Diarrhea Ends Nov. 28
After spending 2 days in Hong Kong, we made our way back to California Friday morning. It turned out that we were almost in the wrong place at the wrong time….twice! Our preliminary plan was to fly to Mumbai on the 27th of Nov. and catch a plane directly to Bangkok, Thailand. We would have landed in Mumbai, India, just in time for the terrorist attack. Our flight to Bangkok would have been canceled due to the demonstrations that closed the Bangkok airport. We would have been stuck in Mumbai with no ticket out, like all the other people trying to escape the terrorism in the city. Fortunately, the airlines would not change our original tickets to Mumbai instead of Delhi, so the new plan was to fly from Goa to Delhi to Hong Kong to Bangkok to Chaing Mai. We had a hotel and motorcycles waiting for us in Chaing Mai, a city in northern Thailand. So sometime between Delhi and Hong Kong the shit hit the fan…. Bangkok airport closed, and then Mumbai was attacked. We called it quits a week early and came home.
From this trip we have a lot of good video and still images that will be made into some kind of DVD soon, but the lack of motorcycles prevents a full-on diarrhea movie. We have started talking about taking an emergency motorcycle trip and making a DVD so the thousands of “Motorcycle Diarrheas” fans across the globe who are nauseously waiting for our next movie would not be too frustrated.
Saturday, November 29, 2008
Monday, November 24, 2008
Date: 11/24/08
Location: Goa
Destination: Thailand
Subject: The Motorcycle Constipations
Mileage / KM: 40
Expenses: 1500 Rupees = $30
Lodging: Roosevelt’s Jail
Fuel: Two Avion bottles and a 10 liters
Diarrhea Flow: Inactive …Steve
We hit a snag or in other words a log jam!!! To rent bikes and take them out of state has become a difficult task. Ofcourse we get a different story from each person we ask but it looks like we will not be able to rent motorcycles and take them out of state. This is a problem when you are locked in a state the size of the Bay Area. There are all sorts of schemes to get around this issue but we have grown tired trying to find the way and some body who is willing to facilitate. We are now planning to head to Thailand and carry on from there.
However, the session is not over until the paper work is done. We won’t be able to get a flight to Bangkok… Ha ha… I said Bangkok…. Until Thursday. That gives us 2 days to start a mini motor adventure here.
Riding British A Motorcycle in India ……Larry
So we rented one Royal Enfield (Indian made 500cc copy of a 1955 British motorcycle) and one Pulsar (a 200cc bike of unknown origin). We could not find 2 Royal Enfield to rent so Steve was lucky enough to get a modern bike with the brakes and shifter on the proper side. To bad it has a flat front tire and no mirrors and no gas. With some more haggling we got air in the tire and bought a liter of gas from a plastic water bottle. Riding the Enfield was quite an adventure in itself, not only is the shifter and brake reversed, the shift pattern is also backwards. I kept trying to get started in 4th gear (the bike is only a 4 speed). When I hit the wrong brake, I was up-shifting which had the opposite effect of braking. We were now ready to head out into some of the toughest traffic in the world, driving on the left side of the road, to find a beer….just kidding, we actually rode for 45 minutes before getting a beer. We passed a motorcycle and scooter accident where they just finished loading the people into an ambulance, quite a sobering experience. The guide book says that someone dies in a motorcycle or scooter accident everyday in Goa. Steve said that the quota looks like it has been filled and that we were safe. There are thousands and scooters in Goa, and most people to do not wear helmets. Locals stared us with our full face helmets and body armor (like a dirt biker racer would wear)….we did not care what they thought.
Location: Goa
Destination: Thailand
Subject: The Motorcycle Constipations
Mileage / KM: 40
Expenses: 1500 Rupees = $30
Lodging: Roosevelt’s Jail
Fuel: Two Avion bottles and a 10 liters
Diarrhea Flow: Inactive …Steve
We hit a snag or in other words a log jam!!! To rent bikes and take them out of state has become a difficult task. Ofcourse we get a different story from each person we ask but it looks like we will not be able to rent motorcycles and take them out of state. This is a problem when you are locked in a state the size of the Bay Area. There are all sorts of schemes to get around this issue but we have grown tired trying to find the way and some body who is willing to facilitate. We are now planning to head to Thailand and carry on from there.
However, the session is not over until the paper work is done. We won’t be able to get a flight to Bangkok… Ha ha… I said Bangkok…. Until Thursday. That gives us 2 days to start a mini motor adventure here.
Riding British A Motorcycle in India ……Larry
So we rented one Royal Enfield (Indian made 500cc copy of a 1955 British motorcycle) and one Pulsar (a 200cc bike of unknown origin). We could not find 2 Royal Enfield to rent so Steve was lucky enough to get a modern bike with the brakes and shifter on the proper side. To bad it has a flat front tire and no mirrors and no gas. With some more haggling we got air in the tire and bought a liter of gas from a plastic water bottle. Riding the Enfield was quite an adventure in itself, not only is the shifter and brake reversed, the shift pattern is also backwards. I kept trying to get started in 4th gear (the bike is only a 4 speed). When I hit the wrong brake, I was up-shifting which had the opposite effect of braking. We were now ready to head out into some of the toughest traffic in the world, driving on the left side of the road, to find a beer….just kidding, we actually rode for 45 minutes before getting a beer. We passed a motorcycle and scooter accident where they just finished loading the people into an ambulance, quite a sobering experience. The guide book says that someone dies in a motorcycle or scooter accident everyday in Goa. Steve said that the quota looks like it has been filled and that we were safe. There are thousands and scooters in Goa, and most people to do not wear helmets. Locals stared us with our full face helmets and body armor (like a dirt biker racer would wear)….we did not care what they thought.
