Yearly Archives: 2010

India / Indian Road Trip

Day 2 – Hampi-Pampy meets Resurgent Canadiana

December 4th, 2010 BikeShuffle: Depeche Mode - Never Let Me Down [audio:http://shambolic.com/blog/files/2010/12/01-Never-Let-Me-Down-Again.mp3|titles=01 Never Let Me Down Again] Hubli – 06:52 I’ve been gently reminded that I went to bed a bit pissed last night by the university-style beer hangover that is alive and well behind my eyes.  This despite drinking a litre of water during the night. Although the mind desires to get up, wash, eat something and start driving, the body is weak.  I feel defeated by even the horrible taste in my mouth. Outside they’re blasting an air raid siren and I’m trying to decide if this is because it’s now 7 o'clock in the morning, or because I have had the strange misfortune to have left my family in Goa on the eve of  armageddon.... Last night over dinner, in what was quite a raucous ‘family’ restaurant and bar, I had one of those hilarious conversations – made even more so because we were both a little bit pissed – where neither person could understand a word the other was saying and yet were undeterred from trying.  He was a moustachioed office worker, enjoying dinner and a few whiskies before making the 60 kilometre trek to his home.  At his insistence, we did the full phone ritual – first he proudly gave me his number in English, then he had me call him so that my  number was on his phone, then he made me spell my  ‘good name’ so that would make no mistake about it.  I’m sure he keyed in ‘tourist’ to help his memory in the same way that I put ‘Hubli’ to aid mine. Still can’t believe I am driving to Hampi. Having taken a day to get here, that means I’m going to be away for a minimum of five.  Five days! Have been looking at the map and that old familiar feeling of ‘I wonder what it would be like to drive…

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December 15, 2010
goa / India / Indian Road Trip

Day 1: The Excursion Diversion

December 3rd, 2010 BikeShuffle:  The Police - Walking in Your Footsteps [audio:http://shambolic.com/blog/files/2010/12/02-Walking-In-Your-Footsteps1.mp3] Patnem Following a new high in kiddie antics yesterday, I think the missus may have spotted a look of pain which got stuck on my face and didn't come off.  She asked if perhaps the 20x7 childcare might be getting to me, just a little (i'm discounting Dumpie's four hours of school).  From there, it was an amazingly quick and congenial discussion that, unbelievably, saw us decide that  I would drive up to Hampi this morning in order to scratch (and hopefully eradicate) the bike itch which has been plaguing me ever since we got back to Goa. Result! So,  we're looking at a rather involved scoot -- about 370 km's each way -- not likely to be something that can be done in a single day.  This gives us a little bit of flexibility on routing, and rather than take the standard Highway 17 and 63 route, I think i'm going to go by way of the Anshi National Park.  Will be travelling minimal,  and with no spares or tools beyond my LeatherGirl it does mean that even small mechanical problems in the boondocks could prove to be a major headache (although I just know that cocktail fork is going to come in handy!). Anshi National Park Snake! Stretched out and sunning itself on a sharp turn.  Nearly spanning the road.  I thought it was a tree branch at first and lazily steered to the left to avoid it.  As I got closer I could make out the head, watching me, and then it gave the smallest slither to allow a small gap at the side for me for me to ride through.  Must have been over two metres, since there was very little road left, and he wasn’t even fully stretched out. I found myself wondering whether they could strike fast enough to bite you if…

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December 14, 2010
goa / India / Indian Road Trip

Intro: ¡Ay, Karnataka!

By the missus' extremely good graces, i was allowed to gallivant across a fair old stretch of south India last week, notching up about 1,000 kilometers of bone-jarring goodness on a bike that is, miraculously, still intact (apart from four snapped spokes, some minor welding and much tightening of nuts).  Being of a fairly nerdy persuasion, i took the laptop and diddled away whenever anything struck me as odd, amusing or noteworthy. This turned out to be fairly often, and if nothing else, it fostered some fairly ridiculous scenes where whole crowds were jostling behind me to catch a glimpse over my shoulder of this wondrous device. So, if you will indulge this experiment in serial posting, i'm going to try chucking that material up here at a rate of one day's driving for each day of reality. I am a lazy sod after all, and this beats having to think up something new to say about it. Those of you with only lukewarm enthusiasm for this plan need not worry, i am going to turn off the email notifications for this batch, which means you can enjoy the run up to Christmas without getting spammed into 2011. So saddle up, y'all. Tomorrow we ride! View South India Road Epic in a larger map

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December 13, 2010
goa / India / monthly photos

Photo Backlog – September & October

have finally found sufficient bandwidth (and runt-free moments) to upload some pictures from the last few months. so, here they are for September and October as the pictures no doubt confirm, we continue to have a cracking time....(arf) Uncle Chancealot seems unaware of the wardrobe failure

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November 17, 2010
goa / India

Birthday Shennanigans….

what can i say, i'm a lucky man. from the early morning birthday serenade from my two little men, to the moment we fell into bed full, tired and more than a little tipsy, it was about as good a day as you could responsibly hope for. some highlights include: the only omelette in Goa made with imported cheese (thanks to the missus), a couple hours tooling around the interior on the bike, a rub down from Dr. Johnny (on the cement floor of a disused hut - he forgot to mention that his place with the table still wasn't ready), a lovely cake and presents (after countless fakes, a real pair of Aviators!), a slap up dinner of red snapper and Kingfisher, and a late night stroll down Palolem beach. big, and special thanks to the missus, who carries on her family tradition of magicalised birthdays, and a big thanks and shout out to everyone for all of the well-wishes that came in throughout the day. miss you all. xx (Egg is following in my footsteps as a photographer - master of the awkward moment)

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November 13, 2010
goa / India / Uncategorized

salvation from a dangling cable….

following last week's appointment with the good folks at (un)Reliance, an internet cable has been run from our landlord's house through the trees of the yard, and now hangs, tantalisingly, outside of our window. when will someone be along to hook it up? God only knows. if you're reading this in 2010 then it has happened sooner than expected. but if it does happen this year, we will also suddenly be seriously connected. more so than at any other point on our trip, since there is no transfer limit on our 512kbps. so folks, who's up for some serious menage-a-quatres video conferencing? or maybe some live gaming while catching up on the new alan partridge (this no joke. there's a new series apparently. thanks again Uncle Chancey). heck i might even do a spot of hosting on the side... update: we are now installed and online! the final step involved uncoiling that cable and pushing it through our open window (which we can now no longer close). with nothing permanent than a treebranch securing the cable between here and the road (about 70 meters), we may find ourselves back offline soon enough. but for now, let the games commence!

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November 13, 2010