The fall of Raj - Shimla 17th April 2006

I went to collect my bike from the car park at around 09:30; I decided to take the road down to the town, as that should give me a route for brining my bike back up the hill. I was going to leave earlier, but I couldn’t find my motorbike keys, despite turning my room downside up and outside in. Just as I’d set off, I bumped into Gulshan coming up the hill heading towards the hotel, and despite having already been downtown, she set off with me. It took about five minutes to reach the town. I’m glad to say that my ‘bike was still there and I was able to start it using my spare set of keys (better not lose them!). Gulshan and I rode up to the town, parked the bike and went to get a coffee, only to find the coffee shop closed. They appear to be late starters here and not a lot is open until 10:00, must be the cold.

I found a music shop that was open and I went in there whilst Gulshan went into a clothes shop. I walked in and started looking at the Hindi movies (DVD & VCD) which had English subtitles and I was accosted by the proprietor who started picking out DVD’s for me and telling me that I wouldn’t like the ones I was looking at! I asked him how he knew that I would like them and he handed me four DVD’s and told me that these would be good for me! I went through the motions of reading the backs of the DVD’s that he had handed me, then put them back on the shelves and chose one of the films I was looking at originally – I hope it’s not too crap! Gulshan came into the shop then and she got the same treatment. I then started looking at the music CD’s and the assistant in the shop told me that I wouldn’t like the music as it was “Devotional”, I told him that I knew that (the big sign over the section gave it away!), I went upstairs then, where I was told that I was looking in the “Classical Indian” section, I know my Hindi is no good, but I’m still able to read the English signs. I ended up buying a Ravi Shankar CD, a Hindi movie, Guide, Citizen Cane (VCD) and the first two seasons of Yes Minster (VCD).

We went back to the coffee shop after that, but they didn’t do breakfasts, so we went to their adjoining restaurant and I had a mushroom omelette and Gulshan had butter toast – It was the first bit of food I’d finished in days! We got back to the hotel and checked what the others were up to. Carol hadn’t slept as her mattress was paper-thin, actually, they all are, but I don’t mind a thin mattress. Carol wasn’t happy though and checked into the hotel next door. Both Mairead and Rajen had been up most of the night with Delhi Belhi, so we’d all been through the mill in the last couple of days. Mairead felt well enough to come out with us though and we agreed to meet up and go get some lunch down town later.

I went back to my room to try and find my motorbike keys, but still couldn’t find them, so I decided to watch one of the VCD’s I’d bought. My laptop made some really unpleasant noises when I put the VCD in and proceed to spit it out after about thirty seconds. I tried to play the other VCD’s and DVD, but the laptop didn’t like them either. I then got a DVD from my rucksack that I know works and the laptop spat that back at me as well – not good! Looks like the CD / DVD player on my laptop is kaput; I had a quick check in the owners manual (saved to hard drive) to see if I could run a hardware diagnostic and found out that I could. All I needed to do was to insert CD 1 that came with the laptop! Slight problem there as that’s back in London, damn. I did buy extra worldwide cover which will enable me to get my laptop repaired and Apple do have a presence somewhere in India, so I can check out their website and get it sent for repair, more hassle though and not what I need after my camera and USB memory failed.

I met up with the others around 13:00 and we went for a walk into town, we went a different way to the one I’d gone before and it was interesting to see the main road from a different angle. The town is like an old English village with Mock Tudor buildings and wood fronted shops, there were even two red fire engines hanging around (must be waiting for a fire to happen..), it’s unlike any Indian town that I’ve ever been in. It started to spit rain so we went for lunch, I had a nice chicken club sandwich (the last food I would have that day), Mairead managed butter toast, Gulshan had some cookies and Carol had minestrone soup.

We had a walk back up the main street, The Mall, and I bought a pair of gloves, as it’s bloody cold, not just cold, when I’m on the bike. I got a “fetching” pair of black gloves with black fur lined cuffs! I’ll have to get my penknife out and get rid of the cuffs pronto! Carol got a couple of nice pashminas for about £7 GBP after bartering (or should that be battering) him down from £10. We found an Internet shop a couple of doors down and I managed to check a couple of emails before the power cut out. We stayed there for about half an hour and the power cut out about three times on my computer. Didn’t get up to much for the rest of the day, I was a bit knackered after the walking up and down hills and went back to my room to do a bit of work on my computer (the DVD is working ok now!) and ended up crashing out for the rest of the evening.

Delhi – Chandigar – Shimla 16th April 2006

We both felt well enough in the morning to travel and arranged to meet the others in Chandigar by 13:00, as they had arranged for a taxi to take them to Shimla. We set off at 07:00 and managed to find Highway 1 after ¾ of an hour. My road map shows every route out of Delhi except the one I needed, and I’d asked a couple of people in the hotel if they knew the way to Chandigar and got several different replies. It was the Lonely Planet map that actually pointed me in the right direction! It didn’t help though, that there were no road signs leading to Highway 1, so we had to keep pulling over and try to check street names (when we could find a street name that is!). It was nearly 35 minutes before we saw any type of sign that helped us.

The road out of Delhi was pretty poor and I had to continually dodge pot holes after that it was pretty straight forward once we found the Highway. We made fairly good time and stopped a couple of times for water breaks. One of my mirrors worked it self loose as we were riding along, and I hand-tightened it as I rode along, but it kept on working loose and I had to make an unscheduled stop. Two young guys (14 – 16) stopped along side us and started chatting, we had a conversation about something (we couldn’t understand each other’s language) and I got back on the bike to ride off. The elder guy shook my hand, next thing I know, Gulshan has slapped him in the face! Turns out the little git went for a grope as he was saying goodbye!

Road Kill count: One donkey, couple of birds and a dog.

We got to Chandigar at 11:30 and I rang Carol and we agreed to meet at the bus station by the tourist office. I found the bus station, but couldn’t locate the tourist office, Carol rang and asked where we were as she was waiting for us and I told her that we were by platform 1, so she told us to wait there and she would come to get us. Carol rang a couple of minutes later and said that she was standing on platform 1 and I said that I was directly under the platform sign, so was she! But she wasn’t, there was no sign of her. I told her to wait where she was and that I’d try and find her. I met her shortly after at platform 1, that’s the other platform 1 in the same bus station and not the platform 1 that I had been at! How many platform 1’s does a bus station need?

