Queen Maya awoke from a fitful sleep and, feeling confined by the walls of the palace, decided to have a little walk through a nearby flower garden near Lumbini.  She was so taken with all of it, and it was real hot in her queen garb, that she just had to take a swim.  When…

Well, we sold the bikes. We knew they wouldn’t be with us long, since we were heading into the hills, but we couldn’t hack the second day of riding. We left early from Ghazipur and headed due north.  With no good alternative other than the main road, the going was busy and hot. With bums…

After blastoff, we reached a dead end and asked a couple of teens(one of our best sources of info as it turns out) which way over the tracks out of town.  They pointed in the direction of “Mughal side” of the river and off we went. While on the bridge we spotted an elephant with…

The second day in Varanasi was spent bike shopping and eating and drinking our way through the city.  We started out listening to some live Indian music at 7 am.  These people get going early.  Looking around, once again we were unsure of the protocol.  In one area there were only women sitting and the…

There are a lot of mental resources needed when traveling that you don’t normally tap into – from the logistics of hotels and transportation to the assessment of food sanitation.  India puts those resources on overdrive because you’re always trying to just understand what is going on around you.  In fact, we even got a…

It doesn’t really matter how well travelled you are, or think you are. Every time you get to a foreign place, you seem to have to go through an oligatory hazing period during which you are reminded that you’re a tourist like everyone else, no matter how exciting your plans may be. You get talked…