Bundi southwards: back on the bike again!
After getting back to Bundi I was about ready to get on the road again, although not without a few reservations... the traffic here is the worst I've seen in the world so far. Still, time, tide and buttered eggs wait for no man and off it had to be. Still not wanting to camp out in India it looked like I might have to make a few long hops but that's OK, my legs are pretty strong by now.
First destination was a place by the name of Jalewhr where I stopped for a day to go and see a marvellous fort in the middle of nowhere and some 10th and 12th century temples. This was off both the National Highway and the tourist track. And it was great! The road, a State Highway, was quiet but well enough maintained, the village s I went through clean and peaceful and the people I met were above all friendly. Ended up spending my day of sight seeing wearing a garland of flowers some chap gave me for good luck. As ever, it was time to get my photo taken with the local kids.
After that it time to carry on down the road southwards. Looking at the map it seemed I'd have to make it to Ujjain to find the next hotel, some 175 km. OK, so up at 6:40 and on the road by 7:30 it was. About 110 miles, hard work but not impossible by any stretch of the imagination, given a good road and fair wind. The road turned into a pot holed nightmare for the first 10 km, making me think that maybe I'd be using the tent for the first time in India. Luckily it smoothed out after that and led through some wonderful fields redolent with the smell of mustard flowers and coriander. Easy to smell them as well as a raging headwind blew up. Damn. Stopped for a sugary drink and had a chat with the people at the dahba... they told me there was a hotel in the town of Agar, meaning I only had to do some 120km that day. Deep joy, as you can probably tell from this shot of my 3 pound hotel room. Ah well, it was a bed and a flickery TV screen for the night!
First destination was a place by the name of Jalewhr where I stopped for a day to go and see a marvellous fort in the middle of nowhere and some 10th and 12th century temples. This was off both the National Highway and the tourist track. And it was great! The road, a State Highway, was quiet but well enough maintained, the village s I went through clean and peaceful and the people I met were above all friendly. Ended up spending my day of sight seeing wearing a garland of flowers some chap gave me for good luck. As ever, it was time to get my photo taken with the local kids.
After that it time to carry on down the road southwards. Looking at the map it seemed I'd have to make it to Ujjain to find the next hotel, some 175 km. OK, so up at 6:40 and on the road by 7:30 it was. About 110 miles, hard work but not impossible by any stretch of the imagination, given a good road and fair wind. The road turned into a pot holed nightmare for the first 10 km, making me think that maybe I'd be using the tent for the first time in India. Luckily it smoothed out after that and led through some wonderful fields redolent with the smell of mustard flowers and coriander. Easy to smell them as well as a raging headwind blew up. Damn. Stopped for a sugary drink and had a chat with the people at the dahba... they told me there was a hotel in the town of Agar, meaning I only had to do some 120km that day. Deep joy, as you can probably tell from this shot of my 3 pound hotel room. Ah well, it was a bed and a flickery TV screen for the night!
posted by Bill at 12:03 pm
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