The train to Jaipur. I mean Jodhpur.

On my list day in Amritsar, I took it real easy. Had to pack all the washed socks and undies hanging out for a while. My train ticket stayed stubbornly unconfirmed. My fingers wee super crossed. I was 4th on the wait list, it seems? I am learning a lot about the train. But my support team in Sydney told me that I'm on!

That is a massive relief. I was planning on going to the bus stop to ask around if they could pack a bike. 

Train is the answer to how I do the next 650km ( edit: 714, or another 300 on the train). I could ride but it would take a week. This way I get there overnight.

Today I'm going to cycle in circles around the city until 2pm to celebrate!!!!

I had a fairly good wash. The diverter would not budge to the shower, so it's the bucket and scoop via the lower tap. If you fill it with hot, use 1 or two scoops, then soap up then slowly pour the rest, it works OK. Don't get undressed until the bucket is full with hot water. Otherwise you'll freeze. 

Breakfast was a bit late. Rice like a bryani, potato mix but like a dahl and the bread was puri. I really like puri now, and the other two were delish as well. Got a lassifrom across the street. This lassi is correct,  v good. 

I biked it through the alleys, down to Gobindgarh Fort

ਗੋਬਿੰਦਗੜ ਕਿਲਾ

This is an impressive regular sized fort, with a massive moat. Some other tourists tried to speak to me in language. I answered in English, unlikely too much was understood. 

The Magic man did a little show for me, making balls appear under the bronze cups, he was good. He made my 200 disappear and after I gave him that. Smart people should never leave home without smaller change or it goes like magic. 

The brickwork is intricate and would have taken a lot of work to lay. Interesting that a military thing can be so pretty. A quick lap and I'm out. 

Did a pee, checked out of the hotel at midday, did a few laps of the shopping district,  moving closer to the station. Tried to check in the bike for Jaipur. The parcel man said show me a ticket to Jaipur. It's only at this time that I realised the ticket is for Jodhpur, so we're doing that instead. Sat and waited. Now I'm on the train to Rajasthan. I'll be there tomorrow. And close (300km) to Jaisalmer. My mistake: I accidentally picked Jodhpur not Jaipur, easy error to make. Now I'm more aware that these are 2 separate cities. 

I've ordered a dinner from a bryani restaurant in Jalandhar. You do this on the train website.  Let's see how it goes! 

They have power plugs so I can charge my phone, pillow, blankets, a bench to sleep on.  Just gotta write junk, and watch the scenery. This is real luxury.

The food is handed to me at my seat in a paper bag. Lucknow Paneer subs bryani, skimmed mint buttermilk and Shahi Tukda were great except I spilled buttermilk and custard on my pants and in my jumper sleeve. Eating train food is a skill yet to be mastered. 

I took a pee in the squat toilet, which is another competence which I lack. Hope I didn't get pee on the back of my pants. Seriously how is this done. 

I'm speaking with a lawyer who works not far from Jalandhar and Chandigarh in the family steel business. I've seen his wedding and new house move-in-day videos.

He ordered a veg burger from KFC diverted to platform 2, but received chicken, so had to give it away to someone. KFC had 2 separate kitchens for veg and non veg so it's a wonder that this can happen. The ticket must have gone to the wrong one. The main problem is that he still hungry and has to wait 2 more stops for another "restaurant".

Now it's 3am, a phone alarm is chiming. I'm worried the guy will miss his stop. I carefully wandered out, listening, found the man, so him awake, walked away, but the alarm continues. Oh well, I did my bit.

The train is rocking a bit too much for sleeping well. I used the European loo this time. It was surprisingly clean. There was soap in the dispenser, albeit a bit watery. 

I'll post more news as it happens. 

Amritsar and Attari

I got up before sunrise. Usually I laze in bed. The Golden Temple is lit up at night, and is spectacular, and I wanted to see that. 

It was pretty amazing lit up. Then when the morning sun hit, it likewise glistened and twinkled. 

Doing a couple of laps, I moved to where the music was the grooviest. I touched the ground with my head, bowing down properly. 

You need to cover your head and take your shoes off. There is a cloak room for those before you enter. 

