Ride to RM: Day 11

Day 11. Wednesday. 28th Jan. Panipat

Rann here we come. Or not. I made my morning call to Shub and discovered that she was still feeling under the weather and I would need to make it back to Bangalore latest by Saturday or earlier. This meant we had to now get creative about our return journey if Rann was to still be on the cards. It was looking unlikely at the moment. I broke the news to Sam and we decided to give this some thought and decide on our next course of action by breakfast.

We retraced our route to NH8 via Rohtak. On the way in, and now, this had to be one of the best stretches we rode. 4 laned traffic free, smooth tarmac with long straights and lazy turns. The ride in was marginally better thanks to the fog providing the required atmosphere.

In my over enthusiasm to stick to the right road, I managed to take a wrong turn and ended up inside Rohtak instead of going around it and on wards to NH8. A few checks with locals and I was on the right route, but not before I had lost 15 minutes and given Sam a scare as to where I was. As luck would have it one of us would call and the other would be riding. A bit of hide and seek later, we managed to talk and decided that we would meet at the next breakfast point so that we don't lose time in me catching up to Sam. We were both tuned into the idea of getting as close to Rann as possible by the end of the day.

The solo ride meant that we both had time to think of how we were going to deal with us going to Rann and me having to be home by Saturday. Slowly I weighed all my options and reached a conclusion, which I knew Sam would not like very much. I didn't like it much as well, but I had no choice at this point. In hindsight this solo stretch was something of a harbinger of the next 2 days.

Breakfast was at a dhaba as we reached NH8 and yes, Aloo Paratha's yet again. I broke it slowly to Sam that what made most sense was for him to carry on to Rann and me to head back to Bangalore alone. We would ride together today into Rajasthan as originally planned. Tomorrow we would part ways with him heading West and me heading South. Sam proposed a couple of alternatives but then this was what made most sense. I did not want him to miss out on the Rann after dreaming of it for so long. We decided to make the best of the day ahead and push as far as we could inside Rajasthan so that I would be close to Ahmedabad and he to Mundra.

A heavy breakfast and a slightly heavy heart saw us making quick work of getting to Jaipur. The day had started off cold and was getting sunny, but the air was cold when riding through it and that meant our warm clothing stayed on. I was using my rain gear as an extra layer and that stayed on as well. The rain gods had decided not to make any appearances on our return visit and that meant we were able to keep our foot firmly on the gas(or in our case our wrists firmly twisted to open throttle).

As we got to Jaipur we saw many markers for Agra and that seemed a bit counter intuitive, but a quick look at the map and we saw that there indeed was a highway to Agra. Jaipur also threw at us a half hour worth of traffic before it would let us get on the highway to Ajmer. As soon as we got on the highway we found a restaurant to tank up on some juice and a quick bite.

Pali was our intended stopover for the night and now that we were settled back into road assault mode progress was quick. A fuel stop was the only temporary break in our devotion to the tarmac gods for the rest of the afternoon. With dusk approaching. we were treated to one of the most beautiful sunsets we have seen in the last few days and stopped to click photographs and have a quick chai. I can now clearly see that our future and photography have no cross roads or any remote links to each other. How else do you explain photos of a sunset, without the sun!

Sunset Photography done, we discover we have only about 100km or so before our destination and we think we can make it beyond that now. The air turns much cooler and the Rajasthan roads look much more appealing than they did this afternoon. No truck traffic and arrow straight roads play tricks with our right wrists and we arrive in Pali a tad sooner than we expect. Darkness has set in, but we have some juice left before we want to park for the night and onwards it is.
When we finally start looking for a roof over our heads we discover that we are bang in the middle of a wedding week. All hotels are booked and none of them have even spare beds in the kitchen for us. I did not ask if they had spare beds in the kitchen but assumed from the way they hardly gave us the time of the day when we asked for rooms.

