Tiger Lilly & The Plan?

When I landed in the US I was still under two minds as to which bike I was going to choose, the options for my travels were down to two bikes. A new KLR650 or a nearly new BMW650 GS. Both these bikes have been tried & tested by earlier adventurers who had completed such journeys. Whilst I was in Hong Kong I had kept an eye on a fully kitted out BMW which was going for a song in north Phoenix but I was a week too late in arriving to the US & lost out on it. She was tempting as the price was far too good to ignore inspite of the challenges associated with this bike. Also while reading some blogs on Horizons Unlimited I had come across a report where a fellow rider that had been in an accident & had to wait 3 weeks for parts to arrive from Germany & were $2500 lighter just for the front part of the bike. So other people were kind of making the choice for me.

Whatever one hears about American car/bike salesman is true. This one guy that I had some email contact with from Hong Kong cemented that opinion, he had mailed me a price of $5300 out the door price but when I went to visit him the price was now $2000 higher. What a twat! He thought that I had just landed from some hillbilly village & would just accept his price for it, basically told him to naff off. Made a call to a Kawasaki dealer on the outskirts of town in Awatukee & spoke to a chap called Bob who gave us a out of the door price of $5200 & no bullshit for a 2008 KLR650. Just jumped on it & asked him to get the bike ready & that we would come to pick it tomorrow.

The next day my brother & I drove out to the bike dealer & Big Bob was just as straight talking type of a guy that I like, no nonsense stuff. We sorted the paperwork out, ordered some extras & finally after a years planning I was on the bike. Only I can plan such things & time things perfectly, the minute I started the ride back home was the only day it ever rained in Phoenix the entire 3 months that I was there!! Lol. The ride back was a bit daunting for me as I had not ridden this type of a bike before & new tires on a just rained freeway was fun. The stark difference to the bike I rode back home was there to see, it made me realise that the bike was built for stamina not speed or handling, there would be no knees down to the tarmac on this one, well maybe not now but a bit later anyway.

Every bike car must have a name & in the past I have always done so, after posting a few shots of her (female for sure ) Ginger Stu came up with the suggestion Tiger which I have adopted to Tiger Lilly. A combination of my passion for my Rugby club back home & my favourite flowers. Sorry no reference to any famous celebrity daughter back home in the UK. I am sure she is as fascinating & simple maybe not but must ride just as good!

Farkles Farkles & more Farkles!! Every overland traveller needs as many of these so I am no different. You name it I have got it well I think anyway, if I haven't then too late now & I don't need then anyway.

• A gel seat to cushion my ample backside. A bitch to put one & my butt still hurts after a 6 day ride.
• Larger touring windscreen so that the wind just catches the lip of my helmet & throws my head back every time the wind blows.
• Metal off road pegs to stand on & replace the crappy rubber ones that came standard with the bike.
• Steel bash plate that has had plenty of use so far in the 3 months on the bike, nasty rocks better watch out!
• Engine guard with highway pegs to give me the easy rider feeling when on straight roads! The movie did not have a happy ending!
• A Garmin GPS 2720 to enable me to get lost listening to a cute British voice nicknamed my Lurvar. Unlike a wife or partner you can tell her to naff of & get away with it, even better mute the bitch!
• Barkbusters hand guards & lever protectors to drop the bike without a care for the levers. Damn I now have redundant spares.
• Hot grips man you have to have em, a total life saver as tried & tested whist been snowed on in Northern Arizona.
• An idiot proof battery from the modern times. The standard one needed topping up! Last seen the same time as the Dodo!
• A $5 cigarette lighter plug thingy from Ace hardware with some free wire. Tourtech price $50 & not in stock for weeks!
• A centre stand for necessary repair work & to be able to keep her up on tilted angled roads.
• Saddle bags in the front for more junk that I do not need but they look cool & put some weight back on the front & prevent unnecessary wheelies!
• A new set of Michelin Anakees after the standard Dunlop's were worn a fair bit after 3500 mile in the US.
• Spares, tubes, nuts & bolts you name it I think I got it. Kind of a moving spares department. One never has enough I guess.
• Last but not least the First set of Jesse Luggage on a 2008 KLR650. Al from Jesse a great guy, after I kept on badgering him for weeks he succumbed & sold me his demonstration set with a small boot & rack. What's even better he took time out on his day off to install them for me. Thanks Al.

