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Day 34 (February 10, 2000) NO PICTURE AVAILABLE TODAY Click on the image above to run a little QuickTime movie <not available due to upload difficulties> and you'll get an idea of the kind of road I traveled today through the tea plantations near Munnar in Kerala. You would think that 12 hours on the road would get me some kind of great distance, especially with the buses and truck drivers on strike -- horray! the road's to myself today! Why the strike? Power outages are a huge problem in India. The electric company blacks out different areas for part of the day so that it doesn't get overloaded. The residents are tired of it and have convinced the drivers to strike to create attention, demanding that the politicians have the electrical problems solved. A lot of the shops were closed, except the metal slide-down liquor store doors were half rolled up, and lots of people were out on the street in towns. But for me it just meant that the best part of my ride -- Thekkady at Periyar Wildlife Sanctuary in the jungle, to Munnar which is the tea plantation area, to Ft. Cochin at the coast again -- would be the best ride ever. Even though I rode all day without any traffic to speak of I only made 270 km. But it was a great 270 km. The mountains were breathtaking! At one point I was on the precipice of a cliff just thousands of meters down, with hardly a guardrail to speak of, overlooking some of the most beautiful mountains I have ever seen. Flavors of the Great Smokeys, Blue Ridge, French Alps, with a tropical flair. It was actually COLD at some points. Around it are the tea plantations which are vast. A study in textures and in human ability to cultivate at any elevation. I met some other people with 500's, one gray like mine. A couple from Montreal and a man from Vancouver. Their bikes were running great and they seemed wonderful people. But alas, we were heading in opposite directions. So it was lunch, and then off again. BACK TO HOME |