Day 4 Local Activities
We got on the bikes, rode down to the river, rode through the river and followed a rough rock strewn jungle track for about 10kms to Dudhsagar (River of Milk) 300m high waterfall crossing 3 other rivers on the way with water up to your knees.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dudhsagar_Falls
The bikes didn’t miss a beat, incredibly stable and grunty over such rough terrain with football sized rocks and loos sand surface.
When we arrived we swam in the pool at its base before riding back.
After getting back we rode on an elephant, watched another elephant soak people sat on it back with it’s trunk, took an informative tour of a spice farm and then a late lunch made up of a range of local dishes.
After lunch we went to watch the 150x 25-ton truck coal trains trundle through the local village, sad I know but very relaxing and Adam got some numbers!!
Then a few beers in a bar in the local village and back to the camp for dinner, more beer and Carrom
Day 5 Kulem to Calangute Beach via Palolem Beach, Goa
A friend of mine who lives in Palolem Beach had fallen off his motorbike a week earlier and broken his collar bone along with a load of nasty road rash, Andy, the owner of IndiaBikes kindly agreed and nearly insisted we do a detour to visit him.
We set off early to beat the quarry trucks that hit the roads for a 10am start and got through the red dust area with a few minutes to spare. We then cruised slowly along a beautifully smooth one lane road that weaved right through the heart of the Goan jungle over mountain and trough valley, no traffic, just the noise of monkeys and insects and the burble of the bikes.
We arrived in Palolem, met Mike, had an iced coffee and a chat and went to a Goan Fish Restaurant for their Fish Curry, lovely. Back to Mike, said our good byes and set off for Calangute, the beach resort where the Indians themselves go. Crowded with noise, music, food smells and flashing lights but no drunkenness nor trouble.
There we had a Korean meal which was incredible, spicy but not burning.
Day 6 The long run
We had agreed that rather than ride to Chiplun today and have an early finish then ride on to Mumbai the next day we would do the 600kms from Calangute to Mumbai in one day. This would mean about 15 hours riding, 4 of which would be in the dark but it meant we would do 2 days travelling in one and get to spend a day sight seeing in Mumbai which Hari, our guide, had kindly offered to do so off we went.
We stopped in the same truck stop for Dahl and Chapattis,
Then arriving in Chiplun for Chai at 4 pm.
The sun set at 6.30 and it was pitch black by 7pm.
The rules in India appear to be i) Don’t turn your lights on until it’s more than pitch black but do dazzle any oncoming vehicle you can. ii) When you do turn your lights on make sure they are either on main beam or so misaligned that you blind everyone. iii) Then don’t reduce speed nor manic overtaking methods seizing every tiny gap, blind bend, hillcrest to fight your way forward.
We got to Mumbai by 1030pm and another hour of manic city traffic got us back to the Savoy Hotel, dinner in a lovely Chinese restaurant and bed.
Day 7 Mumbai City Tour
Hari picked us up in his car at 1030am and we drove into the city centre, parked up and set off on foot and taxi to see the Gate to the City, The Train terminus, Maharajah Hotel where the terrorists blew up and shot so many people a few years ago alongside a café where they attacked as well. Lunch at a single dish vegetarian restaurant.
We then visited the Crawford Market area, where you can buy anything and drove past the famous slums area before going gift hunting and dinner.
After dinner Andy and Hari kindly dropped us off at the airport to check in and fly back.
Continued below
Edited: 27/03/2012 at 19:55