On the way in you must wash your hands, then your feet. 

The bonus is after you bow to the ground and do the obligatory tour of the chanting guru, there is a holy treat station where you can collect a lump of hot mix, nuts, slight sugar, spice and wheat I think. 

Sikhs have the best music. You only need to hang around for a long a you feel. Plus they give meals away for free also. Why would you go for any other religion??

Yesterday I was inspired to make a decent enough donation which would cover a few meals.

I had breakfast at the Langar hall of the Golden Temple this morning. They serve like 100,000 people per day for free. The hall has marble floor, with 40m? long mats. You sit cross legged and they spoon it out of a metal cylinder that they hold, keeps it piping hot. The water cart is on metal wheels. The guy wheels past the line, pulls the handle at the top, and water comes out of the tap at the bottom. 

There are 5 or 6 lines of mats. You sit on one, the next spot in line, put your plate on the marble floor. Makes it easy to clean. 

I had dahl with lentils and chickpeas, a potato veg mix, and slightly sweet straight normal porridge, 2 naans, and rice. All zero % spicy hot.

On the way in, you pick up plate, drinking bowl and spoon from different guys, and hand off after to other different guys. There is a long snaking wash bay for cleaning them. At pick up, there is a mountain of plates in something the size of a ute tray.

I think you'd be impressed.

Luckily my hips have adapted after sitting for meals like that for a week at the apple orchard with my new family. 

A lot happens in a day here!

By 10am I was at Jallianwala Bagh

ਜਲ੍ਹਿਆਂ ਵਾਲਾ ਬਾਗ਼

It is a large green area (apparently a diet dust bowl back in the day), hemmed in by tall walls bordering taller homes and business buildings. 

It is famous because the British, in order to teach the locals a lesson not to protest bad laws, without prior warning or announcements, fired into about 20,000 people, killing 1,500. They only stopped shooting when ammo was getting low. It was psychopathic, but also stupid, as it lit a massive torch under the independence movement. Brigadier-General Reginald Dyer said it was a "merciful " thing to do, to get them into order. If he could have driven an armoured car in, he would have used those as well to kill more. 

I had a snooze at the hotel. 

I skipped lunch today. I had to run to get to the bus on time. I raced down to get a bus ticket for the border ceremony, then raced back. I asked the guys across the road from the hotel, to sew on a pocket to hold my mobile phone. Then 3 guys came up, were curious for a chat. They are dairy farmers. I asked if they have boom box on the tractor. I mentioned I have not been able to get a photo but I'd seen many. So they shared some photos of their tractor, then insisted on giving me a tea after I'd said I couldn't a few times. The videos are awesome. The tailor charged 50, I tried to give him 200 at least for the work, he did no, but I managed to give him a 100. It must be the only place where the merchant negotiates down. 

I'm at the border now! Should be fun! It'd been a super Indian afternoon. 

At the Attar Wagah border, the flag poles of both nations are so high that they need flashing lights to warn any aircraft.

It was pretty awesome. Lots of big kicks and strong arm gestures. I thought the gates would open so the guys would sort of dance together? Seems the border is firmly shut!!

I enjoyed watching the girls dance at the start. General public having a go - they were getting into it, and smiled especially for a foreigner.

Pakistan was so close that I could almost touch it. 

I did have flags painted on both cheeks. 

Keep in mind that it was a border of two armed to the teeth Declared Nuclear Nations. Navdeep hoped I loved the aggression in that ceremony. i think their arm gestures definitely said, "Hey you! Get f---d!" 💪 Which is a worry, as you say, due to nuclear power.

Two guys who marched up earlier on wore headsets, head covering, bulletproof vests, modern uniforms, and carried serious modern machine guns. Those two looked like they meant business!

After the show, seems only school kids and VIPs could get in the concourse to take selfies with the dress soldiers. 

It was a great experience. Viva India and پاکستان !

Dinner was at the Ak Amritsari Dhaba & Kulcha Land (라씨추천) - another Kulcha, perfectly delicious with dahl, green salsa and achar. I ordered mushroom paneer-great, and Aloo matar- ok not spectacular. 

