Last night's bad feelings turned into multiple trips to the bathroom. Between visits I actually slept well, but I woke up very sweaty in the morning despite the A/C. I checked my temperature with the thermometer from out first aid kit, and it was normal, so hopefully it's nothing worse than a simple case of, “Delhi Belly.” I did take one of the Azithromycin tablets that we brought with us last night, so hopefully it does its magic soon. Our goal for the day was a short ride to Kannur, so we didn't get on the road until 10:30 am. Between the sprinkle of rain and my tummy troubles, I decided to skip any bike maintenance this morning and just started riding.

Like previous days, the ride today was a mixed bag. Traffic was very, very heavy all day, which contributed to slow going. There were long stretches of road that were in good condition, but these were again broken up by patches of shit.



The first part of the ride was pretty, passing over many rivers and riding along the coast. Due to the heavy traffic, it took us over 2.5 hours to cover the first 45 miles, and we didn't make it to Kannur until 3:00 pm. Once we reached Kannur we pulled out the cellphone to call hotels and found that every recommended one was full. Only certain hotels in India accept non-native guests due to paperwork and reporting requirements, so our choice now was either to search for another hotel that would take us, or to ride the 60 miles further to Calicut. Since I felt pretty good at the moment and Kannur didn't look like much, we decided to continue on. The traffic between Kannur and Calicut was very heavy and especially aggressive, and Re and I found ourselves sandwiched between buses and trucks many times today.

The highlight of the day was being flagged over at one of the police checkpoints so the officer could let us know that our headlights were on. Since we bought our bikes in the US, there is no way to turn off the headlight, and this seems to cause a significant amount of consternation for many people we encounter on the road. On any given day that we ride, we get at least a hundred hand signals or headlight flashes to let us know that our lights are on. Young people, old people, children, men, women, all want to make sure we know our headlights are on, we have even had people come out of stores to let us know they're on. So it was no surprise when an officer stopped us today to let us know that our lights were on. I once again explained that our lights cannot be turned off, to which the officer smiled, shook my hand, and wished us a safe journey.

We arrived in Calicut around 6:00 pm only to find the same situation with the recommended hotels. All of the ones where we wanted to stay were full except for one of the higher-end hotels. Tired and not feeling well again, we decided to spend the 50 bucks on the fancy hotel and rode off in search of it. We knew the general direction, but unfortunately ran into a series of one way roads that sent us off into the unknown. Fortunately, some friendly local people took pity on us and drew us a map to the hotel. As we approached the hotel, Re spotted another hotel two doors down. While I waited with the bikes and chatted with the crowd that gathered, Re walked to the other hotel and found that they had nice, air-conditioned rooms for around 22 USD. Sold! Since the road we were on was one way, we did like all good Indian motorcyclists, and rode the wrong way up the one way street, spending equal amounts of time on the road and on the sidewalk. By now, I hadn't eaten anything all day, but my stomach could not face the extremely spicy Indian food served in this area. Lucky for me, there was a KFC across the street. Re was kind enough to head across the street and returned with a chicken sandwich, coleslaw, and a Diet Pepsi before heading out for some dinner on her own.

165 miles in 7.5 hours. The bikes are running well and seem to enjoy the Indian petrol much better that the African varieties.

I woke up feeling better today, but apparently my bowels didn't get the memo, since they had already booked a couple of appointments in the “reading room” for this morning. After taking another Azithromycin, we loaded up the bikes and added a little air to the tires. We were greeted by the best roads in India so far and actually enjoyed the ride for most of the day. There were some torn up areas but only for ten miles or so. The scenery was similar to that of the previous several days, with rivers, and green and coconut palms everywhere. It did sprinkle on and off throughout the day, but never enough to actually wash our filthy, filthy, filthy riding gear.

Before we left Africa, our Dariens were in need of a washing. Now after two weeks in India, they are turning gray. The amount of dust and diesel being belched all over us has made washing our gear a priority.



Re has taken to riding with a bandana across her face to at least cut down on the amount of grime that gets stuck to her face every day, but I kind of like the Captain Jack Sparrow look. Some nights we are amazed that hotels will even let us in the front door with as grubby as we are. All kidding aside, I have found that I have developed an occasional cough since we arrived in India.

