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Occassionally you wake up and decide it would be good to take a long ride and explore roads you've never been down before and experience things anew. I had one of those mornings and packed my umbrella on an Enfield Thunderbird and headed for the hills and plains of India.

Yeah I know, i didn't ride a beemer; but as Leoquattro hopefully would concur, "when in Rome...ect" and getting parts for a double R in India would be no mean feat, so the Enfield 350 single was an obvious option, and let's face it there aren't too many options. Though having said that, I did meet a guy in Delhi who foolishly imported a Triumph Rocket 3. There are very few roads in the country where one could use that horsepower, and when on a freeway its not unusual to encounter some mother f@#*@# travelling on the wrong side of the road, or reversing because they missed the exit some three or four miles back. So speeds in excess of 100 km per hour are rather suicidal, not to mention my bike had only drums front and back.

I won't bore you with too much with text, but suffice to say, road rules in India are non-existent. I eventually came to an abrupt halt courtesy of another vehicle cutting corners; but I will share with you a few pics (very low res) from the months leading up to that incident. I travelled through several states in India, some geographic, others altered.


http://s203.photobucket.com/albums/aa26 ... cd7817.pbr

Hari om

Gunga Din

gunga din wrote:Occassionally you wake up and decide it would be good to take a long ride and explore roads you've never been down before and experience things ...........................

......................... I travelled through several states ......... some geographic, othersaltered
Gunga Din

First of all, Gunga Din, I can identify with those statements.

Secondly, these were the most incredible ride report photos I've seen this year! I thought I was watching a National Geographic production! All I can say is "More, please." Fascinating photos and so colorful.

Why was that one guy laying in the road? What was loaded in the bed of the truck - the one that looks overloaded and has white tarps holding things together? I did not see a lot of vehicles in your photos, so what kind of reaction did the people in the remote areas in these photos have when they saw the Enfield? I have many more questions and I know it takes a lot of time, but if you ever have the time, would you please write some short explanations of what we are seeing and locations to go along with the still shots?

And again, Please - more ride reports and photos!!!

Gunga Din, that was...awesome. I have one question however, what's with the (forgive my ignorance) watermark on each photo? It sort of looks like a "30" with some symbols above it?

Regards,
Mark

That was terrific! I've seen several great ride reports on this forum, that was definitely one of the best...

I've been riding a long time and have owned a whole bunch of moto's, and find myself coming full circle to where a lighter, simpler bike and rural roads are where the true fun is in riding.

Thanks, gunga din, looking forward to more!

Nice.....but for some reason a little spooky.....

Thanks...I'm looking forward to the next one..

DJ

Gypsy RR firstly thanks for the positive feedback; yeah i asked myself the same question..."why was that guy laying on the road?" I had been riding through the desert of Rajasthan heading for Bikaner having left JhunJhunun in the morning. The road was relatively quiet, not much traffic, and all in all fairly uneventful morining. I pulled over, first thinking he might have been hit by a vehicle and was injured or worse. I couldn't arouse him, and no passing vehicles seemed at all interested in slowing down or stopping, and if he wasn't dead then it would only take two vehicles travelling in opposite directions to pass this point in the road simultaneously for this guy to progress to next life if he hadn't already.

I eventually roused him from an alcohol induced sleep and dragged him off to the side of the road. Life is cheap in India as a few accidents depict.

The truck you mentioned was loaded, or should I say overloaded with grain. I guess the stray cow was just doing what western road authorities would interpret as their civic duty.

I should apologise for misrepresenting the traffic in India. Most roads are busy, though my images don't show this. In large cities like Delhi where cars out number courtesy a million to one, you can break a clutch cable crossing town. The traffic is so congested it can take two hours to cover four miles. As for the Enfield raising eyebrows, forget it, they have been making them in India since the fifties.


MCOOPERSTEIN the symbol you enquired about is the Hindu symbol OM or AUM. It represents the absolute, like om-nipresent om-nipotent, and i'm guessing, will be the sign above the restaurant at the end of the universe.

Thanks for the feedback.
dhanyavaad

Gunga Din

That was very nice. Thank you for sharing. I hope someday I have a chance to explore a place so foreign on two wheels.

MCOOPERSTEIN the symbol you enquired about is the Hindu symbol OM or AUM. It represents the absolute, like om-nipresent om-nipotent, and i'm guessing, will be the sign above the restaurant at the end of the universe.

I think this is the most interesting ride report I have seen (twice already, and I am ready for the third). These are just facinating photos, so far and so different from my everyday life.

Thank you very much. Please share more in the future.

Hi Gunga Din, that was fantastic! Do yo have more images? Would love to see more! I'm heading to the Himalayas so won't experience Delhi style traffic.
I decided to see something of the other side of things and can't think of anything I'd rather do than see the Himalayas on a bike.

Beautiful photography Gunga Din. Thanks for posting. I look forward to seeing more from you.

You're a better man than I am...