Greetings from Bangkok, Thailand where I sit now with my wonderful mother Carol and Garryck. Our shipment of new parts were delayed so we decided to wait for them for 5 days of island paradise in Ko Tao scuba diving, snorkling, sun bathing, and chilling on the beach. We're back now in Bangkok lining up activities with Unicef, centers for disabled people, orphanages, and other ways to give big. Just like we like to live big. We'll be off towards Chaing Mai soon then into Cambodia and Laos over the next few months.

So India was indeed an adventure we'll never forget. After our "dream tour" of Nepal, we knew India would be a transition requiring patience and much tolerance. Fellow travellers were warning us to keep our expectations as low as possible, to be careful of dishonest people, and get ready for an overload of the senses. But nothing could prepare us for what we were about to expereince in our first 24 hours in India--the good, the bad, and the ugly.

It was 5AM when we gave our huge hugs to our new Nepali brothers Mudon and Ramshandra who joined us for an 8 day tour of western Nepal as our first Peace Pedalers' supported guest riders (meaning we paid for thier food, accomdation and transportation back to Pokhara, see Nepal newsletter). In the early morning light we made our way to the Indian border, only about 10 KM from our last Nepali town of Nepalgang sharing our last genuine smiles with the people of Nepal.

After a silent ride to the border we finally encountered our first Indian government officials, and boy were they a sight! We woke them up to come and grant us permission to enter India and we were treated to a gentleman's presence in what appreared to be a man wrapped in an old table cloth. We were hoping he would simply look at our passports, view our visas, let us pass and go back to bed. But nooooooooooo. He decided he wanted to look at the passport for about an hour with his buddies to perfom a process that takes about 5 minutes in every other country in the world. Meanwhile we got munched up by the morning mosquitoes trying to keep a smile on our faces answering for the third time that YES, we really are going to be biking riding in India. And yes, those are our two huge space machines outside with no passengers on the rear seats.

Just as I was on my last leg of patience for the day, we were allowed us to pedal into India. We arrived, our 7th country of our tour so far, and immediatly after crossing the border we were faced with an immediate transition from the sights, smells, people, energy, roads, and sensations of Nepal--and none of these new experinces were really for the better to be quite honest. But we were ready for it, so it was not so bad.

There was trash, human pee and poo, animals all over, and the slimy border guys there to sell you whatever they were selling. There was a money changing guy there who offered to change our Nepali Rupee with a 2% commission, which we figured was too much and that we would find a bank up ahead. Our first misconception about Inida was believing that they would actually have enough sense to put a bank at a major border crossing. Made sense to us, but not to them as you'll soon discover.

So our plan was to take a bus all the way to Agra, just 500KM away, and save us 5 days of riding in less desireable touring scenery and allow us non stop touring all the way to Goa from Agra. We finally found the bus terminal and met the one cool Inidan guy around who was actually a native Nepali guy who was working in India. He helped us catch our first of 4 busses to Agra and we barely had enough Indian Rupees to get us there with some that we had been holding in Nepal. When we arrived in the city of Bahraich, only 50KM from the boarder in about 1.5 hours. From there we needed to catch anohter bus to Lucknow.

The process of catching a bus was not all that easy due to the fact that we had to haul our huge bikes and all our gear onto the roof every time. The buses were super dirty and grimy and each time we got dirtier and dirtier, and more and more tired. This time we were officially out of rupees and our Nepali-Indian buddy Rajesh helped us change about 10 dollars worth of rupees with the same commission we turned down before. We were still optomistic that we would find a bank to change money in Lucknow or at least find an ATM. We picked up some water and snacks, but we were really getting hungry for some real food. The bus ride to Lucknow was pretty uninspiring and polluted so were were happy about our choice to bus it to Agra and not tour this section of the country as it was really uninspiring.

We finally made it to Lucknow after a 3 hour trip and this is where things got pretty crazy. We found bus number 3 to Kanpur and while Garryck got us sorted on the bus I ordered tons of food--yummy samosas, cool water, baked sweets, and some bannanas. and when I went to pay for it I was stunned by the fact that I had lost our money! All four dollars worth of Indian Rupee had vanished. I had plenty of Nepali Rupee and US Dollars, maybe I could use that. Maybe somebody would help me out like I was so accustomed in Nepal. My mouth was watering at the site of all this food ready to eat. But nobody would change it for us. I ran around to many shops and indivudiuals asking for anyone to help us out, but everyone was just being super sleezy and worthless. It was the exact opposite of Nepal and I was having a tough time finding compassion and understanding for these folks who were just plain rude and did not care.

