EC-Rider Travels

Surprise, surprise, I felt a little emotional leaving India, even though it was six in the morning and pouring with rain (bit of a surprise!). I have had a really fantastic three weeks and there has been so much that I have loved and also surprised me. I was last in India in 2009, with a group of lovely girls, riding from Jaipur to Jodhpur in the north. There appears to be such rivalry between the north and the south and indeed between the various states and great pride in ones own. In the fraction of India, I have seen, I have been surprised how little seems to have changed in the last fourteen years and refreshingly, how little influence there has been from the West. With the exception of the few fast food chains there are almost no western brands and little that caters for the western world. Having said this, everyone seems to have a mobile phone, whatever their wealth!

Everything is still very Indian, particularly so in Tamil Nadu, which I think I loved most. It still feels truly authentic and I just love that their beautiful girls all wear beautiful saris and western clothes are barely seen. The intrigue in a westerner is also surprising, never have I had to have so many photos taken with complete strangers, even the woman on the Air IndiGo desk wanted a photo with me for their website!

The numbers of people and the amount of plastic and rubbish everywhere, however, never ceased to amaze, but it is one of the few countries I have been to, which has not been scarred by graffiti. In fact there is some rather wonderful street art – a new initiative, apparently, to stop men peeing against the walls! The begging and people with disabilities was not as bad as I remembered in the north, but my goodness, I cannot imagine how the disabled get around. The traffic and state of the roads, not to mention the pavements if there even is one, blows your mind, but somehow it works. The big change I did notice was the overwhelming number of crows and kites, at the cost of other birds – quite gruesome

What I have really loved is the extraordinary warmth of the Indians they are so smiley and welcoming (perhaps not the shop assistants in Mumbai!), and seem to be a remarkably peaceful and content nation of people of so many different beliefs, living happily side by side …. but there are just so many of them.

Air IndiGo is definitely a no frills airline, but was fine. After a slightly delayed departure, we had a smooth flight to Bangkok and three and a half hours later I was here! Ali Oakes had given me the phonetic pronunciation of there address, which I did my best to try and sing to the taxi driver. He did not have a clue, but called his friend and somehow the message was communicated and we got there – no one more excited than the taxi-driver! I could not believe Bangkok, what a contrast, almost culture shock, from the craziness of Mumbai. I confess I had no idea it was now such an amazingly sophisticated city. It was not like this in 1981! I have memories (as we know, not very reliable!) of mad crazy roads of tuk tuks, bicycles and chaos. Everything is now so slick, running like clockwork and immaculately clean. Smooth roads, with everyone in their own lanes – can you imagine! Alex and Tippy live in the very centre of the city in a quiet road formerly known as Embassy Road.

Alex was there to meet me – just so lovely to see him in his and Tippy’s gorgeous and cool, apartment. Tippy was still out, but had kindly booked the most important appointment of my stay, to have my haircut. So half an hour later, Alex and I headed off together. The kind gateman summoned a couple of motorbikes, and we sped up the road, a km or so, to the huge shopping mall. It was not too easy explaining what I wanted to the nice Thai hairdresser and the result is perhaps not quite what I had in mind, but I guess it will grow!

What I did discover at this point, however, was that I had managed to leave my trusty Wise Card in the ATM 🙈🙈. Here you take the money before the card and I just didn’t! I cannot believe how stupid I am and beyond furious with myself, it is pretty well the first thing I have managed to lose on my whole trip aaaagh!

Reassuring me we would sort it out tomorrow, Alex and Tippy took me for a drink on the roof-top of the Park Hyatt Hotel and from there, a delicious dinner at Siri House. Oh my goodness, I LOVE Thai food.