Around lunchtime we stopped in a small town for some lunch and had a nice time chatting with our fruit vendor and the rest of the usual crowd that gathered. We made it to Ernakulam around 4:30 pm and found a good guesthouse run by a friendly Royal Enfield rider. While he was looking over our bikes, Re had the brilliant idea to ask if he knew of a local welder who could fix her rack. She rightly figured that Royal Enfield riders would know all the repair shops, and John said he knew of one to send us to tomorrow. After another dinner of too freakin' hot food, we returned to the room to have some Pepto Bismol tablets for dessert and watch Spider Man 3 on the tv.

131 miles in 6.5 hours. Riding through the multitude of small towns is killing our average speed.

Our plans for today were to get some ride-related problems fixed and do a little touring around the town. The ride-related tasks were to find a place with washing machines where we could wash our Darien Lights and to find a welder to fix Re's rack. Assuming we got these done in a timely manner, we also wanted to take the ferry to Fort Cochin to do a little sightseeing and then book a boat tour of the Kerala backwaters for tomorrow. After a lazy morning, we spoke to John again, and he was able to give us directions to a laundry business that should have machines and directions to a small welding shop, both within walking distance. Re grabbed one of our jackets to use as an example of what we needed washed and went off in search of the launderer. While she was gone, I removed her Pelican case and top rack and saw how extensive the damage was.



Upon closer examination, it wasn't the welds that had cracked, but the the actual metal that had torn next to the welds. Of the three attachment points between the top plate and the tubular side frame on each side, two had completely torn and the other four had cracked. After a while, Re returned with the bad news that the launderer would not be able to get to our gear for three to four days, so we will need to look for another solution. We then set out for the welding shop, and twenty minutes later, found ourselves at the front door of the Welding House. The shop wasn't much to look at - there were two guys sitting out front, brazing brass fixtures, and from the recesses of the shop we could hear a couple of grinders running.



The one employee who spoke a few words of English, took the rack from us and gave it to the welder and his assistant, who did a very workmanlike job of repairing the tears and welding the cracks. I assumed that they would remove the powdercoat from the affected areas before they started welding, but no.



In less than ten minutes, they were finished and handed the still red-hot rack to the employee who had assisted us earlier. He asked if we wanted any grinding, which I declined, or if I would like black paint, to which I said yes. He set the rack to cool for a minute and disappeared into the back, to return with a paintbrush and a can of paint. Since the welding process had burned a lot of the powdercoating off, he quickly scraped the loose coating off with a broken sawblade before brushing on a thick coat of paint. In less than fifteen minutes, we had our rack welded, painted, and returned to us. Since I had not enquired about the cost of the repair before they started, I had no idea what this would cost. Assuming we would pay a rush charge and the foreigner charge, I was expecting to pay between 10 and 15 USD, so Re and I both smiled when we were told the total was 80 rupees (1.60 USD)! We thanked all the gentlemen profusely and made our way back to the guesthouse before noon. The walk back was interesting because most of the rack was still too hot to touch, and part of it was covered in wet paint, so there were only certain places I could hold it while navigating the sidewalks teeming with people.

After dropping off the rack in the room, we headed to the ferry to Fort Cochin. The ferry ride through the harbor was a short twenty minutes through a working port. One thing the ferry ride did not provide was relief from the stifling heat and humidity of the day.



We spent the next two hours wandering through the crumbling, colonial buildings and along the waterfront.



Here we saw groups of men operating Chinese-style dip nets, which have been used in this area for the past seven hundred years. We returned to Ernakulam in the late afternoon and went to the tourist office to book our all-day backwater boat trip for tomorrow. But no. Apparently, there will be a strike tomorrow to protest something or other.



The Indian political system is made up of a number of parties, and the ruling party in Kerala is the Communist Party of India. And apparently, they like to strike whenever the mood hits. Communism- the political system where everyone but the political leaders lose. We were assured that the boat trips would resume the following day, but we didn't want to hang around that long, so we will have to work on Plan B.

Back at the room, Re suggested that she might try to hand wash our riding gear and decided to use her jacket as the guinea pig. After removing the armor and emptying the pockets, she put her jacket in a bucket, added some soap and warm water, and did her best grape stomping impression. Several changes of the rinse water later, she had one dramatically cleaner jacket. We decided to stop now, because we weren't sure that they would dry overnight and it would be better to have just one damp jacket. Since the paint had finally dried on the rack, I took the opportunity to reinstall it while Re went in search of some fruit. I was pleased to find that the rack had not warped significantly from welding, as all the welding points still lined up. Later that evening, we went out for yet another too freakin' hot dinner.

