Avinash

Day 3: Ambolgad to Velneshwar
<p style=”text-align: center;”>Chilling at the beach…</p>
On the way out of Ambolgad there was a tiny nondescript fort. Another common feature in this land. You see many of these crumbling buildings with no maintenance and no care. For an outsider it is still pretty cool to check out, but for the locals it is old hat.

I planned to breakfast at the village on the highway, rather than Ambolgad, because prices at the latter was too steep. The promised food didn’t materialize and I ended up riding for an hour and a half on an empty stomach. Not the perfect way to start the day.

Food in Maharashtra is by and large good for a cyclist. Missal and vada pao are great sources of carbs. You get all the salt, potatoes and wheat you need to keep your legs spinning. At the same time, it is light and you don’t feel weighed down after munching on these snacks.
<p style=”text-align: center;”>One of the many places where you can buy Vada Pao. Perfect cycling snack!</p>
As I moved further north, the golden-brown grassy tabletops reduced and the greenery increased gradually. The roads were super smooth courtesy of there being a massive JSW Steel plant in the region.

Along the way I rode through the picturesque Aarey Waarey beaches. Arguably the most scenic stretch on this route. From the cliff you could see water till the horizon and serene beaches on either side, with verdant green towering hills covering the land mass.
<p style=”text-align: center;”>A protected beach for turtles, this is a protected nesting cage…</p>
Another tourist hotspot along the way is Ganpatipule. I happened to passing through on a weekend and the place was filled with MH 12 cars. The locals told me that the Pune folks are the worst drivers in the world. After encountering them more than a few times on the road, I couldn’t help but agree!

This route is known for its multiple ferry rides. And finally, I got to hop onto my first ferry. Surprisingly not just the passengers, but cycles are also charged a ticket. I had gotten used to Goa, where carrying your cycle along was free. Being green doesn’t come with perks on a Maharashtrian ferry!
<p style=”text-align: center;”>Fishing villages enroute…</p>
The short ferry ride was incredible, as I caught the sun shimmering over the water around sunset. To top it off, I got the sunset for a second time once I climbed the cliff overlooking the ferry point. Two sunsets in one day is more than what I had bargained for!

With the sun having disappeared over the horizon, it was time to ride in the dark. The headlight was in my bag and I was too lazy to take it out. And I continued pedalling under a pitch-black sky.

It was magical.
<p style=”text-align: center;”>The lone fisherman…</p>
Until I took a wrong turn and went down a horrible road to a village in the middle of nowhere. After much head scratching, I found someone to give me directions to the village which I was in search of, Velneshwar.

At Velneshwar I got a shack literally a stone’s throw away from the beach. The sound of crashing waves through the night was exactly what the doctor ordered.
<p style=”text-align: center;”>Beach View</p>
Every signboard in the region is in Marathi and only Maharashtrians seem to visit the place. Most people running the hotels, restaurants and shacks couldn’t speak a word of Hindi or English. That is how little exposure there is to tourism in this part of the world. If you don’t understand Marathi, you can go fly a kite!

The lack of tourist-oriented infrastructure once again showed itself when I ordered dinner. A fish thali was served with a spoonful of rice and extra rice was charged separately. This was the first time I have been charged for extra rice in a rice eating part of the world. Crazy!
<p style=”text-align: center;”>Coastal Life…</p>
<p style=”text-align: center;”>Chomp on a vada pav as you enjoy the scenery…</p>
<p style=”text-align: center;”>Racing boats on the ferry ride!</p>
<p style=”text-align: center;”>The elevation graph has more teeth than your fork!</p>
Check out the full route on Strava.

Day 1: Baga to Malwan

As it has now become a habit, any attempt at starting on time was immediately thrown out the window!

Starting from Baga Beach, the route was supposed to stick to the coast like a leech. And along the North Goa beaches I rode. Some of the most touristy and therefore undesirable parts of the state!

So much so, that I didn’t bother stopping at all in Goa. It was ride straight through. As I moved closer to Maharashtra, the crass commercialisation continuously decreased.

