Dag 8 Varanasi til Patna, Bihar.  255 km, 7 timers kørsel

Dag 9 Patna til Bhagalpur, Bihar. 215 km 5½ times kørsel

I dag kørte vi fra Varanasi i Uttar Pradesh til Patna i Bihar. Bihar er Indiens fattigste delstat, hvilket kunne ses når vi kørte igennem små landsbyer med stråhytter.

Vi var kommet til traktor området, der bliver transporteret alt muligt med traktorer. Vi så også rigtig mange scooter transport køretøjer.

                                                           Traktor

Fra Patna til Bhagalpur kørte vi lange Ganges floden det meste af vejen, der ligger rigtig mange murstens fabrikker. Der var også rigtig mange landsbyer som man skal køre igennem, hvor vejene er meget smalle og hvor der sælges alt muligt langs vejen. Michael klarede det med bravour, det var ikke et let at sno sig i de gader. Vi kom igennem et område hvor der dyrkes majs, og majs kolberne lå på vejen for at tørre. Alt i alt en meget spændende tur igennem et helt anderledes Indien end vi er vant til fra Bangalore området.

Da vi nåede vores hotel og kom ind i værelset var det fyldt af røg, det vil sige det var mygge gift, så vi overvejer hvem der dør først, myggene eller os.

                                                       Heavy load / Tungt læs

22.5 Distance 255 km, drivning time 7 hours

Leaving Varanasi we hit the NH 2, which really got me in a good mood. This NH 2 is spotted with beautiful places to stop and eat and relax, but since we had just finished breakfast this was of no use to us.

We left NH2 for a smaller road to Patna and here the going got tough – Tractors, tractors and trucks.

                                               1000's of Tractors / Tusindvis af traktorer

 It took us the next 5 hours to navigate 170 km. Crap, was it slow and tiring, we also missed out on the longest bridge in the world over a river ( 5.5 km) but took the shorter one which was as exiting (4 km).

                                                              The Bridge - Broen

  After we crossed the Ganges we drove through very small village towns, full of traffic and tuk-tuk’s. Crap, was it hot and hard. Reached Patna, a big sprawling city, at 3.30 pm and had lunch at 4.30, a long, hot, tiring drive.

                                                      Narrow roads / smalle gader

23.5. Distance 215 km, driving time 5½ hours

This is a maddening, winding, dusty road which follows the Ganges, from Patna to Bhagalpur.

This road is dotted with villages all along the way. As we were following the Ganges, everybody seems to be on the road, and the most common mode of transport, is the Indian tuk-tuk’s ( picture enclosed).

                                                                           Tuk-tuk

Driving here is a loosing battle as all the odds are stacked against me and Blackie. Sometimes the roads were so narrow through these small towns, that Blackie could just about squeeze through.

It was amazing to see 1000’s and 1000’s of tractors carrying clay for all the tile factories that we passed. This area reminds me of Mangalore. Very fertile plains with tile factories. The clay is drawn from the banks of the Ganges, for bricks and tiles. This river Ganges really amazes us, with its might and its fertile soil and livelihood of millions and mostly chaotic roads bordering it. We also passed through the flat plains of paddy fields, as far as the eye could see, an amazing sight in India.

Corn is also grown here in abundance and onion and potatoes.

We reached Bhagalpur which also had very narrow lanes leading up to our hotel. We checked into the Ashoka Grand, and found out that all the rooms in the hotel had just been fumigated. We took our chances, dived into bed.


Tile factory - Teglværk

                                                                                                                                                               








                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   Corn - Majs