Distress Purchase

The "now" referenced in the previous SMS update should have referred to n30 52.578 e77 4.016, evidently I can't put two locations in one SMS.

The mountain road was, um, not ready for prime time. In this particular section it was, in fact, quite free flowing, the road was essentially three lanes wide: a lane of amazingly un-distressed tarmac which makes you wonder why some other parts are so awful); a fenced/marked off lane (on the drop side); and a roughly graded lane on the mountainside. Everyone, where they could, would obviously use the tarmac though there was no two lane enforcement as the "left" lane for those of us coming downhill would be essentially rubble.

This arse came up the road at a fair old rate, plenty of people do but they slow down when faced with any opposition so that people can get out of the way. In this case the jerk didn't slow down but even edged over the tarmac towards me (it being a slight right hand bend for him). I was running down the very edge of the tarmac to avoid falling into the rubble at speed which has its own attendant consequences. There was a crack and my handlebars wobbled though surprisingly not enough to push me off the tarmac. There was the sound of tinkling.

I couldn't see a problem with my wing mirror and I'm pretty sure I hit him with the metal of my hand guards. I had slowed and in my mirrors I could see he had stopped and was getting out. Tough, pal, I was thinking, you nearly knocked me off with your crappy driving.

I went on and about a kilometre down the road he caught up with me, overtook and stopped in front of me. He jumped out and started talking in Hindi, I guess, and mentioned something about paying for his mirror. I said no and pointed out he'd nearly killed me. There was something of an impasse, then, as he phoned a friend, I guess, and there was some laughter (along the lines of "a foreigner has hit my car"). The laughing didn't impress me much.

As I wasn't coughing up he mentioned the police and I said fine. After ten minutes, though, nothing was happening and I made to move off and he said follow me. He caught me up (he's a lot more stable on sand/mud corners) and pulled to a halt at the next town blocking the road and went to find a policeman.

The policeman appeared looking decidedly uninterested and there was more talk of paying. I was now surrounded by inquisitive locals and the road ahead was blocked by traffic. He had to move his vehicle then disappeared with the policeman while one of the locals garbled at me.

He returned with the policeman and said I should pay half (R500). I said no, told the policeman (for the second time) that this guy was a reckless driver and should be punished for attempted murder (the policeman didn't speak any English so it was a bit hit and miss what words he might recognise, murder sounded good) and I then threw some coarse Anglo-Saxon at the arse as he was laughing on the phone again.

Both he and the policeman disappeared again. Another local appeared who spoke pretty good English and after I had explained all, pointed out that if I left now they would never be able to trace me. This seemed like good local advice and as the road ahead had cleared I took off.

I then motored at at decent pace on very good roads just in case he'd heard me go and decided to chase me again. I didn't want to get run off the road.

The goal was to stay in Shimla but it rather seems Shimla is full. Very full, based on the half dozen hotels I stopped at, none of whom had anything much to offer by way of alternatives) and the touts are out a hunting. In the end I've been round the outside and have, by way of somewhere else, found myself here, gone 9pm, with a grotty "flat" (the squat toilet's flush has failed, the "geyser" (immersion heater) wasn't doing much before I came down to eat, we needed a torch to get in etc.) for the bargain price of R2000. Sigh.

Current at lat/long: n31 5.132 e77 10.736

Hotel Kalra Regency, Shimla, Himachel Pradesh, IN.