As luck would have it, the manager of one of the hotels turned out to be a biker himself, and made a couple of calls and got us a room at a hotel 20km down the road. A good stroke of luck, because we definitely would not have found the place on our own. However, that is where our luck for the day ended. We discovered Sam's chain was really really loose and would need some attention in the morning. The hotel gave "basic" a whole new meaning. It was the most run down hotel we had stayed in, the whole of the last 2 weeks. Ironically they had a garden party in progress, with what seemed like the town's well off folks! Well beggars can't be choosers and we stayed put.
We also discovered that they also specialize in the world's worst Gobi Manchurian. Hands down! I am still kicking myself for experimenting and going the non Aloo Paratha way.

Tomorrow will be the day we both go solo and I want to get to Mumbai or as close to it as possible. Sam will no doubt get to Mundra by evening, now that we are within 450km of the destination.

Ride to RM: Day 10

Day 10. Tuesday. 27th Jan. Amritsar. 

We were off at 6am from Vivek's place, to ensure we get to Chandigarh by 11am and the girls caught their 1pm flight back to Bangalore. It was a foggy morning again and the driver's skill was apparent. He was very adept at negotiating the dark and the fog. impressive. Breakfast today was in a dhaba and you guessed it. We had Aloo Paratha again. We decided to cheat and sneaked in a couple of Paneer Paratha's.

Post breakfast, the driver had to step on the gas a bit or else we could be late for the flight. A bit of drama later we found ourselves at the airport slightly later than planned, and to our surprise, the flight was pushed out by a couple of hours. We had no notice of it even when we had checked in an hour or so earlier. All that wasted effort in arriving early when we could have waltzed into Chandigarh with a nice long breakfast. Sigh!
Sam and I hung around long enough to make sure that the girls were alright and then headed to be reunited with our bikes again.

The bikes were in need of some TLC to get them ready to take us back home. We spent the next few hours getting the bikes washed, the chains taken care of and basically going through all the other checks we generally do before a ride. counting the tyres and checking the fluids, etc. I also needed to get a new sim card because the older one had decided to give up back in Amritsar. This meant another hour or so of delay to sort out some paperwork with Vodafone. Thanks to all this we eased back to our 2 meal a day routine.

It was a little after 4pm by the time we managed to get on our bikes and head south. A big thank you to Inder who was extremely helpful in letting us stow the bikes and also in getting the bikes back in shape today.

A quick fuel stop and we were on the highway to Panipat, retracing our route from last week when we got into Chandigarh. I was still getting back into ride mode and was taking my time. The fading light and crazy traffic on the GT road meant that our averages dropped. The destination for the day was to be Panipat, and we were planning to return to the same hotel we had stayed at on the way in.

Since landing up at Chandigarh, Sam and I have had a running discussion on the route that we would take back to Bangalore. Sam had a long standing desire to get to the Rann of Kutch and this ride was as good a chance as it would get to make it happen. We knew we could get there by the end of Thursday and then  his cousin in Mundra could help us get sorted out with camping out in the Rann over Friday/Saturday. Bangalore from there could take three days easily and that meant we would be back home only by Tuesday.  This was something we could not afford, given both of our work schedules. A bit of brainstorming and we thought a good alternative would be to leave the bikes at Mundra, take a train/flight back home,come back next month to fetch them and get another ride in. Sounded like a win win solution. Rann would be on the cards and so would another ride!

All plans would have to wait until we got to Panipat after negotiating the GT road for the next couple of hours or so. Today somehow felt like the coldest ride day. I think I may have been a bit lax with tucking in my gear as well. The darkness setting in and the crazy drivers on the GT meant not a great time riding, and the both of us were eager to check in and get a good night's sleep. Given the early start to the day this was not such a bad idea after all. We would have a fresh start tomorrow and make good progress.

We were getting close to Panipat and I lost track of Sam in the highway traffic. The 390 and Sam were weaving their way through the traffic and had left me behind. I would sight him occasionally but lose him again when we hit some traffic. I remember passing a toll booth as we left Panipat a week ago, and that was what I kept looking out for. I had not paid too much attention to the rare distance markers on the highway. At one point I was convinced that the toll booth ahead was the one and started slowing down. But Sam kept at the pace and only then did I realize that I had my hopes pinned on the wrong toll booth.
Visions of a hot meal and warm bed egged me on to the finish line and thankfully we got there soon enough and checked into the same hotel as a week earlier.
The staff recognized us and even managed to give us the same room as earlier!