The fun part for me was installing all this on the bike. As I had not done much mechanical work prior to this it was a refreshing challenge for me. Dave a friend back home in Phoenix was a bit baffled with me taking apart a brand new bike & putting it all back together though. One must know ones ride intimately to get the most pleasure I say!! How intimately well that is your choice, one night stands are fun to!

The route & plan is simple, make it up as I go along & go with the flow like a true Piscean. I do have a list of places that I want to see in each country but I am fairly flexible as to the specifics of it. I plan to meet other riders & even travellers & local people & listen to what they have to say. I left on the 2nd of May, see late as normal with any report! Hit Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, skirt Honduras, Fly through San Salvador & hit Nicaragua. I plan to do this in 10 weeks or so. 2nd week of July sorry I take a break & fly back to the US for a family vacation with My Mom, Sister, Nephew & brother for 2 weeks. Fly back to Nica & head down to Costa Rica & Panama.

South America has always fascinated me & I cannot wait to get there. The basic plan is to ride down the west coast of the continent with a mix of the Andes & the coast line. Head for Videma for the Horizons Unlimited meeting in early December & head down to Ushaha in Tierra del Fuego for Xmas & Maybe New Year. After that I plan to ride up the east Coast through Argentina & head for Rio in time for Carnivale 2009. Cannot miss it as it starts on my Birthday which is Feb 21st & if the whole country is celebrating it then it would be rude not to attend!!

The plan after that! Well there are no plans! I will cross that bridge when I come to it. Options Options??

One dream conquered! SCG

Sydney Australia, a fascinating inspiring city for me. This was my second trip to the city & I was excited to be in the midst of it once again. The place is just too awesome & if I had to choose a big city to live in it would be my first choice always. The place has one of the best quality of life if one has a decent job & a bit of money. Downtown has all the life one needs & north some fantastic beaches just off great residential areas. The locals love their sport no matter what so I could blend in anywhere, I hold the distinction of even having watched Curling on TV during the Olympics!! Ok Ali my old mate back home & a few beers in the pub might have something to do with it.

My main reasons for visiting this beautiful city was to catch up with an old friend Clarebelle & to watch the Test match between Australia & India. I met Clarebelle through a friend 5 years ago just as I was splitting up with my wife. She was & still is a soft hearted soul that can give a lot of love & needs a lot in return too. Timing my boy is everything in life, just as we were getting to know each other in London, Clare had emigrated to Sydney. My first trip to Sydney had been just after she had moved there, I needed a break from all the pressures back home & she had needed someone to carry the kitchen sink that she was planning on taking with her to Sydney! Then again I am no one to comment on how many shoes or dresses does a girl need? Back home in Leicester I had my wardrobe spread across three rooms until I cleared out just before leaving.

Both of us just did the things we loved doing together, drink some great wine & cook for each other or eat out & talk & talk. For those of you that know me well, I love nothing more than a good bottle of wine whilst cooking or being cooked for is even better. One of my favourite places in Sydney is not a beach or the waterfront near the bridge or Opera house but the fish market! Yes the fish market. The whole place is a buzz of activity & the freshest seafood that one can buy & eat, I have never seen so many different variety's of shrimp in my life. For a seafood lover like me there is no better heaven. The day that we were there one Mssr Tendulkar was also flaying the Aussies on a lil know cricket ground nearby by hitting another test hundred. The big kid in me was truly in heaven, add in some fine wine a posse of bronzed Brazilian women & you could have killed me & I would not have noticed.

New Years eve was spent in true Aussie style with a picnic & some wine down by the seaside at Cremore point just across from the Opera house. The place was packed with families & kids all just chilling out in the summer sun taking in the fantastic vibe of the city. We stayed till the kiddies fireworks at 9pm then walked up to the flat where we had some Champers chilling & watched the main fireworks from the balcony. I could have done with a mad club down in the Kings Cross area of downtown Sydney but then again this was so different from any other drunken new year eve celebrations that it was great for the change.

