Amazing how quickly plans can change.
I’ve been planning to go to Vadodara and then changed my mind again a couple of times and for different reasons over the past weeks. Until this morning, the latest plan was not to go. Instead, I wanted to stay in Karjan, a few kilometers south at the NH8, and then cycle eastish around Vadodara tomorrow.
This morning I left without breakfast; none available at the hotel. Got some at a hotel/guesthouse/restaurant a few kilometers down the road.
After about 12km I paid too much attention to some funny noise the bike seemed to make, and did not look at the road for a few meters. Hit one of these red and white cones with my coles bags and ripped them apart. My dear, beloved coles bags. They accompanied me for 3000+ km from Perth to Adelaide and beyond. And now that.
So, plans changed again and I was now hitching a ride to Vadodara. Two guys in a mini truck stopped and picked me up. Started chatting in a mix of Hindi (not exactly my strength) and English (not exactly their strength) which was quite fun. Nice dudes, a textile wholesaler, Rajesh, and his employee (who’s name I forgot, unfortunately). They were on their way to Rajastan and said they’d drop me off at Vadodara. Eventually they asked if I wanted to join them to go further up north to Rajastan and – plans changed again – I said yes. They were from Udaipur, and for some reason I assumed they’re going there. Well, we made it beyond Ahmedabad to a little town called Chandrala. Here they told me they’d just be picking up some bags of saris and other items of clothing, and would then go back down south, past Vadodara and Surat (sound familiar?), to Vapi, not far from Mumbai. I wasn’t so keen on staying in this place with little hope on finding new coles bags. So I helped them load the stuff, and off we went.
Here I am now, in Vadodara. My two new friends went out of their way to find me hotel and made sure I was happy with it.
What a great day.
