BOOBS

STORY ONE:

On our 3^rd rest day in as many days of riding we’ve landed in Kumily.  The plan was to just spend the afternoon here and then ride on but our bodies were calling for more rest!  Yesterdays ride was a bit more than we’d planned for.  20km of gradual up, 30km of almost get off and push up and down, then it took us 3 hours to ride the next 20km (that’s an average of 6.6km/h which is only just over 4mph, I could drink 30 beers and crawl that fast), finally reaching the top of the pass we were told, ‘40km of flat from here’, maybe in a car but not on a bike.  All told we were in the saddle for 7.5 hours, at 100F, plugged into the ‘is it too hot and steep for riding equation’ that is 29 normal hours, no wonder we needed a bloody rest day, we’re insane!  Plus we had 3 separate rain storms, one section of shrapnel road and our first crash of the trip.  One of us, upon seeing a bus swerve our way, slammed on the breaks and veered off the road so abruptly, that the one in the rear had no time to react and so careened into the other; overlapping wheels was forced down, luckily managing to unclip and land on their feet while the bike skidded to a hault.  No one was injured and the bikes were fine! HS-TIA!  (for anyone who’s watched Blood Diamond and is familiar with the term TIA, This is Africa, we have modified it for our current situation.  This Is India! And in extreme cases like a bicycle crash HS is added as a prefix.)

Limping into port around 5pm we find a mooring, collapse onto our bed and proceed to eat everything we can find left over in our bags, chocolate pies, curry chips, peanuts, cookies and raisins.  Shower up and out to dinner where i fist so much delicious curry, rice and parotas (they are one of the amazing India breads) down my gullets that I actually almost vomit on the walk home.  Despite the gorging I have the best night’s sleep since leaving home! Yes

Late the next afternoon we venture out on our bikes to explore what the signs claim to be, ‘The Only True Eco-Tourism Model in the World’, yah right!  I’m expecting to see more rubbish and poop then eco-anything but the national park is only 3km down the road so we have to check it out. 

After paying 20x the local price (which is still only 5 dollars) just to be allowed through the gate we start seeing signs like nothing else we’ve come across in India, ‘Please don’t throw Rubbish’, ‘No Horns’, ‘No Passing’, ‘No Music’, ‘No Speeding’, ‘Preserve India’, ‘Animals have a right to Live’.  HOLLY SHIT!  We pinch ourselves to see if we are sleeping or maybe worse, dead.  Nope we are not!  There is even a road crew of ladies picking up what little rubbish there is.  Nice one National Parks!

Getting to the end of the road it turns out there is really only one reason to come in and that is to take a wildlife spotting boat trip on the 1820’s British damned lake.  The locals are doing it so we figure, ‘why not.’

Along with 200 Indians and a handful of westerners we clamber aboard 3 boats that are more resembling of ocean ferries then sightseeing lake boats.  From the onset I’m pretty sure the real show will be inside the boat, not out.  Firing up the noisy diesel engines I’m proven wrong.  The boat ride is ridiculously long and most everyone falls asleep but we do spot monster deer, buffalo herds, boar, monkeys and a lone distant elephant. 

Way to go India!  It’s refreshing to learn there are spots in India that haven’t fallen prey to the destructive human race!

STORY 2

Just made some new friends, Emma and Guy!  After spending a few hours together around the breakfast table, watching the local fisherman haul in the most insane beach netting system, it starts to get hot, India style!  The kind where if you don’t drink your chai quickly enough it gets salty and watered down from the steady stream of sweat running off your nose.

Well then, what better to do with a rest day at the beach then go bodysurfing.  Oddly enough, or maybe not as they are from England, where it’s always cold, this is one of the first times Emma has ever been in the ocean where there is any swell.  Wading in chest deep a wave comes and we all dive down to get underneath it, that is except Emma who just stands there and gets tossed around a bit.  Turning I can see that she’s out of her comfort zone so I give her a grin, ‘nice one’.  At the same time Guy shouts, “one’s popped out Emma!”  Following her eyes down…low and behold it has, a boob has completely hopped out of its hammock. Wiping it back in she looks mortified and turns for shore.  Most likely because she thinks I was giving her the ‘One Eyed Titty Wink’ not the ‘Good Ocean Skills Grin’ I was intending. 

Sadly because either her wipping acting was olimpic athleat fast or my visionary reaction was so slow i didn't even get to see the boob.  Not necessarly that i wanted to but who would give up a free boob spotting opportunity; it was like getting caught steeling out of the cookie jar when you didn't really steal any cookies.

How do you explain that one?  I thought about it for a few seconds and came to the realization that I couldn’t so I let it go. 

Haha, that is until now as she and Guy are on our emailing list.  Haha. Boobs!

Love Mantis and Mango