We got back to their hotel just as the others were checking out and we went for something to eat, actually Carol (who wasn’t feeling 100%), Gulshan and I went for something to watch and Rajen and Mairead had something to eat. After a bottle of Sprite and Pepsi I decided that I felt well enough to carry on to Shimla and Carol came on the back of the bike. I found myself riding behind another Bullet rider (which was unbelievably the first time this has happened on my trip {apart from in towns}). We had a bit of a “dice”, me in the lead then him, then me. At one point he was leading and there was a scooter in between us. I noticed (as did Carol) a car coming towards us at speed on our side of the road, I hit the brakes and moved over to the left, the Bullet guy in front did the same. The scooted rider, displaying all the skill and anticipation of a true scooter rider, rode into the back of the Bullet!

If I hadn’t slowed down I’d probably have ridden over the scooter, the rider or his passenger. The Bullet guy stopped, as did I, and went to see how the scotter guy was. Before we know it there must have been a crowd of fifteen people around the Bullet guy, I went over to tell the people what I witnessed and told the Bullet guys girlfriend (American) that if they needed a witness I’d be happy to give details. As we were there my friends rode by in their taxi looking anxiously towards me and Carol, I gave them the “thumbs up” (© Paul McCartney) and they went on. We caught up with them shortly afterwards and gave them a quick wave. The road was a single carriageway and the driving was reckless, there’s not mine, I hasten to add. I spent most of the trip hugging the verge or skirting the hard shoulder (where it existed) as the on-coming cars were using my bike as something to aim for as they over took other vehicles on their side of the road.

The road to Shimla was up through the hills and it was a good fun ride, but I had to concentrate on the road 100%. At one stage we came across two puppies (one black, one brown) in the middle of the road and I slowed down and went around them. We later learned from our friends that their taxi driver rode over a dog, turns out that it was brown puppy!

The weather was pretty overcast (as it had been in Delhi that morning) and it got colder the higher up we got (surprise, surprise) and when I stopped the bike in Shimla it started raining really heavily, we just missed it by seconds. We me the others in a café at the top of the lift. Shimla is built on a big hillside and the houses appear to hang off the hill, there are two lifts that bring you up from street level to further up the hill.

Rajen and Gulshan volunteered to go look for a hotel. We got a text message from them about twenty minutes later to say that they found a hotel. About ten minutes later the waiter from the café came over to us and told us that there is a porter outside waiting for us. We thought, lazy bastards, they wouldn’t even walk back down to help with their luggage. Fair play to the little guy though, he carried my big rucksack, Carols case and Gulshans bag with ease. I wheeled and wheezed with Maireads case up the hill and we were all knackered by the time we got to the hotel. I hadn’t eaten much in forty-eight hours by this stage and I was shattered after riding since 07:00. I went to my room and watched Liverpool beat Blackburn 0-1 and Rajen ordered me a cheese sandwich and bottle of water from reception and I crashed out after that.

I woke up at 05:30 this morning feeling pretty good, it’s blood cold though, and I’m glad that I’ve got two duvets to snuggle under. No idea what today has in store, I’ve been catching up with my blog, but no doubt it’ll involve walking up and down lots of hills. I’ve got to find a way of getting my motorbike up the hill, I was told that I wasn’t allowed to bring it up here (although I did say to the church, which was our original meeting place), but there are cars and bikes up here and it’ll save me having to struggle up more hills – and I thought that I was pretty “walking” fit!

Delhi – Delhi Belhi 15th April 2006

I woke up at around 03:00 and didn’t feel to well. The next four hours were spent going between bed and the “throne”, I’ll spare you the gory details. I wasn’t sure if I would be able to do a five hour bike ride in the condition I was in, especially if it meant pulling over every couple of minutes to “clear the system”. I had to try though, as I’d told Carol that I’d take her on the back of my bike and all the others had bought their train tickets (must be bought a day in advance), so she would have been stuck in Delhi with me.

Turns out when I got to their hotel that Gulshan had been ill during the night and was in no state to travel. We decided that Carol would take Gulshans train ticket and that we would follow them to Chandigar when we were fit enough to travel. I checked into their hotel and spent the day with either my face or my arse over the toilet, an apt way to remember Delhi! We decided to go for something to eat at about 19:00 and also get a bit of fresh air. I felt as though I’d been hit by a bus and all my joints were aching, Gulshan wasn’t any better. We managed to walk to a café I know that does “comfort food”, I had mashed potato (from a packet, but better than nothing), fried egg and beans, Gulshan had a toasted cheese and tomato sandwich. I ate less than half of mine and I was really hot and sweaty. We left there as soon as we could and headed back to the hotel and crashed out for the rest of the evening.

Delhi 14th April 2006

I got talking to the guy on reception this morning and he reminded me that his brother was getting married (he’d told me the last time I’d stayed there) and he invited me to the wedding. It is going to be up in the mountains, but not in the direction that I plan to go, I told him that I’d have a word with my friends and I’ll see what they want to do.

I had to drop my motorbike back to the workshop as it was leaking oil pretty badly, so I met up with my four friends at around mid-day and decided to take them to see a bit of New Delhi. I was pretty hot and I decided to take the Metro, which has air-conditioning, and we went to Central Secretariat, which is the stop closest to India Gate. I hadn’t been there for a while and it was nice to see some grass and water again. Surprisingly enough we didn’t really get hassled when we were down there, the only ones who tried were Tuk-Tuk drivers.

We were sitting under the shade of a tree chatting and chilling when I noticed two Tuk-Tuk riders pull up and I pointed this out to my friends and had a bit of a laugh about it. After about five minutes one of them came over and asked us if we need a Tuk-Tuk, we told him that we didn’t. Attack number two came another five minutes later the over and asked us where we wanted to go, I told him that we didn’t want to go anywhere. He then asked us if we wanted to go to any shops and kindly offered to take us there. I told him that we didn’t and if we did we would take the Metro as it only cost 8 Rupee (£0.09pence), I think he got the hump and wandered off to sit in his Tuk-Tuk. He spent the next couple of minutes sitting there looking forlornly at us, until we got up and walked back to the Metro station.

We then went to Connaught Place and went to a café for something to eat and drink and make a couple of loose plans for the next two weeks. Top of the agenda was getting out of Delhi “as soon as” and hitting the hills. Carol and I left them in the café and went to pick up my motorbike as it was getting towards 18:00 at this stage. I’m glad to say that the bike was ready and he told me that the leak was repaired. He showed me the part that caused the leak (the tappet cover) and he told me that it had been over tightened and the cover had buckled, I played innocent… Come to think of it I do remember thinking that that particular nut seemed a bit loose, how was I to now that I would buckle the metal? I’ve got to check the nuts and bolts every morning before I take the bike for a spin as the vibrations cause the nuts to work loose – the joys of riding a classic machine.