Over dinner and after, we started putting together our Rann plan. If we left our bikes there, we would have to get a flight out of Rann on Sunday and we started looking for the closest airport and the fares. I called Shub to check on how their flight went and she broke the news that she was feeling a bit under the weather. So, we decided that we would decide on the Rann return plan by the morning depending on how things were back home. Until then we get in some good North Indian fare in our tummies and score a good nights sleep.

Ride to RM: Day 7,8 & 9

Day 7. Saturday. 24th Jan. Rupnagar.

Lazing around was out of the question with our little alarm clock(read Amaaya) waking us up bright and early. She was all chirpy and we were sleepy. Breakfast, lunch and dinner were at the venue with the kitchen being a good kilometre's walk from our rooms. Good exercise to build appetite and also burn the food. So, this had all the potential of being a vicious circle! 

Sam & me were surprisingly not enjoying the RM as much as we had built up in our heads. I wonder if we were a little jaded or our hearts were more into riding than the act of being at the destination. So, we decided that the best course of action was to check out Amritsar earlier than our original plans of going there on Monday. We had to be back in Chandigarh by noon on Tuesday for the girls to catch their return flight. This would give us enough time to experience the famous Amritsari food. 

After a few calls we had arranged a taxi and accommodation. 

Day 8. Sunday. 25th Jan. Rupnagar.

We finished breakfast and headed towards Amritsar. We had a drive of about 5 hours ahead of us. Lunch was around Ludhiana and we ended up in Wagah just at the start of the daily retreat. The place was packed and we could just about see some of the action in the distance. It however seems to have become a spectacle with even a MC of sorts.

A short drive later we were at Vivek's house which Shub had booked through AirBnB. A wonderful family welcomed us and made us feel so much at home with their hospitality. Dinner was at a place where we had the best Chicken Tikka Masala we have ever had. 

Day 9. Monday. 26th Jan. Amritsar

We woke up to a wonderful breakfast of home made Aloo Paratha's and some wonderful conversation. The plan was to visit the Jalianwala Bagh and the Golden Temple. The Golden Temple was a wonderful experience, but it did mean that we had a very long wait before we got to the sacred Sanctum. We came away very impressed with the temple and the langar. En route we even got to experience the best Lassi we have had. Amritsar was turning out to be our foodie outing. We had managed to keep our weight in check during the ride, but I think the few days we spent in Punjab resulted in us punching more holes in our belts. Dinner was Makki di Roti and Sarson ka Saag, which blew us away. The bikes are now going to be lugging heavier blokes back!

Ride to RM: Day 6

Day 6. Friday. 23rd Jan. Panipat

Today was going to be a Top Gear kind of day. The Race between a flight and our bikes.The wives and Amaaya were to start from Bangalore and land in Chandigarh at 12 pm. We had to cover about a 160km, stow our bikes away, get a taxi and then get to the airport to pick them up. I very badly wanted to get there before they landed and couldn't wait to see Shub and little Amaaya.

We decided to head out by 7, but managed to get out only close to 8. A quick fuel stop and we were on the Grand Trunk Road. A wide 6 lane highway but with loads of traffic. Loads of crazy traffic I mean. The 390 was of course the agile one and making its way through all the traffic with me looking out for open stretches to shorten the gap between our bikes. The cold wave  of North India was not helping things in the water output department and a couple of stops had to be made.

In the morning, when checking our route I was intrigued to see that we would be passing a place called Kurukshetra, which of course is a part of our mythology. As much as I tried keeping an eye out for this, we had passed it in a jiffy and it hardly registered. All our focus was on beating the flight.

Passed by Ambala soon enough and we were in Punjab. Fuel for the bikers was called for and we stopped at our first punjabi dhaba. Boy this was the real deal! The aaloo paratha's were just awesome! We were stuffed with one each but got greedy and split a third one. We checked our phones and realised that the flight was delayed due to bad weather and we now had much more time on our hands than we originally thought. Game set & Match to the bikes!
The victory goes to our heads and we take some pictures to commemorate this.

