Kumarhatti to Morinda Punjab via Chandigarh

Starting off was a concern, as I was going on the national highway, but it generally seemed safe, apart from the odd ass who liked their horn too much. A short roll from the overpass, along a side street, then it was mainly a long long downhill. Views across the valleys here were also nice. 

A cyclist caught me by surprise, in full Lycra, on a hard trail Trek mtb. He works in a local bank, has 2 kids and does about 80k only on an early Sunday. 

Panchkula (panch=five kula=streams, or a small river) is right at the lights. It's a relief to be in the city, amoung slow moving, friendly traffic. In town, I picked up the most expensive bottle of local whiskey I could find in the shop (5500 INR, about 100AUD) to give to Navdeep to once again salute his extraordinary patience in the toilets with Steven puking on the 1st night of the wedding.

We went for a very nice chicken Briyani at a hole in the wall, that was the nicest of its kind I'd seen. Freshly cooked also. 

Navdeep tool me to aSikh temple to explain how to do it: no shows or socks, wash your feet if you find the wash station, now to the floor touch it, touch your head, or bow down to touch the floor with your head. Then do the thank you hands thing, do a circle of the altar type thing, touch each side and touch your head, then once again bow and do the thanks hands 🙏. We went to a local store to pick up a bright orange head covering, so now I am set for the Golden Temple at Amritsar. 

Then we joined Sona at a Cafe for a cappuccino at a rather smart place. 

It was farewells then off on the cycleway free streets of Punjab.

Minute heart attack getting into the NH5, but the road all the way was pretty easy really.  There were plenty of two wheelers, tractors etc, so felt at home, just too much asphalt. With the sunset, the dust, the air pollution, the endless rows of apartment blocks, it did have an end of the worlds feel to it. I guess I don't get that felling at home as you get acclimatised to stupid urban planning there.

Reaching the village of Morinda requires a left turn across 3 lanes, easier than it sounds thank the lord, then a short run with tractors, 2 wheelers, etc, a bit of dirt and in here in a great little hotel. 

It is nice to be sitting down now.

Searching for hotels tomorrow. Setting the rating at 4.5 stars means all the staff wrote one bizarre review each, gave it 5, and it's probably sitting in rubble under the 6 lane elevated freeway through town. I wish there was a bullsh.. filter.