We met the others back at their hotel and decided to go to a restaurant that Rajen’s dad recommended, we had a look where it was on the map only to find out that it was down my Jama Masjid, the big mosque where we were last night. As they were dropping their keys off to the front desk I had a quick look at the TV in reception and there was a news flash. Two bombs had gone off at the mosque and thirteen people were injured, no reports of any deaths. We decided that it probably wasn’t the best area to visit at that particular time and headed off to one of the roof top restaurants that got a good review in Lonely Planet. Rajen and I got there first as Carol, Gulshan and Mairead did a bit of shopping. Funnily enough, the roof top restaurant is located on the roof, but this roof was about five floors up and Raj and I were both “cream crackered” by the time we got up there. We ordered a couple of Lassis (yogurt drinks) and joked about how the girls were probably camped out half way up the stairs in bits. The girls turned up a couple of minutes later, with not a hair out of place, and we asked them how they got on with the stairs. They told us they got the lift up. Doh! The food was ok; I had a big steak (probably water buffalo), which was a bit chewy and overcooked (they don’t do medium rare in these here parts). Gulshan had a mushroom something or other and the other three got some lamb and chicken kebabs from the BBQ. We had a quick drink after dinner and had an early night as we were meeting at 07:00 to make our way to Chandigar.

Jaipur – Delhi 13th April 2006

The ride from Jaipur to Delhi was pretty uneventful, for me anyway, I’m sure the truck driver who managed to overturn his truck and go through the windscreen thought otherwise though! I was making really good time and would have done the ride in four hours flat if it wasn’t for the damn diversion just before I reached Delhi. I’m getting used to the roads and what to expect on them (everything except good driving…), but a diversion can be a real pain, especially when they give up signing the diverted route after three turns. When the signs stopped, I decided to follow the main body of traffic when we got to a junction. I ended up at the airport! After about fifteen minutes I managed to find the right road and headed off to the hotel area to book get somewhere for the night.

I had been given the name of my friend’s hotel and the road it was on, but no one I asked knew where it was. I went for a walk in the general direction that I thought it was in and managed to stumble across it after about twenty-five minutes, turns out that it’s not that far away from my guesthouse at all. I got there just after they checked in, we had a quick chat and I told them I’d call back later in the afternoon to give them a chance to get some rest after their flight.

Later that day I brought them out for a walk to experience Old Delhi and we went down to Chandi Chowk (big market place) and then visited the Red Fort and chilled out there for a while. We then went to Jama Masjid (the biggest mosque in India) and the girls had their breasts groped on the way (not guilty..). Rajen and I were walking slightly ahead of the three girls and we heard one of them shout to us, when we went to see what was up the told us that a couple of kids (9-13) started talking to them and then went for a quick grope! We got to the mosque just as they were having final prayers so we couldn’t go in and visit. Twenty-four hours later two bombs would be detonated here!

I then took my friends for a wander through a grubby market on the way back to Chandi Chowk and we came across a big street parade. As this is India, there was absolutely no thought of health and safety and there were firecrackers and fireworks going off on the ground all around me. Some of the firecrackers hit my leg as I was taking photos up close (can’t wait until I get my new zoom lens!), so I decided to get out of there. We decided to get a rickshaw (not my idea) back to the hotel, as the others were still a bit jet lagged. I asked the guy how much he wanted for the journey and he wrote 400 on his hand (just over £5 GBP), I didn’t even argue with him and just walked off. I told Rajen that there was no way I was even going to start negotiating with him but that he’d probably come alongside us and try again. Sure enough, about thirty seconds later he pulls up beside us and I told him that 400 was too much (not that he could understand) and he held out his hand and a pen. I wrote 100 (I was feeling generous) and he told us to jump in, I probably could have got it for 50, but 100 worked out at about £0.25 pence each.

I’m not sure that this guy actually knew where he was going; no joke, we could have walked back quicker. The route from the market to the hotel area is pretty straight forward (top of the road and take a right, first left, straight to top of road, left and Bobs your uncle). This guy brought us on a grand tour of Delhi, and my friends were glad to get to experience Delhi from the back of a Tuk-Tuk. We got pulled over by the police on the way to the hotel as well, we thought it was because the Tuk-Tuk was overloaded so we all hopped out as soon as the Tuk-Tuk stopped. Turns out the cop just checked the driver’s paperwork and we all hopped back in and continued the Magical Mystery Tour. After about forty minutes I recognised a couple of neon signs and got the driver to pull over. I handed him a 100 Rupee note and he pointed to his hand, he’d rubbed out my 100 and wrote 250! I told him that he can whistle for it (or words to that effect) and we walked off and had a beer and something to eat in one of the local hotels. None of us usually drinks Fosters (Kangaroo piss…), but it’s brewed stronger (5% abv) over here and they went down really smoothly. I walked the guy and gals back to their hotel and agreed to meet up the next day.

Jaipur 12th April 2006

Don’t ask me why, but I’m really loving riding my motorbike over here, it’s just like nothing I’ve experienced before. Take the ride this morning from Pushkar to Jaipur – I left the guesthouse at 08:30 and found the main road to Amjer straight away, although I missed the turn for Highway 8 as the all the signs were in Hindi and I ended up riding through Amjer town, which I really wanted to avoid.

The road from Pushkar to Amjer is 22kms long and it’s twisty with loads of bends and has amazing views of the undulating desert. I rode most of this road one handed, as I was busy waving to loads of kids walking along the roadside. It’s hard to put into words how nice it is to ride on this (and similar) roads, the roads in Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam and Thailand (in parts) were pretty rutted and bumpy, the roads I’ve been riding on lately have been immaculate, although I’m sure that’s going to change when I head up to the mountains (Himalayas).

I rode through the town looking for a “major-ish” looking road that would lead me to the Highway. I looked, and I looked and tried looking a bit more. I eventually pulled over and asked two traffic police, but they were more interested in talking about my bike than telling me how to get on my way. They eventually gave me directions – “2km straight, turn under railway, left and under the bridge. Jaipur”. I followed their general directions, but the railway turn came up after about ¾’s of a kilometre. I pulled over and as I did so this local chap on a scooter, rides up to me and says, “Jaipur?”. He told me to follow him and he brought me on this real circuitous route and after about five minutes of riding together he leads me to a roundabout and says, “Jaipur straight, 160kms” and he rode off. I was really glad of his help, as it would have taken me ages to find the rode out of the town.

