bike than helpful. Arrived at a rather luxurious hotel, close to the famous Kum fort, so went on an afternoon tour, 17 km perimeter wall 7 m high, and almost as wide. Dinner was continental, especially for us, ‘chicken a la king’… liked it. Some of our group go on and on raving about the Indian food, whereas I find it so spicy it clearly overpowers the flavour of whatever you are eating, … it’s also pretty sparing on the meat portion, often just a tablespoon (maybe two) in a sauce on a mound of rice, … skimpy, but probably better for you.

Dec 6, Monday

Cycled about 55 km again to a very open air jungle type resort (one of the nicer places), then went to the Jain temple, … Jains don’t believe in killing things, so no leather allowed, no leather shoes, no wallets etc. but the temple was pretty impressive, and I’m not a temple fan. Prince Charles was supposed to be there before we left at 4:30, … didn’t see him. Small point: … room didn’t have hot water, but in about an hour of fussing, they fixed that.

Dec 7 Tuesday

Bussed back to Diaper, lunch, then City Palace tour, then haircut 100 Rs=$2.26, dinner, where I tipped Monty who is leaving us 1000 Rs (=22$, probably twice the appropriate amount). Will be up at 5:00 AM tomorrow flying to Mumbai then Cochin (at the bottom tip of the Indian sub continent. Left Monty a written constructive critique (his request); said he he should learn at least something about India, and didn’t seem to know a single fact about India, … Howard left him his Lonely Planet of Rajasthan and said “read it maybe you’ll know as much as the people you are guiding, ... quote qualifies as the “perfect” line of the day.
Dec 8 Wednesday
Up at 5:00AM for an 8:15AM flight to Cochin, through Mumbai (30 min connection), with 11bikes. I’d say that couldn’t be done. but it was, > $1000 surcharge for excess weight. The reason the timing worked was that a bus met us at the plane staircase and delivered us to the connecting plane. Cochin (in extreme south) was 30C at 1:00 PM and very humid, and more like a real seedy part of Toronto on a hot humid July day. Went to an air-conditioned theatre stage show (folkloric dancing), which involved elaborate face painting, … 20 minutes of that is plenty.
Dec 9 Thursday
Cycled 47 km to a hotel in a bird sanctuary, were about 2 hours late, road was badly pot-holed, and undulating, and very much “in the tropics”, more like a Polynesian island. Rubber plantations, pineapples, and the people are much darker skinned than Rajasthan (and speak a different language), also seemed more genuinely friendly. Not nearly the litter of Rajasthan, and the occasional house looks quite respectable, … even one monster house.
Dec 10 Friday
Cycled 47 km to the lunch break, where they served “take-out” Indian dishes (chicken curry etc) the drivers had brought with them. There was then a 1200 m climb after lunch, over a 30 km distance, so quite steep, often>10%, … so I vanned, … good decision, only 2 cycled. We’re now at about 1500 meters and it dropped from 31.4C at lunch to maybe 16C, due to altitude. It’s tea-growing area, …big time. The resort is a quite spectacular, substantial cottage on the hillside in a very forested area.
Dec 11 Sat Cycled 62.4 Km to a pick-up time (cycled till 4:00PM). 62.4 Km (all in the 1000m 1500m range, so coolish: 15-22C) might not sound like much, but on these roads it’s an accomplishment. The guide said we managed a little over 10 Km/hr before lunch … pretty damned modest. The lunch was Indian “take-out” again served on paper plates, … much better than any continental box lunches we’ve had. The terrain is very hilly; you never get more than 300m flat before an assent or descent. Tonight’s hotel is fairly deluxe and we’re here for three nights, and our last night with Pedaltours (Dec 15) is on houseboat, off the Cochin coast I presume, and flying out Dec 17 at 4:35 AM. Dec 12 Sunday A rest day, meals on your own, and didnt do much. Instead of a 10Km jungle walk, went shopping in Kumily with Joyce where most of the stuff is just to ornate for my taste. Joyce has absolutely no qualms about asking to be shown all sorts of stuff then just walking out, and then repeating the routine store after store. Had dinner with Sue and Csaba (the psychitrist), ... a pleasant evening, went to the tandori BBQ in the hotel, .... meals with 3 or 4 is much better than group dinners. Just 2 more cycling days and the overnight on the houseboat Dec 13 Monday One of the better days, cycled 75 km to Theni in the state of Tamil Nadu (very poor), had excellent lunch (butter chicken) and the vanned baclk to Kumily. Dec 14 Tuesday We ended up cycling about 55 Km at roughly 1000 m altitude, and never got to the big downhill,... time was ran out and we had to arrive at our hotel before dark The hotel was substantial deluxe cabins on waterway network, ... impressive really. Dec 15 Wednesday Day on the houseboat in the backwaters near Cochin. Lonely Planet raves about it, .. its not bad, boats are nicely appointed, ...airconditoned cabins and we seemed to be the only Caucasion tourists among all the many boats Dec 16 Thursday Cycled 35 Km from the boathouse to the pickup poin then vanned back to the hotel for the farewell lunch ( 2 people are leaving on a 4:30 flight to Delhi. Sue gave a very good toast/roast to Marilyn. The big boss, KC from Bestways flew down from Delhi to say goodbye (effectively at our expense) ....the airfare money(say $400) would have been better spent as tips to the drivers guides. He was supposed tio arrange the lunch but it was kind of a cock-up (... seating issues), but it eventually got settled,... he made a big show of being upset, ... but the trouble was of his own doing.
Dec 17 2010 Friday