Plenty of saltpans along the way…

The moment I crossed the bridge and entered Maharashtra my heart rate monitor strap broke. A reminder from the Velo Gods, that touring doesn’t require all this unnecessary data!

Roads were fantastic there, narrow, serpentine, snaking its way through idyllic villages. Asphalt quality is good for the most part, one can easily ride through on their road bikes.

Hopping across from Goa, the first thing that hits you is the lack of tourism. Or any attempt at making the place tourist friendly. It is almost as if the Maharashtrians don’t want tourists. They actually don’t, but more on that later.

A wrong turn led me to Paradise Beach. A picturesque spot, with firm sand which allowed me to ride my bike on it. After frolicking in the sand, it was time for second breakfast. Breakfast in this part of India is very light. You have to eat two breakfasts. One just doesn’t cut it!

Paradise Beach

At the restaurant where I ate, there was a kid on a cycle. With his head buried in his phone, hanging over his handlebars. I sat there for close to an hour gobbling down hot food and that kid was steadfastly stuck to his screen.

My curiosity got the better of me, and I asked, what was that kid tripping on! The restaurant manager told me that, they were the only place with WiFi in the vicinity and mobile internet was pathetic. So, all the kids came there to use the WiFi!

I laughed at the kid and then wished I had also asked for the WiFi password, while I was whiling away my time there…

A peculiar feature of the land is that there will be a short 1-2 km climb. With the climbs averaging 6% mostly and some of the tighter hairpins going all the way up to 20%. After this short climb, there will be a flat tabletops with golden grass adorning it. Then there will be a descent of similar proportions which ends on a bridge crossing a river. And this up & down song is on loop!

One of the many river crossings…

Pancake flat hill tops for a kilometre

While the numbers might not look impressive, you just need to throw in the heat and humidity of the coast into the mix and you realise why it is quite taxing!

Along the way, in the village of Mhapan, I met fellow cyclist Waman Thakur. We had been in touch over the phone for a few months, and it felt good to finally meet in the real world as well.

We rode together till the under-construction Sindhudurg Airport before he turned back home. Waman told me of the inauguration of the airport, which included the first flight landing there with a Ganpati idol on board. Can’t get any more auspicious than that!

After bidding adieu to Waman, I rode ahead and called it a night in Malwan. A small town. But rather than stay in the actual town, I stayed a little before in a tiny homestay. The grandfather of the house only spoke Marathi, so he called his grandkids to translate.

With Waman in the Golden Grass which covers the land till the eye can see…

The boy and girl were school going age and as is usually the case, the girl was smarter. She was far more conversant and helped me get a room in their homestay. Her brother was…well he was a dumbo in comparison.

I got home cooked food for dinner, which was nice and plain. Welcome grub after a long day in the saddle.

I love catching the sunset on the road and then finding a place to stay!

This is what the elevation profile looks like for the day!

You can check out the full route from Mapusa to Malwan on Strava.

Day 25 We had to stay an extra day in Tsetserleg, since we couldn’t get the morning bus to UB. Since the capital is 500 km from Tsetserleg, we couldn’t possibly think of riding there in time for our flight back. So we stayed put in the city buying bus tickets for the next day, not knowing whether we would be allowed to carry our bikes on the bus! We went around the town looking for lunch and it was a very weird town. It is small and deserted and gives you the creeps as if it were a ghost town. Most of the restaurants were shut, and finally we found something to eat and I got horse meat to eat which made me very happy. The first time in my life i was eating horse, it was a momentous occasion of my life!

Another day of doing nothing meant that I sat and watched more Japanese anime. And if you were wondering why i would rather watch movies on my phone instead of going for a walk in the town, well the town was rather small and well weird! And there was no question of going for a small ride on the bike, because hell, we had been in the saddle for many days and were just happy to do absolutely nothing and laze around like a bunch of useless sods!

Day 26 23rd August. We woke at 530AM, the first time in the entire trip that we woke up that early. We packed our bags loaded them onto our bikes and rode to the bus stop. We reached the bus stop and it was completely deserted. Half an hour later the bus drove in and a few other passenger vans also queued up. Slowly people started trickling in. The bus driver showed us the available luggage space and told us that the bike wouldn’t fit in there and that posed a massive problem for us.