Highway 8 is a great road, three lanes and smooth blacktop. I can’t help grinning to myself as I ride with my helmet open (has option of closed or open face) and a warm breeze in my face riding along watching parrots and eagles flying whilst trying to avoid road kill (only two cats today) and overtaking loads of camels. It really is a nice way to travel. I arrived in Jaipur at around mid-day and managed to find the guesthouse I stayed in last week, and I’m glad to say that they have a room. I’m only staying the one night here as I’ve got to be in Delhi for 13:00 tomorrow as I’ve got four friends from London coming over for a couple of weeks. It’s 267km (or there-abouts) to Delhi and that’ll take about five or six hours depending on the amount of trucks and camels on the road.

I’ve spent the last eleven days chilling out in Pushkar, I thought I’d never get around to leaving it was so blissful. I mentioned earlier that my room was overlooking the holy lake and it really was a fantastic place to be. Although, one night when I was watching the sunset from my balcony I was motioned to by one of the locals who was playing drums at one of the ghats. He wanted me to play drums with him as the sunset went down, I politely refused as to otherwise would have been an assault on his ears!

Met a really interesting guy in the guesthouse, from Colorado, US, and he’s been to India seventeen times. He actually introduced himself to me as Canadian and it was only after about half an hour that he admitted that he was from Canada. He’s totally against the political regime in the US and spends as little time there as he physically can. He’s been living in Germany for the last six months, but has to return home to see his mother in a few months. I also got speaking to an Irish girl who has been staying in the guesthouse for the last four months. She visited Jaipur four years ago (at least I think it was four years ago, as I’m typing this on 17th April and details aren’t as clear..) and was accosted by a child street beggar. She decided to do something to help the kids and has opened up a school where she teaches the kids to make jewellery (her trade) and the make and then sell the jewellery, all the money goes to the children. She returns to Ireland for six months of the year to earn money selling her own jewellery and this enables her to do this work in India for the rest of the year.

Pushkar 9th April 2006

I don’t know where the time goes to. I was chatting to the owner of the guesthouse this morning and he asked me how much longer I’m going to stay for. I told him (again) that I wasn’t sure, as I was enjoying chilling out by the lake and didn’t want to go back to experience the city again.

He’s off to Jodphur tomorrow morning for a month and a half and he asked me would I mind paying before he left. No problem, so I asked him how many days I owed him for and he told me that including tonight, eight nights! I can’t believe that I’ve been here for eight nights, I’ve done nothing, and I mean nothing in those eight days – and I’m loving it!

It’s so nice to have a room overlooking the holy lake and I can, and have, spent days just watching the comings and goings there. I wake up to music coming from people praying at the lake and I sit at sunset and listen to music coming from the lake. Bliss.

There is one, possibly two, cycle rickshaws in town! But there are loads of human rickshaws, which I thought were only in Kolkotta. Cycle rickshaws are bad enough when you’ve got some scrawny guy up front trying to cycle down the road with a big Westener in the back, but I refuse to be pulled up the street in a cart by some bloke who looks as though his last meal was a long time ago.

Pushkar 2nd April 2006

I woke up real early this morning, not on purpose I’ve got to add, but by 04:00 I was wide-awake. I switched on the T.V to see if there was anything on and the England v Ireland Six Nations rugby match was just starting. This match was played two weeks ago and I’d heard that Ireland won it and I can now confirm that they did! I had intended to make an early start this morning and ride from Jaipur to Pushkar, but I noticed that the Formula 1 Grand Prix from Melbourne was on at 09:30 so I watched that, then had some breakfast and was on the road by 12:00.

I’m pretty impressed with the map I bought in Delhi, as I was able to find National Highway 8 fairly easy and was out of the Urban Area (as they call the towns here) by 12:20. I normally wear a fleece jacket (which I bought in Laos) when I’m riding, as it’s usually pretty cool when I ride in the morning. Because I was setting out at the hottest part of the day, there was no way I could wear a fleece. It was really hot and I could feel sweat inside my helmet (uck), my arms have gone a good colour though!

The road to Pushkar was excellent, three lane highway most of the way, and when it went down to one lane (20 kms from Pushkar), the surface was excellent and the road was twisty (biking heaven). I came across two trucks overturned, one truck written off after rear-ending another, two dead dogs and one dead cow (which had been stripped of its hide, so there was just blood and muscle tissue showing).

I got a room in the Lake Side Hotel, and it really lives up to its name. I don’t generally stay in hotels / guesthouses with a shared bathroom if I can help it, but when the guy showed me the room they had overlooking the lake, I snapped it up. I made a “new best friend” within twenty minutes of venturing out on to the streets, but alas, I lost him a few minutes later when I wouldn’t line his pockets with Rupees.

The lake is right in the centre of the town and is surrounded by Ghats (places of worship / bathing areas) and looks a lot nicer than it does in any photographs that I’ve seen. I came back to my hotel for sunset to see what was happening down by the lake and was rewarded by groups of singers and drummers performing together. There was one crowd more or less directly my balcony who were offering garlands of flowers to a god (I presume) and it was really nice just sitting there listening to all the music and devotional prayers.

Jaipur 1st April 2006

Christ, the months are flying in. I’ve been on my trip for six months now and I don’t know where the time is going to .

This morning my friend and I decided to top up our mobile phones, which is easier said than done in this country. The first shop we tried told us that he didn’t have the top up facilities, even though he was advertising the fact that he did. My mate was luckier at the next shop and he bought a 500 Rupee top up (which only gives you 380 Rupees credit!), but they couldn’t sort me out. We went to another shop and they wouldn’t do it because I bought my sim card in Agra, but he gave us the name of a shop which was near by that would be able to do it. I’ve got a Hutch (3) sim card and I went around to their shop to hopefully get my top up sorted.