• got home fine, 2:50pm, 10 min early, Emirates A380 seemed full, so about 700 passengers, but I had 2 seats (INCREDIBLY), ... kind of made up for the bad outbound Emirates flight.
• Pearson airport was so busy and Customs/Immigration so busy it took 90 min instead of usual 20, .... so many in the NEW SINGLE snake line (20 rows) they almost started to back up on the escalators, ... so informal snake line was started, without the GUIDANCE tape, but only half the kiosks were open, ... government (MUST BE Conservative) incompetence.
• went to BMO, got new Debit card w/o trouble,.... remember: knowing the "cancel tel no" is SO important
• using the highways (427/407when using the Limo) on the way home, reminded me of how "really great" we have it here, AND TAKE IT FOR GRANTED (sincerely).
• home is bloody cold,... Camry started fine though

• blog statistics: 409 views as of Nov 30, 1,021 views for Nov+Dec
• overal rating Vietnam 9/10, Eastern Europe 6.5/10, Nepal 7.5/10, India (Raj and Kerala) 5.5/10

5 good things with Pedaltours India

1. Tipping (other than main guides) with Pedaltours is included (thank God); otherwise it’s a pain never having the right bill denominations, and guessing the appropriate amount
2. Given that the country is generally squalor, Pedaltours seems to have picked some good routes. Dec 6th reminded me of the Gorges de Verdun area of Provence.
3. The food is generally pretty good, occasionally excellent, but sometimes is not. Stay away from Mutton, menus say lamb, but is in fact is goat … very bony, and I don’t order it any more.
4. Marilyn is a superb guide (in so many ways), and the stand-in guide (Monty, 23) is young, and will improve. If you ask ‘what is that?’ (a body of water) he says: ``it’s a lake” … kind of new that.
5. Many of the hotels are gems (varied, quite special), and really stand out in the context (Rajasthan is poorer than 13 African countries). The castle hotel in Bijapur, where they had evening stage entertainment, and where the owner cycled with us two days, was impressive.

5 bad things in India

1. The local guide in Delhi (Saresh) was useless and and unlikeable, actually seems to have screwed things up, … why didn’t he just give us the train seat numbers instead of us getting kicked out of temporary seats. Then there was Peter’s double charging saga, … Peter feels Sareshe`s fault.The Ramada Plaza was no doubt super expensive, and gouged everything, the evening buffet was no doubt $outrageous, and the box lunch on day 2 they provided was expensive but pathetic, … the best part was the inedible very fancy box.
2. (…being careful with my words): Most Rajasthan locals tend to be “in your face”, not shy/retiring like Vietnam. The kids often want money, pens, and kind of scream at you and laugh mockingly (that’s my sense) as you ride by or away. One case of getting on your bike and wanting to ride away (Bill stopped it). Also, we had one case of being attacked (by gypsies) for a wallet, rackpack (but no harm done), and myself an instance of throwing of rocks, all psychologically hurtful. So, I keep quiet, don’t wave, and get through town ASAP.
3. So far, it seems one little corner of India (parliament region Delhi) is neat clean, impressive even, but the rest of the inhabited areas are dirty, littered, (Kerala is somewhat better). One has got to get over that, accept it (that’s India) , and move on,…. so get used to it, or be unhappy. I noticed the our drivers cleaned up all the refuse from our take out lunch, but then threw the 5 garbage bags into the bushes at the side of the road.
4. “ JK “ the big boss at Bestway was just an irritant. Why he came down to Cochin, effectively at our expense, to wish us goodbye (or whatever it was) is a mystery. The estimated $400 airfare money would have been better spent in paying/tipping the drivers. He made a show of making a fuss about the screwed-up seating at the final lunch, yet it was his doing.