Finally our bus was leaving and we already had loaded our stuff on the bus so we hopped on and figured we would have to make the bus driver change our money. We now had a short 60KM trip to Kanpur we figured would only take 1.5 hours. But it ended up taking 3 hours! Yep, do the math, that bus averaged 20 KPH, or a whopping 12 miles per hour. We can ride faster! In addition, the bus driver guy took 10 dollars worth of Nepali Rupees and would not give us change for the 2 dollar or so fare. We were getting a bad taste for India pretty quickly.

As our angels above would work it, we met one more cool Indian guy who paid our fare for us and then offered to help us at the next station to change more Nepali rupee to get the fare to Agra, bus number 4. He was a super cool Indian business guy and he literally bent over backwards to help us find someone to change this money for us. We were just so shocked how hard it was to change a neighboringn country's currency, especially so close to the border. We finally made it to Kanpur after a full day of bus riding, horn honking, stops, nutty noise everywhere, and just chaos you hear about in India. It was getting dark and our Indian buddy came to the rescue and changed about 14 dollars of Nepali currency, allowing us to get excited that we for sure had enough money to get to Agra AND get some food since we were both totally starving!

We said our thank you to our buddy, got word that the fare was only 3 dollars each to do a 6 hour bus ride to Agra, and we were excited to just do the last bus we would likely have to take in India for a loooong time. Garryck went and got gobs of samosas and other goodies and I picked out some appitizers and all. We also got plenty of water. We were set; food, drinks, dessert, and a final bus to Agra--so we thought. The adventure continues!

When our bus arrived we started loading our stuff on the roof. It was then that the bus manager told us that it would be 250 rupees per person with the bikes. So 500 total, or 10 dollars. We only had about 410 rupees to our name! They were just fully taking advantage us us and ripping us off for the bike charge. We nevery had to pay much at all for it on the last 3 buses. Ridiculous. We went to the manager and everything and he was a total bastard. We could not change any more money, there were no banks in site, and our patience was running low. He basically said get your stuff off the bus and come back tomorrow when you have enough money.

During all the negotiations the bus took off and Garryck had already put some of our gear on it! He freaked out and we chased the bus around the bus yard thinking it was leaving. Lucky for us, it was just parking in another spot but it gave us a hell of a scare on top of all the tiredness, frustration, hunger and bitterness of the evening.

Finally the bus was to leave in 5 minutes and I gave it my final Binks Begging Best...I went into the main managers office and tossed down every Ruppee we had and begged him to let us on the bus 100 ruppees short. I gave him stickers, showed photos of us with our Nepali guest riders, and just did all I could do to brown nose this bastard. Finally his mate in his office told him to give us a brake and the bus driver said he would take the loss for us. We were on the bus. We had food. It was our last bus for sure. We were set. Finally we were done with this crap!

So we did our final loading of stuff onto the bus and we were an absolute mess. Our hands were so dirty, we stunk so bad, it was nutty! We then decided we were so hungry we would just eat theses samosas with our dirty hands and did not even think twice to wash them. We just mowed down 6 each. Then Garryck and I had some mystery dessert that had some super sticky syrup inside. Luckily Garryck was the guinna pig to ate it first and this syrup spilled all over his hands, arms, and clothes! Now we were just a circus act! So dirty and grimy it was insane.

The bus ride was only 300 KM, only 180 miles or so. And since it was at night we hoped it would only take 4-5 hours. We left at 7PM and by the time 11PM came rolling around it was so cold we had to get all our clothes on and inside our sleeping bags. The bus ride was so bumpy I could not get any sleep and at 2AM we hit some mystery town that we hoped would be Agra. To our surprise, we had only gone 200KM and since we were the only passengers they would not go any further until they found more passengers. Our only option was to sleep on the bus at the station until 4AM or so. Crazy. We had no money and were again hungry, so the bus driver bought us some tea and I begged some stranger to buy me treat to help cure my insane hunger before trying to catch some sleep.