There was a hassle trying to decide if I wanted to re-validate my card and put money on it or just top it up. I made it perfectly clear that all I needed was a top up as my phone was validated for six months (don’t ask!). The guy then told me that he couldn’t do either as “the system” was down and asked me to come back in two hours! He was also telling me to buy 198 Rupee top ups, but I told him that that wouldn’t last me a day as I had to ring Ireland and the UK, so he told me that I could by several top ups, I told him that I just wanted to buy one top up of over 500 Rupees. He insisted that I buy several 198 Rupee top ups, my mate and I were in stitches by this stage, you’ve really got to love India! We then passed a Nokia shop and my mate dared me to go in and see if they could do it for me, he was having a right laugh over all the hassle I was going through. Fair play to the woman in there, she was able to work out that I wanted a top up! But, of course, she couldn’t do it, but she sent me to another shop on the top floor of the shopping centre. It was closed.

We went back to the Hutch shop later on and their system was up and running, and I went through the whole validate / top up scenario again with another assistant. I decided to buy one 198 Rupee top up, just to make sure that it would work and I’m glad to say that it did. I then told the assistant that I wanted to buy another (500 Rupee) top up and was told that I’d have to wait for fifteen minutes! AGGGGGGGH.

We then went back up to the shop that had been closed earlier and I tried to buy a 500 Rupee top up from them, I got a message to my phone which told me that it wasn’t possible. We just gave up at this stage and went and had some lunch.

Jaipur 30th March 2006

We both woke fairly early on Friday morning and were walking into town by 09:30. Jaipur is known as the Pink City as all the buildings in the old town have been painted pink. It’s meant to be “amazing”, but I found it to be as run down as every other Indian city I’ve been in, the only difference I found was that all the buildings were painted a reddy pink.

We did walk through a spice-yard, and there were hundreds of bags of spices piled up and each section smelt really strongly of the spice they were storing. The chilli really caught in your throat and the garlic section was really aromatic. We got hassled by the usual cycle and auto-rickshaw drivers, but we ended up ignoring most of them. We decided to get away from the main drag and headed towards the hill on the edge of town. We ended up walking down narrower and narrower streets and the surface was getting worse all the time. The locals were nice to us all the kids and a couple of adults shouting hello to us. We also came across this guy who asked us why all foreigners didn’t talk to Indian people. I read about this in Lonely Planet and it’s a scam designed to rid you of your money and / or belongings. Basically, you disagree with him and he invites you for a cup of tea, drugs you and robs you. He said the exact speil that was in the book. We told him that he was more than welcome to speak to us as long as he kept walking. He tried to get us to stop, but we kept up our fairly fast pace and he gave up.

The road (unsealed) got worse and worse and eventually it was bisected by an open sewer, we had about half a dozen kids tagging behind us at this stage, and I was glad that I had my mate for company. We eventually managed to find our way out of the maze and tried to find a restaurant to have some breakfast in. There was some place that should have been near by, according to the map in the Lonely Planet, and by some small miracle we found it. We were fairly boring and ordered a veg burger and chips each, it was ok.

My hand has flared up again, so I went to a chemist and got some iodine to put on it, I also bought some cotton wool and a bandage so that I can keep the infection covered, the chemist also gave me two types of tablets to take; I really hope that it doesn’t flare up again.

Delhi – Jaipur 30th March 2006

I decided to make an early start this morning as I had a ride of 267 km’s to do and I wanted to get most of it over and done with before the traffic got really heavy. My alarm went off at 06:00 and I managed to get myself out of it by 06:20. I didn’t bother having a shower, as I was going to be covered in dust and dead flies by the time I reached Jaipur, so I thought that I might as well have one when I got there.

I managed to find my way through Central Delhi easily enough and within twenty minutes of leaving the hotel, I was riding down National Highway 8. They are doing a lot of work to the roads on the Golden Triangle (Delhi – Agra – Jaipur), and the road I was on was been extended from a two-lane carriageway to a six-lane highway, it’ll be some road when then finish it but I can just imagine the carnage on it. It was an enjoyable ride to Jaipur and I saw the most amazing sight that I’ve seen in some time. I was riding along, trying my best to avoid cows, cars, trucks and buses coming driving down the carriageway the wrong way – NO KIDDING! And this massive bird flew straight across the carriageway about twenty feet in front of me. It was the most stunning in flight bird that I’ve ever seen (apart from the Aeroflot air hostesses of course…), and it took me a couple of seconds to register that it was a Peacock. I was mesmerised by it and watched it glide into the field to my left, I never even knew that Peacocks could fly and just that moment alone made the ride worthwhile.

I stopped for petrol after about an hour and a half and when I put the bike on its side stand, I noticed oil leaking from the cylinder head – not a good sign! I had just got the bike serviced and it was ok before the service, but I wasn’t going to turn around and ride back to Delhi. I crossed my fingers and hoped that the oil wouldn’t leak out whilst I was riding and cease the engine. Nothing else of note happened on the journey, saw two trucks upside down in ditches, but as I said, that’s nothing of note over here! I got to Jaipur at around 12:30 and had the usual fun trying to find the hotel I wanted to stay in. I had arranged to meet up with my friend to London who I bumped into in Delhi and we were going to stay at the same hotel. It took me nearly an hour to find the hotel as the traffic in the centre of town was a nightmare. When I got there they only had a family room available, so I had a look at it and it was the Presidential Suite of guesthouses. Really massive room with two king size beds and two single beds, big bathroom with a lovely hot shower, it cost us a fiver a night each.

My mate got into town at around 17:30 and I met him at the bus station, I was delighted to learn that he also hates rickshaw drivers and he suggested that we walk to our guesthouse, which was a bout 1.5km away from the bus station. By the time he’d checked in and got himself sorted out we were both pretty hungry, so we went to the restaurant on the roof of our guesthouse and had some really lovely Indian food and washed it down with a couple of beers. It was nice watching the sun go down over the town and hearing the calls to prayer.

Delhi 28th March 06

Back in Delhi to get my motorbike serviced. The swelling in my hand had gone down enough by Monday 27th, so I rode back to Delhi then. Journey was uneventful but good, spotted about six camels pulling carts along and the usual assortment of cows, dogs, horses and ponies.

I spent the last couple of days in Agra hanging out with the Doc and practically moved into his house! On Sunday I took my bike out for a spin to see if I was able to ride it ok now that the swelling was going down and I could nearly make a fist out of my hand. I picked the Doc up from his Agra clinic and drove him to his other clinic and hung out there for a couple of hours. On the way back to Agra we stopped at a venue that was having a presentation of some new rabies vaccine and we got some snacks and “Thumbs Up’ (Indian coke copy drink). He introduced me as Dr. Aidan from Ireland and I ended up getting my photo taken being handed some drugs by the company reps, and it’s going to be used in their in house magazine.

