We had been slogging it in the van and on the bikes for two days. We decided to drive late into the night because every hotel we stopped at told us they were full. There was no chance they were full but they just didn't want to have to deal with the complicated foreigner paperwork, either that or they just didn't like the look of us.
It was Dunny and my late shift in the van and Stew, Gaz and Jon on the bikes. It was 1am and we were getting hungry, in the distance appeared a pair of golden arches, spot on. We parked the van opposite in an abandoned fuel station, waited for the bikes to arrive then got stuck into a McDonalds. We made up the 5 beds in the van and got our heads down.
We woke and set off to drive the last 40km into Bangalore. Stews bike ran out of fuel so we stuck it in the back of a van. Me and Gaz on the bikes got separated from the van in traffic. Half hour later Stew came running down the road, he had spotted us on the other side of the road.
We found the road full of hotels and booked into one. Stew did a brilliant job of negotiating a rate with the parking attendant. The parking attendant eye's lit up when we arrived and tried charging us way more than his big sign said. Stew politely explained we would only pay the amount on his sign.
We had been slogging it on the roads for the last few days so we all agreed a few beers were in order. We checked the lonely planet for the best drinking spots then hit the town. The night started slow until the bar we were in started blasting out some absolute classics. The beer towers were flowing and Gaz took up the spicy chicken wing challenge. We met some British expats working in Bangalore for a year, they recommended a bar down the road. We continued drinking, playing pool, table football and generally having a good time. Stew and Jon left first. An hour and a half later me dunny and Gaz left the bar. Stew and Jon had just arrived, they had been driving around the whole time trying to find the hotel.
We woke the following day feeling rough but we had a big day ahead. We had decided to pack all the motorbikes into the van for the drive back to Mumbai. The van was quicker on the big roads and we could drive for longer in comfort. This meant we had to spend the day sorting out the van and packing the bikes into the back. It all went to plan and even left enough room for a booth in the back for a 4th passenger.
We finished packing then went for a curry before setting off on the 1000km drive to Mumbai. When we returned to the van a lady greeted Dunny, she was from the local TV news show and wanted to interview us about our travels. We had no time to prepare and were put on the spot a bit but it went OK. We exchanged contact details and hopefully we can get a copy of the report.
We then set off towards Mumbai at about 7PM. It took the first two hours just to get out of Bangalore. We spotted a weigh bridge so we quickly snuck onto it, 4.3 tonnes, the max gross weight is 3.5tonnes. It just reinforces how well big Sal has done on this trip. She had a similar weight onboard in Mongolia and we were smashing it across uneven dirt tracks. We drove non stop and completed the 1000km in 22 hours.
Our hungover packing of the bikes wasn't quite up to scratch, mine and Stew's collided leaving a big dent in Stew's fuel tank, another problem to sort out in Mumbai.
We arrived safely in Mumbai and checked into India guest house
Rob