The luggage space was limited and Mongols tend to travel with lots of luggage! So there was no chance of us carrying our bikes in the bus. A van guy told us that we should keep our cycles on the van and he will drop it at the same bus stop where we would get off in UB. This was not the best plan we had heard, travelling separately without our bikes didn’t inspire a lot of confidence in us. But when in Mongolia do as the Mongols, and that means trusting people to be by and large honest!

Finally we left our bikes in charge with the van driver with a small prayer of hope! The bus journey from Tsetserleg to UB was surprisingly comfortable with more than adequate leg room in a Kia manufactured vehicle. In fact we got more leg room in that bus as compared to our Air China flight! The 500km journey was covered in around 8 hours. We finally reached Dragon Centre in UB and with the help of the bus driver we located our bikes, loaded it up with our luggage and rode in the direction of the bike shop which was 12 km away. We had paid 40000 Tugrik for the two bikes to be transported.

In UB we had got a room to stay through AirBnB, which is a system where people can rent out a bedroom in their apartments. We reached the place and called up the owners, unfortunately they weren’t at home and we had to wait for a bit before they showed us into the apartment and gave us a set of keys to the place. We left our luggage there and rode down to the bike shop to return our bikes. Joel the store owner, was happy to see us back safe and sound from our trip and sat and chatted with us asking us details about the route, as he planned to start guided tours for people who want to do a supported trip. He was very receptive to our many ideas and suggestions for planning such rides. After that we went to the town centre and hit Delhi Darbar, where Prakash once again ate tasty vegetarian food after a very long time. I stuck to the local food, though it turned out to be a Korean dish called Kimchi.

Day 27 The penultimate day of ours in UB. We spent the day visiting the bike shop to say hello and then walked down to the town square to buy some memorabilia and send postcards to various friends in India. After a good lunch we returned to the bike shop to meet Joel and discuss a few more cycling plans with him. There we met a couple of Belgian guys who were even madder than us.

They had just finished travelling Mongolia on horseback. They had been hit by bad luck, a horse of theirs had try to run away and in the process of catching it they had dropped a bag with all money, passports etc. And were running around to get all the necessary paperwork done before they left the country in a couple of days. We returned to the apartment and had dinner with our very gracious hosts, finally packing up for the long journey home.

One of the two Belgian guys had spent a month in Mongolia working at a horse ranch. He went through a portal called https://www.workaway.info/ You can work without being paid in a foreign country, in return they give you food and lodging, a good cheap way to travel and experience different cultures. In fact anyone who has the time should give it a try!

Day 28 The last morning in Mongolia. For the first time on our trip we made a plan! And that was to visit the Winter Museum to get a glimpse of a small part of Mongolian history. It was a good decision as it was a lovely place with many small stories painting a giant picture for us to see and appreciate.

After that I had my last supper in Mongolia, where I hogged as much of the awesome food as I could. Anybody watching would have thought that I was being sent to the gallows immediately after. Prakash on the other hand suffered through another tasteless vegetarian meal! After that we took our bags, walked down to the Bike Shop who called a cab for us and went back to Chinggis Khan International Airport. After all the unnecessary formalities created by political humans, we were on our way in the air. As I looked out of the aeroplane it was with a heavy heart that I bid farewell to this beautiful country and not for a moment looked forward to going home!

In fact that made me question the very concept of home. Was i really going home? What is home? For a month in Mongolia, home for me was the saddle of my bike, where i really lived. A far cry from the filthy, crowded uncivilised city i live in.

We landed at the Beijing Airport somewhere in the evening and our connecting flight to Delhi was 23 hours later. If it was more than 24 hours, then we could have gotten a temporary visa and gone and visited the great wall of China. We were short by an hour! So we had 23 long hours to sit and kill at the airport terminal. More movies, books and no Facebook, Twitter and Google. We walked around the massive terminal looking for empty comfortable places to chill and watched people come and go, waiting for out turn to board, instead of getting bored! I don’t think i have seen as many flight take off and land in my life as i saw in those twenty three hours!