Nepal India 2010

click above photos to enlarge, (then backarrow)

Executive Summary Nepal, Nov 11-24 2010

This was a well-run, exceptional value trip (Exodus:land $125/day). 14 participants - mostly Brits, excellent shocked mtn bikes, the local team was a well-oiled machine, - good esprit, through varied landscapes and good weather (in November). I personally found Day2, Day3, off-road and too difficult for my comfort. Hotels were sort of 2star/adequate or better. Nepal suffers from extreme litter and horn blowing. .... Rating 7.5/10

Executive Summary India, Nov 29-D 17 2010

This was a ambitious, dubious value trip (Pedaltours:land $250/day). 11 participants -older, very well-travelled mostly from US, adequate road bikes, the local team was trying, but needs much improvement - probably not easy to find good routes. Through varied landscapes and good weather (in Nov/Dec). level of difficulty was mostly average. Some hotels were exceptional and quite nice. Rajasthan suffers from extreme litter and horn blowing. ..... Rating 5.5/10

Photo Albums, click below:

Nepal (best 25), India (best 25), All (all 366)

(after discarding the worst 200-300)

Operator websites:

Nepal (click), Pedaltours Rajasthan (click), Pedaltours Kerala (click)

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Nov 8-10 Nepal (… India begins Nov 24)
Emirates Airlines, A380 flight to Dubai was fine, temp 30 degrees C at 10PM, onto Delhi arriving 3:30AM. Wed to a $50night hotel, ... pretty dingy area, but the hotel is adequate, especially for a 5AM arrival, I refuse to stay at $190night hotel when you arrive at 5AM.... off to Kathmandu Thurs AM, to meet up with group, mostly Brits.

• 9 hour time difference to Dubai, 30C not that you'd know it in AC airport, 10.5 to Delhi.
• A380 flight of 11398 Km, 12 hours, was fine, but the passengers were a scruffy dumpy lot (rude, demanding),
• Several women wearing outfits with only eye-slits
• Must have been 20 wheelchairs, and lots of infants
• Emirates staff, incl. pilot, is mostly Australian, cheery but the passengers must get them down, they wont take guff from passengers
• A380 has a ``tail`` camera facing forward, so kind of like looking over pilot's shoulder (so to speak), screen is large, 2'x4' in every cabin-- gives good sense of your whereabouts.
• The basic hotel was in such a scruffy neighbourhood, and the driver had trouble finding it at 4:30 AM, ... that I was concerned, ... in fact, it’s OK, perfectly adequate. Slept for 9 hours 5 AM to 2PM, ... pleased. Went for a walk in the market, pretty much I expected, crowded, dirty, horns blowing, ... nice thing: all signs are in English, although they speak Hindi or whatever to each other (but can speak English).

Nov 11
1.5 hour flight to Kathmandu n Air India, but delayed by almost 2 hours because they couldn’t get the door open (on the ramp to the aircraft)... as the ads say "Incredible India". Met the group of 14 ... all Brits. Seem nice enough, and a wide range of ages, say 30s, to my age. Kathmandu has essentially no infrastructure. Had dinner at a restaurant outside hotel, at own expense. 11Brits, 1 Irish, 2 Canadians, and 4 Nepali staff. Leader (Kumar), and assistant (Mongol), both speak English well, and we’ll meet the van driver and assistant tomorrow. Dinner was long and tedious, ordered chicken tikka Masala. Kathmandu may have a Shangri-la connotation in my mind, but in reality it’s pretty scruffy and dirty, and absolutely nothing “Shangri-la” about it.

Nov 12

First full day: Up for 7AM meeting (why so early?) to assign/adjust bikes… primarily Trek 3700 mountain bikes, ... seemed pretty good quality, certainly good enough. Breakfast was buffet style and above average. Then 20km to Bhaktapur by van because the road is congested and heavily trafficked. Bhaktapur is a kind of Hindu religious place where we had a local guide for 2-3 hours, then a half hour vanning to our start point for actual cycling at 2 PM. The roads are extremely primitive, not paved, badly rutted, and hilly … overall not impressed… Also its group riding (everybody together) that I’m not used to. Destination hotel is quite nice (rather grand), so rather inconsistent with surroundings.

Nov 13
After a buffet breakfast we bussed 10k or so to town of religious significance, then after half an hour cycled about 6k to a soccer field where we had a box lunch (not very good), then cycled 9k on a road with a lot of traffic, and I started to feel dizzy so went in the bus, ending up at a very basic resort (if you could call it that). I passed on going to the temple (didn’t miss much), and dinner, and drinking 1Lwater with electrolytes. 2 in total, and still didn’t pee much…. So must have dehydrated

Nov 14 Sunday (a work day in Nepal)
Breakfast was porridge and scrambled eggs, rather good. In theory was 65K to Daman with 45 km of cycling, but the terrain was so hilly and the road surface so rough I ended up riding the bus. We all agreed the Exodus catalogue description is inaccurate … it is not!! a road bike trip, it’s a mountain bike trip over poor unpaved roads, …I’ve never seen roads so bad, and always going up or going down, and rarely a section of 100m flat. Till today it was largely urban (region of Kathmandu), but today became more rural, lots of primitive farmhouses. Lunch was a box lunch, all the way from Kathmandu, and the destination hotel is at 2345 m (holly cow!). The last 14 km being a climb of approaching 1000m, …and we were all in the bus.

