Another train, another city. Bigger this time. Everything is big in China, including (obviously) geography and it had been another long journey. Our hostel was recommended to us on the basis of it's cheap beer, and this turned out to be true - Y3 is a steal and we enjoyed taking full advantage. Luckily, the hostel was also nice in other ways, including the location in one of Beijing's famous 'Hutongs' (you've heard of hutongs, right?) - old streets and alleys that are home to much of the city's culture. This particular one was also a popular shopping street but that was ok - there was plenty of nice/cheap food on offer thanks to this little fact. We'd arrived mid-morning which gave us the afternoon to explore. We went straight to Beijing's biggest (pun intended) attraction, ... read more

China, sort of. Hong Kong was a breath of fresh air after the relative squalour of India (no offence India, we love you in your own special way). Wide clean streets, western food and usable public transport - we were like pigs in ****. On arrival, our first order of business was to find our accomodation. This required the use of a public bus - something we were accustomed to avoiding like the plague. On the way into town we noticed a few things - we were back in the developed world and the vehicle was neither overburdened nor driven by a madman, as we'd come to expect. 8 hours on a plane had improved our situation immesurably! Equally amazing was the view from our window. As we quietly and efficiently made our way into the ... read more

Coasting down the coast So we'd made it in and out of Mumbai in one piece. Our next destination is also renowned for being both totally relaxed and a little unhinged. Before we got there though, we had a stretch of coastline known as the Konkan coast to travel, along with it's accompanying highway, the inventively named Konkan Highway. There's also a Konkan Railway, but we didn't use it and it doesn't come into our story at all. It won't be mentioned again. We sped along this road, wondering why everyone raved about the beautiful scenery here. What scenery there may have been was probably obscured by the belching truck exhausts anyway, and we were glad to turn off the highway to find our first overnight stop - a small coastal village called Srivardhan. In contrast ... read more

Welcome to Jodhpur, the blue city. As usual, our arrival was a hectic affair involving poor maps, terrible traffic and too-narrow streets. To round things off nicely, we were forced to ride over an enourmous cow poo to get to our hotel. After re-energizing ourselves in the rooftop restaurant we set out into the city to see what we could see. We found the market square - center of the old city and home to Jodhpur's famous (in local circles) clock tower. The market was in full swing and we spent some time just wandering around, people watching. Next to the market is the Omelette shop. Apparently the man used to run a small hotel until the lonely planet mistakenly called his place the 'omlette shop'. For some reason, this prompted the guy to actually open ... read more

Our first 'stop' on our big desert road trip was at a Sikh temple just outside Amritsar. It was a brief stop though, as tradition dictates that stopping here will bring good fortune to your journey, everyone rolls to a halt, glances at it and speeds off again. We followed suite. That night found in the wonderful city of Bathinda. You might not have heard of Bathinda before, but we'll have you know it boasts such attractions as a large power plant, and a 7 story high monkey statue. Other than these two treasures and the hotel manager's insistence that we check out his Bathinda website, we didn't find much value here. Nonetheless, we enjoyed a 2 night rest courtesy of our bike's charming eccentric nature. We then exited Bathinda. Next stop: Sri Ganganegar. This was ... read more