Lars Goes Gandhi

[lars de wit]

Hello all of you !

So, I am in India...man o man...
Let's start with my flight, it was oke ! Had to wait 2 hours in Milan where I was invited to go with three lovely girls to go to.......Marokko ! I said, shit, my ticket is for India, haha.
Arrived in the middle of the night in my hotel, nice picked up from the airport.
Drank a beer and watched some nightlife on the streets, some man sitting around a fire on the middle of a street.
Next day I was still a little tired so I took it easy in Delhi, tried to buy a ticket for a train to Kota but all trains were full.... So I bought a ticket for a bus to Jaipur, the pink city, where I am right now with tired feet.
On our way I saw so many things, never seen it before...
A camel caravan on the highway...
Elephants walking in the street...
Many, many poor people, really poor.
Many beggers also, little children, maybe 5 or 6 years old, calling at you, hello, hello !
Many people call at me hello, already tired of it, cannot say hello back all day !!
So, tomorrow take a bus to Kota from where I cycle to Bundi, where I meet hopefully John & Gudy, Rena, Harm en Roel.
I have seen lots of countries sofar in my young life, many third world countries as well.
But India is something different, I get so may impressions, it is so different !
All the people, hundreds, thousends, millions of them. Here in Jaipur, hey, I cycled from Amber into the city! I am not that religeous with God and so but I prayed several times I reach my hotel alive. The traffic is such a chaos, everybody blowing their horn, ALL OF THE TIME !!!! Crazy !! And so busy, it is like driving through the ' Kalverstraat in Amsterdam on a saterday afternoon.....almost impossible !
And the ride with the bus !!!! Jesus, increadible. Saw a few times my life passing by...
Cars riding faster than yours passing on your left and right, everybody is just doing something...Also a few times there were suddenly cars coming our way, on our side of the highway !!!! Really, so glad I made that alive also !!!!
So, India is great, food is good and the beers are good also !
Look forward to the biking kilometers away from big cities...

Greetings

[fietsjunks]

Zooo, India in en door de gekte ben je je moerstaal kwijt!

Wow, wel een ervaring zo te horen! India lijkt ons ook heel mooi, vooral het noorden, maar die chaos en die drukte... daar zouden we gek van worden! We denken er nog even over na!

Heel veel plezier verder en sterkte met je leven!

El & El

[lars de wit]

Haaidihaai !

Took a bus from Delhi to Jaipur, the pink city, named because the fort in the city has pink walls. Made a nice walking tour through he city. Still there are so many people, so crowdy. And everything is walking on the streets, from cows to pigs, dogs and monkey's...fantastic !
From Jaipur to Bundi, again a terrible bus tour. And I want to cycle so bad but I have an appointment in Bundi with the rest of the group and I cannot cycle 200 km in one day !
Arived alive in bundi what is a miracle on its own...
The bus drivers, no, all the drivers are MAD here !!!
Passing by cars, tuk tuk's , cyclists with traffic is coming ahead.
No problem, the other car or whatever will drive into the sand next to the road to prevent a collision, leaving me with a heartbeat of 200 or more !
In Bundi went to the hotel were we were supposed to meet, after half an hour Rena, Harm en Roel showed up, great !!!
We did a nice walking tour through the village. People are living here like in the middle ages, we had so much to see. Making copper vases on the street, hand work !
Almost everything you see is handwork, making vases, shoes, sharpening knifes, everything !
Pigs in the open gutter...
Later this day we are visiting a huge fort on top of a mountain, just behind our hotel.
Tomorrow I start for my firts bicycle day, we are cycling to Chittagargh, from then to Udaipur.
Wheater is very nice, above 20 degrees with sun all day.
Having a great time, sometimes the impressions are to many !
But we keep on going, seeing new things, new places.
It's like Bruce Chatwin said : A human being is healthiest and happiest when he is on the way...

[lars de wit]

Hai,

Did I tell you why I like India so much ?
No ?
Okay, here is some : you can spit, fart and burb all day and no one will look at you !
Everybody does what he think is best, no rules seem to excist, especially in traffic !
People are really friendly to you and give you a warm feeling with their open eye's and big smile !
Food is good and so cheap...
We are in Chittorgarh right now. On top of the hill is a huge fort, placed on top of a hill.
Walls are +/- 15 km long. We had a nice tour with a riksja in this fort.

Tomorrow we will cycle to Udaipur, in three day's we think.
Udaipur, the Venice of the east, the most romantic city in India, some say in the east... Looking foward to it !

Cycling is great here,it's most flat and almost no wind.
On the minor roads very few traffic.

So, yeah, as always, only positive things to tell you !

It seems like travelling with ohers make me less inspiring to write...
We will see, the last week I am on my own.

Goodbuy for now, hasta la vista !!!!