I managed to get some sleep and when we go moving I kept my sleep going somehow. By the time we arrived in Agra we were a complete mess. We got the bikes down and hit the Taj Mahal, where we figured we would find a place to stay near by. We got lucky and found a sweet place for 80 rupees a night, about a buck and a half for 2 people. We took a quick shower and were off to find a bank to change money so we could feed our starving bellies. It was getting ridiculous. We have thousands of dollars to our names, but can't eat a thing without any rupees!

The insanity of India did not end here. We were directed to the national bank of India where we were certain we could change this money or find an ATM. After a long walk we were told they could not change money as they had no rates yet. So we headed to the main branch way down town about 5KM away.

We enter the main branch in Agra and are told that they would NOT change Garryck's 100 dollars in Nepali rupee either! Garryck was irrate! I luckily had a twenty dollar bill in US currency that they would change. The ATM in front of the bank was out of service so we would have really been shit out of luck if I did not have this 20.

So we had 20 bucks in rupees and that was a start. After many unsuccessful attempts to change Garryck's money we gave up and went for a meal at a Pizza Hut that turned out to be the best pizza we have had in 7 months, with salad and drinks. The food in our gut made us calm down a bit, and we were able to laugh a little about the crazy 24 hours in India. "It can only get better" we assured ourselves...

Luckily it did just get better. We found an ATM and we piled gobs of Indian Rupees into our wallets to avoid this fiasco from happening again. It felt good to have money in our pockets again. Garryck was still unable to change the Nepali rupees, and eventually had to take a loss of about 30 dollars on the transaction. But that's life...live and learn.

So we now were in Agra, India with the Taj Mahal just steps from our hotel and our rooftop had an excellent view indeed. We decided to spend a few days killing some internet tasks and other items on our to do list. We found a great Internet place with cool people and a decent connection so we spent gobs of time there upload photos and getting caught up on our administrative side of Peace Pedalers.

We were excited to try all the great food and India delivered in that area indeed. We ate like kings with new flavors of curry, curd, Kashi and so much more. The locals of Agra were a bit annoying, and due to the coming Ramadan, the big 5 day Muslim celebration, the loud speakers around the Taj Mahal were blaring 24 hours a day! But that is Agra. We were into it.

India is non-stop go, go, go. At least Agra is. Like China, it is loud, dirty, crowded, loaded with people, and a very competiive business atmosphere open till late hours. At 11PM it's possible to get a shave, fix my watch, buy a new tape recorder, and run numerous other errands. The streets are full of bikes, rickshaws, people selling everything you don't need and nothing you do, sacred cows with attitudes move about as slow as possible, stray dogs are everywhere you look. And the beauty of India is just that, the chaos and lack of any real order or any certainty. Every turn is a new sensation of sights, smells and sounds. That's the good side of India as well as the bad, it depends how you decide to look at it. That's the lesson most travellers don't learn in India.

Our newly discovered Peace Pedalers angles were hard at work for us and one evening we were sitting on the roof admiring the Taj Mahal where we met a great couple Raj and Nadine. Raj is an Indian guy from Madras, a city on the east coast of Inida, and Nadine is his fiancee from Switzlerand. They were doing a trip around India and we all got along like peas and carrots. We went out to dinner together and discovered that they too were on thier way to Jaipur in Rajastan. We extended an invitation for them to ride with us and they accepted! We were so excited to have a native Indian guy with us and Nadine to add a Swiss touch that would no doubt be a perfect addition to the 250KM journey.

We all spent the next day at the Taj Mahal early in the morning. Garryck was not into checking out this wonder of the world due to the 15 dollar entrance fee, but Raj, Nadine and myself were game to check it out. We got up early and caught the sunrise on the Taj that will forever stand as a post card memory in my mind. It was breath taking! The entire building is made of marble with hand made precious shells and stones inside creating a stunning blend of color, carving, and beauty beyond words. I can't say it's the best thing I've ever seen, but it was amazing nonetheless.

Our last day in Agra we spent running errands, eating wonderful food, soaking in the nuttiness of the city, and getting excited to hit the road with our first guest riders in India. The night before our departure Garryck and I enjoyed a wonderful last meal overl looking dog park and after a nice session of card tricks and rum coke with Raj and Nadine.

