Things started to get a little weird the previous night. We asked our hotel for dinner (they have a restaurant) at 7:00. They said okay, so we came out at 7 to find a different crew working, looked like the mom and dad of the younger ones working when we checked in.
The food was the worst we’ve had the whole trip by far. Overcooked papad, stale naan (usually we’ve gotten chapati (roti), not sure why they served naan), flavorless potatoes, and the veg curry and dal tasted like it had started to spoil (didn’t eat anymore!). The whole dinner, the family watched cricket and talked about us. I know this, not because I understand Marathi, but because the word for “foreigner” sounds like “foreigner”, and they were talking about the dishes we ordered. It made for an awkward dinner, and we didn’t have nearly enough to eat.
The younger kids had given us a WiFi password, but when the older crew showed up, the hotspot suddenly went offline, not to return. As soon as we finished dinner, they asked when we would wake up, and then locked up the whole place.
We headed to bed, watched some Netflix shows (the new Star Trek is really good, and Steve is enjoying Stranger Things 2), swept away a few bed bugs, turned on the Good Knight insecticide sprayer, and had a pretty good night’s sleep.
We woke early to find that we were out of water. After just a trickle left in the pipes, we had no shower, no brushing teeth, no washing hands, no flushing toilet, and no bum gum! Luckily we had some toilet paper and wet wipes that we carry with us. The staff will have a smelly surprise awaiting when they come to clean up.
Knowing the breakfast would be no good, we left at 7:30. It’s a good thing one of the walls of the hotel wasn’t finished and has a gaping hole covered with a sheet, because otherwise we’d be locked in. No one was there, and the door to the lobby was locked. We’d already paid, so we exited through the sheet and set off on the bikes. It was refreshingly cool at this hour.
We haven’t ridden this early before, and it was interesting to see the workers waking up and heading to work. There were several carts serving fried breakfast items, though we opted to just pick up some cookies and water instead. There has been some road work being done along the coastal road, with diggers digging trenches beside the road and laying pipes. On the wide straight parts, they use big digger machines, but on the curves and narrow road sections, there are dozens of guys wielding picks and hoes, backbreaking labor for probably not much pay. And in the morning we saw where they spend their nights; dozens of makeshift tents were scattered along the road with workers milling around making breakfast. Some of these guys have been really friendly, giving us smiles, waves, and head wobbles, but most of them stare at us like we’re riding a unicorn.
Random note about buying bottled water: pretty much all the snacks vendors along the road have various brands of bottled water for sale, often even chilled, and sometimes even frozen solid. So we rarely need to worry about running out. The one major brand is called Bisleti, which we had in Mumbai. No one has that brand out in the country here, but if you want bottled water, you ask for “Bisleti”. You will get whatever brand of bottled water they have. I suppose it’s kind of like asking for a Kleenex in the States. I’ve gotten used to saying “doe Bisleti”, which means 2 bottled water in Marathi. Someone told us you can ask for “pannie water” also, but “Bisleti” works better.
Our initial goal was a small coastal town called Devgad. A few other cycling blogs had mentioned stopping here and I had some of their favorite hotels starred in Google Maps. But, getting started early, we felt ambitious and decided that it would be awesome to make it to Malvan beach for the night. Apparently, there’s a proper dive shop and lots of beach side hotels.
For the first 40km, we were making great time with the smooth roads, cool air, and manageable climbs. But suddenly the road went to shit, and we had 20km straight of the horrible roads like the ones we started out with south of Mumbai. So, close to Devgad, we decided we didn’t want to try to go too much further. In addition, both Steve and I were hitting the wall and were already exhausted. I thought about it and realized that neither of us had eaten any protein yesterday, save for an ice cream and a few cashews. Sticking to vegetarian meals is easy here, cheaper, and a good way to avoid food poisoning, but it makes it harder to get enough protein, which I think has been sapping our energy.
The hills didn’t help either. Although not an extreme amount of climbing if you look at the numbers, each hill, even if only 10m tall, was a 10% grade, sometimes more. It’s nice to have bridges instead of ferries on this part of the coast, but each bridge is preceded by a downhill and followed by a steep climb.
