Driving to Visakhapatnam

 A haystack on wheels.

 Speed reduction barriers.

 He is coming at us in the wrong lane. He should be on the other side of the median.

Train crossing.

 The beautiful countryside.

 I saw many families of four or five on the small bikes.

 And different places to sit.

 Tuk tuk stuffing.

 The next crazy driver.

 The tractor is also coming at us when he should be on the other side of the road.

 More vehicle cramming.

 We are an endless source of surprise to the locals.

 Good place for a helmet.

The seaside by our hotel.

Sunday, April 1^st.

Happy Birthday to my sister Megan.

Happy Easter too.

Today was another very long day of driving. We left at 6:30 before the breakfast in the hotel in order to get a good start. Euan said we would stop for breakfast along the way, but low and behold we couldn’t find anywhere. We finally found a little local spot and I didn’t want to eat there, so I just bought a couple of bananas.

On the way, as usual, there were many things to observe. Today I was sitting in the cab of the truck with Euan so I had a great view of all the insanity. I had a chance to talk to him about all the guiding and driving he has done over the last fifteen years. He has driven the Silk Route from Istanbul to Beijing three times, as well as South America and various areas of India.

Numerous times we had vehicles coming towards us in the wrong lane. I saw three separate instances of a passenger sitting backwards on a motorcycle holding a large item on his lap that would obviously not have fit between him and the driver if he were sitting properly.

I think the photos pretty much tell the story.

Today the driving and the constant beeping of horns and the crazy drivers was getting to Euan and his nerves were wearing. If we had our guide she would have spelled him for driving. When we got to Visakhapatnam he tried to take a short cut to the hotel, but one road was blocked off, so we had to drive around through a bunch of very narrow, congested streets again, before finally arriving at The Supreme, about 5:00. We checked in quickly and then went down the street to a bar for a beer to settle Euan. He called our new local guide, who will be with us tomorrow, and arranged to have him meet us at the bar. He explained to us the agenda for the next few days and then we had dinner, after which we went to the room as we are getting up really early.