Bike ride to Chikhadara -Part 4

24th Dec:
The day started pretty early with us waking to morning calls at ~6:30am. Soon we called up the reception for our buckets of hot water (the hotel heater system was down and hence they would provide us with water). Soon the water arrived and we took turns getting fresh. By ~7:30am we checked out of the hotel and rode down to the little snack shop, and had some quick snacks. Nachiket and me decided to leave early, since we would have formalities to complete with the checkpost guy. (821.4kms, 8:01am).

Here Nachi, had a slip at slow speeds. It was pretty funny, I was trailing him and thought he was taking a stop for a leak and then at a standstill position the bike fell off. No injuries just a few parts got jammed which were rectified soon. Past some twisties we were at the checkpost and started off with the formalities for tickets and shelling off 210/-. Soon everyone teamed in and with the formalities done we took the ghat to Semadoh(~8:30am).

By now we were familiar with the road and jungle, thus left at our own pace downhill. Past the twisties as were were nearing Semadoh, came a huge roar (like a muffled sound) definitely a tiger, monkeys jumped off trees as the sound came in. (None except Amit and me heard that roar... so well, we atleast got to hear a tiger roar in the tiger sanctuary). Soon we arrived at Semadoh took a regroup halt and rode off ahead. Here I was leading the entire way- the bike was not behaving well, it kept misfiring and for me it felt like riding a horse for every misfire blast. Still the smooth roads went on straight ahead at ~80kmph. We did slowdown to regroup and continued to ride in a straight line. There were a couple of close calls as passing by motorist/cars would stop to have an eyeful of us streamlined motorists and thus almost run into us. But nothing bad happened. Soon we rode past Dharni Phata. The road now started getting bad in patches and we riders were now spaced apart. The jungle started to thin off as we started riding along a thin road with farm on both sides. Soon we were following signs for Bhuranpura and Dharni. Finally we arrived at the little village of Dharni -our breakfast halt(896.9kms, 10:25am).

The previous day's food had taken a toll on me and my stomach was not feeling right and with a slight headache decided to skip snacks and just have a cup of tea. Other relished on the local food- which they said was the best they had on the entire ride (grrrrrrrr!). Many villagers gathered around the bikes and kept passing comments. Soon in about 30minutes we left in the direction of Bhuranpura.

For the ongoing route the road was not too good and we mostly had some farmland on both sides with a thin road going straight through various hamlets. At one point an Indica car parked to the left of the road revved hard to let out a plume of black smoke wall on the road and Nachiket rode straight through it at 70kmph - it looked cool, as he passed through- the smoke trailed him through the hole :). I followed him - possibly made similar impact on my trailing compadres. Soon enough we arrived at a small checkpost sorts and rode straight through with a board that read (Welcome to Madhya Pradesh)! Thumbs up and in we were the new state. The roads were pretty thin and continued with similar scenery around us. We kept riding more or less in a single file. The road signs were now in hindi and the overspeeding caution messages too were in Hindi- no Marathi :). At places the roads were pretty bad and we had to pass through some stagnating traffic, as trucks and heavy vehicles blocked a market road at a village. We rode on and soon arrived at a junction with Bhuranpur to the right.

All riders rode right following the lead of Mandar, soon we were crossing a huge river over a wide bridge -Tapi river. We were going in the wrong direction we never were to cross Tapi and simply had to by-pass Bhuranpur. Nonetheless we regrouped soon after riding some 6 kms into the city outskirts, were stopped by cops for a routine check of vehicle-papers. The cops were thrilled to know we had been ridding all the way from Pune, all cops crowded around us like curious spectators, it sure was a funny sight. One of the cops persuaded us to stay at Bhuranpur and take a look at a nearby hill fort which is like an icon for the city. We politely rejected his offer- by now Mandar and Maneesh were in a situation with no RTC papers since their bikes were brand new and the papers had not arrived. Some talks and 50 bucks let them free. We took appropriate directions from the cops and they directed us back 6kms and asked us to take a right towards Ichhapur and eventually Maharashtra via Muktainagar.

So we rode back some 6kms kilometrers and took a halt near a tea stall. Amit came in with Dhanya and we learnt a new story - Dhanya was traveling without papers and had lost the same a long time back. This was pretty bad, but he managed to slip off with us. Eventually Mandar and Maneesh teamed in and we had our cups of tea and Maneesh went down to a mechanic to get his mirror repaired (979.7kms, 12:29pm). Eventually post tea, we decided to ride towards Ichhapur and have lunch either there or at Muktainagar.

The road from here was along a highway and it was pretty smooth - we could speed after a long time. We went riding over a couple of rivers, some were full others seemed pretty dry. Soon we were driving through highway traffic and eventually entered Ichhapur a small town and just as immediately rode through a checkpost sorts with a board indicating we were leaving Madhya Pradesh. The road signs were again in friendly territory. My bike would not let me ride any faster that 70kmph. So I was trailing back, others recognized this and took turns trailing me or ride around me :). The afternoon was pretty hot and a big change from the last 3 cool days- that meant getting tired as you ride. We arrived at Muktainagar, and rode into junction but found no spot where we could have lunch. (1017.8kms, 13:36pm). Post some inquiries locals asked us to have lunch at a near by college canteen. Amit and Dhanya went to check out the restaurant- they called back to affirm the quality and we gathered for lunch.

