India is arguably the most interesting human habitat on Earth. With 1.25 billion people, as of 2013, it is second most populated to China and closing fast. The majority identify as Hindu, though significant numbers are Tibetan Buddhist, Muslim and Christian. India has a caste system that dictates great wealth to heart rending poverty. India has orbited Mars, has the bomb, created the Taj Majal, and yet some people have to defecate in the street. Himalaya India is little known, mostly remote and much of it is disputed with Pakistan and China. The far south has a strong Christian influence.
How did we come to chose India as our next tandem bicycle adventure? We had read on several bicycle touring web sites of experienced tourists slinking away in defeat after a couple of weeks in the intensity of India. It didn’t appeal to us, until: We covered the Overland Expo in Flagstaff, Arizona, for a magazine. Overlanders are motorized adventurers, who drive their extreme motorhomes, four wheel drives, or motorcycles in exotic locales around the world. Actually the majority just buy the gear and dream, but never go, much like around-the-world sailing dreamers. One way the motorcyclists can have an adventure with the risks greatly lowered is by going with a tour company.
We found a flyer advertising a video presentation by one such tour company promoting a Top of the World tour in a place we’d never heard of, Ladakh. The combination of a place we’d never heard of, and in the high Himalayas yet (we love cycle touring in mountains) sent us scurrying to see the video.
We saw the motorcyclists struggling with brutal roads; causing crashes, extremely high passes: causing altitude sickness, and primitive accommodations in parachute camps. This adventure was capped off with a ride up the highest moterable road in the world with views into Central Asia.
Halfway through the video, we were sneaking looks at each other trying to gage the other’s thoughts. We were both having the same idea, “Wonder if we could do this on our tandem?” Smile. Decided. All that remained was to do a little research, buy air tickets and pack the bike. This had to wait a year due to previous commitments, and unfortunately another year when Bob’s doctor suggested a hernia had to be fixed first lest it go gangrenous when we were far from medical care. So Bob decided the trip would be a 70th birthday present to himself. Sick.
Somewhere along the line we figured we might as well stay another couple of months and explore the far south of the country, the provinces of Kerala and Tamil Nadu, and the Southern Gats, a tropical mountain range. There would be a long train ride in the middle as a break from the bicycle, and because trains are the second best way to see a culture, second to a tandem bicycle.
Come along with us!