0 miles. Why is the food in southern India so ridiculously spicy?!?! I swear they put chilis in the ice cream!

Since the strike screwed up our boat trip from Cochin, Plan B was to head a little farther south to the town of Kollam and take a boat trip from there tomorrow. Since Kollam was only about a hundred miles away, we took the time to do a little bike maintenance this morning, remounting Re's Pelican case and doing a general fastener check. My front tire is still losing 5 psi every day, but it never seems to lose any more. When we started off this morning, we each had about 2/3 of a tank of fuel, so we were in no hurry to get petrol before we left town, since petrol stations are plentiful (especially compared to Africa). I did, however, notice that most but not all of the petrol stations seemed to be closed, but it didn't really register until our fuel lights let us know we only had about 1 liter each. It was then that I remembered the strike today and realized that was why virtually all petrol stations were either roped off or blocked by empty buses and trucks. Unlike Africa, we have not been carrying much petrol in our jerrycans since we haven't needed to. Fortunately for us, we happened to have approximately 6 liters between our two jugs and had to refuel out of these since every petrol station we passed for more than twenty miles was closed. After refueling, I saw we had enough fuel to make it to Kollam but still pulled in to an open station that we found about fifteen miles later.

The roads today were good and the strike seemed to have reduced the number of vehicles on the road significantly, which was a nice bonus. Once in Kollam, we found a cheap hotel and decided (for some dumb reason) to forgo the AC. We ate another too damn hot lunch downstairs at the restaurant before heading down to the jetty to book our backwater canoe trip for tomorrow. Later, back at the hotel, we started to realize the error of out ways in not opting for AC. Our room had no screens in the windows, and therefore, we couldn't open the windows to let in the slightly cooler air outside. To make matters worse, when we finally did lie down, we discovered that under the sheet, the mattresses were vinyl covered. It's going to be a sweaty night and not the good kind.

101 miles in about 4 hours.

As predicted yesterday, it was a hot and sweaty night. Neither Re nor I slept very well, and the fact that it was pouring rain did nothing to improve our attitudes. Since we didn't have to be to the jetty for the canoe trip until 9:00 am, we decided to give it to 8:30 for the rain to stop, or we would skip the canoe trip and head to Varkala once the rain subsided. Since our canoe trip was supposed to run from 9:00 am until 1:30 pm, and our checkout time at the hotel was 2:00 pm, we wanted to have everything packed and ready to go before we left that morning. While we worked on getting ready, the rain did stop. At 8:30 we hopped on the bikes and rode to the jetty, where the boat company people found us a place to store our helmets and park the bikes. It was now that we found out that our 4.5 hour boat tour was actually a 1 hour autorickshaw ride, then a 2.5 hour canoe ride with a 1 hour return autorickshaw ride. Oh.

So at 9:00 am, we boarded our autorickshaw for the twisty, bumpy ride to Monroe Island and the home of our tour guide.



There, we boarded a 75-year old wooden canoe and headed out through the canals. Our guide was very knowledgeable and pointed out all of the various trees, spices, birds, and other animals we saw along the way.



We stopped for a demonstration of coir rope making and some tea.



We made another stop at a boat building business and saw how the local boats are built. They use planks of wood that are stitched together, and the seams are waterproofed with coir and fish oil. After our return autorickshaw ride, we zoomed back to the hotel and loaded up the bikes for our very short ride south to Varkala.

Varkala is supposed to be a nice beach town, and Re and I are looking forward to some quality relaxing. The ride was only about 25 miles, and we soon found ourselves lost. The beach at Varkala is at the foot of a 100-foot high cliff, and all the hotels and businesses are arranged along the top of the cliff. We had a general idea where the hotel was, but the connections from the main road are a maze of narrow alleys and footpaths with very little signage. After riding around and asking for directions for twenty minutes or so, we finally called the hotel and were assured that we were very close, but they would come and find us. A few minutes later, a man appeared on foot and led us the quarter mile to the hotel. The funniest part of the ride was that we had to turn onto the main footpath at the cliff top and ride a couple hundred yards through the pedestrians to the hotel.



And what a nice place!



