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.