Day 4 (Ujjain-Gwalior)

Day 4 (Ujjain-Gwalior)

The worst day of the trip.

What I had learned, be persevere in everything. Even on bumpy roads for 16 hours. 

So how bad was our day? We started the day with a flat tire on the Bajaj Avenger setting us back for an hour. Luckily for us there was a tyre shop opened in the early morning.

THE Flat Tyre

And you think that was bad, we literally survived the whole day on biscuits, Lays chips, some prasad(whitish sweets which are found in temples) and few bottle of water which we finally got it after 200 km of thirst since breakfast. That’s 5 times of stops, equals to 5 hours. 

Dry and hot

The driest day for my throat. We were weak, dehydrated and suffering from the heat. These are the setback of a biker. We get dehydrated really fast and heat cramps almost sets in. 

So bring enough of water then you won’t suffer. It rhymes huh?

Barely holding on

The beautiful part of M.P.

Even worse, M.P. has the worst roads I have ever seen. We literally did 30 km/h for an agonizing 14 HOURS! Never thought of going through pot holes and bad roads on NH 3. We were having a good tour on highways after highways from Belgaum to Ujjain then it just stops. This is NH3. One of the main highways for India. Just shocking and I want to condemn their state government for not providing basic infrastructure. It is not surprising I don’t find people recommending others to visit MP. I will never visit MP ever again. Never ever.

When into dozens of large potholes on the road. Avenger got dents on the exhaust pipe. Both bikes just could barely hold on.

Bad roads

Bad roads everywhere

Heads up, holes.

At night in no man's land

We set up at 8 a.m. in the morning. Arrived at Gwalior, Uttar Pradesh at 12.30 a.m. Riding at night with the road condition, the most dangerous thing I had ever done. No holes can be seen until we are near, the trucks are always on their high beam. We might get kidnapped in the middle of nowhere and no one will notice.

The worst, Avenger had a small accident colliding with another motorcycle with a couple on it while overtaking a lorry. It might got ugly but thank god both bikes were safe. We are in foreign land but lucky for us, we spoke Hindi except for me. Negotiated down to 500 rupees from 1000 rupees for the the couples medical expenditure and to calm their hearts down. We would not want to be beaten by the villagers although they were obviously faking or exaggerating their pain.

We rode further up to assess our damage and injuries. Few abrasions here and there. Bandaged them up, calm them down, change the rider and we were ready to go.

Later in Delhi, Shrikanth told me few of the guys at the accident site were carrying knives. These roads are infamous for crimes he said. The roads in MP are dangerous. 

Auto rickshaw pooling

BIMARU

Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh are low performing states in India. And I can see it in front of my eyes.

If you learn about Community Medicine in India, you will come across a lot of these four states. So read up guys. Hehe. 

Recently, a guy made a journey from Ladakh, Kashmir to Kanyakumari, Tamil Nadu in 78 hours. That is north to the south tip of India. That is 3800 km in 3 days plus. What a feat. The same type of road he took in Madhya Pradesh. He got a mild heat cramp, so do we.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/From-Ladakh-to-Kanyakumari-in-78-hours-on-a-two-wheeler/articleshow/24456951.cms

This is a short post because there is no more pictures to show and the experience was the worst. 16 hours. Our phones and cameras were dead by than. We should have gone though Mumbai and up to Rajasthan to avoid the roads of M.P.

After we had reached Gwalior. We search for a hotel but the city was dark. Lucky for us there was Hotel Meenakshi Palace. Went down to buy food at 12.45 a.m.  at the nearby restaurant.

Our first meal of the day. Amazing it was still open at that time. Ate, had my isyak and maghrib prayers then charged all my gadgets for the journey tomorrow.

Uncle, you are on my blog

I would say, the hotel served us great after a long and treacherous journey. I will give 5 stars for their service. Even though we brought outside food, they were giving us plates and drinks courtesy from the hotel. 

So if you end up in Gwalior for I don’t know what reason, please search for Hotel Meenakshi Palace.

Then we rest our battered body on the comfortable beds. For our ride tomorrow to Agra, the city on the banks of Yamuna river and Taj Mahal in Day 5.