Just a few images of India

[blackpuddinonnabike]

Kolkata flower market


Idols being made


Heavy load


Kolkata Bus


Rikshaw puller


Shanty


Even bigger load


The Himalaya


Turning prayer wheels


Gorkhaland marchers


Ganges devotees


Ganges sunrise


School bus


Looked hard work when we took a ride


Obligatory Taj shot


Fatehpur Sikri


Decorated truck


Evil Gandhi


As if butter wouldn't melt (he was on Mel's back 30 seconds later)


HUGE Mosque


Mughal architecture at every corner


Loads more on Flickr here

Or with words (and just an image a day) on Blipfoto here

[Charlotte]

*jealous*

I love India and want to go back.  Onna bike if possible.

Looks like you had an amazing trip 

[Malandro]

Great photos.

We did an Exodus cycling holiday in south India a few years ago.  Expensive but the best holiday I've ever had.  Would like to do Rajastan next....

[Swarm_Catcher]

You made it to Varanasi, congratulations!  And out! 

It is a magical place.  And it was surreal when we were there during a bomb attack in March 2006.  We thought the fireworks were a bit loud!  The Ganges Ghats were empty compared with normal standards. 

Absolutely magical.

[neilcu]

Fantastic pictures.

[mike]

one of the best bits of my job is going to India every 3 or 4 months, I absolutely love the place.

Never been to Varanasi though, it looks amazing!!

{edit}

just one photo, the most spokes I've ever seen, with some very early aero wheels behind..

[blackpuddinonnabike]

I have to say, we didn't really get on with Varanasi. It was fascinating to see the devotees and take the boat ride on the Ganges, but it was the one place above all others were there was a constant sense of people trying to get money out of you and hordes of people EVERYWHERE. Even a short walk out of the hotel I had rikshaw drivers following me and kids trying to sell me things. It got really really draining. Oh, and someone tried to steal the ring off my hand (he looked most put out I caught him).

We'll definitely be back to India at some point, but we'll do it differently. We know the bits we liked, the things we want to see and the fact that the trains aren't exactly as romantic a way to travel as we'd imagined.

Some fantastic memories and experiences taken back from it though - we did see most facets of Indian life the way we did it.

[LEE]

just one photo, the most spokes I've ever seen

Pah!  I'll see your 64 spokes and raise you.



(About 4 spokes shy of becoming a disk wheel)

[Malandro]

....there was a constant sense of people trying to get money out of you....

When we were walking around the Maharajah's palace in Mysore, a guy selling bamboo flutes singled me out as a soft touch.  He wanted 100 rupees per flute and was very persistent even though I explained I didn't particularly want a flute.  Now if that was here, you'd expect the price to come down, but being India, the poor guy obviously needed a specific amount of money, so eventually I was offered two, then three, then four, then five and finally SIX flutes for 100 rupees!  This took over half an hour and he just kept following us!  In the end, we just bought the flutes and gave them to the local kids.....   

[Charlotte]

Pah!  I'll see your 64 spokes and raise you.



(About 4 spokes shy of becoming a disk wheel)

Sweet Jesus - how on earth do you get the pump head on the valves?

[LEE]

144 spokes in the rear

The valve sticks out at about 30 degrees from vertical.

It's not my bike, just having a go on my son's friend's machine. He's tattoo'd, pierced and generally more image-matched to the bike than I am.

PBP anyone?