After the warm and excellent hospitality received at Vizag and a hearty breakfast, I head out for a new day of riding.
Was my first time in Vizag, and I adore the place. The temperature isn’t that bad, the sea is clean, people are warm, and of course the huge naval base shows you something new all the time.
The moment I set out to the outskirts of the city, I saw a submarine museum, looked beautiful, but I had a lot of distance to cover, so didn’t stop. Just took a couple of pictures and moved on.
The moment I reached the outskirts alongside the beach road, apartments turned into town houses and vacation homes atop mountains, a luxury of sorts. I reiterate, our neighbours are filthy rich!!
The beach road was a beautiful stretch, and it started getting a little hot. I moved on nevertheless. Saw all the beautiful untouched coastal line – the vast sands, uninhabited and unvisited by anyone. Took my bike over to the beach, thinking it will make for a lovely ride. It’s one of those things you see in movies, and feel like doing. The ride to the beach from the road itself was full of struggle. The bike had a very hard time, no traction whatsoever, and on top of that, the sand was loose, so the bike kept getting stuck. Each time I revved to get it out, it kept digging further and deeper. Took quite an effort and tactics to ride that 100 meter stretch to reach the beach. I did not have the guts to try and ride it alongside the ocean. If I had gotten stuck somewhere there, I’m not sure how I would have gotten it out. Took a couple of pictures and headed back toward the beach road. Took me a good 30 minutes to do that stretch of 200 metres to and fro. Was quite an experience, although I’ll never try it again. Lesson well learnt!
It started raining, a welcome change from the heat that was killing me inside my helmet. Throughout this trip, I have encountered dragonflies on the highway, and the faster you ride, the faster they hit you. Good thing with the helmet, although it takes quite some cleaning every evening of all the splattered stuff. On the couple of occasions that I had my visor open, and a dragonfly would come racing and hit me, it would almost stun my face for a few seconds because of the impact. I don’t think they sting, it’s just the impact which numbs you for a while. And then you very diligently bring down your visor. Not sure how the locals manage – many of them ride without the helmets.
Finally finished the beach road, and hit national highway 5, the one which goes all the way to Kolkata. Beautiful 6 lane road, so I decided to catch up on some distance while I was on that stretch. That didn’t really last long, cos it started pouring again.
On this trip, my helmet visor has become ‘automatic’. If I turn my head sideways while riding, the oncoming wind gets in, and creates a lift, which opens my visor. When I bow a little, the wind hits the outer surface and my visor closes. At times I started doing this just for fun.
When it was raining, and I was behind any speeding vehicles, and by chance turned my head to look on the side of the road, my ‘automatic’ visor started opening, and the next thing I know, my face gets covered with muddy mist. From the vehicle in front. What started as a game, turned into a pain in the a** ! I must get the visor fixed tomorrow.
Finally I hit the Orissa border, something I’ve been waiting for, for the past 4 days. There was a 4 km long traffic jam – I guess trucks waiting for permission at the RTO office at the border to enter Orissa state. Took about 45 minutes of manoeuvring between stationary trucks to get past that queue. Good thing I was on a bike and not in a car. Else I would probably still be waiting there. During all this manoeuvring, my bike chain started rattling on every turn, and it kept getting worse and worse. The moment I hit the border, I found a mechanic, and asked him to tighten the chain. It had become so loose, I was surprised I made it this far in the bike.
The mechanic could only do so much. Asked me to go 15 kms SLOWLY – and get the link cut and re-put in – basically make the chain smaller – at a royal Enfield showroom that was apparently there. Was apprehensive, as the area was so remote that you couldn’t find even mechanics on that road, forget a showroom. Anyway, I had no choice, moved on slowly, and indeed there was a service centre on the highway, and they were closing in 15 minutes, requested them to fix my drive chain, and they obliged thankfully after I told them ive been driving from so far. All the guys in that place, stayed back for 30 minutes after hours to fix the bike. They didn’t re-link it, but just made it good enough for a couple of hundred kms. Picked up some spare oil, and moved on.