Nov 15, Monday
We were up at 6:10AM to see the sunrise, rising roughly over Mr Everest (appeared small because it was far away). … Sunrises are always over touted, in my opinion, although I suppose the idea is OK. The group went on a two-hour trek at 2400m through the woods, but I just rested. After lunch, the group did the decent, 2400m to about 600m, involving about 30+ hairpin turns, an the temperature went from 10C to 27C, to the town Hettauda with more of an Indian character (to me), at the Orchid resort (which had WiFi in the lobby). The resort had loudspeaker-recorded music blaring away till 9:30PM staring again at 6:00AM, sounded awful: wailing, and sounds like some animal being gored. Hindu or not, I cant imagine anybody liking that noise.
Because of my dizzy fatigue issue, placed my first call to Brampton’s Dr Mak about my Nov 4 blood test result, and arranged to call back tomorrow, same time. The receptionist wasn’t too keen but reluctantly agreed.

Nov 16 Tuesday
Started off in the bus for an hour or two, then started cycling (me too) off-road with the river to our left. I cycled for 45minutes or so till I was exhausted, and had to ride in bus. Lunch was a box lunch vegetarian and rather good, mainly a kind of pancake-y thing, made of shredded vegetables. Then onto Chitwan park for two nights. The hotel is really quite nice and a few miles from the hubbub of the local town. We went on a local area walk with a guide to see the local people who came from Rajasthan in the 14^thcentury. Saw the primitive village, essentially mud huts, … one impressive thing was the bio-gas installation, courtesy WWF, where dung is fermented in underground tanks to produce methane which is distributed in small tube to stoves for cooking, and the resultant dung is fertilizer. There was an evening show of dancing, with a central theme of scaring the animals away.
Placed my cell call to Dr Mak’s reception 10:20 AM Brampton time, … she said my Nov 4 blood tests were normal. …So still no reason why I get dizzy + fatigued + out of breath so easily. I can do easy daily routine effort well enough (and feel fine) but even just 10% more effort (going upstairs for example) really knocks me out, … have to stop/sit and rest, … all very worrisome/ embarrassing. Can’t figure out why.

Nov 17 Wednesday, Rest day in Chitwan
A busy day…. a wakeup call at 6:30AM, convened 7:00 AM for ‘tea’, then a 2 hour walk through the jungle, where we didn’t see much of anything. Breakfast 9:30 AM Then a 45 min ride in the bullock carts (not as rough as you’d think, 5 people per cart), to the start of the dug out canoes, 14+3 guides all in one large canoe, a peaceful ride down the river to the hotel, lunch, then off at mid afternoon to the elephant safari, almost two hours (quite long), and the highlight was the rhinoceroses, got a few good shots

Nov 18 (first day in three with wifi)

Group cycled till 2:30 then long ride 130km to Limbini, Budda's birthplace. ... pretty much squalor as you go through towns on the way. Nice hotel at destination.

Nov 19 Friday
Rather nice hotel in Limbini, matching NA standards. Up for 7:30 breakfast, then a 9:00 AM visit to the birthplace of Buddha (just 1km away), with a local guide, … took about an hour … was not
particularly impressed, … pretty seedy in fact, St Peter’s it ain’t. In a sizable land plot, many acres, a steel girder and stucco structure 200’x 200’ covering some brick ruins, with an ugly square
concrete pool nearby. Good news: I cycled the planned 65 km without any of the dizzy-fatigue problems of previous days. It wasn’t that much of a test (not really hilly) I suppose, but it was
done without any difficulty. I followed Ann’s (in her 70’s I guess) slow pace which suited me just fine, … I didn’t want to push it. I had been concerned about being incapacitated through the next two trips in India. I’m not saying the problem has disappeared, but there is no longer manifestations of it. Lunch was in an open courtyard restaurant; quite nice really, had a mixed pizza, … very
good. Then we all got in the bus for a two-hour climb from 200m to 1400m to the town of Tansen over treacherous roads. Dinner was at the town centre, where my choice ‘mutton dal baht’ was
close to inedible, oh well.

Nov 20, Friday, to Pokhara
It was a clear day so many got up to see the sunrise, not me. Rather than the planned 5-hour trek, we just did a town tour for an hour or so. Then cycled down from 1400m to 600m, with long
stretches of fairly flat, and a simple box lunch on a roadside cliff with commanding valley view. Then on the bus till the last 15km, and we cycled in heavy rain (to Kumar’s surprise) to the hotel,
rather unpleasant. Dinner was a bus-ride to lakeside Boomerang restaurant, … chicken almond dinner/coke, all for about $8, with a constant stage show of Nepali music and dance, which tended to dominate conversation.