When I got back to Delhi I gave my two friends a ring as it was their last night in India and they were flying from Delhi later that evening. We met up in Connaught Place and had a couple of drinks before returning to their hotel for something to eat. When they got their cab I walked back to the general direction of my guesthouse, which took just over half an hour. I decided to grab a beer and went into a hotel around the corner from where I’m staying. When I walked in there , there was some guy sitting there that I know from London! He works for the same company as I do but in a different office. I had heard that he had handed in his notice shortly after I started my trip and that he was going to follow the England cricket team on their tour of India, I had meant to email him before he left and arrange to meet up, but I never got around to it. Needless to say, many drinks were knocked back and I didn’t get back to my guesthouse until gone 04:00. He was up for 06:00 to make his way to the stadium to get a decent seat – hope he made it. It’s amazing that in a country with a population of over one billion people that you can bump into someone that you know.

Agra 23rd March

I woke up late this morning, as I didn’t get to sleep until nearly 02:30 as I stayed up to watch the Chelski v Newcastle F.A Cup game. I didn’t watch the whole game though as it was pretty boring.

I went to see the doc at 11:00 to get my dressing changed, and once again my hand was a volcano of pus, it’s getting better though and the swelling has reduced a lot. At 12:00 I went with the doc and two of his friends to an Enfield show room as one of them was buying a new motorcycle. He’s buying a brand new 350cc Royal Enfield Bullet, and it’s costing him just over 90,000 rupees, which is £1168 GBP.

We then went to his other clinic (I think it was knife wound day) where I met a man who chopped the top of his finger off (from top knuckle) and a woman who had nearly chopped the top of her thumb off. I also had the pleasure of meeting my first hermaphrodite. If you’re not sure what a hermaphrodite is, the dictionary says that a hermaphrodite is: a person or animal having both male and female sex organs or other sexual characteristics, either abnormally or (in the case of some organisms) as the natural condition.

He / she was dressed as a woman, but had a solid frame, he / she was heavily made up and had her fingers painted a dark purple from the middle knuckle up and she also had purple circles painted on the palms and wrists of her hands. There was four men in the clinic when he / she walked in and as soon as he / she left, one of them turned to me and asked me if I liked the woman. I told them that she looked interesting! It was at this point that they told me that the person was a hermaphrodite. We finished up at the clinic and the doc invited me back to his house for lunch. I forgot to mention that the doc won’t let me pay for anything. I asked him if he wanted a Pepsi today and he said yes so I went to go get it, but he sent one of his assistants. I went to give the assistant some money, but the doc wouldn’t let me give it to him. He then refused to let me pay for the tablets he gave me today, I feel really bad about this, but he says that, “you are my friend, you are my guest, it is my honour”. I’ve decided to show him some of my photo’s from the trip and get some printed for his family as a present.

We had a lovely lunch back at his house. It’s a big old house and it has a central enclosed courtyard with rooms off it and more rooms upstairs. Whilst we were having lunch downstairs in one of the rooms, a cow walked in off the street! I was sitting beside the open door and I nearly died of a heart attack when the cow stuck its head through the door right beside me. Being a sacred animal, he was welcomed into the household and the little 18-month-old kid started feeding him Indian flat bread. They let him stay for a couple of minutes and shooed him out of the courtyard. I was then introduced to doc’s older sister and husband and then had a game of ludo with one of his kids. I took some photos of the kids for them and the doc then headed back to the clinic leaving me with his family. His wife speaks good English so I talked to her for about twenty minutes and then went back to my guesthouse to download the photographs. I headed back to the clinic to get my dressing changed and puss squeezed and the hand is definitely on the mend. The doc was going to the cinema with his family and he invited me to go with them, I declined his offer though as if I hang out with them any longer they’ll probably ask me to move in.

Agra 22rd March 06

I woke up around 07:30, can’t be sure though as I was having a half wake / half dream moment when I eventually woke up. I was sure that my dream was true, but alas it’s not, I’ll still have to blow them birthday candles out and stir the Christmas pudding.

I’d gone to bed pretty late last night; it was just after 01:00. I had waited up to watch the Birmingham City v Liverpool FC quarterfinal of the F.A Cup and I was really looking forward to it, as Liverpool had seemed to be over their recent goal-scoring drought. The F’in electricity decided to go off just as the game was starting, which meant that I missed the whole of Liverpool’s 0-7 victory over Birmingham City. I was gutted when I finally got the score on the Internet this afternoon. Well, I was pleased for LFC, just gutted that I missed the game.

I lay in bed for a couple of hours after I woke up and finished off my book (Patricia D Cornwell: All That Remains) and then went to one of the local restaurants and had a cheese omelette and milk coffee, it was the first time I had breakfast in ages as I’ve just been eating 1kg of oranges during the day (and drinking water) and having a meal in the evening. After breakfast I headed down to my doctor as I’d arranged to meet him around 11:00, I got a bit sidetracked on the way though! I met this guy who tried to stop me on the street the other day, so I decided to humour him and I went into his shop to talk. He told me that he wasn’t interested in selling anything to me (Pinocchio) and that he was a student who just wanted to talk. I told him that was good because I was a traveller who just wanted to listen! We were sitting in his shop for about five minutes and he asked me if I wanted a drink of chai (tea), so I said ok. That was when he whipped me off to his other shop (which just happened to be a couple of doors down from my guesthouse) and lured me into his “lair”.

It was funny because he was asking me the meaning of lots of words, then he started singing a song; “you are my sunshine”,
“What comes next?”
“I think it’s, my only sunshine”, says I.
“It may be, you make me happy when skies are grey, I said”,
“And then?”
“I’m not really sure, but it could be;
You’ll never know dear how much I love you, so don’t take my sunshine away”
“Repeat”
“From the start?”
“Please”
“Shit, hope I can remember;
You are my sunshine
My only sunshine
You make me happy
When skies are grey
You’ll never know dear
How much I love you
So don’t take my sunshine away”
“And then?”
“I don’t know”
“Who sings”?
“Sorry, haven’t got a clue”
“How do you know song”?
“I don’t know, I just do”.

