Bitten alive.....
Tried (and failed) to sleep in as I did not get much sleep last night. I was bitten badly up the mountain last night and my arm was itching like hell during the night. Eventually gave up on getting back to sleep about 11 and packed up and showered etc.
After brunch and chatting with the restaurant and hotel owners (they had really looked after me and been very friendly last night) for ages I headed off. The first part of the journey was not much fun as it was just on a busy highway going towards Pune. The closer I got the more traffic there was. I was planning on staying in Sasvad last night but as the Ricksaw guys had bought me 7km out of town in the oppsite direction to the way I was planning on going I thought I would take the short cut on the highway to Pune and then turn off on to some back roads again. Fortunately I did not have to go all the way into town as it was a very busy highway.
As I went along I noticed loads if groups of Indian men huddled round tiny tv sets watching the India-Pakistan cricket match. It is very important to most Indians to win this.
I turned off after Pune and then traveled along some lovely little lanes again. As often happens in India the road just turns into a dirt track every now and again and then become tarmaced once more. This makes for very slow going - although my legs are feeling much stronger than yesterday :) I saw some people working on the road where it had turned into a dirt track. There are always about 50% women doing this back braking work. The women are dressed differently to the women that I normally see in towns. They where separate 3/4 length skirts - more in a gypsy style. They put rocks in bowls and walk with these on their heads to where the rocks need to go and then twist the bowls off their heads in order to land the rocks on the floor. I stopped to take some pictures and pissed off the supervisor as the work of the whole team ceased as they all clamored to be in the picture. I love taking photos and Indians love to have their photos taken - perfect combination!
After a couple of hours my route took me to a very busy highway. On my India road atlas this road is the same size as a single track road I was on 2 days ago! It us impossible to know and it makes route funding hard.
I read for the first couple of hours of the journey but when the bus stopped at a restaurant for a dinner and toilet break 3 Indians came to sit with me and make conversation. Non of them knew each other but we all got on very well. They had all gone to Pune to visit friends and family and were all on their way back home. ? is a cardiac surgeon. ? is an arts student and ? is a software engineer. They all have boy friends/girl friends and do not want arranged marriages. It was interesting to hear their take on India and other Indians. They do not have very much respect for the level of education of the rural Indians. They all really wanted me to change my plans to end my journey at Aurangabad and instead come and stay with them in ???????. If I was not meeting Alan in Palunpur in a few days I would have done so. They were very lovely friendly people and it made the time pass very quickly.
As soon as I visit high end restaurants, stay in posh hotels or travel in air conditioned buses I met a different kind of Indian. There is such a huge difference between educated middle class Indians and the rest of the majority of the population. Most well educated people live in the big cities and are very Westernised.
The bus journey was really lucky. I did not have to wait at any station, book a ticket or faff around. The first bus that I asked was going to the perfect place, was very comfy and I met some really nice people.... Sometimes these things just work out :-) The route was a busy 2 lane highway all the way through very flat boring countryside and so I really did not miss much by not biking this section.
When I arrived in Aurangabad about 10pm the streets were quiet as everyone was watching the India-Pakistan cricket match. It was funny to see about 200 Indian men standing outside the Sony shop watching the match on the tvs inside the store!
I had to bike round town in the middle of the night for about 1h to find a hotel that was not ridiculously expensive and accepted foreigners and was not full (due to cricket match). Fortunately an lovely rickshaw driver helped me out. I felt very safe in his company and he did not try to rip me off and so I gave him a large tip.
I was very glad to find a place 5mins before the end of the match as all hell broke lose afterward. I had not realised how quiet the streets were until the end of the match. Everyone took to the streets shouting "India India", horns were beeping and hundreds of fireworks let off. I did not venture out to take photos as it was 11 by this time and I still had to shower and wash my clothes etc for the next day. I also did not think it was particularly safe as there were sooo many drunk Indian men! I noticed no women watching the cricket.....
To bed at 12.30 by the time I had done everything but over tired and need more sleep....
After brunch and chatting with the restaurant and hotel owners (they had really looked after me and been very friendly last night) for ages I headed off. The first part of the journey was not much fun as it was just on a busy highway going towards Pune. The closer I got the more traffic there was. I was planning on staying in Sasvad last night but as the Ricksaw guys had bought me 7km out of town in the oppsite direction to the way I was planning on going I thought I would take the short cut on the highway to Pune and then turn off on to some back roads again. Fortunately I did not have to go all the way into town as it was a very busy highway.
As I went along I noticed loads if groups of Indian men huddled round tiny tv sets watching the India-Pakistan cricket match. It is very important to most Indians to win this.
I turned off after Pune and then traveled along some lovely little lanes again. As often happens in India the road just turns into a dirt track every now and again and then become tarmaced once more. This makes for very slow going - although my legs are feeling much stronger than yesterday :) I saw some people working on the road where it had turned into a dirt track. There are always about 50% women doing this back braking work. The women are dressed differently to the women that I normally see in towns. They where separate 3/4 length skirts - more in a gypsy style. They put rocks in bowls and walk with these on their heads to where the rocks need to go and then twist the bowls off their heads in order to land the rocks on the floor. I stopped to take some pictures and pissed off the supervisor as the work of the whole team ceased as they all clamored to be in the picture. I love taking photos and Indians love to have their photos taken - perfect combination!
After a couple of hours my route took me to a very busy highway. On my India road atlas this road is the same size as a single track road I was on 2 days ago! It us impossible to know and it makes route funding hard.
I read for the first couple of hours of the journey but when the bus stopped at a restaurant for a dinner and toilet break 3 Indians came to sit with me and make conversation. Non of them knew each other but we all got on very well. They had all gone to Pune to visit friends and family and were all on their way back home. ? is a cardiac surgeon. ? is an arts student and ? is a software engineer. They all have boy friends/girl friends and do not want arranged marriages. It was interesting to hear their take on India and other Indians. They do not have very much respect for the level of education of the rural Indians. They all really wanted me to change my plans to end my journey at Aurangabad and instead come and stay with them in ???????. If I was not meeting Alan in Palunpur in a few days I would have done so. They were very lovely friendly people and it made the time pass very quickly.
As soon as I visit high end restaurants, stay in posh hotels or travel in air conditioned buses I met a different kind of Indian. There is such a huge difference between educated middle class Indians and the rest of the majority of the population. Most well educated people live in the big cities and are very Westernised.
The bus journey was really lucky. I did not have to wait at any station, book a ticket or faff around. The first bus that I asked was going to the perfect place, was very comfy and I met some really nice people.... Sometimes these things just work out :-) The route was a busy 2 lane highway all the way through very flat boring countryside and so I really did not miss much by not biking this section.
When I arrived in Aurangabad about 10pm the streets were quiet as everyone was watching the India-Pakistan cricket match. It was funny to see about 200 Indian men standing outside the Sony shop watching the match on the tvs inside the store!
I had to bike round town in the middle of the night for about 1h to find a hotel that was not ridiculously expensive and accepted foreigners and was not full (due to cricket match). Fortunately an lovely rickshaw driver helped me out. I felt very safe in his company and he did not try to rip me off and so I gave him a large tip.
I was very glad to find a place 5mins before the end of the match as all hell broke lose afterward. I had not realised how quiet the streets were until the end of the match. Everyone took to the streets shouting "India India", horns were beeping and hundreds of fireworks let off. I did not venture out to take photos as it was 11 by this time and I still had to shower and wash my clothes etc for the next day. I also did not think it was particularly safe as there were sooo many drunk Indian men! I noticed no women watching the cricket.....
To bed at 12.30 by the time I had done everything but over tired and need more sleep....
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