Monday 05 May
I had been promised a visit from my BDG contact at 1030, and to be fair to him, he turned up early. That was the only good thing; he informed me that the bike would now not be available until the following day. 😣 He would let me know when I should go to the customs office to do the clearing.
My life was further complicated by the difficulty in making online payments. You may remember that the insurance broker had issued my policy without payment. Well, I managed to make the payment and happily told him so, only to be informed that I should have sent it to his personal account, bit the business account. “Do it again,” he instructed. “Not likely,” I thought.
I also had had difficulty paying the Automobile Association; the payment was pending and I had sent them proof of transfer, so I had the document I needed. Then the bank returned the payment!
Following on the message I had received from Seco Shipping, I arranged to go to their office to discuss onward shipping of the bike; I had no intention of using BDG again. This proved to be a turning point of sorts. Seco were as organised and seemingly efficient as BDG were disjointed and in-effective. Mustafa quickly established exactly where the bike was, arranged for someone to expedite, or at least ensure there were no holdups in, the clearing process. All the necessary documents were copied – and there were many of them – and preliminary arrangements were made to transport the bike to another warehouse, where I could get what I needed after it had been released from customs.
One final memorable event ended the day. I left all the carefully prepared papers in the taxi! 🙄 I informed Mustafa – he was very calm about it –, and I was making arrangements to get everything copied again, when someone phoned and asked if I had left my papers in a taxi! The taxi driver had told him my hotel, he had called, got my number and then called me. Several hours later I met up with the taxi driver and retrieved my papers.
Tue 06 May
I reported, as instructed, to the BDG office, and here met yet another individual who didn’t seem to know what was going on. He arranged my entry pass to the customs area – the only thing BDG actually did – and then left me with Ravi, the guy who would actually do the paperwork.
Six hours later, everything was completed and the bike was out, except I didn’t yet have possession. BDG had not sent me an invoice – I only had a quote – and I refused to pay until I had a proper invoice. When this came, it was almost 50% higher than the quote. After much toing and froing I understood that this was due to a dubious additional charge and Indian GST, which is applied when the invoice is settled in local currency. I demanded an invoice in USD, swallowing the additional charge as un-recoverable.
Payment was going to take some time; they wouldn’t release it until they had received payment; so I told them they’d have to keep the bike until the morning, and went home.
Wed 07 May
Once again at BDG office, things were not going smoothly. They hadn’t identified the funds in their account and wouldn’t release the bike until they did. Half an hour later, they either found it, or relented. I went with the driver, in whose truck it had been stored overnight, and shortly after it was delivered to Seco’s warehouse.
The loading and unloading was a thing to behold. The truck was just about big enough to hold the crate, which meant loading it lengthwise, contrary to the warning on the end of the box. The “short” gives a flavour only; I decided to just stand back and let it happen.
Still it was off and manhandled into a safe spot, allowing me to start off-loading what I wanted. Everyone was most interested and offering to help, something I was well used to from my African travels. It was difficult to refuse, or prevent, this assistance, but it had to be done diplomatically, as these guys would be keeping an eye on the bike until it was moved.
Finally I had all I wanted and things were repacked.
Thurs 08 May
A day of admin, trying to book flights and organise visas. The only way I could find to Islamabad was via Muscat in Oman and Karachi, using three unconnected flights. In other words, each flight stands alone; I have to check in for each separately, and at each connection, I have to go through passport control, reclaim my bag and then check it in again, before returning through border control and security; this apparently, is a travel hack to ge a cheaper flight. Should be interesting!
Thanks to the above, I needed a visa for Oman. Easy enough on line, except for the payment bit. My visa was approved, but it took 3 e-mails and a phone call before I learned that you have to login to the site before you get to the payment button. The other worry in this respect is that 10 days after applying, my Iranian visa hasn’t yet been approved. Could be a problem. 😬
With time to spare, I arranged for a new pair of specs with stiff arms as it was not possible to fit the ones I had got in Puke inside my helmet. I also found a leather man who could fix the sleeve of my jacket that the harridan in Drury had refused to do. Getting to him required a tuk-tuk ride of 1 hour each way.