My troubles had just begun. After a few kms, I saw in a distance, a billion ton cloud coming over in arch formation towards my direction. It was getting super windy, I took a few amazing shots, and reminded myself that I’m entering the state of cyclones, so this must be just one of them. Within 30 seconds, it started pouring heavily, and I decided to move along anyway at my usual speed. A few seconds later, my waterproof jacket, and pants and shoes were dripping wet. The rain started hitting my jacket, and actually started hurting me, right through my clothing – like prickly needles. I could actually feel my insides burning. I was doing 90, had to slow down to 40. I moved on anyway – further challenging the situation I had ahead of me. A few minutes later, the sound of rain on my helmet turned into heavy drums beating on mh head, and I realised I was being pounded by hail. Finally pulled over, looked up and said – ‘sorry, I give up, I’ll stop riding’.
Was a few minutes before I could muster the courage to move on.
In case you are wondering, there is a lot more to come. I was still a good 150 kms away. This highway stretch has nothing on it. No eateries, no mechanics (I was lucky), no places to stop, and I hadn’t had any lunch, because I had been looking for a decent place to eat, and hadnt found any yet. I saw a fuel bunk and tanked up to be on the safe side ( and I am glad, because I found nothing on that front either for the next 80 kms).
Weariness was now setting in, I was soaking wet, tired, super hungry, and the bike still needed some work done on it, so I was at the low end of my day already, with still 150 kms to go. There was no place I could stop at now, because all I found on the highway was villages, with no lodges, and only grocery stores and the sorts. Grocery stores that sold strong beer – 12%.
Finally found a place to eat, I was the only guy there who had ordered food. The place was empty and had an eerie feeling to it. Ordered vegetarian food, not wanting to take a chance there, got a bad feeling about the place (one of those drug-and-mug types), left my food halfway and left the place. Thankfukly it wasn’t though, I realized later, after some self observation for the next few kms. But who wants to take a chance anyway ??
Still hungry, but not so bad, I moved on, feeling for the first time on this trip, a little helpless; a little fear had set in. That of being in a remote place, on an unreliable bike, and exposed to the elements. (Ok it wasn’t as creepy as it sounds, but there was a slight fear that something could go wrong, in this unknown area, and there was no help anywhere nearby). There was no regret though, of why I took this trip, in case you are wondering.
Finally the turn came to go off the highway, 50 kms before my destination. Entered into a narrow highway, full of trees (and I’m sure it looks breathtaking in the day), but not a soul in sight. A vehicle now and then, but that’s about it. Slowed down a little, stopped when I saw a couple of people, confirming the route. They were half drunk (@8 pm). Moved on, found another group of people and asked them, same story there as well. Decided not to stop anymore. Followed the GPS religiously and reached the town I was headed to – Puri. The watch battery had died 30 kms before my destination, as usual, so i had to use a stop-unglove-pulloutphone-check directions-reglove-move on approach.
Before going to look for a place to stay, I decided to see if there is any food around. Found a coffee day, he was closing in 15 minutes, requested him to wait, and that I would check in to a hotel and come back. He very graciously offered to wait for 30 minutes from then, despite being past the closing time. Raced to the beach side, where there were like a million hotels. Most of them were full (on a Monday!!), a couple of them refused to let out a room to me because I was a single guy ( ???? ) . Finally found a place which was expensive, decided to take it anyway. Quickly checked in, raced to the coffee day, had a quick sandwich, and returned to the hotel finally.
Parked my bike next to a wall, and the ground tile was broken so the bike fell towards the wall, and my rear view mirror broke. The last bad thing for today.
So here I am, in Orissa, eager to go tomorrow and explore the jungles. But first I need to get into the main town, get my mirror and chain and visor fixed. Not sure how much time I will lose there. But I guess everything is an experience. I’m still positive about the next 6 days, although I’ll get a little smarter with my planning tomorrow onwards. The ‘No planning’ model works well when you are in familiar territory such as Tamil Nadu, Karnataka or Kerala. Here it is like inviting trouble, and I think I’m wiser than that.
There is no 3G from the time I entered this state. Am on a poor 2G network, so the pictures will need to wait.
Good night !!
edit: pictures added.