He then starts to sing; “ve vill, ve vill, vock you. Ve vill, ve vill, vock you”
I have a similar song on my ipod called “we will rock you” and he enjoyed listening to this. He then mentioned a song that started off with the Spanish for 1, 2, and 3; so I played him Vertigo by U2, but he meant a Ricky Martin (puke) song, which I’m glad to say I didn’t have on my ipod. I then played him some Van Morrison and the Chieftains (I’ll tell me ma) and then played “Up the Junction” by Squeeze, which he really liked (I continue to spread the Gospel).

Then starts the hard sell:
“You want to see how marble is made?”
“No”
“Why not?”
“Because you told me that you would not try to sell me anything”
“I don’t try to sell to you, I am a student”
He proceeded to show me lots of nice “marble” work, but I really don’t have room to cart it around with me for the next seven and a half months.

He then wanted to know if I had a mobile phone, so I showed him my Nokia 7600, which amazed him. It’s only a phone with a couple of gadgets, nothing that special. He then wanted to trade my possessions with “marble”, I refused to give him my ipod, phone and watch and told him my camera was back at the hotel and didn’t dare mention a laptop! He then tried to exchange my clothes and deodorant for his “products”. I had a cup of chai with him, and made my excuses after about an hour (hey, it’s not like I’ve anywhere to rush to!).

By the time I’d finished with him, I would have been cutting it close with the doc. so I went to an internet café for an hour to check and write some emails (why are emails always so much more fun when you are stuck in your office behind a desk?).

I then went for brunch and had an omelette and a milk coffee; I was also offered beer and Mary Jane (marijuana), which I declined. I decided to ring my sister who had her first baby on Saturday (Katie, 8lbs 3oz), but she wasn’t at home, so I had a good long chat with Martin (hubby) and then rang Claire in hospital, she’s due out tomorrow and is looking forward to seeing something other than four magnolia walls!

I went back to my guesthouse then and tightened up a couple of nuts and bolts that had worked themselves loose on my bike and had a chat to some of the guys there. I headed down to see the doc at 17:30 but he wasn’t there. I went to his clinic and got talking to some of the locals who recognised me. Before I knew it there were four kids sitting around me yapping away. I recognised two of them from my previous visits, but three of them started pointing to the kid beside me and they were jabbering away to me. It took me a while to realise what they were saying, but it was, “he, monkey pocket”. I hadn’t a clue what they meant by “monkey pocket”, but they kept on putting their hand into their pocket and taking it out quickly. I coped on that they were telling me that he was a pickpocket! I don’t know if it was true or not, but the kid looked pretty embarrassed and when the doc turned up he turfed him out. There are loads of monkeys in this town, and one thing I’ve learned about monkeys is to watch your pockets and bags, as they’ll have them away from you as soon as you blink.

I apologised to the doc for not making my morning appt and thanked him once again for the fantastic meal last night. He said, “no problem, you are my friend”. His little helper then brought me in a cup of chai and a savoury snack, both were fantastic. Unfortunately things turned a little sour then, that is to say, my right hand was very sour! Doc took of the dressing and took a look. So did I. The back (or the Dorsal area as Patricia D Cornwell would call it) looked like an erupting volcano. My hand had turned into a big puss bag, and I winced real hard as he squeezed the puss out of my hand. His little helper had a good laugh as I pulled faces for him as this was happening. Can’t wait for my next visit tomorrow at 11:00, the good news is that my hand should be healed by Friday. I’ll be sad to see the back of here as I’ve enjoyed the last couple of days, even though I’ve been stranded.

I decided to have dinner down in the old town, near where the doc lives. On my way there I was greeted by the usual cacophony of calls for rickshaws, tuk tuk’s and hello how are you’s! Amongst these was a girl I half recognised, she drew a breath when she recognised me, it was the doc’s daughter who I danced with last night. I said hello and she asked me if I knew where their house was, I told them I did. She then asked me if I was going there to eat, I told her that I really enjoyed last night, but it was best if I didn’t go two nights in a row! She was disappointed and told me that I should go to their house. I had dinner in a roof top restaurant with a view of the Taj Mahal, I had a mutton biriyani, which was really nice and then made my way back to the hotel.

I got talking to one of the staff, he’d seen me tinker with my bike the other day when the accelerator seemed a little loose, and I couldn’t figure out why. He’d seen me do this and had spoken to his mate, who had gone out and bought a part (which had probably come off in the crash) and replaced it for me. He refused to take payment for it, so I’ll make sure I give him a tip when I’m finally allowed to leave.

What's up Doc? - Agra 21st March

Agra 21st March 06

I’ve been stuck in Agra for two days longer than I planned. A cycle rickshaw hit me when I was in Delhi and my right hand was cut in a couple of places. One of the cuts got infected and my right hand ballooned up, if you can picture an inflated Marigold glove, that’s what it looked like. I can’t bend my wrist or make a fist because of the swelling so that ruled out riding my bike. So yesterday I asked one of the guys in the hotel if he knew where the nearest hospital was, and he told me that he’d bring me to a good doctor first and then the hospital if need be.

I jumped on the back of his scooter and was sitting in front of the doctor about five minutes later. Agra is a small town and everyone knows everyone, turns out the guy from the hotels dad is best mates with the doctor. The doctor examined my hand, sprayed something on it and vigorously rubbed the infected wound until the scab came off, it was bloody sore. He then shone a torch on it and spread some brown “gunk” on my hand and bandaged me up. He sent his helper out to get some medication and he charged me 70 Rupees for that (about £1.00 GBP). The “helper” is a twelve-year-old kid who gets chai, medication, wipes down surfaces and other little jobs around the clinic. We had a bit of a talk about the cricket, but he was a bit shy around me.

The clinic itself is a smallish room with a bench down both sides, and a desk for the doctor at the far end. Behind the doctor was a small room with a table, which doubled up as and examining bench. The patients who weren’t examined in the main room were examined in the “privacy” of the back room, the back room’s door was permanently open and the windows gave a perfect view of what was going on inside. The doctor told me to come back at 18:00 to change the dressing and apply more “gunk”. I returned at 18:00 and waited my turn to see the doc, there were about four people in front of me and I watched the doc deal with sore throats, cuts, ear problems and a shoulder problem. I also got a cup of chai from the little assistant. I got out of there at about 18:30 and was told to return today at 11:00. On my way back to my guesthouse I took a wrong turn and ended up in a little square where there were a group of kids playing cricket. They shouted over to me and asked me to play with them, so I went over and bowled a couple of balls and then had a go at batting. I had to use my left hand as the right was all bandaged up, but I still managed to hit a couple of balls before being bowled out.