All twelve rooms at this two story hotel had front balconies from which you could see the ocean, and our room was on the second floor with a particularly nice view. We decided once again to skip the AC since the room had big windows, a mosquito net over the bed, and a very powerful ceiling fan. All this for only 14 bucks! After unpacking the bikes and settling into the room, we went for a walk along the cliff to scope out our dinner options and then descended the steps to the beach for a stroll and a dip of the toes in the water. The beach here is beautiful, and the scenery ain't bad either. Later that evening, Re and I found ourselves sitting at a front row table overlooking the ocean and enjoying a delicious dinner. Life does not suck right now.

26 miles in about 1.5 hours. My bike doesn't seem to be very happy at part-throttle.

12/1

It rained hard overnight, which made for cooler temperatures and good sleep. We woke to a foggy morning and eventually made our way down to breakfast and then walked along the cliff to get the lay of the land. We decided to wait until after lunch to go to the beach since it was still foggy at the beach. We sat on our balcony and worked on ride reports before grabbing a thali for lunch and then headed to the beach.



The beach here is the most pleasant we've been on in India, and the water was a fantastic temperature. There were also some good-sized waves, and the water was very clean. We also really liked the vibe in Varkala the best of any beach town we've been in so far. Whereas Goa was mostly older package tourists, and Gokarna was mostly young, hippy wannabes, Varkala was a nice mix of ages, and most people seemed to be there just to relax. After playing a little frisbee and lying in the sun, we headed back to clean up for dinner.

12/2

Again, the morning was somewhat hazy, so we retired to our balcony after breakfast and found that we could get a wifi signal from last night's restaurant and took the opportunity to post some ride reports.



Later in the morning, we walked south along the beach and turned inland to see one of the local temples and to buy some fruit. After lunch, we headed to the beach again and spent the rest of the afternoon lazing in the sun and playing in the waves. After another delicious tandoori fish dinner, Re washed my riding jacket and some other clothes before we went to bed. As we were finishing dinner, it began to rain, and it rained on and off for the rest of the night.

Before we went to bed last night, we decided that we would leave the beach and head for Kanyakumari today. However, last night's rain had us reconsidering this plan. I was woken up before dawn by an extremely strong rainstorm, and it was still raining when we got up at 6:30 am. We decided that if it stopped raining before 9:30, we would ride south today, but if not, we would stay another day. The rain did stop around 8:30 am, and we took that as our cue. After loading up the bikes again, we headed south for Trivandrum.

The ride to Trivandrum wove through a nearly continuous string of small towns and the traffic was horrendous. It took us two hours to ride 35 miles to the zoo. I was pleased to find the zoo's location in my GPS, and it guided us directly to the main entrance. We parked the bikes and cable locked our riding gear to them before we headed into the zoo.



The zoo was a nice, compact size and was filled with lots of interesting animals. We spent the next two hours or so looking at birds and monkeys and their impressive collection of big cats, which included leopards, lions, jaguars, and several tigers.

After making our way back to the bikes, we continued south towards Kanyakumari. Through the rest of Kerala, the road surface was okay and the long procession of towns continued. Once we crossed the border into Tamil Nadu, the roads got a little worse, and traffic became very heavy. We were again back to dodging buses and trucks, and then, we hit Nagercoil. The town itself is hardly a blip on the map, but the traffic gave Mumbai a run for its money. In one section, it took over thirty minutes to go four miles, but we finally made it through. The last ten miles into Kanyakumari was a really beautiful stretch. The Western Ghats, which start around Mumbai, end just outside of Kanyakumari, and here are a line of low, single humps that jut out of the ground, surrounded by impossibly green rice paddies.

We eventually made it into Kanyakumari, and Re set out on foot in search of a guesthouse while I waited with the bikes. Once again, the usual crowd formed, and I spent thirty minutes or so talking about the bikes and our trip with all those assembled.



Re found us a very nice hotel for a reasonable price, with cold AC and a beautiful view from the balcony. Kanyakumari is the southernmost point in India and has a famous temple that attracts thousands of pilgrims each day. So later that evening, we headed out into the bazaar to find some dinner and mingle with the pilgrims. Since we were both exhausted from our ride today, we returned to the room, set the AC for 70 degrees, and snuggled up under the blanket(!) for a good night sleep.

100 miles in about 5.5 hours. My bike has no mid-range and is softly backfiring when closing the throttle. What's up with that?