We take it easy after breakfast and have enough time to stow the bikes, catch up with Sam's friend, find our taxi and make our way to the airport well in time for the flight. I can't wait to hold Amaaya again and it shows on my face.
Lunch is on the way to Rupnagar, which is playing host to the RM, and is about 80km away. Shub and I are worried about the cold and how Amaaya will take it, but the little one seems far more comfortable than either of us.
We get to the venue soon enough and check in. A few hours later the rest of the contingent from Bangalore arrives. There are about 4 groups who have come on different routes. I call it a night while they are still partying. It will be 3 days before we get back on our bikes for the journey back home. Until then we enjoy what Rupnagar and Amritsar has in store for us. 

Ride to RM: Day 5

Day 5. Thursday. 22nd Jan. Beawar

We want to get to Chandigarh by tonight. Shub, Amaaya and Lakshmi are taking the flight from Bangalore and landing in Chandigarh by 12pm tomorrow. getting there today gives us time to stow the bikes and get to the airport with enough time on our hands. So we are out of the hotel by 7am but not before the manager has had a chance to click some pics with our bikes. By now I have rehearsed answers for how much the bike costs and the other myriad questions that inevitably come up. The 650 costs 3 lakhs and the 390 costs 2. Low key is the mantra.

Today was the day we would get to use the stuff we had spent hours poring over back in Decathlon. I don't think we did full justice to all the warm clothing we carried, but it never hurts to be over prepared. Out came the thermals, or rather in they went. Out came the rain gear and out it stayed. The whole bloody day. It rained and rained all the way to Ajmer. And it rained some more.

We stopped just outside Ajmer and decided that truck traffic and rain did not seem like a great combination to deal with, and we instead we would take a detour and get to Punjab through Hisar. We had to backtrack a couple of km though and find this road. The good news was that it looked like we were leaving the rain behind, but the bad news was that we were now running into fog. We pass by a ton of marble stone shops and run into a delicious looking 2 lane highway. Short lived though. Power-on power-off was the going next several km's thanks to the speed breakers. We decided to stop for breakfast and take stock of the route. A truck stop is what we find. This one is the real deal. Proper Punjabi truck drivers and the dhaba has the sparse furnished look as well. We take out our maps and phones to check the shortest route, over the world's worst aloo parathas. Only our hunger helped manage to get us through one each and to our horror we realised that we have ordered one more for each of us. Politeness was asked to take a hike and we gave up halfway through the second aloo paratha. I think we got overcharged too.

After breakfast we motored on to find that the power-on power-off mode was going to stick with us for a long way. We decided that our pace was going to take a beating with this road and made amends to get back to the Golden Quadrilateral. Luckily at a village we met a very old gentleman who gave us the most precise directions to get back to NH8 just after it crosses Jaipur. Turned out to be good fortune because we would avoid going through Jaipur.
Some back roads and villages later we were back on the highway. The back roads though had so many opportunities for wonderful photographs and us being us only talked about it in hindsight and did not stop to click the masterpieces.

Halfway to Delhi the sun came out and we made full use of it. Burn gas when the sun shines was the motto. We stopped at a dhaba with a large signboard announcing the name of the place and a photo of a guy smiling at us. Lo and behold when it turns out to be the same guy who took our order. Even better, he runs into the kitchen and makes the stuff we ordered. A true one man show. Efficient fellow. Given the lousy food we had in the morning, we decided to get some lunch as well.
Here is where we met a couple of guys from Gujarat who had set out on a 200 day tour of India. They were in the very early stages of their trip and remided us a couple of times that they would be on the road for 200 days. We wished them luck in their adventures and we set out to get the pace on while the sun shone on us.

Motoring on we get to the outskirts of Delhi by around 4:30 in the evening and look out for the bypass that should take us straight to Panipat and Chandigarh. At a pee stop where we we were deciding strategy(on route, not the right bush/tree to pick!) we found abandoned bunker type buildings. Again surprising what you find in the middle of nowhere.