Amritsar

Breakfast was simple Aloo Paratha, and 2 milk chais. Suits me as I way over-ate last night. Mind you I saw this bread for 30 and her breakfast costs 300, but it is conveniently located, you get to sit down and broach teeth after. 

Golden Temple visit - amazing I spent some time soaking it up. 

Went back to go to my toilet. Just sheer luxury. Trouble is every person on the way wants you in their shop or their tuktuk.

Clothes came back from the Christian hotel worker, who insisted the hotel doesn't do it, but he could hook me up. They're spread on the bed, so wet. I should have put in my other undies as well. I hand washed 5 to avoid the dryer. 

Wandered done alleyways. So peaceful, beautiful, interesting. Some homes could be really beautiful. They're just a bit run down, but amazing wood details, town houses like ours, in the central part of town, and very quiet.

It's 12.08. I want to try Thali for something new, but he says sorry that's for lunch, right now is breakfast only. 

I'll try again at dinner. Even if they're still serving lunch, I can't miss out then, right? ... right?? 😄

In the afternoon, I went to the Partition Museum. What a downer. It is such a shame that the place got divided up, based on something random like religion. As far as I've heard, Jinnah did not understand the effects of a hard border. He kept a property in Delhi? and thought he would be able to visit it whenever. Kind of funny when you see the hard core wire fence and no man's land separating the nation's now.

So many stories of families split up, people leaving everything behind, entire trains where everyone was murdered. One Muslim family hid a refugee attempting to get to India. They were afraid that the whole family would be killed if anyone found out,  because they were hiding a Hindu girl. Sounds like when German families hid Jews, or same for Bosniaks and Croatians. The message here is like a cracked record of other places. 

Tonight's dinner was a thali. It was ok. Need to reduce my eating.

Nurmahal

I am in Amritsar tonight! It is just amazingly nice to know that I have a roof over my head for a few nights, and I don't have to guess, research or break down, to find where it will be. Currently sipping on possibly the nicest lassi I've ever had. It is luxury, not eating dirt for a few days and staying here.

It feels like a week ago but it was just this morning, I found the thorn stuck in my tyre.  After fixing that, no problems for 30km to Jalandhar. Saw The Sarai of Nurmahal, very nice. The gate opens onto a large open quadrangle, beautiful, peaceful. The gate is very intricate. Some Arabic calligraphy appears in the gate. Checking with the experts at work, it is in Urdu.

I sat there admiring while eating the 3 samosas I'd picked up at the sweets shop. Lucky I have 0 language skills or I would also have gotten some of those. 

I wiggled through the old town centre. It is exactly as per an old French village, tiny, lined with shops. 

The next one, Jandiala Manjki is similar, and even more medieval with homes straddling the path at the first floor  some overhanging the road. 

In Jalandhar, the army guys with machine guns wave me in at their road checkpoint. They make me nervous, but as per everyone who sees a random foreigner cycling past, they just want to chat. I just want to make it to the train on time. Then they want me to meet the supervisor. Ayaiyai. A selfie crosses my mind, but often selfies seem a bad idea. 

At the station there are metal detectors at the entrance to the ticket area. My bike has a full steel frame. I don't really want to leave it outside. Turns out that the detectors are off. I can get in, just, by turning the handlebars. The cop inside gives info, takes me outside and points me to the parcel office. 

There is one lady,  repeat, just one, handling everything, while 5 or 10 men label and move all kinds of heavy sacks. I requirea zerox of my passport. One guy pulls 20 rupees out, not sure who the kind man is in my panic, one takes my passport and is off, while I watch the lady handle the swirl of men and packages, organised chaos. A form, 32 rupees fee (53c), a meal across the street, and I'm on the platform. 22479 is on the displays, and car C1. I ask a guy, who speaks excellent English by chance, if it goes to Amritsar, he says no! My train is 22429. Glad I asked!! Nothing could have been a bigger problem than going the wrong way without the bike. 

