Today we entered the Himalayas! They began in Sonemarg, 80km NE of Srinegar. It finally felt like today we had begun the ride that we'd signed up for. Another cool thing was I got to ride with the lads from the armed forces, who planned to start half an hour early and stick ahead. Actually we started half an hour late because one of their back tyres was flat! This was ok though because we got to see how to change one on a Royal Enfield. This is a complicated...

Today was supposed to be more organised because the Kiwis had taken control. We had a briefing at the start, saying no one passes the leader and that S* (a Kiwi originally from India who runs 5 restaurants in NZ with his brother D, also on the tour) would lead the ride in tandem with Manoj, the deposed tour leader. Hilariously, Manoj managed to hit the deck twice with S on the back! They were riding in mud so it's somewhat forgivable plus Manoj has short leg...

TODAY'S RIDE AND MENTAL STATE ;-)Today was a tough leg through many towns, along stretches of thin hillside roads, flickering between kamikaze trucks and buses. I'm exhausted. I have blisters on my hand from twisting the accelerator. In terms of my impressions of India, it reminds me of riding in Cambodia but with more hills and trucks. It went through my mind that this is actually just another, bigger Cambodia. The same disaster on multiple levels - p...

TAKING AN INDIAN TRAINToday I caught the train! I've always wanted to do that in India! The Indian railway system must be one of the world's largest and if colonialism was of any use to this country their railways would perhaps be why. I got an executive class seat from New Delhi terminal, a relatively comfortable experience which reminded me of catching the V Line to country Victoria - a regular seat there mind you! We were served breakfast which I'v...

TL;DRFor whole trip: Photos on Google+Video playlist on YoutubeTiny planets I created from some of the photospheresAll the photospheres on Google Maps  ________________________________ Here are today's photos in Google+, where they look much better than here! Today, 3am. I arrived in Delhi. I have so far only managed to worsen my sleep debt accumulated over the past 2 weeks working my ass off and being in the Shrek (I'm the leftmost silver guard at ...