The morning of our departure finally arrived and we ate a nice breakfast together and headed to the river to take some photos of us by the Taj Mahal since they would not let us in for a photo shoot. We took a few shots then made our way out of Agra via the busy streets past the Agra Fort towards our lunch time destination of Fathapar Sikri. The roads were wonderful after we got out of town and we were all surprised just how pleasant the scenery and touring was. Raj was on my bike and Nadine was on Garryck's. Raj is a 30 year old cameraman who has been working on has own since he was 10 years old. He comes from Madras where his brothers are also in the film business and his sisters have families of thier own. He is a gentle and very generous man, always wanting to pick up the tab for small tea and water breaks. He's got a funny sense of humor in his own cool Indian style, including his endless head nods. He speaks 7 different languages, mostly all languages of India. I had no idea there were so many! Nadine is in her 20's I think and is a psycologist in Switzlerland. She's super smart and had a wonderful personality. She is full of great smiles most of the time and has an adventurous, warm, and open minded character.

We stopped about 20KM from Agra for a coffee and tea break then pedaled the other 20 to Fatehpar Sikri where we would spend the afternoon. We ate a nice Indian meal on the rooftop overlooking the famous city entance, which was built way back in the 1500's. The king's vision at the time was to create a new city that welcomed people of all religions, especially those of Muslim, Hindu and Christianity. He felt there were valuable aspects of all religions and envisioned a way they could all live as one and accept eachohter. The architecture was stunning with a mix of Catholic style domes, Musim arches, and Hindu carvings. I was amazed. I usually don't like checing out buildings and monuments too much, but this one was special. The king created a full city that was eventually abondanded just 70 years after it was built due to water shortages. The old capital of Uttar Pradesh was moved to Agra where it still stands as the capital. Facinating history. There is even a tunnel built between that city and Agra and Dehli, 40 and 220KM away!

So after a nice guided tour there we got back on the road to pedal just another 30KM or so to Bharatpur where we could call it our first day. The touring was amazing the whole way! We had great conversations, I learned some Hindi with Raj, and Garryck and Nadine were chatting non-stop. We found a place in Bharatpur just a few steps from the entrance to a national park famous for the 450 species of birds that call the place home during different times of the year. Our place was pristine, so different than Agra, and we landed it for only 3 bucks a night. We enjoyed a nice beer on the roof for sunset with birds flying around and great conversation with Raj watching a Hindu ritual with woman on the next roof, likely the celebration of a woman hitting puberty.

After we all took some nice showers we played some cards, enjoyed a tasty meal of tandori chicken and other yummy food, and relaxed and talked till we all got pooped. It was super early, about 8PM, when we all decided to call it a night and go to bed.

So the next morning we all woke up very refreshed after a wonderful night sleep in a soft bed with clean sheet and no mosquitos. Very nice. Our plan was to hit the bird park early in the morning and then hit the road after that. What none of us expected were the near freezing tempuratues in the ealry morning. We all had warm clothes on, but the ride into the park was so darn cold that we really were not having all that much fun. We did manage to see some great wild life like deer, coyote, neat birds, and cool scenery around but eventually we had to call it a morning and get warm and some food in the tummy. We sat by a fire and then ate a nice breakfast of eggs and chapati. We packed up and hit the road and started making some headway towards Jaipur.

The second day of touring we eventaully crosse into the main highway and the peaceful touring of the day before was replaced by loud, horn blowing, traffic infested streets that made it a bit more difficult to relax and enjoy. But we made the best of it and did manage to enjoy the sights of the villages and the unique Indian customs and cultures became more and more evident as we toured through them. We saw pretty Indian woman carrying all sorts of things on thier head wearing beautiful colored saris, many Muslim woman covered head to toe, other woman crying over the death of a man at some kind of funeral ceramony, and even saw the increased traffic of camels as we move closer to the dessert area of Rajastan. Even with the traffic, it was a wonderful day of touring. We stopped for lunch at a great little spot where I got behind the kitchen area and made my first chipati in the tandori oven and ate a truly authentic spicey indian meal of chapati with dhal and veggies. Sensational!