When we look at our maps, it looks like Chandigarh is not on the cards tonight given that the sun has gone into hiding again. Our estimates have been suffering badly since our first day. I tell you getting to Kolhapur for lunch has messed with our planning!
The fog decides to get thicker as well. We have a bonus level of truck jam to deal with in a bit. Which means bikes go over divider and we get across the truck jam. Easy peasy.

I must bring up stereotypes here at this point. Just as we enter Haryana I see 2 bikes with 3 guys and 1 rifle on each. Carrying arms in broad daylight did not seem like much of a problem here. This was very close to a toll gate where there were at least a 100 vehicles if not more. Says welcome to the north like nothing else.

The roads though were 4-laned and fantastic. Traffic free and pothole free straights, with fields on both sides. Visibility was down to about 500metres or so, but the road conditions helped us maintain speeds of at least a 100. I am sure the views must have been great if we had no fog. At times the fog thickened and we had to drop speeds but overall a very fun experience riding through the fog. We were pretty toasty thanks to us being overtly wary of the weather conditions and going overboard with our shopping for warm clothing.
By just before dusk we were at Rohtak and decided to get to Panipat for the night, which was about 76km away. I thoroughly enjoyed riding in the fog, at twilight and beyond. You get the feeling of being in a cocoon and in your own cloud, literally. There is something about riding in the night that is joyful. Keeping speed in check is a necessity and of course there lurks the danger of crazies(not just the zombie kind) coming onto the road all of a sudden. It is a joy though in which I tend not to indulge in much thanks to the risks. I have noticed though that a little bit of riding in the cool wind and you feel like you could ride all night. I wouldn't, but given half a chance and conducive conditions I might just go for it.

Panipat was a typical north Indian town with the one main road, next to the highway bustling with activity. Here is where for the second time this trip, someone took a look at me and refused a room. The first was on day 2 in Gujarat. I must have looked a sight with a 3 week old beard, and covered in dust and grime. Walking into a squeaky clean lobby and asking for a room, must have seemed preposterous the way I was dressed in heavy biking gear. So now the responsibility of getting a roof on our heads rested on Sam.

Sam decided to clean up a bit before entering the next hotel, which in lay mean terms meant getting rid of the dirty rain gear and off with the helmet. His smile and charm(and don't forget the lack of beard) scored us a room and a good deal on it as well.

So far on this trip we had treated food as a necessary evil. The "highway on a plate" book that I was carrying had made it out of the bag only once, and that too to re-arrange the weight distribution! Today we wanted to have a go at North Indian Tandoori stuff. I think we went a little overboard, but we ate what felt like the best Tandoori Chicken and Chicken Tikka masala in the world. I am attributing a big part of that review to us not eating good food in a while, and our especially bad experience at breakfast. A hot shower and I was off to bed and out like a light. Actually we both were in dreamland and when I woke up a little later, disoriented, I realised we had slept without bothering to even turn off the light. Slept like a log that night!

The Punjab Aaloo Paratha will have to wait for one more day!
Again, this turns out to be a day when we have not taken a single photograph.

Ride to RM: Day 4

Day 4. Wednesday. 21st Jan. Udaipur

Another lazy day. A short riding day too. The plan was to check out the Udaipur fort as soon as it opened and then head out to Ranakpur to visit the highly recommended Jain temple. The fort kept us in awe for a couple of hours and we got a crash course in history. A bloody history though given the many battles that were mentioned. It almost seemed like hardly anyone died of natural reasons. The art and the myriad rooms and views had us hooked though.

The fort entrance is lined with lots of shops selling local art and touristy stuff. We found handmade books wrapped in leather, which made the perfect gift for the wives, given that both liked to sketch and paint. A silver shop en-route to the guesthouse meant another stop to buy more stuff for them. A lot of poring over the stuff on display, and a bit of haggling later we had what we wanted and were now ready to start. Breakfast had been acquired and done away with a little earlier. Aloo Paratha yet again. We were soon to realise that breakfast in North India was pretty one dimensional, or we just did not look hard enough. I think it is a little like our photography skills. I am sure a pattern is emerging somewhere here.