Friday 09 May
When chatting to Mustafa earlier in the week, I mentioned that I was thinking of visiting a vineyard over the weekend for a break and a tasting tour. He immediately offered me the loan of his bike, a Kawasaki 650 Versa; of course I immediately accepted.
First order of business today then was to retrieve my helmet from the bike box. This was easy as it was only a sort drive away and the top of the box was damaged so access was easy enough.
Then it was down to the office to organise the paperwork for the re-export of the bike. I was getting quite good at finding my way around, but this time I made the mistake of agreeing to the use of the taxi meter, rather than negotiating a price. The result was that the ride cost me twice as much as any of the 4 previous trips I had made over the same distance. Mustafa told me the meters are rigged! He suggested I take a train back and, since I had often thought about a tour of India by train, I decided to give it a go.
It was not at all bad as a first class passenger, even if 1st class is fairly basic; the air conditioning consists of open doors and some ceiling mounted fans. It took about a hour on a train through the longest rubbish tip I have ever experienced; not the best face of Mumbai, or India.
Sat 10 May
I was up early so I could get to Mustafa’s apartment to collect the bike before he went to work. Getting a taxi can be a stressful exercise, what with getting the destination understood and then trying not to be totally taken for a ride 😂 where the fare was concerned. I opted for a short ride to the station and then took 2 trains, a different experience to yesterday as it was now close to rush hour, even if it was Saturday.
I was a bit apprehensive as this would be the first time I had ridden a modern bike since I owned a BMW back in the 80s. The bike seemed big, in the sense of tall, and when I first took it off the stand, it was heavy. However, once I was astride it, it felt quite light, the only issue being that the clutch engaged withing an inch of the grip, making control impossible.
I adjusted this at the bar end and at the same time replaced the phone holder, which was too small for my brick, with my own mounting. Then, after a short run up and down the street to get a feel for the bike, it was into the traffic for the 19km ride to the hotel.
This experience wasn’t nearly as bad as I had feared. The traffic wasn’t as heavy as some I had previously experience in a cab, but it was still pretty hectic. Concentration and all-round constant observation is a must. There is no right of way; the rules are guidelines and everybody goes where he – and it’s 99% of the time “he” – wants to. Nobody cuts you off, at least not deliberately, and as long as you are, carefully, confident and assertive, all seems to go well. That said, I am amazed there are not many more prangs. Watching the traffic is a bit like watching a murmuration of starlings; everyone does his own thing and goes his own way, but at the same time everything moves forward together, with minimal empty spaces and apparently synchronise movement.
For those interested, there is an interesting discussion of how a murmuration happens at this website, from where I got the above picture.
I managed to hold my place, and move with the flow and, just over an hour later, I was back at base.
I sent the afternoon getting myself ready for the big adventure out to one of India’s premier vineyards. I didn’t even know India produced wine. This included working out how and where to mount the Insta360 – not as difficult as I expected.
Sun 11 May
I left early in order to miss traffic. Lucky I did, because, even at 0800 on a Sunday morning the first hour was not pleasant. Apart from anything else, the bike was so responsive in 1st that negotiating the traffic was a series of head jerks. I rapidly learned to keep it in 2nd, or even 3rd, gear and feather the clutch to smooth out the ride. Once out in the country things improved a bit and the bike proved to be a pleasant way cover the miles.
Then it was off the highway and onto smaller roads. This avoided the traffic, but had other hazards. The roads were narrow and bends sharp, tightening suddenly in many cases. It was hard to stay on the right side of the centre line, which was an imagery one, and this led to a close call as I was rounding a right-hand curve. I was at (or maybe just over 😬) the centre, but he, due to the narrowness of the road, was definitely over the centre. A quick evasive manoeuvre got me out of trouble, but I was much more careful from then on.
I made it to the hotel, Beyond by Sula, with only one missed turn and was very pleased with the performance of my new navigation aid, a brick called Oscal Pilot 1.
Belfast-2-Belfast-By-Bike 