First week in India (no running)

So I’ve been in India a week now and it’s time to reflect. 

 Getting through immigration was a joke as the fingerprinting machines just weren’t working properly and I got off lightly with only about five failed attempts per hand.

I set out for the city quite soon. I was surprised how busy everywhere was at this time of night. The driver couldn’t find the hotel. He got me to find it online but that didn’t help, then he tried to phone them without success. He went and asked a group of rickshaw drivers for directions and eventually I spotted the sign across the road. The man on the front desk woke up with a jolt when I walked in. I was dead tired as it was 3am on my body clock, but he insisted I look at two rooms to choose between them (and of course the lift wasn’t working properly); neither were very nice. Later I noticed dead cockroaches on the floor, mothballs in the basin (this is an Indian custom), no toilet paper, and a view of a grimy wall.

In the morning I ordered breakfast at the hotel before remembering I had no Indian money. It didn’t seem to matter. Maybe it was included.

I walked around the dusty streets for a while checking out local restaurants for future reference. There were heaps. Then I went by taxi to the race expo which was an hour away. The driver told me there was a big marathon in Mumbai tomorrow but he didn’t understand when I said I was doing it, and nor did he understand I was going to the race expo as he was somehow reluctant to follow the street signs to the expo that I noticed when we got close.

I didn’t do much apart from eat and nap, and walk around those traffic filled dusty streets looking for a route to get to the race start. It was hot.

I reflected after arrival that India may have changed more than the West since I’d last been here in 1983. That was mainly because everyone is on their phones all the time. And there are lots of cars that aren’t relics of the sixties. It’s an illusion of Westernization. After week here I’m not so convinced that much has changed in a fundamental way. This morning at breakfast at my hotel in Bikaner the waiter asked how Australia was different and I was at a loss to explain, muttering about cleanliness and no cows on the streets, but looking out the window at the tumbledown or half-finished sandstone coloured houses and dry dusty streets I thought that it could really not be more different. 

One of my strongest memories of India is going to be from the Delhi subway station. The train was pulling into the station and I was waiting for the women’s compartment: it was the last one, and all the other compartments were filled with men in drab greys and browns, and then the women’s compartment came into sight and it was a riot of colour and loud noise. It spoke volumes about the colourfulness and liveliness of India.

Compared to my last visit things are still dirty, although less smelly. Hardly anyone smokes, which is a big and unexpected change. People drop their rubbish wherever they happen to be. There are piles of rubbish all along the streets and dogs or cows nibbling at whatever takes their fancy. The huge number of people on the streets is maybe disguised by the volume of traffic which takes precedence everywhere and is therefore more noticeable. 

Unlike before, I haven’t noticed people in rags just squatting in the gutter doing nothing (although there are plenty of folk doing nothing). People seem better dressed but almost no females are in Western clothes. I’m sure there are more cows in the streets than before; I just don’t remember there being quite so many. Touts seem to hassle less in that they don’t run down the street after me, but they still believe they have a right to talk to me and get an answer whenever they like. Everyone asks where I’m from and their knowledge of Australia is limited to cricketers. 

However it seems to me that fewer people can understand or speak English than previously; by no means are all signs in both English and Hindi and sometimes when I’ve asked for directions the person hasn’t understood. Nobody has tried to engage me in conversation in the language of Jeeves.

Jaisalmer is lovely but the ambience definitely suffers with the traffic; then again maybe I’m wrong: maybe the juxtapositioning of traffic and antiquity gives the place an Indian feel. When there’s no incessant hooting and you can walk in a relaxed way it will no longer be real. Apparently the town foundations can’t cope with the amount of water being used nowadays, but there’s no mention of the damage done by traffic. Motorised vehicles take priority everywhere. But the cows act blasé and in Bikaner the poor camels pulling big loads aren’t phased either.

The food has been really good and the restaurants, while basic, are not grotty. I don’t recall the sweet shops being so good or so plentiful. I have been short-changed twice after meals. They know the amounts of money are so small I would be embarrassed to check my change. 

Booking a train at the station has become easier. I haven’t seen any queues so far. There’s still a big form to fill in for a $4 train ticket. And, of course, finding the right reservation counter can be hard. But all in all it’s easier to book tickets in person than online since you don’t have to try the payment portal 20 times and don’t have the risk of getting your credit card cancelled!

Mumbai Marathon 21/01/2018

Advance notice: this story has a happy ending.

When I got up this morning, before 4.30am, I was not expecting to have a good day out on the roads of Mumbai, and I had not been looking forward to this marathon at all because of the heat and humidity. The expo had been, irritatingly, an hour's taxi ride away and in general I didn’t have good vibes about the race. All I had been able to find to buy for breakfast was a packet of biscuits so I ate a handful of these and had a big drink of water.

I left my hotel just before 5am and immediately saw lots of runners in the street, so I followed them towards the start, which was a good thing since they clearly knew a better way than the route I had practised yesterday. As I was crossing one road a female runner (Indian) beckoned to me to join her and we continued together to the start. I was pleased to see she was wearing shorts, like me, because I had worried about getting to and from the race so scantily dressed. The start area, a large oval, was rigidly controlled with security checks and designated starting chutes. With 50,000 participants over all races it was a big event.