Nov 21 Sunday
Today is a rest day, so-called. Misty in the morning but warmed up to the mid 20s and sunny. Went on tour of Davis falls, then hiked through caves (hot steamy), then bus’d to the base of a
Buddha pagoda climbed 100-200m to the pagoda then down to the lake, had lunch at a lakeside restaurant (took far too long for service). Then a boat ride to a island temple, and on to Pokara
lakeside for shopping and we had a drink with Mongol to discuss his 2012 Olympic possibilities.(mountain biking representing Nepal).

Nov 22 Monday, Pokhara
On the bus at 8:00 to go trekking, after 1 hour ride foot climbed to get a view of another lake then lunch (from the German bakery), then a 10 K ride down to base on hardtop. Overall I felt fine. Then a 45 min visit to the Ghurkhas museum, back to hotel for 4:00. Dinner at Mama Mia's, pizza.

Nov 23 Tuesday, back to Kathmandu
Up for an 8:15 transfer to Pokhara airport and a 25 min flight back to Kathmandu. Then a pretty full day for city tour with the local guide, including where they have the funeral pyre, and dump the ashes into the river, that ends up in the Ganges. Talked with Mangal's tour operator about sponsorship possibilities for Mangal in London 2012. Had a Nepali dinner in large palace-like building, with local traditional dancing, and Angus made the tip presentation. A well-run trip

Nepal trip evaluation

5 good things:

1. The British group was a big bonus, polite and a fun group, Graham was montypython-ish
2. Kumar was an exceptional leader, fun, his timing estimates were spot on
3. Day in Chitwan was the highlight, busy day elephant ride, rhino siteing
4. Coordination of the 1,000 Rs tip was a great idea
5. Little things (many) such as the rickshaw ride, restaurant choices in |Pokhara

5 bad things:

1. Day 2,3 riding was far too difficult, then got better
2. Exodus description in the brochure of MNN is deceptive
3. Bus roof top riding is bad judgement
4. Dinner in Tansen was essentially inedible (animal innards), for several of those I spoke to
5. .... can’t think of another.

Rating ... my recent trips, overall subjective satisfaction
Vietnam ..................... 9/10,
Eastern Europe .........6.5 /10
Nepal .......................... 7.5/10, scored well on being "exotic"
Rajasthan/Kerala......... 5.5/10

Nov 24 ... India begins

Back in Delhi, after 90 minute flight from Kathmandu, twice frisked and twice my hand luggage was manually examined, once right on the boarding ramp ... seemed wildly excessive.

Nov 25
Up at 4:00 AM (simply mad) in time for a 6:30AM (started at 6:10) “Delhi by Bike” for 3.5 hours. The range of pricing to get there was $35 for Triangle car, $15 for hotel taxi, and $3.75 for a tuk-tuk.... took the tuk tuk. Elements of the tour were passable (parliament, president's residence, step well), and the woman guide was quite bubbly and chipper, but generally it was littered, dirty and though parts of town that were squalid, and why we started so early (partly our fault) is a puzzle was dark for first 1/2 hour. Then the Triangle guide met at noon and a car/driver, and we saw the Red Fort, Qutb Minar complex, etc and a rickshaw ride through the market of fabric, scarves, whatever.... which was really quite interesting. The rickshaw drivers work their butt off

Nov 26 Thurs

Up for a sensible 9:00AM departure for Agra (Taj Mahal), with the same driver for the next 4 days, … took about 4.5 hours and arrived at the Crystal Inn, a small modern hotel. Had lunch and dinner in the hotel, although the driver would take us anywhere, but there really didn’t seem to be that much of interest, other than the Taj.

Nov 27 Friday

Up at 6:30 for a daybreak viewing of the Taj Mahal. As the guide said, many people aren’t exactly sure where India is, but EVERYBODY!! knows that there’s a building called Taj Mahal. The skies were sunny, so we were pretty lucky (it has been raining. The crowds weren’t excessive, and 99% of the impression comes from the outside beauty, very little from inside. Then onto the Agra fort (2 km away), which while not grand is more peaceful, in a way. The street vendors at the gates are persistent and you’ve got to learn to ignore them, and its not that easy to do.
I confess (silly me): I went to an ATM, took out 10,000 Rs, and forgot my debit card (how careless, but realized it right away), phoned BMO (instant cooperation) to cancel it, all within 10 minutes, … so there’s no real loss, just inconvenience. I have my 2 credit cards with deliberate >$1000 credit balances, so no trouble expected. Then a 5-hour drive to Jaipur, arriving at 5 pm. The Jaipur Palace is an older hotel, fairly big, and a heavy rock beat from the wedding going on.
I find all this non-cycling typical tourist stuff really tedious and am anxious to meet the Pedaltours group on Monday night back in Delhi. Strange, when you are cycling, and have an occasional rest day for tourist sightseeing it’s quite welcome, … but sequential days of tourist sightseeing day after day becomes a grind.