Next stop on the agenda was the Jain temple at Rankapur. This was a good 90km away. Getting out of Udaipur meant negotiating some narrow traffic filled roads. On the way to the highway we got to see a house, rather a mansion, with the garage being the highlight. The garage most definitely was a horse stable in another era and now housed wonderful desirable machines mostly of German breed. Sometimes things just surprise  you in the middle of nowhere. Both of us ended up doing double takes as we passed the house/mansion/palace.

A quick stint on the highway and we came to a fork, which now meant village roads to the temple. Apart from the experience of the ruts in the road, Rajasthan has us oohing and aahing at the roads. I think we have the right machines to do justice to it as well.
The roads kept narrowing down and soon was a single lane track and through some mountains. Sharp twisties meant my pace on the bigger bike was cut by a big margin, but the 390 motored on relentlessly.

The road passes through a jungle which must have been quite something in the days when transportation like now did not exist. I can hardly imagine the perils of such pilgrimages which we now take for granted. Not that we were on a pilgrimage, but you get the idea.

The Jain temple is a wonderful example of architecture and was our second history lesson of the day. The whole structure was originally in Marble and had wonderful sculptures and carvings wherever one looked. The audio tour is a must, and I am glad we opted to take this. Time just flew by and it was close to 4 by the time we were done, and we now had to think of how far we could make it by tonight. The original intention was Jaipur, but that was definitely off the table now, given that it looked like rain was in store for us.

So the plan instead was to get to Ajmer(270km) or as close to it as possible. A bit of asking around and we found that we could get to highway 14 with about 50km of village road ahead of us. Once we got to the highway we would be able to pick the pace and see how far we got by dusk. We got to the highway in under an hour and made a quick fuel stop. Another stop was called for pretty soon thanks to the rains, to pull on our rain gear. While we were at it a couple of locals in a Swift pulled up next to us and rained a few curiosity questions. When we told them we were headed to Chandigarh they gave us a strange look and asked if we knew that there was a cold wave and it was much warmer if we stayed in Rajasthan. We said we knew but still wanted to go, which got them off our case but they wet away shaking their hands seemingly saying "crazy buggers".

Back on the road, predictably the pace came down and given our day of walking around the fort and temple. hunger also hit us pretty soon. We pulled into one of the many many truck stops that line the highways in Rajasthan. They all tend to have large parking spaces out front that can accommodate 20 trucks easily.

No prizes for guessing what our dinner was. Aaloo paratha yet again! The bikes attract a lot of attention and we keep it in our sights all the time. Our body language also ensures a don’t mess with us attitude. However, along comes a jeep full of cops and one of them swings his leg over the Ninja. We are initially quite taken aback by what this guy is trying. He could have been in for a nasty surprise if the bike tipped over. Sam leapt out of his seat and asked the cop to get off the bike. I think the guy was too taken aback to come back with a good enough reply and got off the bike. I was a little amazed at Sam’s aggression, and a tad worried given our morning history lesson on the inclination towards honour in these parts. Aggression worked though and no one went near the bikes again.In a few minutes we were on the bikes, deliberately taking our time with the gear, so I could at least see and gauge their reaction. Thankfully that was the end of it and we were off.

The rain has let up for a bit, but the temperature has definitely headed south. Not uncomfortable cold, but cold enough to need the rain gear to be on. The roads ahead though are not in great state and we need to take detours which compounded with the fact that it is now already dark, slows us down a lot. We decide to find a place to stay in the next big town. No point pushing ourselves n the dark, when we can make a fresh start tomorrow morning. We get to Beawar and find a place to stay, and it thankfully has secure parking in a closed garage. Quick negotiations with the manager and we are settled in for the night.