As I was playing some other guy came over to me and asked me if I wanted a haircut, turns out he owns the barber shop in the square. I went over and had a cup of tea with him and turns out that he’s got some friends in Enfield, North London. He also introduced me to Agra’s Guru who also happens to play Sitar, Tabla and about a dozen other instruments. I stayed there for about forty minutes and made my excuses, I was really hungry, as I’d only eaten 1kg of oranges, so I went and had a veg curry, which was nice.

I returned to the doctors this morning and I was invited into the back room to watch the examinations! He introduced me to all his patients and he phoned his brothers to come and meet me. Two of his brothers are doctors and their clinics are either side of his on the same street. The doc then asked me if I wanted to go his other clinic, which was about 10kms away. I told him that it was ok to treat me here, as there was no need to go all that way. He went ahead and redressed my hand and I told him that I’d see him later. When I returned at 18:00 he asked me where I had been at 14:00, he told me that he had rang the hotel looking for me but they told him that I wasn’t in. He was going to bring me to his other clinic to meet his other patients! I told him that I misunderstood him and didn’t know we had arranged to meet, he asked me if I would go with him at 19:00 and then have dinner with his family. I waited in his clinic and he introduced me to two of his friends who had just popped in for a chat. As they were leaving he asked me if I liked a smoke, and if so to go with his friends as they were about to have one. He wasn’t talking about the kind of smoke you buy in packets over the counter. First time I’ve been offered non-prescription drugs by a doctor!

I hopped on the back of his bike just after 19:00 and he brought me around to his brother’s house, we had chai and biscuits there in their really old house. It was built to house the workers who built the Taj Mahal and was over 350 years old. There was a covered inner courtyard, which housed about eight pigeons in an open loft. There were three rooms off the courtyard which were all large and had domed ceilings. He then brought me to his house and he introduced me to his wife, two daughters and two sons. The girls are fourteen and twelve and the boys are seven and eighteen months. They were watching a music DVD and we were talking over it. The eldest girl wants to be an airhostess so that she can travel and the younger daughter wanted to work as a scientist in Paris (just like her aunt). I recognised one of the actors who was on the music video, the girls told me who he was and started dancing around the room, they asked me to dance with them. So that’s how I found myself bandaged up dancing around the house of a complete stranger!

After that we went to his other clinic where I was introduced to his patients! He bought me a Pepsi and I sat around while he treated the sick and wounded. I attracted a crowd of kids and they all gathered around the doorway and just smiled in at me. I said Namaste to them and they giggled and said hello back. We left the second clinic at 21:15 and went to another friend of his; we stayed there for about ten minutes before riding back to his house. We drove through what looked like a closed market place as there were loads of people around and a big security barrier was down, people were still walking through a gate at the side of the barrier though, so my doc friend decides to ride the bike through the gate. We manage to squeeze through the gate only to be greeted by an ear-splittingly load horn, we looked to our left, where the horn came from, only to see a train bearing down on us! It must have been no more than thirty metres away from us and closing in fast, I think it was fair to say that we nearly soiled out pants! But it was definitely a “one of my lives gone” type of moments. I really must stop hanging around with doctors on this trip.

When we got to his house, his wife served us up a mutton dish, a veg dish, a biryiani dish and a desert, the food was very nice and the kids watched in fascination as I worked through the dishes and ate Muslim style (fingers and bread). They were asking about my family and I have some photos of them on my ipod, which I showed them. I also played the seven-year old boy some Indian music, which I have on there, but he didn’t like it. His mother told me that he likes pop music, so I played him ‘Get Back’ by The Beatles, which he enjoyed. He then put the earphones into his eighteen-month-old brothers ears and I changed the song to ‘Within You Without You’, which is a Beatles sitar based song, sung by George Harrison. The kid loved this and he covered his eyes with his hands as he listened to the music. I stayed there until just gone 22:30 and made my way back to my guesthouse, it was a great day and I enjoyed some real good Indian hospitality.

Hitting the Road - 18th March 2006

I decided to head around to the back of Agra today and get a couple of photo’s of the Taj from across the river. I set out at about 10:00am and headed off in the general direction of the bridge. I found the bridge easily enough and it was just a quick case of doing a couple of left turns to actually get onto it. It’s actually a railway bridge with a road underneath to take the horses, cows, ox, tuk tuk’s, cycle rickshaws and any other contraption they can find. It wasn’t built to take two lanes of vehicular traffic.

The traffic on the bridge was at a more or less standstill so I (and other scooter / motorbike) riders started overtaking the stationary traffic. It was all going well and I was making slow progress over the bridge, when suddenly the tuk tuk in front of me decides to pull into my pat. I swerved out of the way and hit the brakes, next thing I know is that I’m sliding down the road heading towards the bridge girder. As I wasn’t going to fast I didn’t hit it too hard, I was just thankful that there was a gap in the traffic coming the other way (which is why I had been overtaking in the first place). Not one bugger thought of stopping to help me up, the just started at me as they drove by. I couldn’t think why I crashed, I wasn’t going fast, I didn’t break too heavily, but when I picked the bike up I looked down on the bridge and there was a oil spill which is what had caused the bike to slide. I picked the bike up fairly easy and luckily it started first kick and I made my way slowly across the rest of the bridge.

When I got to the other side I had a quick look at the damage and there was remarkably little. The two mirrors had been knocked out of position, but they were easy enough to twist back and the brake lever / accelerator had also been twisted around the handle bar. There was no damage done to the body of the bike due to the front and rear crash barriers, glad I paid the couple of quid extra to have them fitted.

So that’s it, my first spill in India (and for a good few years), no doubt they’re be a couple of more along the road, lets hope they’re all as minor as that one.

I didn’t get much further to be honest, as the map didn’t match up with the roads I was riding on and the traffic got hellish. I stopped and got some water and I drew a crowd of six or seven people all looking at me drink water! I really don’t know what the fascination is to see a Westerner drinking water, maybe I’ll react the same when I see a tourist in London having a drink!

I met up with my two friends in the evening and they were feeling a bit dodgy after a recent bout of Delhi Belhi so I suggested that we go and have a pizza in Pizza Hut. We had a medium pizza each and Paul and I could easily eat a large pizza in London, but despite the fact that neither of us had eaten anything that day (it was 17:30 by the time we hit Pizza Hut), neither of us could finish the pizza. Oh the shame of leaving two slices out of a six slice pizza.