There were times
when we were
parked on the side
of the road that we
felt like tiny dots
in the vastness
of the landscape
the roof can pass each other at the same time
because a 10mm gap between vehicles is fine.
This resulted in another major traffic jam that
was only negotiable on a motorbike so we had
some fun squeezing and winding our way through
the traffic on a steep and pot-holed road, at
the same time as trying to familiarise ourselves
with the quirkiness of the Royal Enfield Bullet.
This congestion was not helped by the fact that
someone was building a new house in the village,
so all the building materials had been delivered
and dumped in the middle of the road therefore
reducing the road to half a lane, which didn’t
seem to bother anyone, not even the policeman
directing the traffic around the building materials.
SETTLING INTO THE RHYTHM
It takes a day or two to get used to three things,
and once you have them sorted you can start to
relax. This first is getting used to the road rules.
The simple explanation is there seem to be no road
rules. Anyone can overtake everyone, wherever they
want and they do, so you have to be very wary. The
second is that your body has to get used to the lack
of air at altitude which makes you gulp for air but
you don’t seem to be able to get enough air into
your lungs. This means you’re tired and breathless
for about two days. The last is sorting out what there
is to eat as most of us hadn’t heard of most of the
food on the menu so it takes a bit of trial and error.
On the second day of riding, we were up at
7am after a bad night’s sleep, which is the
start of getting used to the altitude. But not
to worry, it only lasts two days. Maybe.
This was the first real test as we learnt what was
to come in terms of the roughness of the road,
how tight the corners were and generally learning
to ride under these conditions. Not to mention
sharing the road with an endless line of Indian-
made TATA six-wheeler trucks. We got a wake-
up call and a lesson in not underestimating the
roads as we passed a truck and looked down into
a ravine on our right to see about four of these
six-wheelers lying smashed at the bottom where
they had slid off the road. We shuddered to think
of what happened to the drivers and co-drivers.
KIWI RIDER 59