Today has been slow and we have covered just about 300km. Chandigarh is still 700 km away and we want to eat our next Aloo Paratha dinner in Punjab. and oh not to forget Butter Chicken! I have been salivating at the thought of eating butter chicken in Punjab, and while I am at it I mean to check out the back of restaurants to see if they really do make lassi in washing machines!

Ride to RM: Day 3

Day 3. Tuesday. 20th Jan. Prantij

A lazy day by any standards. Intended departure was 7 am, and it was almost 11 by the time we managed to get on the road. The short ride to Udaipur lulled us into lazy mode. Last evening I was contemplating that we keep the momentum going and head to Jaipur. Sam pointed out that Udaipur is the one more conducive to a relaxed rest day and that was the clincher.

A good part of the morning was spent dilly dallying and an equally good part in trying to get a place to stay for the night. Airbnb to the rescue here. We found a decent place next to the lake and were all set. Our breakfast felt more like brunch with it being at close to 10:30. With the 2 meal thing we had going, it was probably a good idea anyway. Saddled up, bid our goodbyes to the hotel staff and off we went, expecting to be oohing and aahing at Rajasthan roads. The first thing you see as you cross the border into Rajasthan is..a Bar. Good thing we avoided this stretch last night. I would not have wanted to negotiate dark roads with drunks trying to get into races with us. As it stands every now and then some fellow gets it into his head to pit his bike, pillion and life against the 390 & 650. So far better sense has prevailed and we have let them have their fun and not got into a race. They leave hardly any margin for error and we'd rather enjoy the riding than the trampling of another's ego.

A couple of km ahead some wonderful twisties awaited us. A tad scary on the 200kg sports tourer, especially when you lose the front and must bring it back in line, thanks to strategically placed uneven bits right on the turns. Good fun nevertheless. I am definitely going to need more time to get my skills to the level needed to push this bike harder. Or will I ever push it harder? The bike seems to have plenty of grunt left whenever I have needed it so far. If I lose Sam in traffic or twisties all I need to do is wait for an open stretch, which eventually does happen, and larger does of twist on the right wrist and I am next to him soon enough.

We are due for a fuel stop soon and spot one in a tiny town. The bikes again get a lot of attention as do the 2 crazy guys donned in heavy gear which seems very out of place with the sun beating down on us. Neither of us are in the habit of taking off our helmets unless absolutely needed. Optimised stops and all that. It just adds to the mystery, me thinks, of who we are.

We are now about a 100km or so from our destination and hit a long stretch of roads with ruts. I had read about these, but riding them was an experience. Anything above 120 was scary stuff. It was a bit like riding on rails with the risk of getting off them anytime. The bike needed much more headsup than normal for any braking or lane changes. We also went into some never ending curves, like Sam pointed out, almost like a corkscrew. Tricky. As we closed in on Udaipur I realised that we have not taken any pictures in a long long time. I signal to Sam that we stop. I am sure he was surprised that I did not do the glove-off-run-to-bush jig and just stood next to the bike waiting for him. So, we pull over near one of the many many forts and start clicking away. A good deal of time is spent clicking away outside an arbitrary fort and we realise it is a hotel! Well beggars can’t be choosers. We've passed a few forts and in typical fashion 50% of the fort in real time and the remaining 50% in rear view mirror. At least we know now that neither of us is cut out to be a "motographer".

We get into Udaipur soon enough, but first things first and we stop at a KTM service center. The 390 is having some breathing problems. The 650 just needs some TLC on the chain. We decide to check in and come back to get the bikes looked at.

The place we are staying is in a part of the town with very narrow roads and 2 cars in opposite direction can only mean one thing. Traffic jam. The guesthouse itself is tucked away in an alley. A very nice place with a rooftop restaurant. Bragging rights, it seemed were earned by having the highest rooftop restaurant in town. Our neighbouring guest house had a rooftop a staggering dizzying whole foot higher than ours. Competition aside, most had a wonderful view of the lake and the lake palace. We were recommended to take in the sunset with a beer in hand and that is what we did. Sam remembered he had a camera, which I remember he had paid a bomb for, and ended up doing more clicking than sipping.

A massage and dinner were indulged in before we called it a day.