We decided to stop early just after the town of Mahwa about 20KM before we planned to stop as we were not sure of the lodging up ahead. Also, Garryck was feeling sick to his stomach and was hoping it was not anything serious. We finally found a hotel outside of town where we paid about 4 bucks each for a not so great room, but it had a cool swing bench and grass that pulled us in. We enjoyed a beer in the swing, took some showers and met for a card game in the restaurant. Both Garryck and Nadine were feeling a bit sick, especially Garryck, so after only a few hands of cards those two went to bed and me and Raj stayed up to play chess on the chess sets we all bought in Fatehpur. He won, of course, as I'm a rookie. We then hit the hay and were all getting fired up for a 112 KM ride the next day to Jaipur.

The next morning Garryck woke up feeling like hell and was unable to shake his stomach sickness so we had to break the news to our guests. Garryck would be unable to ride that day and they had a choice to hang out a day or catch a ride somehow to Jaipur. Garryck looked almost as bad as he did when we got food poisioned in Japan. He could not even move.

Raj and Nadine decided we could meet in Jaipur for some fun as they they had limited time in India touring before they both moved to live in Switzerland and get married. So after an awesome meal of Chapati and fried Dahl with me, Raj and Nadine, they packed up and headed to Jaipur where we would catch up with them after Garryck got better.

Garryck's was feeling a bit better the next day and was at least able to get out of bed but was in no shape to ride for a few more days so we piled our gear on a bus with the gracious help of our new friends at the hotel and arrived in Jaipur to meet up for dinner with our friends Raj and Nadine for some wonderful Indian food and great laughs.

After a few days touring the city and riding on the tandems with Raj and Nadine, it was time to begin making or way down south to Goa for some time at the beach. Being a California boy, I was dying to see the ocean and Garryck was itching to do some riding where there there was some interesting scenery. What we soon realized looking at the map and researching our route to Goa is that the scenery over the next 2,000 KM is dry, barren, dusty and straight as an arrow. We also had the realization that India is a massive country and we really had to make a decision where we wanted to concentrate our touring time.

So after some further discussons wth our new Indian friends, we decided we wanted to focus our riding down in southern India where we could tour with coconut trees, exotic fruit stops, friendlier and more laid back locals, and, of course, the beach instead of the dessert.

So we caught an overnight train from Jaipur to Bombay, spent one whoping day in Bombay, and saddled up at 4AM ready to escape the huge city of Bombay towards the beaches and of Goa. Bombay is a monster of a city, with millions of people living in the slums while the rich of India enjoy western luxuries just a stones throw away. We left early to aviod the unbarable, and very unsafe, roads of Bombay. We avoided the traffic and pollution, but were unable to escape the reality of the poverity, slums and suffering alongside the roads as we departed the city. It was just a few days before that I was complaining about a deceptive store owner stealing 20 cents from me. And here we were, riding by a place where that 20 cents could likely feed a few dozen starving kids. Just one of many eye opening expereinces of India.

We finanally made it out of the Bombay (now called Mumbai) area after about 50KM of industrial riding and hopped on the road to Goa. The sign read about 600KM to Goa. In a few hours we were riding rolling hills, green trees, unique flowers, mellow traffic flow, and we finally were riding the type of terrain we liked. No more barren scenery, dusty roads, or lines of honking trucks. If we are going to tour the huge country of India, might as well do it in the pretty part.

The next 8 days of touring from Bombay to Goa were nothing short of spectacular. Each day of touring brought us further and further from the city and suburbs of Bombay and closer and closer to a relaxing beach holiday in Goa. After about 2 days of flat touring, the hills started up and did not let up until we made it to Goa. Now these were not the hills we had to conquor in the Himalyias, but they were still challenging, one after another, up and down all day long. Every so often we'd catch hold of a slow moving truck to help us up the hills, otherwise known to Garryck and his Korean expat downhill junkies as "Bongo Surfing".

Along the way we picked up dozens of Indian guest riders of all ages. The Indian people, once you get away from the cities and tourist traps, are by far the most open, outgoing, friendly, helpful, and silly people we've met. They were all thrilled to ride with us and it did not take much convincing for them to accept our invitations.

