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Put on the helmet, get on the bike, drive into the honking traffic, and everything changes. You are no longer an onlooker; you are just another ant on the huge chaotic hill.



We rented our bike in Jaipur Rajasthan for 250 RS a day ($7) and rode into the desert. Neither of us had ever ridden a motorcycle and the busy streets of India required a steep learning curve. From Jaipur we took our small 135 cc Kinetic Velocity motorcycle west to next city of Ajmer. We quickly learned that traveling on a motorcycle is the ultimate freedom; you can drive for as long as you want or stop every five minutes for pictures or tea. Leaving Ajmer we rode the 200 km to the city of Jodhpur. Our small bike with two passengers and bags was only able to reach a blistering speed of about 70 km/h.



In Jodhpur we rode up the hill to a huge fort overlooking the city and were rewarded with one of the most spectacular views I have ever seen. Over looking the Blue City the fort gave you a view similar to a “Magic Eye”. From the fort there seemed to be almost no roads at all. The streets in Jodhpur are about half the size of the alleys in the States. There are cows, pigs, rickshaws, kids on bikes, horses, donkeys, garbage, motorcycles, and people on these major two-way streets the size of sidewalks. The crowed lanes filled with almost humorous obstacles made for tricky driving for novices. It was by far the most fascinating city I have ever witnessed.



From the Blue City we got and early start and headed into the desert toward Jaisalmer and the Pakistani boarder. The mornings were cold and we kept warm by stopping frequently for hot cups of sweet and milky chai. After almost 300km of desert and military caravans we drove into the city famous for its sand dunes. We spent 5 days in Jaisalmer doing day trips to the sand dunes, forts, and the Pakistani boarder. We had been told that a few km past the touristy sand dunes we would be stopped by the military, our passports would be checked and we would be sent back. We decided it was necessary to give it a try. We made it almost 50km past where they said we would and when we finally did run into a military outpost instead of checking our passports we were offered tea! We sat down with two military officers and a drug/women smuggling Pakistani that had been arrested and was working as their cook. We had made it within 50km of the Pakistani boarder. On the drive home we gave the Pakistani smuggler a lift to the next village a few miles down the road.



On our return journey we drove through Barmer, Abu Road, and Udaipur. By the time we were diving back into the city of Ajmer our bike had taken a beating, but grinded its way to within a few 100 meters of a mechanic before completely dieing. After getting the bike fixed we finished our six city, 2244km motorcycle adventure. We had driven through towns full of marble dust, colorful people, unfairly skinny dogs, and overloaded camels that made me think we had landed on some desert planet from Star Wars. We had seen a way of life so vastly different from our own all we could do was laugh in bewilderment. More than once we bumped through villages where probably 90% of their population was just sitting together by the road talking. In most cities we saw huge cows devour the daily newspapers as if it was the green grass in a Wyoming hay field.

Rajasthan was a place so strange to us we thought we would never figure it out, but by the end of our 17 day trip we were honking, eating, and bargaining just like the rest of them.

After our adventure we took a train up to see the Taj Majal (well worth it) before making it to our final destination of Delhi. We are here now in this huge city eating full meals for two for a $1.00 and preparing fly on to into our next journey.

And because Will has paid me a large sum of money.... here is his blog- Wroscoe.com

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