Nov 28 Sunday, Jaipur, (third city of triangle)

Up for an 8:30 start for Jaipur tour, a place I never heard of. First a drive through the ‘Pink City’ (buildings painted pink) then onto an elephant ride to the top of Amber Palace. I rather liked Amber Palace maybe because, compared to the Taj Mahal, I had no expectations, and everything seemed quite impressive. Then through various palaces, where you learn about the excesses of the maharajas. By the way Indira Ghandi got rid of the state-support of them in the ‘70s. Lunch in the palace café (quite nice) curried lamb (turns out to be goat), and then a 2-hour walk through the famous “Pink City” where there are sections (dozens of stores) devoted to one item, e.g. saris.

Nov29 Sat

Long 5.5 hour ride Jaipur back to Delhi, to stay at Ramada Plaza very posh, kind of over the top. Met Marylyn ( the new NZ guide) at reception. Met most the others around the pool, mostly older, and only a couple connected with the Cascade Bicycle club, others are joiners the trip, like myself. Weather is consistently nice, sunny and maybe 25 C at 2:00pm

Nov 30

A 7.5 hour train ride to Kota, and tomorrow we outfit the bikes. Train ride was tedious, but all right. The hotel was rather grand old maharaja building,

Dec 1 Wed
Been several days since wifi. After 61 km cycling (cycling was fine, … no strain), beautiful weather 25C, ... then 45 km bussing we arrived in a castle kind of Bijapur (near Kota) for two nights, a band, a torchlight entry (after dark) dinner will be by the pool.... all rather grand (mind you a bit "faded").

Misc. little trivia items

• New net book works well. My 3 cell battery lasts about an easy 3+ hours which is plenty, charges to full in about an hour
• Wifi in 70% places of, but mostly is chargeable, 3.25 -$3.50hr
• My “pirated” Windows 7 Home Premium upgrade from ‘Starter’ seems permanent, …runs well, worth the difference
• Main courses can be quite good at 300-400 rupees ~$10, not exactly cheap e.g. chicken tikka masala, +coke +service charge +VAT ends up at $12.
• Found the 4day non-cycling portion is rather tedious, looking fwd to cycling Pedaltours late on 29th^th.
• Taj Mahal today was pretty impressive as expected, ...but other stuff, not-so-much
• Think (mostly hope) my dizzy-fatigue issue is over … seems to be.
• Really hate the tipping but at-every-turn, maybe I’m just a cheapskate
• Till 27^th there hasn’t been many annoying street vendors, but now are in full force and really persistent … hate it.
• See lots of dogs hobbling with broken legs, strange…sad.
• The litter issue is so pervasive, everywhere you are shuffling through inches of it. When there’s so much of it, you even do it yourself, or it all seems at least pointless.
• The quality of the mountain bikes in Nepal was perfectly adequate (for me)
• India is noticeably richer than Nepal, … preferred Nepal, but I’ve really just started India
• After 2.5 weeks of road travel, I haven’t seen a single restaurant where I’d even remotely want to go in. Restaurants of ANY kind hardly exist at all. They no doubt exist, but you need guidance to find. The hotels we stay at are fairly nice, ( in a sense they attempt at 3 star), but the calibre of most things we pass daily (inhabited areas) is essentially squalor.
• A street vendor offered to exchange his professional photo of me on elephant for my new Nike baseball cap (bought in Kathmandu) rather than 200 Rs ($5) … I was flattered.
• Generally, f you are not in tourist areas, hawkers do not bother you.
• If you lose your debit card, it's important to have the bank’s telephone no handy to cancel, …I did….. called in 10-20 minutes after loss.

Dec 2 Thurs
cycled with the owner, though his property ...fairly hilly, 50km wide by 56km long (hard to believe), to have lunch at a tent resort, sort of. Highlight was stopping and seeing the food preparations for a wedding for 4000 attendees. Wedding was the granddaughter of of one of the tenants. We also stopped at one of the govt sanctioned opium farms, ... didn’t understand what that was all about.

Dec 3 Fri
Cycled (again with the owner) about 33km to visit a 13th C 700 acre fort and have lunch in Chitogga (?), then vanned to Udaipur, where we will stay 2 nights at a rather nice hotel by a lake. Dinner on the hotel rooftop....really kind of special.

Dec 4 Sat
Cycled 45 km to a lakeside resort (rather modern posh) and very much out of keeping with the surroundings. Doug was attacked (sort of) by gypsies who tried to steal his wallet, bike bag, ... no harm done, Weather is consistently nice, I cycled in a tank top (despite the local customs) since we did a bit of climbing say 1000 ft. but the locals dress as though it was 10C but when you climb it seems 25C- 30C.

