India Day 6: following Tod

We got up early to get ready and go to breakfast so we could cycle before the heat hit, knowing that we had up to 80km to go today. The restaurant downstairs was supposed to open at 7:30, but didn’t open until 8, and our bikes were still locked up, so we didn’t get going until around 9.

We picked up a few bungee cords at a junk shop near our hotel and used them to reinforce our bags, hoping to prolong their lives with the beating the roads have been giving them. It was good timing too, because my previous reinforcement strap broke as I was putting it on. The bungee cords work much better anyway; we didn’t have to tighten any straps today after going over rough roads.

That said, the roads were really good overall; they are definitely improving as we get closer to Goa. Most of it was freshly paved, but a few sections were really rough.

We continue to follow the TOD arrows painted on the road; it is nice to see that we are not totally out here on our own. In fact, when we stopped for water, a man came up to talk to us and said that 2 days ago he saw a group of 10-12 cyclists go by. Some of the TOD signs are words of encouragement (“C’MON!”), which are also helpful.

The ride was very rural, so we saw very few people or traffic the whole way. We rode through a few small cities and had to take another ferry. That should be our last ferry before Goa.

When we arrived at the ferry dock, the ferry was just pulling away, so we sat down at a restaurant next door to the ticket counter. An older gentleman got to talking to us and ordered us some kokum juice. He said it’s great for cycling and is used in ayuverdic treatments. Indeed, it was salty and sweet, probably has good electrolytes. I liked it, but Steve didn’t. He tried to get us to buy a whole bottle of concentrate (half a liter!), but we said it’s too heavy, and he looked at our bicycles and said, “you’re right”.

We asked if they had thali, and he said no, not for 10km after the ferry, but suggested we have some vada pav. This is a fried potato cake sandwich with spices. So we had two, and it was perfect!

After the ferry, we cycled through some beach areas with hotels and guesthouses, some looking quite fancy with proper landscaping and modern architecture. We then arrived at Ganpatipule, where I demanded we stop for some kulfi (Indian ice cream).

Over ice cream, we considered our options and decided to stop for the day there in Ganpatipule, and split the rest of the way to Goa into 4 more days of about 60km each, getting us to Goa Saturday evening.

Hunting for hotels is getting to be a familiar challenge each day, especially as almost all of the hotels have signs in Marathi (or maybe Hindi, I can’t tell the difference) and no English. And only a few are listed online. So we have no idea how much the hotel will be when we ask. They usually insist on showing us a room first before we even get a price.

In Ganpatipule, it was a little easier, as a few hotels are listed on Booking.com, and Lonely Planet has one pricey seafront one listed, but also a warning that they couldn’t find any hotels that would accept foreigners. Something to do with the Mumbai bomber spending time in this town before carrying out his plot. Well, we can report this does not seem to be the case. We asked one hotel, and he didn’t speak much English but said something about “online only” and “passport”. Maybe it’s a vacation rental, not hotel. He pointed us at the MTDC, the one hotel listed in Lonely Planet. We knew it was out of our budget, but we decided to go look anyway, and maybe the shoulder-season rate would be affordable.

Right in front of their gate, a man came up to us and asked if we are looking for a hotel. Usually, I find these guys annoying because I’ve got enough information online to make my own decision. But in this case, with so many options not immediately obvious to us, I heard him out. He had a room just 5 minutes walk away for much less than the MTDC, and it is the nicest room we’ve had since Mumbai. Probably not the cheapest in town, but it works for us.

There is a famous temple on the beach here that we took a look at. It’s nice, but you have to go inside the fence to get a good look, and it was too hot to put pants on, so we just walked around the outside along the beach, watching the camel rides and horse drawn buggies again. One side of the beach had a small herd of cows laying on the beach. Damn, these cows have the life in India!

We did go into the MTDC to have a snack. There was beer on the menu, but the waiter said today is a “dry day”. Oh well, I’ll be fine without a beer until Goa. I ordered a lhassi and some fried potato things for us. After a few minutes, two women sitting next to us asked us where we were from and then said, “Why did you choose this place to visit? This is not a place tourists usually come. We live in Mumbai and have wanted to come but didn’t make it here for 30 years.” We explained our trip, and they said it was great to see foreigners enjoying their country and their food. One of them said she’s traveled to 20-something countries but when she comes home she knows India is special. Every state you visit here will have different cultures and different food. She said every US suburb is the same, and we couldn’t argue with that! They left us with some fried vegetables to try and good wishes.

We’ve only been cycling in India for 5 days now, and I already feel like we’ve had more human connections than our whole 8 months in Europe. I don’t think that’s really true, but it’s certainly on another level here. People have been overwhelming interested in talking with people who are different from what they expect to see. It’s not universal; we’ve gotten a few scowls or disapproving looks, but it’s really refreshing, and is taking our trip to another place. We are looking forward to this experience continuing and evolving throughout Asia!