My most memorable guest rider was wehn one day we saw a guy sitting at a bus stop waiting for a bus and I stopped to offer him the chance to come ride with us. "Namaste! Would you like to come ride with me. We're going the same way as your bus", I asked pointing to my empty rear seat ready for a passenger to come on board and pedal with us. "Sure, why not", he replied with a look of total amazement and curiousity we have grown accustomed to over the past 10 months of our expeditinon.

So we started pedaling down the road, somewhere about 300 kilometers south of Mumbai. We started with some small talk where I discovred his name was Carlo, or at least that's what I understood with his thick accent. Turns out that he is a devout Muslim and was on his way to his village. I told him I was an American and, not knowing how he would take it, I just waitied for his reply. The truth is, he did not care where I was from. As I looked in the rear view mirror I saw he was smiling from ear to eaer, looking around and enjoing the sunshine, the fresh air, the exercise, and the expereince of riding in the exact rythym as an American stranger who invited him to share a part of his life. The language barrier kept the conversation from going too deep, but the positive energy between us needed no words. There was a simple, childlike acceptance and tollerance of who we were and of eachothers' differences of religion and the wars going on between the leaders of our countries. There was no ego, no hatred. When we arrived at his village, he showed me his mosque and explained his rituals to me. I met his frend who came out quickly when he saw us arrive. We shook hands and looked eachother in the eyes while a genuine exchange of energy occured. He will no doubt share this experence with the other Muslims in his village and hopefully our postiive experience together will help create some change, somehow, someway.

On this leg of the tour there were also days that we just decided to put the pedal down and hammer long, fast, challenging days without stopping to pick up riders. Garryck became my personal trainer for a while and was teaching me how to power the hills better and other valuable techniques. One thing I've learned about Garryck is that he is truly a machine. His bike is heavier than many motorcycles but he can move that thing like it's a 20-pound road bike out on a Sunday ride. He was my guru of speed and strength. I'm likely his reminder to slow down so you don't miss what it is we came out here to see and do.

The days were heavenly, up before the sun, and done with about 30KM by breakfast time. Every sunrise was a new, unique, and exciting adventure. The rolling hills led us through neat little Indian villages where woman dressed in their saris carried water and other items on their heads while the men seemed to do much less physical labor. The kids, many of them in school uniforms, were always so excited to see us and always offered us their screams of joy and excitement. We took several of them to school as always. The cows, oh the cows of India, they were our favorites. They are the Hindu sacred animal, and they must know it. They walk around wherever they please, and don't even flinch in light of near misses of cars and these two Americans on tandems. The food was great, but seemed really oily and loaded with butter and cream so it left us feeling a bit heavy. Indians love to deep fry things, just like the Chinese. And use lots of oil and butter. But boy does a deep fried samosa taste good when you just hamered 50KM of hilly terrain in the afternoon sun. And then there was the village experience. Every day after about 100KM or so of riding, we would find our home for the night in non-touristy towns that busses with westerners just don't stop. This is the hightlight of our day!

Settling in after a day of touring India would usually entail riding into the village, getting a cold drink, and asking the locals where we could find an affordable place to stay. The Indians are always helpful and within minutes we were guided to a local guesthouse and for aobut a dollar each we had a room. After a shower we'd head out to the town to check out the sites. I loved to take in the sunset cricket game and it's never very long before I get invited to be the baller pitching the cricket ball at full speed towards the posts and embarasing the town's players. Cricket and soccer was my way of expereiencing life in these small villages, with kids who just got out of school and were waiting for thier mom's to cook up yummy meals. It was a great feeling to just "be" with them. Not as a tourist, but as part of thier daily life. Garryck was just as happy to watch me make a fool out of myself while filming or taking photos.

After 8 days of super touring we finally made it to Goa. We figured we had been out riding now for about 8 months, and we deserved some beach time, some party time, dancing time. So we headed to Northern Goa near Anjuna. We did not know what to expect when we rolled in, but whatever pictures we created in our minds were not represented in Anjuna. We dreamed of beautiful beaches, good house music, positive people enjoying themselves, and a relaxed vibe. Anjuna did not deliver. But we made due with what it did deliver and promised ourselves not to set expecatations on destinations from here on out. That's a much safer bet.

