Wednesday 29 February 2012

I miss my bike...

I arrived in Katmandu, by flight from Mysore, south India on the 23rd January, exactly the day my Indian visa ran out...."phew, made it I thought"

I promised myself right at the start of the bike journey that I would never part with my faithful companion, never take flights and traverse the continents under my own power, a romantic idea that at some point had to end by making compromises due to unforseen obstacles, and/or lack of planning more like.

I had been running a race against visa expiry dates again, I had just a few days spare in either direction to either reach Nepal, or Sri Lanka via ferry.

Because of  events, such as trains being fully booked, ferry services discontinued, plan A and B was compromised leaving me pretty much stranded in the south of India, many weeks riding away to any accessible borders. Luckily friends helped me out by putting me in contact with friends of theirs where I could leave my bike and booking a flight for me.....thank you my friends. Well there seemed to be no other option than to break this golden rule and leave my faithful partner to rest from travelling for a couple of months.

Now after 1 month, plenty of rest, plenty of calories, the pain, discomfort, sweat, dust and thousands of kilometres, seem to be a blurry memory now that you almost want to repeat again just to remind yourself what it was all about.....it took just a couple of  bus/jeep rides being pinned into your seat by other squirming bodies, elbows, coughing, hacking and being sick out of the window, sometimes at the window, very quickly I drifted back to the open road, wind in my hair and total freedom to go where you want, stop where you want, eat when you want.......I really miss my bike.....still missing my bike, and currently trying to get it transported to either here in Nepal, or to Siliguri, north India, where I will be going next to visit friends. Seems not to be so easy either, so in between the painting I am phoning and e mailing trying to find a way to get my bike back.......the team needs to be re united before I over calorie myself to death.