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Goa: Larry
We had a tough time getting started, the sandwiches, beer, and massage on the beach sort of wore us down after the 2.3 hour plane ride from Delhi. The Arabian Sea that washes the shores of Goa, a state in India, is quite nice. The warm water waves are very relaxing, even at sunset. The cows that we have seen in Delhi are also here on the beach, I guess cows need a vacation too. We saw a cow take off with a tourist’s bag of pineapples. The cab driver, Kero, is arranging our motorcycle rental for us. We pick up the two Royal Enfields after the cab driver takes us on a tour of the spice garden and cashew plantation.
Our original plan was to leave on motorcycle from New Delhi, but the plan was revised. Instead, we flew to Goa and will head south on rented motorcycles. Riding through the extremely populated cities of New Delhi and Bombay just did not seem to appealing compare to a ride down the coast of a tropical paradise.
We had a tough time getting started, the sandwiches, beer, and massage on the beach sort of wore us down after the 2.3 hour plane ride from Delhi. The Arabian Sea that washes the shores of Goa, a state in India, is quite nice. The warm water waves are very relaxing, even at sunset. The cows that we have seen in Delhi are also here on the beach, I guess cows need a vacation too. We saw a cow take off with a tourist’s bag of pineapples. The cab driver, Kero, is arranging our motorcycle rental for us. We pick up the two Royal Enfields after the cab driver takes us on a tour of the spice garden and cashew plantation.
Our original plan was to leave on motorcycle from New Delhi, but the plan was revised. Instead, we flew to Goa and will head south on rented motorcycles. Riding through the extremely populated cities of New Delhi and Bombay just did not seem to appealing compare to a ride down the coast of a tropical paradise.
Dad lands in India: Steve
The trip begins as Dad comes out to meet Kristina and I for a tour of Delhi and Agra. We pick him up from the airport and head straight for some Indian education. First lesson, “King Fisher”, India’s most popular beer... We took him to have a beer and food for a proper Indian welcome. Of course I get sick and end up puking for an hour. Not sure what it was but, Dad was fine.
The next day it’s a tour of Delhi, a city full of temples, museums and monuments, we managed to see one. We made it through the Red Fort and that was about it. We also visited a friend Nikil at his work to get a tour of one of the top radio stations which was very cool. I would have liked to see more temples but, it’s very difficult to get around in Delhi with the traffic and dense smog, it drains you fast and I was not feeling good from the night before. Next morning it’s up at 5am to catch the train to Agra and see the Taj Mahal.
Catching the train was an adventure. I did not anticipate a line at 6am but I was wrong. We arrived to a sea of hundreds of people fighting to get tickets. The line got ugly but I managed to wade my self to the front and purchase the wrong class of tickets. “I said first class” rang out my lips for the next hour or so. We went to get on the train and quickly learned I had purchased general seat tickets. This would mean hanging out the train door with the masses instead of sitting in our own air conditioned seats. We stole some empty AC seats and managed to purchase an upgrade. This did not come easy either as you can imagine we were not the only ones. When we arrived we easily found a guide, bought return tickets and set on our way. First stop, McDonalds, you should have seen the look on our guide’s face. The issue was my stomach was still having singing to me and McDonalds was the safest option. After that, the Taj. We walked around for 3+ hours and took all the standard Taj pictures. The place is amazing.
Once leaving the Taj, we were rather tiried and opted to take it easy the rest of the day. We saw how the craftsmen made the marble inlays in the Taj and how they make rugs and jewelry. Then we saw a coffee shop and dinner. Getting back to Dehli was another adventure involving an hour late train and the world’s slowest rickshaw ride….
Now it’s time to get started on the real Chutney adventure….. Goa.
The trip begins as Dad comes out to meet Kristina and I for a tour of Delhi and Agra. We pick him up from the airport and head straight for some Indian education. First lesson, “King Fisher”, India’s most popular beer... We took him to have a beer and food for a proper Indian welcome. Of course I get sick and end up puking for an hour. Not sure what it was but, Dad was fine.
The next day it’s a tour of Delhi, a city full of temples, museums and monuments, we managed to see one. We made it through the Red Fort and that was about it. We also visited a friend Nikil at his work to get a tour of one of the top radio stations which was very cool. I would have liked to see more temples but, it’s very difficult to get around in Delhi with the traffic and dense smog, it drains you fast and I was not feeling good from the night before. Next morning it’s up at 5am to catch the train to Agra and see the Taj Mahal.
Catching the train was an adventure. I did not anticipate a line at 6am but I was wrong. We arrived to a sea of hundreds of people fighting to get tickets. The line got ugly but I managed to wade my self to the front and purchase the wrong class of tickets. “I said first class” rang out my lips for the next hour or so. We went to get on the train and quickly learned I had purchased general seat tickets. This would mean hanging out the train door with the masses instead of sitting in our own air conditioned seats. We stole some empty AC seats and managed to purchase an upgrade. This did not come easy either as you can imagine we were not the only ones. When we arrived we easily found a guide, bought return tickets and set on our way. First stop, McDonalds, you should have seen the look on our guide’s face. The issue was my stomach was still having singing to me and McDonalds was the safest option. After that, the Taj. We walked around for 3+ hours and took all the standard Taj pictures. The place is amazing.
Once leaving the Taj, we were rather tiried and opted to take it easy the rest of the day. We saw how the craftsmen made the marble inlays in the Taj and how they make rugs and jewelry. Then we saw a coffee shop and dinner. Getting back to Dehli was another adventure involving an hour late train and the world’s slowest rickshaw ride….
Now it’s time to get started on the real Chutney adventure….. Goa.
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