Alas a childhood dream came true but still left me with a lump in my throat. As a cricket mad family with an International player in it (my Sis Renee no not me) we are very passionate about our cricket & a rare breed that could easily watch not just a 5 day test match but an entire series if we had the opportunity. As kids we had dreamed of seeing a test match at the Sydney Cricket Ground with my late farther & I had tickets for all 3 of us for day one of the test match. The best seats that I could get of course, right behind the bowlers arm, you only do something's once so do it right.

The morning of the test match was frustrating as Clare & me could not find Renee where we had planned to meet up. Our rendezvous point or instructions were far to vague & the railway station had far too many exits and naturally we were at the opposite ends. Thank god for mobile phones and a very anxious mother back home in Hong Kong who kind of conducted proceeding from there & we managed to hook up & ride the bus down to the ground. Man if looks could kill I was dead & buried there & there after being cremated!!

First impressions matter a lot & the SCG even though being touched up & under construction like a middle aged Californian women was graceful & sat proud in an open setting. Unlike all the cricket grounds back home in the UK there was so much space around it with plenty of parking & gardens around. The grounds back home & especially Trent Bridge a ground I know so well felt as if they were from the dark ages. The ganduer of the old pavilion in Lords does match up to the SCG's beauty but sorry the setting does not. Once inside the place did not disappoint either, the old pavilion & the ladies pavilion sat just as I had seen it in many a pictures & on TV only better as this was the real thing. The only thing that I would have loved was if Yabba hill was still there & I was there with a bunch of lads swigging amber nectar & giving the Aussies some great banter back which all of us know they cannot handle. They are more passionate about their sport than any other nation I have know, they love to dish out the banter but boy oh boy give some back & they just cannot take it.

The cricket on the day did not disappoint either, before tea India had the Aussies on the rack with about 120 for 6 if I remember correct but as is the case with a lot of test matches played against the Aussies some one always sticks their hand up & rescues them. This time it was Andrew Symonds, born in Birmingham but plays for Australia. It must be the first case of an import from the UK for the Aussies, its normally works the other way mostly in English sport. The day did get a bit marred with some inept umpiring decisions The game had it all with India losing on the final day by loosing 6 quick wickets worst of which were to the part time spin of one Pup Clarke. The aftermath of the game was worse with the Bajjigate scandal, accusations from both sides, pointing bashing by his own media & India flexing its financial clout in the game by taking a stand by planning to boycott the rest of the tour if the accusations were not lifted. So all in all my experience of my first test match at the SCG had it all even though the result could have been better. The shinning light through all the mist was the demeanour & voice of none other than Mr Kumble the Indian Captain. He choose his words & actions very carefully & left many a lasting impressions in the game, a true statesman of the game & never to be found again.

So my second trip down under to Sydney left me with wanting more of her. I will visit there again I am sure of that & cannot wait till I am back there for another jolly. This trip was a short one & I left Clarebelle just as she was planning for the arrival of her Mom & Mick & I am sure you guys had a fab time together. Till next time my friends I will be back among your midst. Take care & may the sun always shine the fridge be full with chilled wine & throw another shrimp on the Barbie.

Christmas in Hong Kong!

I landed in Hong Kong 29th November, just in time for Raoul's open day & fete at his new school. It was a promise that I had to make to him & in return he had volunteered me to cook on the Barbie for the school fete. The first few days were just plain relaxing with my family & playing basket ball with Raoul in the evenings. I love Hong Kong, I feel more comfortable there than any other place that I have lived in, strangely it seems more of home to me than Bombay where I grew up or Leicester where I have spent a lot of time over the last 20 years!!

The school Fete was a marathon session all day behind the Barbie with couple of other parents who were Aussie's & Kiwi's naturally. No shrimp on this Barbie mate just burgers & hot dogs. The whole school must have been famished as they kept on coming & coming & coming again all day long.

Early December my family moved house within the same complex but to another tower & a bigger flat, well bigger by Hong Kong standards anyway. It was great to have been there for Renee & Mom during this time, I am sure that Renee plans her moves to coincide with my visits? I was also there when she moved the last time. It was great fun going shopping with my mom again for household stuff & new furniture for the house. Raoul got a new room & I think he love it so result. Initially I had a great routine of getting up early & going to bed early but soon that all went to pot, I started to do more & more research for my trip & stayed up late at night to surf the net. I did manage to plan a rough route through Central America whilst I was there, rough I say as I do not foresee that I will stick to it, more of a guide as to what I want to see.

