A Simple Smile & Wishes of a Happy Journey

India is divided into states just like the United States, and we’ve successfully pedaled in 4 of them already in our first six weeks here.  With over 1.3 billion people, India is the most populous democracy in the world. It is a federal constitutional republic governed under a parliamentary system consisting of 29 states and 7 union territories.  This country is such an amazingly vibrant and interesting place, from the food, to the people, the landscapes, and the richness of colors.  We feel like celebrities as we pedal through the remote villages stopping for water and snacks and a local will approach us to ask where we’re from and sometimes ask if they can take a selfie with us, smiling and then wishing us a “Happy Journey” as we continue on.  We also love when the children yell “Hello” from the side of the road in small or big villages or sometimes from the schoolyard they’re playing in.

Here is some general history and my highlights thus far of the 3 states we’ve spent most  of our time in this beautiful country we will call home for three months total.

Maharashtra was the state where we began the Asia portion of our cyclying tour in Mumbai, formally known as Bombay.  It’s the third largest state in the country that’s characterised by 720 km of coastline where we first began pedaling after we took a ferry from Mumbia acculmating for five days after arriving from Greece.  In Mumbai, we enjoyed a food tour and slum tour hosted by Reality Gives (realitygives.org), and did our own walking tour one day and enjoyed seeing the Gandhi Museum & Reasearch center known as Mani Bhavan where Gandhi spent approximately 17 years of his life.  Various religious communities have created a unique multicultural ecosystem in Maharashtra.  Ancient mosques, dargahs (shrines), agyaris (temples), guruwaras, and churches dot the landscape, testifying to the religious harmony that exists within the state.  We took 6-7 different ferries to cross rivers throughout this state, and rode some of the bumpiest and pot hole filled roads imaginable (even worse than Albania), and hoped all of India wouldn’t be like this.  We heard from a local that the condition of the roads are caused from the monsoon season they expierience every year. 

Goa is a state in western India with coastlines stretching along the Arabian Sea. Its long history as a Portuguese colony prior to 1961 is evident in its preserved 17th-century churches and the area’s tropical spice plantations. Goa is also known for its beaches, that we relaxed and found some amazing “built for the season” huts to stay in just steps from the beach.  One of my favorite things we did in Goa, besides relax at the beaches was taking a cooking class at Rita’s Gourmet Cooking School.  We toured a local market before the class started, and then learned how to make different curries for our chicken and fish dishes, prawn puffs, Aloo Mutter Gobi (a vegetarian favorite gravy dish of ours consisting of potato, cauliflower, & green peas), and a dessert called Bolo Mimosa similar to a tart.  As some of you might know, I come from the Midwest where we are famous for making anything into a casserole, so my extent and lack of love for cooking has changed after taking this FUN class.  We hope to continue this tradition of taking more cooking classes in future countries that we visit. 

Karnataka is a state in southwest India with more Arabian Sea coastlines, stunning mountain towns, with coffee & spice plantations,  and where we spent our Thanksgiving holiday feasting on vegetarian dishes for all three of our meals that day.  It was the first Thanksgiving that we both weren’t stuffed from turkey and carb loaded dishes and we think we could get used to that…LOL.  While we missed our family and friends for this “thankful” holiday, it was refreshing to expierience a different culture nonetheless.  After Thanksgiving we climbed and we climbed, and we climbed over 1300 meters in just 56 kilometers (4500 feet in just 35 miles that’s the equivalent of climbing Torrey Pines 9 times) to the heavenly mountains of Madekeri where we spent two days in a remote coffee/spice plantation enjoying the  cooler temperatures and no sounds of horns honking.  We then went to Mysuru, that’s home to lavish temples including Mysore Palace where we spent another two relaxing days and enjoyed another walking food tour in the cleanist city we’ve been in so far in India….and they claim fame to that title.  After Mysuru, we woke up at 5am to make it to our next destination by noon for our first safari of two in Nagarhole National Park that is a Tiger Rescue area.  On our first venture out into the park in our classic safari jeep, we saw spotted deer (over 6000 in this park), the tail of a big lizard deep in a hole grabbing his dinner, several species of birds, and gray langur (monkey’s).  We awoke again at 5am the next day to try again to see some more endangered animals and we’re very successful in seeing a gaur (Indian Bison), an old female elephant, and a tiger (1500 in this park).  This was the first time either of us had expierenced a safari, and it was quite honestly breathtaking to see all these animals living freely and enjoying life in this picturesque setting.  Last but not least, Karnataka (Mangalore) is where I found new cyclying shorts of a brand called Castelli that’s popular with Team Sky and made in Italy….so my taint is very happy now just in case you were wondering?

We are now in the state of Kerala heading back to the coast where Tim has told me it’s mostly flat, so you know I’ll hold him to that.  In my next blog I’ll give you more details on this state that we have some fun things planned such as a house boat backwater tour and to see a local dance performance in Kochi. 

I continue to post more on Instagram as I’ve stated before and you can follow both of us on there if you want to join another social media app that I love because it’s all about pictures (no politics), and hashtags formally know as a number/pound sign.  Our screen names are Steve @scubastevecyclist and Tim @timo4242.

Here are a couple of lists to hopefully make you chuckle and as always, Thank YOU all for your love & support on this incredible journey we’re on and taking the time to read and/or comment on the blog. 

Things I’m used to in India…
-wearing the same clothes everyday
-‎cold showers or not showering for 48 hours
-‎not knowing what I’m eating 1/2 the time
-riding on the left side of the road
-‎sleeping with 1 pillow or a hard mattress
-‎talking in Celcius & Kilometers
-‎the bum gun (Google it 🤭)
-‎afternoon naps

Things I’m not used to in India
-eating with my hands & not using my left hand
-‎the honking of horns constantly in bigger cities
-‎the 60% plus humidity/40-45 degrees of Celcius
-‎the 10.5 to 13.5 time difference between family and friends back home
-‎washing my clothes by hand in a bucket or sink