So, we decided to splurge a little for a nicer hotel. I had found the MTDC in Kunkeshwar a few days ago and saved it on my phone. It had great reviews, but we didn’t know the price. We showed up and I think we are the only guests here. Unfortunately the restaurant is not open yet (the hotel is only 6 months old), but they offered to send out for lunch for us, and the manager upgraded us from the cheapest room to an ocean view cottage for free. And there’s a pool! Perfect. Even with all this luxury, we are still well under budget for the day. India is certainly proving to be easy on the wallet.
The manager explained that MTDC means Maharashtra Tourism Development Commission, and these hotels (there are many of them in the state) are all state run places, designed to bring up tourism in Maharashtra and provide jobs for locals. This hotel was under construction for 4 years and just opened but already they had the place sold out during Diwali. Seems like a good strategy to jump start tourism in this almost-undiscovered corner of the world. We haven’t seen Goa yet, but the beaches here have been pretty remarkable so far, and almost empty. It will be hard for Goa to beat them (we don’t like busy beaches), though Goa is world famous, so maybe it will be better.
Lacking in protein, I ordered a local Malvani fish curry, which was excellent, except that the manager asked it to be made “not spicy”. Grr, servers in Thailand always did this to me; because I’m white, they assume I don’t want spice, depsite all my insistence otherwise. Oh well, a minor problem overall; maybe I will figure out how to convince the server otherwise. In Thai, it was “pet mak mak krap, low chat Thai Thai” (very spicy, local Thai style). Doubt that works here…
Later in the afternoon, someone came by with a long form for us to fill out and asked for a photo! Huh? Well we have some spare passport photos for visa applications (and Indian SIM cards), but hell if I’m going to give up one of these precious commodities for a single night hotel stay! So we said no, why would we have photos of ourselves? He even had a glue stick with him like this was the most common thing in the world, tourists carrying passport-sized photos for hotel registration. WTF? So we told him we’d meet him at the front desk, where the amazing English-speaking manager would be able to clarify. He said because they are a government-run hotel, they have to fill out all the forms. It’s crazy because we also had to fill out their registration book, have copies of our passports made, and then we had to fill out this paperwork with our visa number, reason for visit, home address, previous city, next city, and on and on. Damn, India, where does all this paper go?
Had chicken curry Malvani for dinner. Taking a chance with both fish and meat in one day. Hope we don’t regret it, but we need more than potatoes to keep our energy levels up… The meal delivery was quite a fancy affair. They rang us in our rooms, and we came to the restaurant, where someone on a rickshaw pulled up, unloaded all the dishes that would normally be served with our meals at the restaurant, and then played our food and sat and waited for us to finish. Only after dinner did the driver pack up the leftover dishes and head out. Best food delivery service ever! And when we got the bill the next day, there was no delivery charge. Not sure if the hotel picked it up or the restaurant includes it in the prices.
Still no (or close to no) internet, so we will for sure have to get an Idea SIM in Goa.
Got me a little scared for you guys reading this, especially locked in that hotel and the horrible food. Each day is a different adventure. God is with you. Love you bunches.
Had my coffee here this morning while reading and became quite concerned. Then read it to Betty and we both were impressed with your stamina and strength. Add to that the attention to detail.
The closing of the hotel..total lockdown for heavens sake. That threw us. Betty had mentioned the water yesterday to me and voila there you are speaking of it today. So glad you have each other.
You nonchalantly mention bedbugs, locked in, bad food, no way of communicating—this sounded like a prison visit?. Be well and travel safely
No, it was nothing like that, just a moderate annoyance. It’s such a rural and peaceful place, honestly. Our phones work for phone calls almost everywhere even when the internet doesn’t work so we can reach someone in case of emergency.
You guys are handling everything very well! Awesome job!!!! Every day a new adventure right!?
Yes it is Sis which is the simple beauty of this whole trip. We each have our “I’m hungry” or “I need caffeine” days and we pick each other up and get through each and every one of them. Love you and miss you.
I had to laugh at the imagery you chose, “they stared at us as if we had road in on unicorns.” Sounds like India is turning out better for you boys than you had anticipated.