One thing that i noticed was that the airport was spotlessly clean. Not in a single place did i see a mess, until we went to the gate where we had to board the flight to India. The one corner where Indians were sitting was littered with packets, empty cans, spilled food and drink and generally cringe worthy garbage. It was disheartening and exceptionally irritating to see the filth that we Indians leave wherever we go. It has gotten to a point where our reputation precedes us.

A non-event flight later we landed in Delhi 30 days after we had left. 15 minutes in the city and i choked up. No not with tears and emotions, but the bloody pollution of the damned city. Yes, welcome back it was!

The day after Independence day was also the day we lost our freedom. From the freedom of wide landscapes of the countryside we were jailed in a tiny 10x6ft room, with absolutely nothing to do, but to stare out of the window and watch the rain fall. Another session of Japanese anime movies started for the both of us. Fortunately on the evening of the first day a van full of European tourists had come to stay the night. They told us that the pass we had crossed the previous day was all snowed out and they were wearing all the thermals they had and were surprised to see us sitting in shorts and light jackets!

They were good company and we had a nice evening of revelry. The second day we tried hitching a ride to the White Lake from Jargalant thanks to the inclement weather. We tried for the first half of the day, but with no luck we gave up and headed back to our room and more Japanese anime! In those two days I sat and watched about 10 movies, which can leave you mentally deranged, because those movies are psychedelic for lack of a better term!

I also tried my hand at chopping wood there with the hotel guy, I sucked terribly at it. I hammered away with the axe, and that was probably what I was doing wrong! So to make amends I jumped onto his motorcycle and went with him to go buy water. Water is precious in Mongolia and people have to buy water for their daily needs. It is absurd and amazing. Prakash with our limited language skills and google translate tried to explain the concept of rainwater harvesting to the hotel owners, but the only person excited with the idea was Prakash himself!

After a couple of days of lying around in our hotel room watching Japanese anime, it was finally time to ride as the weather had cleared considerably.

We started from Jargalant towards the White Lake. None of the maps we had at our disposal showed accurate distances, but we made a rough estimate of around 60km. We put away all camera equipment and wore our rain gear as the skies were a threatening grey. Fortunately we didn’t get heavy rain, just a light drizzle in a few places.

What we did get was a lot of slush thanks to the rain of the previous two days and not a spot of sunlight. But the biggest challenge for us were the water crossings, thanks to the rain all the streams were swollen and had left cars stranded on either bank, unable to cross. We had to wade across these streams, one had a small wooden bridge for two wheelers, but for the rest we needed to take of our shoes and step in the ice cold water and wade across. By the time we reached the other side, we were shivering like wet cats. It was a difficult day as we had to cross two passes again.

One pass was in the middle of a thick pine forest which was beautiful, though we were struggling to push our bikes up! It would have been more beautiful if the sun was shining bright, but it was a dreary day and we saw the sun for the first time at 8pm. Not something that you would expect to happen in India!

At the top of the pass we saw a board which said tourist camp, we expected to find the camp somewhere close by. But that was a cruel joke as we rode on and found absolutely nothing. We rode on the road which was mostly downhill till we hit a fork, with the left road going to the White Lake while the right went straight to the town of Tariat. So we headed in the direction of the lake. What we didn’t realize was that we were on a wild goose chase. We got slowed down by a few passes and general fatigue. We were still a few kilometres from the white lake according to our odometer and we had a stream to cross with the sun setting fast, we had no option but to pitch camp where we stood.

So that is exactly what we did, since we didn’t want to be pitching our tents after dark. We had half a loaf of dry bread for dinner as that is all we had and a few apricots. The day was full of adventure as we were not sure how far we were from anywhere!

The next morning we realized that we had camped near the white lake, but on the wrong side of the lake!The road circumnavigated the White Lake before going back to the town of Tariat which we could have gone straight the previous day. This was a BIG detour. We ended up crossing another 5 streams that day. At every stream we would get off our bikes, take off the luggage and carry everything individually to the other side.

