Indian Wrestling

Its Saturday evening 30th of Sept. On Turkish airways flight to Bahrain. Beginning to think it was a crazy choice but it has meant heading south west ffrom Istanbul towards the east and away from the creeping cold european weather. An Irish lady whose husband is a pilot in Bahrain commented that cycling there was not the done thing and that most people rent a car and that the Island is rather small and can be seen in a few days. No trains or many buses apparently so we'll have to see. I spent this morning searching fro flight options having decided to skip Iran and Pakistan. One option was to fly to Bangladesh via Dubai but the cost had increased by the time I reached the airport so I decided to check out other options by studying the destination board. Getting the bike on the plane (hope its on) was a nightmare where first they insisted on it being wrapped in cellophane. I argued some sense though suggesting that if the wheels were left free, it would
make it easier to load. Then they insisted that I remove the tent, sleeping mat and front paniers which I then had to tie together with some rope and hope. The flight takes 3.5 hours and I am advised that I can get an entry visa on arrival but have no idea of the cost. I'm pretty knackered though feel ready ready for any road traffic challenge after the successful but hairy ride to Istanbul airport from the city centre.
Now Sunday 31st evening at 2030hrs and in a short whille I will be boarding a flight to Colombo Banladesh. I had a rather dissapointing day at the Indian Embassy. What I perceive to be an opportunity to make potential visitors welcome, turned out to be quite the opposite with conflicting information given by their officials and a potential 4 day wait while they hold on to your passport and expect you to provide an address eg. hotel who would no doubt request to see ones passport. This, after they have sent you across the road to obtain one copy of your passport for their admin purposes. I had two good quality black and white photos which their first official accepted and stapled carelessly onto the application. Then waited in queue for an hour to be told about needing an address for reasons I do not understand and the holed photos rejected. Swcond lady also then told me that I would need to sort this lot out by 12 noon when all application would have to
wait until tge next day. Then she said tgere would be a 4 day wait in any case. I felt very put off and went to express my being upset and discouraged from travelling to India afterall when for many years I had looked forward to doing so. + spoke with the consul deputy who tried to establish how they may help with my circumstances. I explained about having intended travelling ASAP and budget restricted so hotel accommodation not being affordable at around 50 pounds per night minimum. Another lady, the consuls assistant then said that it may be possible to do it quicker, by perhaps the next day but depended on London Office confirmation so could not be sure.
I had explained about my not having arranged visas from London because of being on an unpredictably long cycle journey and the deputy seemed to think that was not suitable and unless I was associated and or sponsored by a recognised organisation, their was nothing he could do so like Poncious Pilot, he washed his hands of the affair and left me wondering what motivation caused him to take that view. I gave up feeling very dejected and thought how others must have experienced the same prevention system. I left and returned some minutess later to write the Consul General a letter about my experience and difficulty there. I will publish this letter on the website at a later date and trust that I will receive a reply and some consideration to my observations.

Oh well, if at second you don't succeed try....
So I am off to Bangladesh where I am informed they are willing to issue a visa on arrival and hope that a third attempt at visiting an Indian Consulate to apply for a visa outside my home country will be a more positive experience. Else, a visit to India may never have been on the cards afterall. Again, we'll have to wait and see.

By the way, Bahrain is an indoor place unless you are an early morning walker, or a park worker.

Many very impatient drivers who do not appreciate that cyclists cannot simply dissapear out of their way. Petrol is 20p a litre. large villas are built on reclaimed land and shell fisherman fly around at great speed in motorboats. I understand that pearls are dived for here but I have not seen much really while trying to keep clear of manic drivers, coverless road drains, unhelpful vias officials and hot humid dusty air. The aiport staff here though are very freindly and far more accomodative towards crazy cyclist travellers, pleasantly human. So much more so than the automaton robot like the Turkish Airline check in staff at Istanbul.

Gota go