Where to begin?

So …….. here I am. Back in Brighton and enjoying the filthy weather outside (not). And now it’s time to try and blog my experience – Argh! I can’t decide whether it’s the fact that my writing is so crap or the fact that perhaps words – any words – will be fairly ineffectual in my efforts to portray my ten days in Rajasthan but I’ll go with the latter, simply because it makes me feel better.

I’m unsure whether my blogging will also suffer as a consequence of not having been able to update at regular intervals but with the lack of anything more technical than a cow’s backside to plug anything into, blogging was out of the question. I did take notes. Honest. I did. But note-taking was difficult while cycling, I found. And on a bus in India it was akin to writing a Christmas card whilst white-water rafting. I even wrote some of my notes in pitch black, when the only light available was from my phone but the battery sadly died all too soon and … see above!

I’m undecided whether to try and write a day-to-day account, or simply attempt an overall picture of thoughts, feelings, impressions, images. And the group dynamics? Do they matter? Are they relevant?

Judging by the first three paragraphs, things are not looking too good, eh? Ah well … I think you’ll just have to bear with me. I’ll go with Day-to-Day but me being me you’ll undoubtedly get a lot of rambling as well. After all, this is India through MY eyes – not a guide book, two entirely different things. And besides, I’m of firm belief that the only guide book truly worth writing would be one that directed me to a working toilet (and I left the country without finding one so I have doubts that it would make the bestseller list).

Let’s start instead with an overview of the food – always a favourite topic of mine. I don’t think I need do any more than type out the alternative words to this well-known song which I wrote and performed on the last day of our trip, with the help of two wonderful cyclists who I shared a lot of laughs with. So – from me, Alison and Lisa – and to the tune of “The Twelve Days of Christmas” …

On the first day of cycling the team of 84 ... had curry for breakfast, lunch and tea!

On the second day of cycling the team of 84 had two bowls of rice and curry for breakfast, lunch and tea

On the third day of cycling the team …….. had three Delhi bellies, two bowls of rice and curry for breakfast, lunch and tea (you get the gist)

Fourth day: four lentil dhals

Fifth day: five Ciproxin

Sixth day: six aloo gobis

Seventh day: seven ripe bananas

Eighth day: eight tasty omelettes

Ninth day: nine warm chapattis

Tenth day: ten poppadoms

Yep! That about sums it up, except that I didn’t suffer from Delhi belly (thank you Travelguard – I’d take you anywhere!) and as such was spared the Ciproxin.

Oh – and the dhal? I was sooooooooooooooo disappointed in the dhal. Watery and bland – and I’d been planning to live on it! In fact, all the curries were quite mild. I’ve yet to double-check whether our chefs were holding back in favour of a European palate (what happened to Vindaloo and chips?) or whether the mild spices were very much regional. Otherwise, the food was fantastic. We had a team of chefs with us who zoomed ahead of us each day and set up the most amazing array of on-site freshly cooked meals (a choice of 7 or 8 dishes each time!), all served up buffet-style, hot, delicious and complete with poppadoms, naans, teas, coffees and desserts. Hats off to those boys, who were truly amazing!

So …