So just as we were beginning to relax Garryck got an offer he could not refuse to teach English for one month back in Korea. Considering the fact that he did need the money, and that he was not all that impressed with the reality of Goa we pedaled down to celebrate the holidays at, he accepted the offer and flew back up to Korea and we decided we would meet again in Thailand in February. So that left Jamie solo to adventure as I pleased in India for about 45 days. I was just as happy to be with Garryck as I was to be solo.

We were able to enjoy one epic party where they actually played something besides horrible "Goa Trance" music and we were joined by our good friends from the UK Josie, Jay, Sarah and Jason. It was full moon in Goa, and Smirnoff had a house music tour they did with some famous DJ from the UK and other folks from Ibeza and boy did these guys know how to play the stuff we came to dance to! From about 9PM to 8AM the next morning we danced our butts off and made up for the lack of good music in Goa indeed. An unforgettable full moon event overlooking the ocean with a pink sunrise, amazing deep house music and great energy from soulful folks from around the world.

Garryck left to Korea the next day on the 22nd or so of December and by the 23rd I was on my bike getting the hell out of Goan style trance party scene and was out to find a beach scene that suited my soul a bit more to celebrate Christmas. So my Italian friend Marco was on his way back to his relaxing beach of Paolim so I decided that would be a good place to start. After about 100KM of tough, hilly terrain I made it to Paolim. The ride was stuning with coconut trees, many river crossings, laid back Goan guest riders with strong legs, zesty food stops, and smiles and waves returned whoeheartedly for every one I dished out along the way.

Now I learned my lesson and thus did not have any expectations on how this new beach would be. And the first thing I noticed when I arrivved is that it is absolutly beautiful, loaded with endless coconut trees, hammocks swaying in the wind, clean and calm water, soft sand, and laid back locals and beach bums everywhere. I had arrived to just the place I wanted to spend Christmas in. I found a place right on the beach for a few bucks and immediatly began meeting great people from around the world to share this peice of paradise. I took my shoes off, shirt off, and I did not bother putting either of them on for about a week. Life was good. It was time to relax, Goan Style :)

Now the lazy days on the beach can be summed up pretty easily. Wake up when I want, go for a jog, take a swim, have some food, take a nap in the hammock, lie in the sun chatting with friends from around the world and watching beautiful girls in bikinis go by, take a nap, read, swim, shower, eat an awesome fresh sea food meal, go have laughs and bullshit listening to good music and tilting 40 cent brews till you feel like going to bed with a smile on your face. Wake up and repeat.

So the time finally came for me to move on. Not only to another place, but to another lifestyle. My friend Sophie, a super mellow and loving French gal I met in Paolim, and I decided to head to Vakala Beach in Kerala down south as I was on my way to the Sivananda Yoga Ashram on the 1st of January. We took an 18 hour train (I told you, India is HUGE) to a small town called Quolin about 40KM from Vakala. We spent the night there and on New Years Eve day we rode together through the crowds of yellow clothes and decorations set up for one of the many Hindu festivals. Sophie was a bit out of shape and neither of us were in a hurry so we just took it nice and easy and enjoyed the ride. She was our first French guest rider and we had a blast.

Vakala is a beauitufl beach, but it did not compare to Paolim. We took a swim after finding a few small rooms for a buck each, and then we grabbed some food, a few drinks, and hit a fun New Year's party with great new friends, many of them locals who were hoping to get lucky with some of the western ladies. I called it an early night as I had an 85KM ride the next day to the yoga ashram further south in Kerala. So after some moving and grooving with some crazy Indian guys and a strool on the beach I hit the hay ready to ring in 2003 with a nice ride.

The first day of the new year was perfect. No major hang over and the weather was perfect for a long ride. I bid my farewells to Sophie and the Indian family I stayed with and hit the road. The mood out in the small Indian villages was festive and alive. Southern India is a far more open, friendly, and smiling region of this huge country and in no time at all I was mingling with the locals with many guest riders, frequent stops for food, drinks and coconuts, and even some hugs. The highlight of the ride was when I saw a sign at a military crossing saying "Peace Keepers of India". I decided to see what it was all about and came back for a photo. Next thing I knew, I was posing for a picture with the entire force of the Indian army in that area. The sargant gave all the guys permission to pose and smile with peace signs flying and smiles blazing out of these soldiers dark faces. Good vibes were flowing indeed all day, and the 85 KM ride took over 8 hours due to all the many stops with the friendly locals.