Best dishes are created by accident I think & one night after a few glasses of wine I decided to experiment in making some walnut fudge. Proud to say that it turned out marvellous but very hard to replicate again as I was a bit pissed when I made it & cannot remember exactly how we made it. Note to self: get pissed before you try to make it again.

Unfortunately Renee was away on a flight for Xmas so it was just Mom, Raoul, Nihal & Nimrit (friend Dimpy's Kids) for Xmas lunch. I enjoyed cooking for the kids & inspite of a tiny oven that we have it turned out fine. The funniest thing was that Nihal poor sod did not like anything that was put in front of him. But I suppose kids are kids & not everything can be to their liking. I'm sure a happy meal from McD's would have been more appreciated by him.

The best part of Hong Kong was the time I got to spend with Raoul. Just the routine stuff that a parent does with their kids or nephew in my case. Boy are kids tiring! The questions and wave of emotions are fascinating & many a time mind boggling. The strangest thing was me trying to teach him Math, not my favourite subject ever. Give me an excel spreadsheet & I am fine but without a keyboard on my fingertips it was all Greek to me. I even tried to learn stuff the night before teaching him & doing his homework with him. Raoul has a great growing personality & will be a great natural born leader for sure.

Renee my sis was gonna be in Sydney for the first of Jan so a plan was hatched to realise one of our childhood dreams!!!

The 7 Year Itch!!!!

In a nutshell no bullshit I was bored at work. I had stayed far too long in the same spot & the rust was bothering me. The things that had come naturally to me in the past were now an effort. I felt that I had no challenge left & no matter what anyone or I tried my motivation levels were at an all time low. My career had stagnated to a point where I always wondered what if? I only functioned because other peoples livelihoods & jobs depended on me.

Manish my brother who lives in Phoenix came to visit me in Nov - Dec 2006. We had not spent much time together in the past 16 years & we took a road trip to Bonny Scotland. It was a fantastic trip where after a long time we bonded again & I spoke to him about taking a break from it all & going travelling for a year or so. In the past he has heard many of my dreams & retorted straight back at me. "Kunu stop making plans & plans, go ahead & do it" I said give me a year bro & I will. It was also the first time I mentioned to anyone that I planned to travel on a motorbike.

Honest a year to the date from that conversation I had my bags packed & left the UK for Hong Kong. Not quite on the bike yet but I had made the first step towards my journey.

Leaving the Job was easy my friends & family extremely hard. Over the years I had built a whole new family around me. Pat was Dad the ever guiding soul in my life. The only way to describe him is that if Gandhi & Mother Teresa ever had a love child it was him. Even in times of anguish there always was in inner peace in his soul that I could see. Richie was elder brother come partner in crime. He was the kind of elder Bro that would let me play with fire but not let me get burnt. Julie was elder sister, ever watchful about everything I did & who I did it with. Ju knew everything & will remain the the rock that she is for life. She amazes me as sometimes even before I awoke from a night out with the lads she knew what we had all been upto??? One day Ju I will find out your secret informant!! Debbs thank you for suffering my mood swings & emotional rolercoaster of a life as we sat across the desks from each other for nearly 7 years. I think sometimes while we listened to Radio 1 in the office maybe not a word was spoken but we knew what was going on in each others lives. I know that you saw yourself in me a few years back when you were going through a similar phase.

Chia my lil sister who could do no wrong or so it seemed to most people around us. She will always remain my Prodigy but in time to come will be more successful than me. I would love that moment when it happens as she is one of the nicest souls & best young manager that I have met in my life. Then there was the Friday night gang of Bad Boy Benny, Wankered William & Mad Mo. Seriously the three of us together were dangerous as hell on a Friday night out. If I had to choose 2 new younger brothers I would choose them any day, I kind of liked the blind leading the blind idea. Boys we had some great fun over the years keep having fun & see you back at the house for another party till the sun comes up!!

