The Land Where Might is Right

Still struggling with my cold I decided to lay low and skip the first day’s ride. At least I wasn’t the only one to beg off. Another member of the group who was suffering from tummy troubles, (this hit seven of us, including me - go figure!) opted for porcelain as a perch instead of his bike saddle.

My mood that morning wasn’t very cheery. It didn’t help that the day before we were handed a sheet of paper that said “ …. it’s not uncommon for bicycles and motorbikes to ride in the wrong direction! And you have to make allowances for this. Rule number 2, there is a pecking order with cows at the top, then large trucks and buses, working its way down through old vehicles then new vehicles to dogs and chickens with cyclist and pedestrians at the bottom. As a cyclist you pretty much have to give way to everything”

Oh great! Why didn’t the Exodus Trip notes include that essential bit of information? How could this have escaped their attention? Didn’t they think it was important? Was someone asleep at the switch? However, I pushed these questions aside and blamed my reaction on my cold.

Al went riding.

When he returned, his reaction - as well as that of another rider who simply said in quizzical tones: “That was interesting” - was telling. The first ride was to get the group used to traffic and I guessed that neither of them liked it. Apparently the notes about traffic were accurate! Although the vast majority of the ride was in the country, the kilometres that weren’t were nerve racking. Al thought that cycling in Indian traffic was nuts! (Don’t forget that we have cycled in Korea and in Indonesia but nothing like this.)

Still, Al managed to take a few good pictures along in the countryside. I was jealous because my new camera was still untried.

But I was determined that I would ride the next day, after all the Exodus Trip notes stated: Riding from the hotel, we share the quiet back roads with herds of white oxen and women in colourful saris carrying water pots on their heads, as we head to the important pilgrim centre of Nanjangud, with its beautiful temple. Another 36km along is lunch and your first taste of Thali - the southern Indian meal of rice and vegetable curries. After lunch we leave the plains for the forested foothills of the Western Ghats (hills), once the hunting preserve of Mysore's Maharajas, today a tiger reserve and part of Bandipur National Park. In the late afternoon we have a jeep safari in the park.

Positively charming, romantic, idyllic - I thought. Surly the second day was the worst. The rest would be lovely. The ‘might is right’ omission was just an over sight. I was reassured and invigorated ……. and I was wrong.

Next posting -  Gas Masks and Bandages