I was in the first group of 'amateurs' so I left right on the gun at 5.40am. It was very dark but I don't think I missed much. After some city streets we turned onto a long straight road which I think was alongside the beach. As I had started so near the front I had to put up with a torrent of runners passing me. There were very few women and only a handful of non Indians. I was already uncomfortably warm.

I had so many little pains it wasn’t funny. And a big one - my left lower back was so tight I knew that any sudden movement would wrench it. My right glute was stiff and sore, my left foot was aching and my stomach didn’t feel right. And a blocked ear. I felt I was moving extremely slowly, which was borne out when the 4:45, 5:15 and then 5:30 pace groups passed me. I felt like I was trying to run through mud, it was such an effort to move forward.

It only got light after about 90 minutes, and by then we were running along the water and there was a slight breeze. The sun didn’t appear yet but it was humid. The air was misty, which might have been the pollution. I was drinking and drinking, and glad of the frequent aid stations. But there was only water. After a while some aid stations had orange juice in juice boxes with straws; it was a chore having to unwrap the straw, pierce the box and then suck hard. There was no food for a very long time, but at some places they had large bowls of salt which were popular. The half marathoners came by in the other direction.

There were several improvised stages with Indian traditional dance. The Indian Navy band was playing. Other runners were friendly, some saying hullo, and always apologising for bumping. I was amazed, I don’t know why, how the other runners looked just like runners at a marathon anywhere, apart from there being so few women, more runners in bare feet and fewer older runners. A lot of them wore club shirts but the vast majority wore the race shirt, which I also wore although it was a bit too tight. The runners were very enthusiastic about the many race photographers, going right up to them and raising their arms in celebration.

We turned onto a long bridge. I was trying to move a bit faster and to convince myself I didn’t feel as bad as I have felt on other bad running days; in the latter I was successful. 18 kilometres used to be a point at which I could tell if I was going to have a really bad day and at 18 kilometres today  I could still run ok. 

Then at 19 kilometres I went to the toilet, not in itself a great experience, but when I resumed running I just felt so much better. This was a turning point. I picked up the pace and felt very positive. I knew things would be ok after all. A marathon is always hard but I would make it.

Shortly before half way we turned towards Mumbai and came back into urban areas. The first elite men came by in a group followed by the elite women all running alone; they had started at 7.10am. The streets were quite lively with spectators and also people going about their daily lives. And a few mangy dogs. But no cows. We passed lots of shops, some parks and all sorts of buildings. Along much of the route there were groups of police standing guard. I think I enjoyed this bit the best because it was the most Indian part of the route: broken up footpath, tiny shops, dozing dogs, colour, dust, noise.

Masses of marathoners were walking by now, and I had the impression of passing groups of the people who had passed me earlier. Some food appeared at some of the aid stations, mandarins and bananas and biscuits. One time I took some mandarin segments and they were salty. I ate some tiny bananas. Towards the end there were locals handing out what was I’m guessing their own food and many of the aid stations had run out, especially the ones with Kit Kat fingers. So sad.

We came back along the beach we had passed in the dark - it was wide and sandy. I coaxed myself through the 30s, telling myself I could walk a bit each kilometre after 32, but then I got to 32 and made myself run to 33, the same at 33 I made myself run to 34 and so on. I never properly walked! But I was running very slowly. I was having funny sensations in my lower legs as if they might give way, then I had shooting pains in my right foot. My back had eased up. All in all I was pleased with myself. I was also pleased that the sun hadn’t really been an issue until very late on; it was possible to run in the shade most of the time and by the time I had to run in the full sun I was past caring.

The finish was right in front of the architectural extravaganza that is the main railway station, a Mumbai icon. I had made it in 5 hours 18 minutes. I don’t think that was too shabby considering my frame of mind when I went into this. The finish area was crazy busy and I sat on the dirt to recover. It was funny watching the officials trying to tell people where to go and seeing them being ignored. 

Eventually I summoned the strength for the walk back to my hotel. By now the traffic was up to full strength compared with 5am and it was hard work getting through it. I felt self conscious in my shorts and was keen to put on my jeans again. I had a nice chicken biryani for lunch with naan and watermelon juice and attempted a limited amount of sightseeing by walking to the Gateway of India monument and square, which was packed with families in their Sunday best. On the way there I finally saw an Indian cow, just ambling down the street during a break in the traffic.

The Hong Kong Trail

Now I’m spending 4 days in Hong Kong before continuing on to India, rather than just the quick overnight I originally planned, so I decided I should do something worthwhile. Like a long hike. There’s a 50 kilometre race here in a couple of weeks' time which I’m not doing (but at one point I did look into doing it) and it’s on an established trail, the Hong Kong Trail. The trail is in 8 sections and it seemed feasible to hike it over 3 days, using public transport to get to and from the section ends.