69 St Johns the last place that I lived in was an open house as any house should be. Friends & family were always welcome. Few stayed the night & some stayed longer, the place was always busy with activity & I loved that. Neenz & Choclit Mate spend many a days at the house & we had some great time there, memories to cherish for a while. Jonathan an old mate from Oxford moved in the summer of 2006 & kind of transformed the house for all of us. With his touch it looked more like a home than a house & I was glad that he stayed on in the house after I left.

During my last 6 months I also had the pleasure of meeting some new friend in Jay, Will, Mike, Graham & big Louis lads from a band called the Ego Armalade. We all kind of bonded well togeter & I was touched when the Lads wrote a song about my travels called Last Man Standing. Still waiting from clearance from their recording company to post a link here for it. Music business hey, lets just say our people are talking to their people!

I never thought that leaving a Job could be so dangerous to ones health. The leaving do's started in earnest 6 weeks before & I am sure that some are still celebrating my leaving even now!! I needed a break from a break that I was about to have!!

Me Myself & I.

Mohit, Mo, Mojo, Momo, Kunal & Kunu.

Why does one need so many names? Well I do not have the answer to that but I do have all these names. I was born in Kanpur, India Feb 1970. Even at my birth there must have been some confusion probably caused by myself no other & I ended up with 2 names, Mohit & Kunal. All the others have been given to me by close friends & family. The naming ceremony that I do remember the most is how Mohit got shortened to Mo the day I landed in Ireland Sept 1989. Thank you Michael Diskin wherever you are. That name that you gave me has stuck more than any other one.

I grew up in Bombay yes Bombay no mater what they want to call it now it will always be Bombay to me. We had a fabulous childhood & grey up in an amazing environment with tons of cousins & friends. The neibourhood that we lived in was full of children our age & I for one never left the playing field, how I got through school is another miracle. I have a famous well kind of! elder sister Renee & two brothers from another mother Manish & Pappu. Manish & Pappu were our next door neibghours & we all four of us grew up as siblings with 2 sets of parents.

Well my Big sis if famous as she had played international cricket for Hong Kong. I have seen a lot of Cricket in my life & do know the sport well. She is by far the best female cricketer I have seen not just from the playing side but she understands the game far to well. If the sport for women was professional when we grey up she would have been the equivalent of Sir Garry Sobers of the female world.
My Sis, Mom & Nephew Raoul live in Hong Kong, so yes we are a truly international family. My Mom's ability to reinvent & re-educate herself year upon year is an unbelievable ability. Only last year she was learning high school math so that she could teach my Nephew. The biggest gift that she has given me is the ability to deal with people, I pride myself in my people skills & all this is something that I inherited from my Mother.

I went to Jamnabai Narsee school in Juhu & did fairly well there achedemically & on the sports field & stage. The next year after school at Sydenham college was a blur as I could not quite handle the freedom & responsibility side by side. I opted for the freedom & managed to flunk my year even though I attended 3 French lessons the whole year (the french teacher was cute, passion yes for the language no) & played every sport for the college. Only if those 3 lessons had been Math maybe I would not have flunked??? I left my friends there & moved to study arts at St Xaviers College. Two eventful years & a few more lectures, (not many more, did not want to shock the system) a bit of more drama I managed to pass miracoulsly & ended up going to Shannon College of Hotel Management in Ireland.

Shannon was a great education & the people in Ireland were fantastic. It truly is one of the best places in the world to live inspite of all the rain. Honest I went from chocolate brown to white in one year as I did not see any sun for a few months. I graduated form Shannon in 1993 & ended up working at the Holiday Inn in Leicester.

1993 was a strange year for me & all around me. It was a year of 3 weddings & a funeral. Sadly my dad passed away that year & I lost the most important male figure in my life. Few dreams were shattered but I had just got married to Ceris & we had to plough ahead building our lives as best we could. Ceris was a fantastic person & a friend to me over the years however we were not meant to be & we broke up 10 years later. I hope all is well in her life, I do miss her parents Betty & Will a lot.

In 2001 I got my dream Job as General Manager for Lindley catering at Leicester Tigers Rugby Club. I was itching for my first GM's job & being a big fan of the club & with old friends still in Leicester it seemed perfect. The first few years were fantastic & I inherited a few great people & recruited the rest to form one of the best teams I have ever seen in my business. Few of these people have become friends & family for life & will remain very close to my heart always.