Dec 5, Sunday
Cycled about 55 km to Kombi, actually found it rather tedious cycling, and had a kid throw a rock at me, … the locals, the older kids can be kind of aggressive, not exactly sure what motivates them. Saw Casaba, 72, fall in a filthy greasy black puddle, … but he has a good attitude, washed his wound, and cycled on despite heavy bronchitis. His fall caused a crowd of about 25-30 to form, more intrigued by the bike than helpful. Arrived at a rather luxurious hotel, close to the famous Kum?? fort, so went on an afternoon tour, 17 km perimeter wall 7 m high, and almost as wide. Dinner was continental, especially for us, ‘chicken a la king’… liked it. Some of our group go on and on raving about the Indian food, whereas I find it so spicy it clearly overpowers the flavour of whatever you are eating, … it’s also pretty sparing on the meat portion, often just a tablespoon (maybe two) in a sauce on a mound of rice, … skimpy, but probably better for you.

Dec 6, Monday

Cycled about 55 km again to a very open air jungle type resort (one of the nicer places), then went to the Jain temple, … Jains don’t believe in killing things, so no leather allowed, no leather shoes, no wallets etc. but the temple was pretty impressive, and I’m not a temple fan. Prince Charles was supposed to be there before we left at 4:30, … didn’t see him. Small point: … room didn’t have hot water, but in about an hour of fussing, they fixed that.

Dec 7 Tuesday

Bussed back to Diaper, lunch, then City Palace tour, then haircut 100 Rs=$2.26, dinner, where I tipped Monty who is leaving us 1000 Rs (=22$, probably twice the appropriate amount). Will be up at 5:00 AM tomorrow flying to Mumbai then Cochin (at the bottom tip of the Indian sub continent. Left Monty a written constructive critique (his request); said he should learn at least something about India, and didn’t seem to know a single fact about India, … Howard left him his Lonely Planet of Rajas than and said “read it maybe you’ll know as much as the people you are guiding, ... quote qualifies as the “perfect” line of the day.

Dec 8 Wednesday
Up at 5:00AM for an 8:15AM flight to Cochin, through Mumbai (30 min connection), with 11bikes. I’d say that couldn’t be done. but it was, > $1000 surcharge for excess weight. The reason the timing worked was that a bus met us at the plane staircase and delivered us to the connecting plane. Cochin (in extreme south) was 30C at 1:00 PM and very humid, and more like a real seedy part of Toronto on a hot humid July day. Went to an air-conditioned theatre stage show (folkloric dancing), which involved elaborate face painting, … 20 minutes of that is plenty.

Dec 9 Thursday
Cycled 47 km to a hotel in a bird sanctuary, were about 2 hours late, road was badly pot-holed, and undulating, and very much “in the tropics”, more like a Polynesian island. Rubber plantations, pineapples, and the people are much darker skinned than Rajas than (and speak a different language), also seemed more genuinely friendly. Not nearly the litter of Rajasthan, and the occasional house looks quite respectable, … even one monster house.

Dec 10 Friday
Cycled 47 km to the lunch break, where they served “take-out” Indian dishes (chicken curry etc) the drivers had brought with them. There was then a 1200 m climb after lunch, over a 30 km distance, so quite steep, often>10%, … so I vanned, … good decision, only 2 cycled. We’re now at about 1500 meters and it dropped from 31.4C at lunch to maybe 16C, due to altitude. It’s tea-growing area, …big time. The resort is a quite spectacular, substantial cottage on the hillside in a very forested area.

Dec 11 Sat
Cycled 62.4 Km to a pick-up time (cycled till 4:00PM). 62.4 Km (all in the 1000m 1500m range, so coolish: 15-22C) might not sound like much, but on these roads it’s an accomplishment. The guide said we managed a little over 10 Km/hr before lunch … pretty damned modest. The lunch was Indian “take-out” again served on paper plates, … much better than any continental box lunches we’ve had. The terrain is very hilly; you never get more than 300m flat before an assent or descent. Tonight’s hotel is fairly deluxe and we’re here for three nights, and our last night with Pedaltours (Dec 15) is on houseboat, off the Cochin coast I presume, and flying out Dec 17 at 4:35 AM.

Dec 12 Sunday
A rest day, meals on your own, and didn’t do much. Instead of a 10Km jungle walk, went shopping in Kumily with Joyce where most of the stuff is just too ornate for my taste. Joyce has absolutely no qualms about asking to be shown all sorts of stuff then just walking out, and then repeating the routine store after store. Had dinner with Sue and Csaba (the psychiatrist), ... a pleasant evening, went to the tandori BBQ in the hotel, .... meals with 3 or 4 is much better than group dinners. Just 2 more cycling days and the overnight on the houseboat

Dec 13 Monday
One of the better days, cycled 75 km to Theni in the state of Tamil Nadu (very poor), had excellent lunch (butter chicken) and the vanned back to Kumily.