On Tuesday morning, January 16, I took the Star Ferry from Kowloon to Central and then a bus to the Peak, the start of the hike. The first bus didn’t leave Central until 10am so it was a late start, compounded by difficulty in finding where the trail began. I located it eventually and was surprised how busy it was. But only up to the first lookout - which was a great panorama of all of the central part of Hong Kong Island - and beyond there the crowds dwindled to almost nothing.

Fairly soon I worked out that the route instructions I’d found online were not very good, and also the route signage was poor. There were numbered route markers every 500 metres, but no directional markers at junctions. I had to ask people the way, and I was doing well, mostly. My worst mistake saw me arrive at the edge of a reservoir that wasn’t on the route, so I had to backtrack up a steep hill.

I was quite surprised how the route soon went into the forest and was relatively unspoilt and clean. There were birds scuffing around in the foliage. I had been expecting a semi urban walk. Much of the walking was on cement paths but there was also some rough stuff and steps. Gee, these people love steps! There were lots of little creeks to cross, mostly dry, with signs warning about flash floods and deep water (that seemed funny to me), but I did see a couple of waterfalls and some rock pools.

I was seeing about one person every half hour by now. Once I passed a guy sitting on a rock playing a video game. It was very peaceful. It was warm but not uncomfortable. There were sometimes vistas out of the forest looking over the island, either down to the water or over the surrounding hills. I didn’t seem to have come far from my starting point because the trail was very circuitous. There was a long stretch along an aqueduct, and then the last part of the day was in nice forest on a rocky dirt track.

At the end of the third section, 18 kilometres done, I had to walk to the nearest bus stop. The instructions on the hike website said to "walk down the road for 15 minutes" to reach the bus stop; the road was an extremely steep uphill! 

On Wednesday I came back to where I had left off on Tuesday. The road back to the trailhead was so steep it was hard to walk even downhill. The first section was again in the forest, passing more rock pools, and a mix of paved and dirt tracks. It was a lot warmer and I was glad I had brought twice as much water as the previous day. There were more people on the trail but it wasn’t exactly crowded.

Suddenly after 7 kilometres the trail deposited me in a residential area and I had no idea where to go. Luckily two English expats emerged from the forest behind me and knew the way. They were hoping to walk the whole trail in a day. We continued together for a while through the built up area and then they went off to try to buy water. I hadn’t seen a single shop on the route, which surprised me.

I continued uphill and went happily back into the forest. There followed a lot of climbing on hundreds of steps. The steps were big, uneven and hard to walk on. However the views from, firstly Jardines Lookout and then Mount Butler, were fabulous. You could see so much of the main island - mountains and tall apartment blocks in many directions, but mainly forested hills - and the outlying islands. It is amazing how little of the main island has been built on, presumably not for want of trying. It was difficult work walking up there under the hot sun, but rewarding. The descent was, by contrast, on tiny steps, 600 of them which went vertically downhill. Odd. I stopped for my lunch sandwich (tuna with mayonnaise from 7-11) on the way down.

My final section for the day was on a paved road, which led to a reservoir. It was a lovely shaded road with the trees forming a canopy right across the road. At the reservoir I got confused because of the lack of signs. I crossed the dam wall, then decided this was wrong and crossed back again, and continued along what I thought was the right road. However I wasn’t seeing any of the route markers. I was about to turn back when I saw a junction and an information board. I had gone the wrong way, but I was now back on course. I had mistaken the dam wall I crossed for another dam wall on my map. 

Just then my English friends popped up, and we did my final kilometre together. 15.5 kilometres for the day. A bus arrived just as I reached the bus stop, so I went by bus to a subway station and then took the train home.

So today I did the train and bus thing back to yesterday’s finishing point, but before boarding the bus I had breakfast of a set meal with porridge, toast, small sausage, hard boiled egg and coffee (all for about $5) at an extremely busy fast food place.

Today’s hike started with a slightly monotonous flat paved path alongside an aqueduct but soon opened out to give nice views over a long inlet. I could even hear waves sometimes, and there were lots of moored boats. Eventually I came very close to a small beach and I detoured off the route to have a look. There then followed a massive climb on comfortably spaced steps to a road crossing and the start of the hike's final section.

Suddenly there were lots of people about. More so even than at the Peak. This last section of the Hong Kong Trail incorporates the Dragon's Back, a stretch of trail which is famous for its views and has been called the best walk in Asia.

The trail continued to climb but was no longer paved and the steps were uneven, but the going was nothing like as hard as the trail notes implied. Yesterday’s climb to Mount Butler was much more strenuous. I got to the open views quickly, and they were certainly superb, with lookouts over the open sea and the rugged coastline. The views continued for a couple of kilometres as the trail was fully in the open for the first time in three days - this was the Dragon's Back section - as I walked over some peaks. Then there was a long gradual descent and I was back in the forest.

The last few kilometres were on a paved road and then I finished with an unpaved descent through the forest to Big Wave Beach. This was a lovely beach, a smallish cove with high rocky promontories on each side. There were a few surfers and sunbathers and, best of all, a beachside cafe where I could enjoy a mango flavoured Drumstick. 16 kilometres today to finish a great hike.