Navdeep advised me to take the CC class. There are 2 sets of 3 seats with a corridor in the middle. Many stand. Some have two rows of seats piled high with roly bags. 2 women occupy the row of seat 64. The roly bag people are guiding me to another seat. After 2 sets of blessings in Punjabi, I am sat next to an old man who has his legs well spread over into my side. 

No worries. At Beas, 2/3 of the train gets off  not seat 64. I get, another, window seat, and research where to stay.

To my despair, the bike took a full hour to clear parcels admin at the other end, perfectly intact, to my intense joy. One guys says there is a labour charge. I asked the helpful guy, who tells the bogus guy to knock it off. I am keen to get out.

Traffic as always is a surprise. 

I head for a highly rated home stay where the guy looks at me and my filthy bike and simply says no.

Seems he's done me a great favour as my hotel is right in the action, with a string of great places to eat and explore. After a bucket wash, can't get the shower to work, I'm sitting in front of the best Lassi I've ever had, quickly followed by a kulcha (spiced bread stuffed with potato), Dahl, salsa, and curd. Heaven. 

I got a milk shake from the "Belgian Waffle", purely to have change (rare, like gold. Still have not got UPI pay.) Wandering upstairs, I meet a Sikh man who welcomes all faiths, born in the USA (parents are still there running a coffee shop), is an attorney, and owns the fancy coffee place here. 

I have paid for 3 nights at Luxe Stayz Heritage Street. It seems really excellent, so I could stay one more.

I have to say, all the traffic is very respectful here. I can tell the difference between a honk here to say beware I'm passing, and the Australian honk to say beware I don't know to use my steering wheel and brakes properly.

Maharaja Ranjit Singh

1st I went to Punjab Ag Uni for the PAU Museum but it was shut! The Uni is v nice.  Had sweets again for brekky. 

Went to the Maharaja Ranjit Singh Punjab war museum to learn about the wars with Pakistan mainly. They had a couple of awesome aircraft in the yard. I worked out my Lieutenant Colonel I met in the train is pretty high up. 

The highway was very smooth and not terrible as power usual. 

Next stop was the Maharaja Ranjit Singh Fort Phillaur. There were guards with guns, a metal detector,  and each new guy asked me if I was carrying guns,  which I'm not used to. 

A kind guard showed me through the whole place, even into the temple finishing with the obligatory sacred sweets. I got to practice touching the ground with my head, which is best to do, and the walk around. 

After the sweets, i now want to find somewhere to eat and run. No chance haha.

I am at Daddys Food Zone, GT Road Phillour, near Railway Station, Jalandhar, Punjab. I'm trying the tandoori fish. They said it would cost 300 but a different guy charged 370. Not sure if I got ripped off.

Set off, felt strange bumps, realised the back was flat. This being an internal hub, they're is no quick release of the back wheel. What the hell was I thinking getting this kind of bike for a crazy expedition.  🤪  Lesson learnt but this is one of my dumbest decisions ever. 30 gears would make it 6 times easier. I search for a hotel, and there's one soon. Turns out I've been going on the wrong road. I saw a big hotel sign, but after walking to it, the sign says "3kms ahead". One saviour points next for to the tyre repair place. The first word is "puncture?" So I go for it, pulling out the tube. They apply soapy water. We find the hole. I patch it, express my extreme gratitude, and head off, back again, to go the right way this time.

I'm hauling ass to get there before sunset and we're looking good,  but then the dining feeling of a wheel going wrong happens again. I wonder if there's a turn still in the tyre. I pump up and can go about 2k at a time. It's not safe and hard to find a spot on the road side but at last the hotel appears. 

The web site says 2000 but he says 2700. On principle I leave and try for the next hotel, but I can't see a thing, the tyre is not working, so I go back with my tail between my legs. This is the nicest room I've had for ages, by far.

I made 33km progress today, annoying but expected. 

Dinner was the usual roulette wheel,  250 for dahl, paneer and 4 rotis. I'm v happy now. 

Navdeep suggests You can take the train to Chandigarh, I think you can also bring the bike on the train. Though you should do (Local) Amritsar on bike. 

I think that going there by train  is a GREAT idea.

He says to Check for train seat availability at https://www.irctc.co.in/nget/train-search, and to Get to the station early and request that you be allowed to take your bicycle in the compartment, pay any additional fees as required.

