Bodh Gaya to Kolkata

We were up at 6am this morning, and out the door not long after, knowing we had a huge final day of riding ahead of us.

Bodh Gaya was surprisingly busy considering it was so early but we got out with little fuss and rode the 22km back to the National Highway. For the record, this 22km of road is much easier to ride in daylight than at night when being blinded by the high beams of oncoming trucks and buses.

The National Highway was a smooth, uncluttered road for the most part and enabled us to ride 200km before breakfast. We stopped roadside to try and get some snacks but were refused the ones we wanted for a reason that remains unknown to us. We continued on another 50km or so before trying again, this time succeeding, and walking away with two samosas and two bajis for 20 rupees. Further down the road we found a place in the shade to sit, eat and strip off a layer of clothing as the sun was well and truly warming up. We rode hard all the way to the outskirts of Kolkata stopping only briefly twice or three times to rest our butts and backs momentarily. We knew getting through Kolkata city would be time consuming and were determined to get as much distance between us and Bodh Gaya as possible before our progress was slowed.

We were pleasantly surprised by the roads that led us on a route that skirted India's second largest city. The quality of the roads was close to the best we have seen and made a nice finale to our grand adventure. I navigated and took us through the first toll we have been required to pay. Good thing that we waited for another motorbike to go ahead of us and saw that he paid the toll otherwise we were about to ride right though as we have every other time on this journey. We paid the five rupees and continued on in the traffic which was reminiscent of Melbourne's CBD: congested and slow but bearable. We crossed tram tracks which made us feel right at home and hit only a few congested areas. We had entered Kolkata on Saturday afternoon and people weren't in as big a hurry as usual. We took note when everybody stopped at the red traffic lights and actually waited for the light to turn green before continuing. There even seemed to be less rubbish around than usual. And, there were footpaths! Actual paved footpaths! Kolkata was making a grand first impression.

There were a couple of moments that reminded us just where we were (India) but, for the most part, the ride into the city was much less stressful than anticipated. We stopped at Haravinda School, a landmarks we knew was close to Anando's house, and crossed our fingers that our old Tamil Nadu SIM cards might work for long enough so we could find out where to go next. It all went smoothly, we were directed to ride down a laneway and, as we rode down, we spotted a beaming Anando. He guided us to his home and introduced us to his lovely parents who were kind enough to be letting us stay with them.

The afternoon was to be a relaxing one which suited us very well. As we had arrived earlier than anticipated we were lucky enough to enjoy a delicious lunch, the first of many meals that we would eat around Anando's dining table. We soon realised that there would be a seemingly endless supply of food in this home and we would be fed mountains of the culinary delights for each meal. Spooned onto our plates by Anando's generous mum the food was refilled as soon as the stocks were looking low. I even got to enjoy some of the prized kopi luac coffee bought all the way from South East Asia.

When it came to the evening, I think Anando read Chris' mind too as he had a plan for takeout pizza, beers and sitting in front of the TV...something we had not done in a long time. We stuffed ourselves full of meaty Dominos pizza and cans of Scottish beer. It was a lovely evening of reminiscing and catching up and we were so, so pleased to be closing out our trip in such good company.

 

Bodh Gaya

The night had been quiet thanks to the cyclonic fan blocking any noise out so we woke rested and ready to spend the day sightseeing in Bodh Gaya. When we went downstairs, the two managers of the hotel told us that they had people coming to look at Big Red. Excited we left the key with them while we went to have breakfast in case anybody wanted to go for a test drive.

We found Om Restaurant where I had an average banana chocolate pancake that left a sugary coating in my mouth. We waited and waited for Chris' fruit and muesli and, when we saw a guy walk in carrying a bag of fruit he'd just bought, the hold up was clear. At least it'd be fresh we thought.

After breakfast we returned to our hotel to find Big Red gone. Out for a test drive we thought. How promising! A quick chat with a guy in the lobby though made it obvious that the manager had infact just taken Big Red for a joy ride. He had gone to the temple to pray and had taken Big Red because it would "make him look good." He would apparently be over an hour.

We were not ok with this and spent the next hour stewing. How could any idiot possibly think that this was ok? Again, people seem to have no concept of respecting other people's possessions. Despite having been in India almost two months we still made the mistake of trusting one of them. How very wrong we were to think this guy would be any different to the others we have encountered who are truly out to suit themselves with no thought for anybody else.