Dec 14 Tuesday
We ended up cycling about 55 Km at roughly 1000 m altitude, and never got to the big downhill,... time was ran out and we had to arrive at our hotel before dark The hotel was substantial deluxe cabins on waterway network, ... impressive really.

Dec 15 Wednesday
Day on the houseboat in the backwaters near Cochin. Lonely Planet raves about it, .. its not bad, boats are nicely appointed, ...air-conditioned cabins and we seemed to be the only Caucasian tourists among all the many boats

Dec 16 Thursday
Cycled 35 Km from the boathouse to the pickup point then vanned back to the hotel for the farewell lunch ( 2 people are leaving on a 4:30 flight to Delhi. Sue gave a very good toast/roast to Marilyn. The big boss, KC from Bestways flew down from Delhi to say goodbye (effectively at our expense) ....the airfare money (say $400) would have been better spent as tips to the drivers/guides. He was supposed to arrange the lunch but it was kind of a cock-up (... seating issues), but it eventually got settled,... he made a big show of being upset, ... but the trouble was of his own doing.

Dec 17 2010 Friday

• got home fine, 2:50pm, 10 min early, Emirates A380 seemed full, so about 700 passengers, but I had 2 seats (INCREDIBLY), ... kind of made up for the bad outbound Emirates flight.
• Pearson airport was so busy and Customs/Immigration so busy it took 90 min instead of usual 20, .... so many in the NEW SINGLE snake line (20 rows) they almost started to back up on the escalators, ... so informal snake line was started, without the GUIDANCE tape, but only half the kiosks were open, ... government (MUST BE Conservative) incompetence.
• went to BMO, got new Debit card w/o trouble,.... remember: knowing the "cancel telephone no" is SO important
• using the highways (427/407when using the Limo) on the way home, reminded me of how "really great" we have it here, AND TAKE IT FOR GRANTED (sincerely).
• Brampton is bloody cold,... Camry started fine though

• blog statistics: 409 views as of Nov 30, so must be about 1,000+ by now(Dec 17)
• overall rating Vietnam 9/10, Eastern Europe 6.5/10, Nepal 7.5/10, India (Raj and Kerala) 5.5/10

5 good things with Pedaltours India

1. Tipping (other than main guides) with Pedaltours is included (thank God); otherwise it’s a pain never having the right bill denominations, and guessing the appropriate amount
2. Given that the country is generally squalor, Pedaltours seems to have picked some good routes. Dec 6th reminded me of the Gorges de Verdun area of Provence.
3. The food is generally pretty good, occasionally excellent, but sometimes is not. Stay away from Mutton, menus say lamb, but is in fact is goat … very bony, and I don’t order it any more.
4. Marilyn is a superb guide (in so many ways), and the stand-in guide (Monty, 23) is young, and will improve. If you ask ‘what is that?’ (a body of water) he says: ``it’s a lake” … kind of new that.
5. Many of the hotels are gems (varied, quite special), and really stand out in the context (Rajasthan is poorer than 13 African countries). The castle hotel in Bijapur, where they had evening stage entertainment, and where the owner cycled with us two days, was impressive.

5 bad things in India

1. The local guide in Delhi (Saresh) was useless and unlike able, actually seems to have screwed things up, … why didn’t he just give us the train seat numbers instead of us getting kicked out of temporary seats. Then there was Peter’s double charging saga, … Peter feels Saresh's fault. The Ramada Plaza was no doubt super expensive, and gouged everything, the evening buffet was no doubt $outrageous, and the box lunch on day 2 they provided was expensive but pathetic, … the best part was the inedible very fancy box.
2. (…being careful with my words): Most Rajasthan locals tend to be “in your face”, not shy/retiring like Vietnam. The kids often want money, pens, and kind of scream at you and laugh mockingly (that’s my sense) as you ride by or away. One case of getting on your bike and wanting to ride away (Bill stopped it). Also, we had one case of being attacked (by gypsies) for a wallet, rackpack (but no harm done), and myself an instance of throwing of rocks, all psychologically hurtful. So, I keep quiet, don’t wave, and get through town ASAP.
3. So far, it seems one little corner of India (parliament region Delhi) is neat clean, impressive even, but the rest of the inhabited areas are dirty, littered, (Kerala is somewhat better). One has got to get over that, accept it (that’s India) , and move on,…. so get used to it, or be unhappy. I noticed the our drivers cleaned up all the refuse from our take out lunch, but then threw the 5 garbage bags into the bushes at the side of the road.
4. “ JK “ the big boss at Bestways was just an irritant. Why he came down to Cochin, effectively at our expense, to wish us goodbye (or whatever it was) is a mystery. The estimated $400 airfare money would have been better spent in paying/tipping the drivers. He made a show of making a fuss about the screwed-up seating at the final lunch, yet it was his doing.