[eindgebruiker]

Hoi Lars,

Hmm, fietsen in de Kalverstraat, dat is toch niet echt mijn ding.

Nog een tip (uit de Fahrrad Weltführer) voor als het drukke verkeer je te gevaarlijk wordt: neem een mandje eieren mee. Als een auto of bus je dan van de weg probeert te drukken gooi je over je schouder een ei op z'n voorruit ;-) (voor tegemoetkomend verkeer iets minder aan te raden)

Gaele

[bert sitters]

Ha die Lars. Hoe smaakt Kingfisher in deze tijd van het jaar? Heeft Harm inmiddels al kennis gemaakt met alle mr Singh's?

[lars de wit]

Ha die Bert, ja, Kingfischer is great !
Vooral na een heet dagje fietsen. Harm heeft de tijd van zijn leven, heeft al vele mr singh en de hand geschud haha.


What a great pleasure to travel around...we are now in Udaipur, the Venice of the east a described in the lonely planet. It is indeed a very nice city. We have a hotel for 1 1/2 euro per night but when we eat dinner price for it is almost two times the room haha.
Okay, I eat much. It is so delicious the indian food, learning a lot from rena who was here a long time.

On our way to Udaipur had this adventure when we looked for a place to camp.
After long looking we found a farm so John and I went to the house where we were willing to ask if we could camp nearby on a field. When we approached the house we saw only woman, normally I like that but they were afraid of us and almost run away ! Evenso, if they did'n run away they wouldn't or couldn't made the decision if we could camp out there, man's job....
So we left and almost started to unpack our bikes and put up our tents when we saw two man walking from the house towards us. But they stopped, Rena and John went to them. When they were close two men ( more man had come ) run away like madman, scared as hell ! Rena and John talked and begge almost for half an hour, no succes. The man said it was to dangerous because of tigers, okay, one tiger was spotted ones.....and because of bandits.
I thougt both were a little exaggarated but in a group you have to compromise.
At last we were invited to spend the night near the farm which was really great.
Made camp under a billion stars, drank a cold beer which tasted so good...
We cooked our dinner on our stoves, looked at a red full moon, coming up...
Yeah, it was amazing, life is good !
And above all, no tigers kept us awake !

Today bought food for 4 days, we go through some hills to Jodphur and maybe we cannot find enough food on our way.
So I bought rice, sugar, porridge, soup, nuts, cookies, coffee, bananas and so on.
Packed like mules we leave the 20 th this lovely town, on our way to the next !!!
The road shall be good, the sun will be shining, people will be friendly and every bend of the road will bring us a different vieuw...

Life is good !

[lars de wit]

Haaidihaai !

We left Udaipur in sunshine, now that's no miracle cause my big yellow friend shines all and every day !!!
Cycling through hilly area, scenery is nice !
On our way first to Ranakpur we have some work to do in the hills, rewarded by a nice and long decending road, approximately 10 km long !!! Too bad the asphalt was bad quality, the vieuws were good !
Made camp at a farm, we could pitch our tents on a small piece of land.
Saw many ' Persian wheels ' : a hole in the ground with water in it. A chain with maybe 50 buckets for bringing the water up, moved by two cows walking in a circle...maybe it's better if you look at the foto's haha, cannot explain it to good

In Ranakpur is one of the biggest and maybe the most beautifull Jain Temple. My God what a nice piece of work. In the temple +/- 1440 pilars. Each one carved so nice and now it comes...not one pilar has the same carving !!!
Walked around for hours, every view inhaling like pure oxigen !

Later camped at a nice hotel with swimming pool, Roel and I decided we rather sleep in our tent in the grass which was no problem ofcourse, everything is possible in India !!!

From Ranakpur up north to Jodphur in three days, the last day over a very bad road.
But as many times, the worser the road, the better the views ! Saw many wildlife like dear.
Indian people who were not ' spoiled ' by travellers ( meaning kids not asking for 10 rupees or a pen or something like that )
10 km before Jodphur it's magnificent fort rises above the city on a 125 m high hill.
These things make biking so great, going slowly enough to see, stop and fotograph these amazing views ! And fast enough to see lots of the country. And riding the smallest roads meeting people where almost no other tourist is coming...

Today said goodbye to John and Gudy, tomorrow to Roel, Harm and Rena.
Feeling a little sad cause it means no more dutch talking and nice company.
Feeling more than happy cause I am on my own again. It gives me more time to look and think around. All the attention for myself, my God, can I handle that ? hahaha
Feeling strong I can do everything...so this is my plan : cycle in a few days throug the Great Thar Desert to Jaisalmer. It means carrying more water and food. Well, whit all the food I got from my leaving friends I can survive for almost a month in the desert, hahaha. Man o man, they had like 3 kg of rice for me, 1 1/2 kg sugar, porridge, soup, dadels and so on, and so on....Cannot take everything with me so I give many away to some homeless kid or something.