So I finally arrived at the Sivananda Yoga Ashram located at a beautiful lake with tropical gardens and mountains all around. It was paradise. Since Garryck was saving money by teaching English in Korea, I decided I'd invest in my health and well being for 18 days of daily yoga--4 hours of asana practice, meditation twice a day, vegetarian meals, lectures, and the opportunity to meet wonderful folks from around the world. It was just what I needed and it was a life changing expereince.

After a few weeks, our friend Jane who rode with us in China and Tibet made her way over for some yoga, and soon after my mom flew in from California. Mom was not into the ashram scene as much as myself, so we took off to explore other parts of India together on the 18th of January.

It was great to see my mom after about 10 months apart. We had lots of catching up to do. We headed down to Trivandium and then up the coast to visit a family friend Father Daniels who used to live in California. We spent the night with him after seeing the local sights around this house and enjoying some amazing dosa and other wonderful Kerala food. We then made our way up north further via the stunning Kerala backwaters towards Appleby. This is a must if you visit Kerala! It's an 8 hour boat ride throgh the lush, green rivers where the villagers live a simple, pure and beautiful life in nature. Dozens of species of birds abound and there's a wonderful sense of peace just watching India go by.

In Appleby Mom and I visited a local orphanage where we had the time of our lives playing with about 100 cute kids with huge smiling faces. I gave almost every kid a ride on the tandem piling as many as six at a time on the bike. We then sang together in the classroom and had some snacks with them. The next day we all did some yoga together after their daily mass. It was wonderful seeing all the smiling faces. All we had to do is show up.
After a few days in Appleby we decided to take a train up to Goa so Mom could get some time to relax. She had been through a lot. The roads of India are a bit rough and rowdy for Mom with pollution, big trucks, and drivers whose sanity is questionaable to say the least. She preferred to wait until Thailand to do any significant riding and was happy riding the back streets together in the places we visited.

So we made it to Paolim beach once again as it still is one of my favorite places on earth. We made our way to a wonderful place called Su Shanti where we each had a bamboo hut on the beach for 2 bucks and that's where we decided we'd spend the next 11 days of pure bliss reading, napping, eating great meals, practicing yoga, swimming and chatting with new friends from around the world.

After our 11 days of paradise on the beach we were ready to continue moving our way up north further to eventually meet up with Garryck in Thailand and continue our expedition. But we had about a week and we were ready for a change of scenery and to continue our spritutual path I started at the yoga ashram. So we took an overnight sleeper bus to Pune that turned to be worse than being in the back of a pickup truck with no shocks. After 12 hours of bone shocking bumps and burms, we made it to the Osho Commune International where we decided to spend 5 days of wild mediations and wonderful experiences that would take me hours to try to put into words. You just have to check that place out to see what it's all about. The friends we met, the lessons we learned, the messages that made thier ways to our souls, will never be forgotton. Especially the precious moments with Carlos, Lorena and Jonas.

So the time finally came for us to bid farewell to India. We took a taxi to Bombay, smiled big for the ticket agents to avoid excess baggage charges, and soon enough were flying over Bombay on our way to Thailand via Dehli.

All in all, India we an awe inspiring place. Although I only spent about 14 days cycle touring of my 2 month visit, it was perfect. India delivered exactly what it was supposed to deliver. I highly recommend India if you are ready for an overload of the senses, the most outgoing people on the planet (sometimes too much for many people, yes), unreal food, rich history, and so much more. Just come with NO EXPECTATIONS. That's the best way to travel anywhere, especially Inida.

I sign off from Ko Tao Island in the Gulf of Thailand where we've been waiting for a final shipment of parts from a sponsor to arrive in Bangkok. If you have to wait, why not do it in a tropical paradise, I say :)

We are off to the North of Thailand in a few days then to Laos, Vietnam then Cambodia. I'll then be flying back home for a wedding and will be in the states for at least a month or two to earn some cash and develop the Peace Pedalers mission and alliances further.

We bid you all maximum peace and send huge hugs and love! Looking forward to seeing many of you in a few months back in the US and the rest of you when you come ride with us!!!

Live Big!
Jamie and Garryck