India. Oh good lord..
 

Well here I am in the south of India in the village of Sahakar Nagar, a "suburb" of Bangalore. It's kind of crazy here in that ther are I think 3 stop lighs in a city of over 8 million and no stops signs. The whole city is one big merge. The rule here is the bigger the vehicle is, it has the right of way. All I do is close my eyes and pray to Vishnu, Gonesh and all the rest for safe passage. Riding a bike in the city itself? Not something I am going to try for a while. Every vehicle has its horn going all the time to let you know that you are about to be overtaken. So far the auto rickshaw rides into the city have been quite a thrill. Every bike here, all 8 million of them are single speeds. There is a wide range of styles, old british or Mtb. Take your pick and thats about it. I'm going to pickup a s/s mtb. A hercules bike, named after the god of strength that you will have to be to get the bamn thing up a hill. Oh well, love what you ride, right. Anyway once I get my own machine and can download some pics I will share the wonderfull world of India, and the riding experiences to have here.

Good luck down there. I used to be in Hyderabad and Madras for a while and the traffic can be mind boggling - not to mention the cows that chill by the sidewalks too -.
What are you doing down there, work?

I was in Bangalore a few months ago. Traffic there was like a life-sized depiction of brownian motion. My biggest question is: How do the police determine what to give out tickets for? Regardless of the chaotic nature of traffic there, I saw very little in the way of accidents and my hosts who were doing the driving were VERY aware of their surroundings. With the amount of SA they exhibited, they could have qualified as fighter pilots.

My wife is teaching at The Canadian Internation School here and I came along for the ride. I'm on my vacation/honeymoon for a few more days then off to get a job in a hotel. The driving is fantastic to see after the initial shock of it all wears off, and I have yet to see any accidents.

it is all about using the horn to announce your way. guess that keeps people on their toes with all that noise and tension.
Everytime anybody got pulled over the usually slipped some notes behind the license as if they take your license for any violation you could not see it again for a month or two.

Yep... they use the horn to announce their position and intent. It allows drivers to use another sense to help them keep their SA. The horn over there doesn't have quite the stigma that it seems to have in the US where it's viewed as a form of retaliation or a device of insult.

s/gonesh/ganesh

Bangalore has lost its original charm, esp. after all the tech companies moved in along with throngs of people. Less than half speak the local language (kannada). I don't like that place anymore. If you have time, you could check out some natural parks around. Thick tropical forest is less than 100mi. You may see a tiger or two, but you will likely come across a bunch of elephants munching their way. Don't take your MTB though!

Definately looking forward to your pics.

I know, India is kaos. Also looking forward to pix. Pix pix pix!