The final day of riding was nothing to write about… once you get near the coast the side roads get busier and theres not much to see. You spend most of your time dodging potholes and traffic. We did see a work elephant walking down the road with a trunk full of palm leaves and we stopped to 1) take a picture and 2) would you ride past an elephant on the road?
We stopped at the ‘Raj Mahal’ (Raj’s place) for lunch and relaxation. He has a couple chalets on a man-made island that we had to take a boat to get to. It was extremely secluded, beautifully set up, and quite serene but I was kinda bored. Not a mid-twenties hangout.
We left and rode our bikes back to the vans, which is where the riding ended. We loaded up the van and headed for Kochi for two days. Most people have shopping on their agenda. I’m disappointed because most people are leaving about 12 hours before I do. I mean, I guess its good to maximize time in a far away place, but at this point I’m ready to get moving.
I had one final adventure in Kochi — after we waited nearly two hours without getting served food at the hotel across the street from ours I jumped in a Rickshaw bound for Pizza Hut (I was told the Pizza Hut’s here are amazing — I was not disappointed). The ride was 15k ~ 10 miles and if you can imagine these things max out around 25 mph and there are no expressways. The driver told me he’d take me roundtrip for 300 rupees (about $6). I probably could have haggled for a lower price, but that wouldn’t have gotten me very far (keep reading). We made it to town in Kochi (we are staying in Fort Kochi, which is why we had to go so far) and I got my pizza hut and did some shopping. I need to be back to pack my bike before dinner and I time it about right. About 1/10 of the way back to Fort Kochi, the driver pulls over unexpectedly. By now I’m used to things of this nature happening here in India — speed/time isn’t usually a priority — he stopped for gas on the way there also. He fiddles with what I assume is the engine a few times and starts it up a few times, and I really notice no difference from the normal go-kartish putt-puttering that normally spews from the engine, but he tells me ‘we have a problem’.
My immediate thought was, “No, we do not have a problem… you have a problem!” Anyway, this guy spends the next 30 minutes (while it starts getting dark) flagging down drivers and trying to convince them to take me 10k away one-way. The problem is, this guy has invested like 3 hours in this trip, and hes not ready to walk away from his original bargain despite being unable to deliver on his end of it (taking me back to Fort Kochi). At first I try to tell him its not my problem until I realize that its getting dark and on top of the fact that I’m going to be late, I really don’t know where I’m going and being in a cab here at night is a bit scarier than one might think. I elect to spend the extra $2 to get someone hired ASAP and jump in the back of his hot rod. Long story short, night falls and I hold on for dear life while this guy plays chicken with buses. We spend some time navigating to the exact location of the hotel (because neither of us knows where it is). To be honest, this didn’t scare me because you can always ask (as I’ve learned). We got lucky and made it without stopping.
Mini hiccup following the adventure:
Needless to say I was late getting back and had to pack my bike in a hurry. Most people leave for dinner and myself, Bob, and Adrienne finish packing bikes. I’m finishing up behind the hotel in basically a glorified alley when everything goes black. The power shuts off at 7pm. Great — I have no idea where I am I basically followed Adrienne through a series of hallways in a hurry to get here and its basically pitch black. She and Bob both were somewhere in the hotel. Immediately I’m not interested in packing the bike anymore and I begin stumbling around in the dark. I nearly accidentally trample a woman about 3 feet tall and hope that I didn’t break into her home unexpectedly. Turns out, I was kinda going the right direction — she helps me the rest of the way. A few people found themselves taking a pitch black shower. Haha.