Eventually the manager turned up, quite apologetic, as his friend must have warned him that we were not pleased. We took the key and awaited an offer on the bike. The offer came and the offer was refused. 50000 rupees? That's not even two camels!

We thought we better go and embrace the day but first, a quick stop at the Root Institute for Wisdom Culture. Unfortunately there was a retreat happening so the daily yoga class wasn't happening. We dropped Big Red home and set out on foot. We had apparently picked the wrong time of day though as all of the monasteries were closed for lunch, or a nap, or something. We took some photos through the gated entrances and then finished the sight seeing with a stop at Mahabodhi Temple, the most famous of the lot. Buddha attained enlightenment and formulated his philosophy for life here. It was free entry so all we had to pay was 20 rupees to get the camera in. We chatted cricket with the guy taking our money and thought, what a nice man! Until Chris saw him take 100 rupees from our change before handing it to us. Luckily we were on the ball and he rectified the situation with little fuss. We left our shoes, unwillingly considering the amount of people spitting we had seen, and continued into the temple complex.

We took in views of the Bodhi Tree under which Buddha's enlightenment had occurred and it was quite cool to read that the tree that now stands is actual a descendant of the original, grown from a sapling that was kept in Anuradhapura (which we visited in Sri Lanka).

Pretty over the beggars and the beeping we went back to Buddha Road in search of lunch. We had been hoping for a relaxing day of sightseeing but instead were as stressed as ever. I think knowing that it's all nearly over has something to do with it. We ordered two lassis and a pizza but were soon informed that the power was out. Enough was enough. We left despite them arguing that the lassis were already on their way.

We grabbed a takeaway lunch from last night's dinner spot and enjoyed it in the quiet of our room. A yummy veg korma and a few chapattis. The rest of the afternoon was spent battling the hotel staff with regards to a serious lack of wifi, hot water and electricity.

We found a quiet place to have dinner and, although they didn't have the Thai food they advertised or many other items from their menu, we did have a yummy meal. Veg jalfrezi, veg biriyani and chapati as well as a spring roll.

When we got back to our hotel we were ready to do battle. Earlier in the afternoon the manager had agreed that we pay only 700 rupees for tonight's accommodation. We were on a mission to pay only an extra 400 for tonight to make it a total of 1400 for the two nights. Considering we had no hot water at all yesterday and very little today, as well as the wifi annoyance, we figured this was fair. After a huge heated discussion, much of which was Chris and I venting our frustrations that had been built up over the past six weeks, we agreed to pay 1500 for the two nights. We gave in and went to upstairs to get an early night before our huge, and final, day of riding tomorrow.

 

Allahabad to Bodh Gaya via Varanasi

Last night I had no earplugs and the fan, which was on to block out the other noises, made a stupid noise as it turned. I filled my ears with cottonwool which did vey little. So, thanks to the new app on my phone, I turned on some 'white noise' and put my earphone in over the makeshift cottonwool earplug. Needless to say it was a restless sleep.

We rose with the intention of merely riding the last 130km to Varanasi and staying there for the night. We figured that, considering we had somehow found ourselves in Allahabad during Kumbh Mela, the largest religious congregation on the planet which only happens in Allahabad every 12 years, we should probably check it out. As we rode out of town we found a bridge which led over the sacred Ganges River and caught a glimpse of what Allahabad had become. Thanks to the 70 million or so people the festival attracts, the banks of the Ganges had been turned into a city of canvas tents and palm fron huts. We were happy to be getting out of town once we saw just how polluted and loud the area was.

We stopped in a village to get some brekky. I found a place that packaged up some fried potato balls and some potato curry for us. As I went to leave though they offered me a taste test. They must have known what a sucker for sweets I am. I tried the coconutty, sugary treat and couldn't resist. It would go down well after eating only half a mandarin each since breakfast yesterday.

We found a closed petrol station and used their gutter as a breakfast bar before continuing on. We battled oncoming traffic for some time and were thankful to finally reach the National Highway where we were separated from the oncoming traffic by a central barrier. Mind you, that doesn't stop people driving the wrong way down the highway...especially the tractors.

We rode into Varanasi though the paved backstreets. And when I say paved I mean the road was once paved but is now a ripped up mess of gravel, pavers and mud. There was surprisingly little traffic as we rode in and we thought that maybe everybody was in Allahabad for Kumbh Mela and that Varanasi would be more peaceful than usual. We couldn't have been more wrong.