Let's see what happens. There are seats but the app has gone f ing blank on me damn it. 

Ludhiana

I got up early and crept downstairs where the staff were snoring and my bike was in the restaurant near the front doors, awesome. 

I packed about half the stuff, when they got up and put a shirt over the singlet. One fellow helped me to out.

Cruised into town, Morinda itself. The first shop was a sweets shop. What better way to start than getting a tonne of kJ in. He even offered a coffee,  and declined my offer of some payment. I get the feeling of pride and looking after guests in the country. 

With a hot coffee ingested, I got into the traffic. There was space at the side,  no issues. A little way down I stopped to brush my teeth. 

The views across the green green fields, all tendered, immaculate, were great. The road gradually become very quiet. It was flat and easy. With nothing but greenery. I to through a couple of villages with tiny walkways, not streets. In one village, I did a couple of figure 8s to find the out road, so everyone had a good opportunity to stop what they were doing and take a good long look at my slow U turns. 

There was a brick factory with about 8 serious smoke stacks, followed nearby by a new flyover freeway being built. 

Bought 2 pairs of undies, might be tight.

As Navdeep said, it's going on the green light where you need to be extremely careful. Rolling on the red is no problem. 

Lunch was 2 Samosa and a deep fried bread. 

Got to Ludhiana. You can tell as soon as the traffic starts going chaotic. Cars and bikes going the wrong way, cutting across the road at random, people walking all over or stopping to greet each other, stopped cars, food stalls, anything everywhere. Car drivers going down super tiny streets are mad. They face each other and block both ways while they try to honk it out. It's a relief to find the Samrat Hotel ਸਮਰਾਟ ਹੋਟਲ on Kailash Cinema Rd, near Domoria Bridge Road, Civil Lines, Ludhiana. Walked around to soak up the craziness. Went for a little shop.

I dined at the Cookup Shookup, Bindraban Rd, above Ahuja Tower, Civili, Ludhiana

Ate Malai Chaap which was delicious and completely filling.

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.

Sainj to Kumarhatti, Solan, Himachal Pradesh

Setting out at about 8am, today was 78km, up 2050m, down 1790m, which sounds bad but was surprisingly gentle mostly. This highway was more like what I expected, more ancient, gentle, climbing slowly, following the contours of the mountains.

Initially it goes downhill, about 5 degrees C but feels colder, and my hands turned purple. I put one at a time in my pocket. 

The beautiful scenery more than makes up for it. The road winds along the mountain. A stream at the valley floor is rock strewn peaceful and audible. The green monkeys seemed scared which is a nice thing compared to the aggressive antics experienced before. 

It winds along like this all day. Traffic is reasonably light and easy to avoid. At a servo, there is a pump where the pressure can be set precisely via digital readout, v nice.

A man I meet invited me to have a cup of tea and lunch. I declined as I need to make progress. A car load of young guy stop to ask where I'm from, where I'm going, do I have Instagram, Facebook etc. Lunch was at a roadside stall. The cook comes from a poor family. His dad is sick so he has to work here. I think he was from Shimla? He asked about migration to Australia and working as a chef there. I gave him the usual advice, to go for a study visa. But I don't think that he has any money to pay for the airfare. He would like to work in my home but I explained it's too small. He should check the au-paire ads. All this is via translator and is the most substantial conversation today. 

The hotels en route looked rubbish but I ended up at the HOTEL OJAS & RESTAURANT!, MAIN MARKET, Kalka - Shimla Highway, Kumarhatti, Solan, Himachal Pradesh, India. It is excellent, apart from working out the shower (I ended up using the bucket and scoop), and the doona had a dirty line where it touches people's necks. The pillow looks clean. Dinner was Aloo Mattar, Dahl and 5 rotis, very good. 

Before dinner I bought 300g of sensational sweets 130 rupees, ate a couple. This is an instant mood changer. I love this place although it is situated under the NH5 flyover, just like in the Blues Brothers but with more dirt, uneven pavement and shops higgledy-piggledy around the round about with the major support structure in it.