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Published: October 3rd 2008
Well we have made it to India. The last 24hrs have been a bit of an epic but now we are here it was all worth it. In the end flying with the bikes proved to be effortless except for the bit when we had to put them through the X-ray machine at the airport - we still don’t know how we managed to get them through but we did. When we finally checked in someone came out and took the bikes away and we didn’t see them again until we arrived in India. They didn’t even weigh them - thank god. We were told that they would rap them up in cling film before they loaded them onto the aircraft but in the end they didn’t. I can’t see any damage but later today I’m going to give them a good check-over. When we arrived in India it was already dark so we put the bikes on the roof of a taxi and headed into town. It proved a good move as the route was not direct as I expected and the road conditions were appalling - worst we have seen yet. If we had cycled the 5 miles to
the town as planned I don’t think we would have made it. Before we left the airport the guy at the immigration desk insisted we put down on the immigration form the address that we were staying at. As I didn’t know at that stage I just made up a name which seemed to satisfy him. In town we found a hotel, a type which we have come to classify as BBC (basic but clean). For a double room for less than ten pounds we can’t complain. The food here is also very cheap - around a pound for a good curry. We plan to stay in Trivandrum for a few days to acclimatise and sort ourselves out - it's very very hot at the moment. We are then going to head South and hit the beaches around Kovalam. We have also enrolled on a 2 week yoga course at an Ashram about 30km east of here starting on the 16th Oct (as I'm about as flexible as a 6in nail I expect it's going to be quite interesting). Once we have finished that we will slowly head north towards Goa where we will probably spend Christmas.
Today we had a good look around the town and managed to get Joy’s cycling shoes and sandals repaired (25p). The traffic is manic as you can see from the photo. Hopefully it will be a bit quieter away from the town. Joy is still coming to terms with it all at the moment but I think we are going to enjoy India.
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steve
non-member comment
Well done Joy and steve I am exhausted just reading it,I will have to have an extra large G and t to calm down, see you both when you get back