The canteen was pretty simple and was built adjoining the Muktainagar college. The owners were pretty happy to see us and we were pretty tired under the sun. Took a couple of tables under the shade of a tree. The waiter kid was an enthusiastic lad and suggested some good food -shev bhaaji, aloo rassa bhaji , vaangi bhaaji and lotsa chapaatis and papads. These parts of Maharashtra are know was extremely spicy food, so we instructed them to make it less spicy. The food was simple and amazing ... the taste was top notch. Even with my rotten stomach I could not resist the temptation. After a long relaxing break we took our leave and took directions and rode off in the direction of Jamner our next halt(1018kms, 14:35pm).

The ensuing road was no different, but post some distance there was this construction activity underway and that meant a lot of rubble. Maneesh managed to slip again, but with no injuries. Soon we came to an extremely bad patch of road where there was a deadloack with a truck entering a ditch an we lining up to get out of it, but soon enough we were on our merry way. The road went through some desolate parts and soon we came to a halt near a railway crossing. Here and individual could not resting patting all of Amit's protective gear and Amit could not resist himself explaining the merits of each. A train passed by but the the gates did not open , an engine passed some 5 minutes later . Eventually the gates opened and we rode through. Roads were no different and we simply kept going. Soon we arrived at Jamner and took a regroup halt, Jamner was to the right we had to go straight. I had to fuel up so did the same while others settled at a tea stall (1065.8kms, 15:51pm).

Here the tea shop owner and few other visitors suggested us not to goto Ajantha Caves as it was to close by 5pm and also one could not ride all the way to the caves. We would have to park the vehicles at a junction then take a bus to the caves. We contemplated on various options for an overnight stay- Pardapur and staying at Dahnya's farm house was one of them. We decided on riding down to Pardapur and hunt for places to stay- The Ajantha caves visit was in the bin. We left for Pardapur (16:25pm).

Rode straight along the highway, my bikes condition was deteriorating and we thought of getting it repaired at some nearby city if time permitted. Eventually post some highway straight drive we arrived at Pardapur neat an MTDC resort. The owners there pulled the gates on us saying it was full, but did suggest an MTDC affiliated resort "Yuvraj" just on the outskirts of Sillod(1095.7kms, 17:07pm). We tried convincing the owner, but was of no avail. Dejected we decided to ride on towards Sillod- Dhanya suggested we had a fallback plan in case no hotels worked out -his farmhouse. We rode on stright towards Sillod.

We had decided to keep an eye out for Yuvraj hotel, Amit and others rode straight ahead to make the search at higher speeds I kept chugging behind. So by now I was riding pretty much alone far behind, in about 45minutes the riders were waving down to me along the side of the road in a distance. It was a butt break halt. Sillod was hardly some 2 kms away -Amit, Maneesh and Dhnya went off ahead to search for the hotel while the rest of us took a halt (I needed one especially after riding the farting horse!). Soon Amit called and said the hotel seemed OK and was just 5 minutes from where we were- as usual the others had ridden away.

Eventually we all grouped up at "Hotel Yuvraj". From outside it seemed pretty neat. The rooms were not well kempt and we took an adjoining less untidy room. The staff had promised to give us 4 extra beds. Thus we wrapped down into the room and decided to have dinner at the hotel itself. (1132kms, 18:00pm). Some of us took a fresh up and others walked off in the open area of the hotel which seemed like a mini resort. Having too many mosquitoes we requested for repellent coils which we got. Later we spent time in the central reception room/dining area as we watched the India-Srilanka match. The cold was unbearable and some of us got comfortable near the bhatti (where they bake naans and rotis).

Here drinks were ordered which arrived after about 45 minutes, the dinner came after about 2 hours- pathetic service. I had already dozed off at the table and Mandar gave me neat massage in a bid to keep me awake- Thanks Mandy!. Later Mandy and the owner went down to the drinks shop to change the drinks since they were outdated, and it turned out the drink shop owner had over charged! Eventually dinner arrived and it tasted horrible- chicken handi was like rubber pieces, the veg handi was made in chinese gravy after this we could not have anything. The only good part was having all those 12 boiled eggs before the dinner.

Eventually tired and disoriented we retreated back to our rooms. The beds had not arrived only 3 extra beds were there and no blankets. Lots of shouting eventually got in 2 blankets and an extra double bed, this irritated most of us and we went out and blasted the manager and the owner of the hotel at 12 midnight. The bozzos had not given us anything and expected us to sleep tight in the cold night. Finally they assured we would get everything soon, at ~12:30 am all the blankets arrived amidst our sleep. Irritated I snapped at the manger who got the blankets, Maneesh who was sleeping next to the door woke up mid-sleep and went "Huuuhh.. hooo ooooo ooooooooooo oooooooo ... blah blah blah" blabbering in his sleep "sleep off man" I snapped at him and just as immediately he dozed off - Nachi and me enjoyed this, and we kept teasing him for this for the rest of the trip.

Eventually we called it a day at ~12:35am. The next day our ride was to end and we could do that at a leasurly pace, but with my bikes bad condition meant our speeds would be hampered. The next day was to see a major influence cased by good old CBZ the fart buster!