Road Trip to SravanaBelagola

Got invited to join a couple of people riding to SravanaBelagola - one of the tallest statues in the world (questionable). Maybe from the bottom of the hill to the top of the statue but the statue wasnt so big itself.

I hired a scooter and slightly embarassedly drove the 3hrs behind the best Enfield Bullet - such a cool bike - i wish they'd make one for the ladies. Anyway it was sunny, light breeze, westly wind (joke). once we got off the main roads we had the country lanes to ourselves and the drive through the farming villages was unspoilt.

Arriving in the town we parked at a hotel - got a room - 3 sharing - all beds right next to each other - to save money - but it was ok for one night. We went for awalk - i think it was about 2pm - hot hot hot - sun high and we're walking 2kms back to a lake - it was worth it - not a sound (save a man on a microphone full blaste talking talking talking about what /???? a wedding perhaps ?). At about 4pm we start walking back through the swampy , bouldery, overgrown land to get back to the road and we decided to go back a slightly different way through the bushes. We ended up blocked in with a thorny bush to cross as the only way out - so we laid our rucksacks over the thorns n climbed over - me first - A woman was yelling and screaming at us so i was trying to go fast and i got an inch long thorn stuck in my leg - i was trying to balance on one leg and pull out the thorn in the end it ripped my leg and blood was gushing... Dan (driver of the bullet) had some white powder (arsenic. no i mean, something like iron cant remember what but the blood stopped immed). They hopped over the fence and the woman by this time had caught up with us. no idea what she was so upset about.

We walk round the side of the house we've just scrambled into and theres a slum and 4 rabbid seriously not alive dogs and kids n woman and a whole community staring at us... mmmmm what to do. We wave and walk on up to the road - as you do. My leg is a little sore but ok. Dan stood on a thorn which we tried to pull out of his foot but he thinks a little bit got stuck in .

We start the 600 step climb to the Sravana statue of Gomateshwara (some saint of something but i cant remember what sorry folks). Good climb. and good view of flat lands. We see the statue, and then sit on the top of the hill to watch the sunset.
Its full moon also so we walk around the other side of the hill to see the full moon and discover that we 've been locked in . There's a 10 foot high wall all around and the gates are metal -no way out. We scour the wall for a good place to try and climb up and see how far down it is on the otherside - its a hill sloping down. Anyway we find a place to climb up and clambour down the other side - bit scary for scraping the elbows n knees but we all made it - then we have to walk 'off piste' like to the stair case for the 600 steps down. It was like walking on the moon but no Police. ha ha... get to the steps and its got a metal banister all the way down so we all slide down the bannister - it was so much fun and made the decent quicker and easier...

Dinner - Hysterical. Dan had been here before and said he knew a restaurant with a roof terrace or garden at least. He prepared us to not expect anything smart. And we walked in through the front entrance - same as any typical road side masala dosa type place and out the side we ended up in a part of thebuilding not yet built / finished - or like the side alley - with plastic tables n chairs - wooden scaffolinding holding up the ceiling above us and corrugated iron wall in front shielding us from the road - it was great. 3 veg fried rice. and a masala dosa. mmmmmmmmmmm the food was very good. Bed i was looking forward to as i was super tired - but i didnt sleep a wink.

When riding bikes in India there are a few things good to know. 1. Dont stop if police try and stop you. 2. Definitely dont give them the keys to your bike. 3. Dont pay the fine - or only pay 100 rupees anything more you are being ripped off.

Driving back into Mysore / Gokulum - we didnt have helmets on and there was a police roadblock. Dan ahead of me drove straight through as he was asked to stop - so i increased me throttle and followed - i had to swerve hard onto the grass as a huge police man tried to grab me - hah! he couldnt catch me although he did whack me on the arm but I managed to drive past. Triumphant . We raced back the last 5 mins - luckily they didnt chase us... They just wanted our rupees.. How exciting is that!