Fortunately the water wasn’t as cold as the previous day because the sun was shining bright. After having gone round the lake, we stopped at a pretty expensive camp for a bite to eat. We ended up paying 300 INR for the lunch. Quite expensive!

As we left the lake we immediately climbed a small pass and on the other side of the pass was an extinct volcano – Khorgo. The volcano was surrounded by lava rocks, a pretty sight to see those rocks strewn all over the place. We reached a campsite in the wake of the volcano and we bargained to get a Ger for pretty cheap. What we didn’t realize was that the money we saved on the Ger was more than made up by the expensive meals we had there. 600 INR per person for dinner was the cost, fortunately we ate first and asked the price only the next morning! Else we wouldn’t have been able to swallow the food. Though I must add the food was extremely tasty, and I got to taste Yak meat as well there!

On a side note, we had been pushing our bikes uphill so many times, that i wasn’t sure whether we were doing a cycle trip or a hiking trip 😀
<p style=”text-align: center;”>Prakash’s favourite, beer and lollypops!</p>
<p style=”text-align: center;”>On the first day which was very wet. This is the only photo because it was a very wet day!</p>
<p style=”text-align: center;”>The first view of the White Lake</p>

<p style=”text-align: center;”>Climbing one of the many rocky passes</p>
<p style=”text-align: center;”>A wolf skin in the restaurant. Just to help you with your appetite</p>
<p style=”text-align: center;”>A fish head in the same restaurant</p>
<p style=”text-align: center;”>Prakash posing with the Lava rocks, which are not so obvious in the background!</p>

The previous day we had camped in the middle of nowhere, some 60km before Shine Ider. It was time to break camp and ride on…

It was pretty cold at night and I woke up frozen, it was only after the sun shone with some strength, that my tent inside was warm enough for me to get some sleep. We finally got out of our tents, packed and made our way once again in the direction of Shine Ider. After having crossed a couple of passes, we saw the third, which looked monstrous in comparison to the previous two! Just Looking at it from a distance tired me out!

On our right we saw a lake Zuun Nuur. Nuur means lake in Mongolian. We stood at the fork with 25 km to go to Shine Ider contemplating which direction to take. If we headed to Shine Ider, we would have to climb the steep slope, if we went to the lake and didn’t find accommodation there, then we would be badly stuck as we wouldn’t have had any energy to return and make that climb. After standing there for a good 15 minutes we decided to go towards Zuun Nuur and try our luck with the camp there!

On our way to the lake an old man on an even older looking motorcycle stopped and told us that there was indeed a campsite near the lake. Unfortunately the campsite was on the other side of the lake. So more pedalling! He also told us that there was another route towards Shine Ider from the lake itself, so we wouldn’t have to backtrack the next day.

We reached the lake shore and chucked our bikes and just sat and enjoyed the beauty and peace of the area. One shepherd came there on horseback and pointed out the Ger camp on the other side of the lake. He had his monocular with him, which he used to keep an eye on his herd, we used that to see the camp on the other side. As we sat with the shepherd a SUV rolled up with a bunch of Italian tourists who didn’t speak English. Fortunately they had a guide with them who did speak English and she was able to give us precise information.

Since that was not a very touristy lake, the camp was relatively cheap, even though it was bang on the lake shore, thus giving us a wonderful view. We also got a hot shower, clean toilets and good food, which was welcome after the previous night of camping in the open. There were a bunch of children who really took to Prakash and stuck to him. They did eventually run off, but returned with a bowl full of berries, which were not as sour as what we had tasted earlier, though it was the same in appearance.

Three van full of tourists reached there who were loud, but fortunately didn’t disturb the peaceful atmosphere of the place. Prakash had an interesting conversation with the local guide who was accompanying the Italians, she had travelled a bit in the world and therefore could give us some interesting insights into the local culture and traditions of Mongolia. Even though I was standing quite far away from the point of conversation, I could hear them clearly. Indians are loud and Italians are not far behind apparently!