Like I said, look forward to be alone for the last part of this great adventure !!!

Adios

[lars de wit]

Great Thar Desert : in the light of the setting sun I wash my body.
Tired after a long day biking I found a place for my tent, among some huts from local tribes I could make camp.
It was not an easy day, the road was sometimes so bad ( sandy ) I had to walk for 50 meters, cycle again 30 meters, walk 10 meters and so on, and so on.
Sometimes the asphalt is great, sometimes african like: you prefer cycling next the road on the gravel because the asphalt is so terrible bumpy.
The desert is empty but great as well, I make an 90 kilomters a day easy which brings me after 3 and a half days in The Golden City, Jaisalmer. Made from yellow stones it looks like gold in the morning and evening light.
Found a nice hotel inside the fort which is so nice with it's narrow streets and beautifull carved houses.
You know you can walk here in the evening with your camera on your neck?
Been to many places but never felt as safe as here, so good !

Today bought two new earings, indian like. The shopowner made a hole in my other ear with just a pointed silver thread, just like that !
Also have had a shirt made my size by a tailor, only 300 rupees ! ( 6 euro )
This night had dinner with a women from holland as wel, she worked for ' artsen zonder grenzen ' . We had a nice conversation, good to talk dutch again.

How nice this city is, I always look forward to get on the road again, tomorrow to Sam sand dunes where I will spend the night.
When I get back in Jaisalmer I am invited to a marriage party by a ricksjaw driver, onlt spoke to him five minutes but he rememberred me and invited me, how nice !

So, the last day lots of adventure on my way, looking forward to it !

See ya all soon !!!

[johntelleman]

Ha die Lars!

Mooie avonturen. Vreemd dat je met een riksja chauffeur ga trouwen, dat had ik nooit achter jouw gezocht....

Vorig jaar in Zuid India een bruiloft meegemaakt, een fantastische belevenis. Jaisalmer is inderdaad een heerlijke plaats om te verblijven.
Buiten de stad vindt je ook allerlei leuke tempeltjes en aardige dorpjes.

Veel plezier met je laatste fietsdagen.


Groeten, John.

[lars de wit]

I am famous !!!
Oke, only in Jaisalmer...
When I left to Sam two days ago I was stopped by a man yelling at me.
First I didn't want to stop but he ran behind me. Than he said he was a reporter, interesting ! I gave an intervieuw and he took several pictures. I asked in which newspaper his article came and he promised it will come in two days, so when I returned from Sam to Jaisalmer, that day...

That day was good, so good.
After a nice night in San sand dunes ( camel ride into the dunes to see sunset, followed by dansers around a campfire and a nice buffet meal, haha, alll you can eat...) I decided because it was my last day on the road to take a long ride through Khuri and then Jaisalmer ( 75 km ) in stead of direct to Jaisalmer ( 40 km )
And this choice was good, so good !
I rode this great way, not a single soul to see.
The road was straight and endless, as far as I could see.
I got this feeling again, the feeling I had in Peru, the USA, Laos and on my first trip to Rome. A feeling of yes !, no, YES !!!! Feeling king of the endless road, only ending at the horizon. No wind, great vieuws, all alone, just me and my bike and everything I need to ride our beautifull planet, my little home with me, completely self supporting.
Travelling by muscle power only, oh men it feels so great !!!

Later that day the wind became stronger and ahead of me, so it was tough again.
But I loved every kilometer, knowing it were the last ones of this Great India Trip.

So then I arrived at Jaisalmer and rode through the gate, into the fort.
I was stopped by a young man, he said stop, stop !
I said no, go to my hotel .
No no , you are in the newspaper !
O yeah, I forget it, yeah? I am in the newspaper ?
Yes men, you are famous !
No I said, but turned my bike to go to the german bakery, which has newspapers.
Putting my bike against a wall a girl said : hallo hollander, jij kent Gudy ?
Huh, I said how do you know ?
Than you are Lars she said, to my big surprise.
She knew John and Gudy, I think she said Gudy mailed her, also telling her about me.
What a nice surprise ! I had a nice talk with Debby and Peter from Arnhem.
Later I went for the newspaper, I was recogniced in half the city, people telling me, he I saw you in the newspaper ! And there I was, front news !!!
We had a great laugh about it. Later Peter went to buy a carpet which I take home for them, I now can take 20 kg beside my bike because I pay 160 euro for my bike alone.

The wedding riksha driver I haven't seen anymore, not so bad cause had lots of other things to do...

So this was a great day to end my trip, met some nice people, gave an autograph here and there and lots of fun !

Give me an endless road and I am happy.
A road to nowhere, which I can bike forever...