As we approached the ghats of the Ganges some hippy Westerners quickly informed us that Varanasi's hotels were mostly full. This was confirmed when every place we asked as was indeed full or overpriced or lacking a Western toilet. Varanasi was full of Indian tourists who were here awaiting the 10th of March, which is a particularly auspicious date for bathing in the holy river. In the meantime they were clogging the already crowded roads in cycle rickshaws, Tuk Tuks and on foot. The traffic was probably the worst we have encountered in terms of congestion. We headed into the suburbs in an attempt to escape the masses but they were everywhere. Eventually we couldn't take it anymore. We pulled over to consider our options and found ourselves outside Tandoor Villa, an expensive restaurant which sold meat. Sold. We unhooked our bags and traipsed into the air conditioned restaurant to sit, cool down and plan our next move.

As we discussed our plan we enjoyed a tender mutton rogan josh, a perfectly cooked veg biriyani served with raita (yoghurt) and some chapatti with an iced coffee to wash it down. We were refreshed but still not ready to tackle Varanasi's crazy traffic, especially at the risk of finding yet more accommodation that was booked out. We needed to get out. We checked a map, found a temple about 200km away and hoped there would be accommodation there. Lonely Planet confirmed this fact for us and we were convinced...Bodh Gaya it was!

We loaded up Big Red once again before riding around the city and out of town. Like this morning we crossed a bridge and caught glimpses of the Ganges. Water buffalo bathed happily and people went about their business on the endless steps leading down to the water. This was our version of sightseeing in Varanasi and gosh it was nicer than the alternatve. The road leading back to the National Highway was long and potholed but, with full bellies and the knowledge that we were leaving town, we were content.

It turns out that Bodh Gaya is further from Varanasi than we thought and, although the highway is a nice sealed road, when hundreds of trucks get stuck in a traffic jam, progress is slowed. The first jam we came to was made up of about twenty trucks taking up both lanes. Nobody was going anywhere. When the traffic moved ever so slightly and a gap big enough for us to squeeze through was created we hoped we would get to know what the problem had been. Instead, we passed a stopped truck leaking oil, two trucks so close they were touching, a truck with a flat tire and numerous trucks facing the wrong way on our side of the road. I guess we'll never know what the actual problem was.

Not much further down the road we came to yet another traffic jam. And if we thought the last one was bad...we hadn't seen anything yet. Literally hundreds of trucks were at a stand still across four lanes of traffic. We slowed to a snail's pace as we squeezed between the parked trucks with our bags brushing past their dirty tires.

After some prompting by the locals (none of which seemed bothered that they were stopped in the middle of the highway, on a bridge, with no hope of going anywhere anytime soon) we jumped the gutter and joined the pedestrians and other motorbikes on the footpath. It was a tight squeeze as we fought our way through.

Once off the bridge we followed some other motorbikes who looked like they knew something we didn't. We were wrong. They led us through a village and its market before we had to fight to get back onto the clogged main road again. The intersection at which we re entered the congestion hinted at what the problem may have been...there were about fifty trucks on the wrong side of the road, all trying to turn and, in the meantime, blocking the oncoming traffic. And, because everybody is so impatient here, nobody was letting anybody else go so it looked as though the traffic would be stuck there indefinitely.

We made it through the jam and were rewarded with clear roads free of traffic. Sadly though, our hold up meant dusk was quickly approaching and we were still a long way from our destination. We switched visors again, rugged up in our jackets and powered on into the night.

We rode into Bodh Gaya at about 7:30pm and checked out a hotel on the main road. As we did so a bus load of bald lady monks turned up and it was clear that this town was something different. We headed for the backstreet accommodation featured in the Lonely Planet and in doing so stumbled upon Laxmi International Hotel at the end of a quiet, dead-end road. After checking the fan didn't make stupid noises we agreed to stay for 1000 rupees. As we checked in the owners of the hotel hinted at perhaps purchasing Big Red. Could it be? We had found this place for a reason and would actually sell the bike with little hassle? While we went to grab some dinner we left the keys with the hotel manager so he could take Big Red for a test drive.

At Buddha Restaurant we enjoyed a very cheap, and delicious, meal of veg chowmein (loving the Tibetan influence in Bodh Gaya), a paneer butter masala and some chapatti.

Of course, when we returned, the hot water still wasn't hot as we had been told it would be. We waited and waited and waited before having luke warm showers and climbing into bed after yet another very long day.