Daman

Day 5 cycling: Kaparda to Daman

Distance cycled: 53.83km
Average speed: 18.02 (that's more like it)
Ride time: 3:03 hours
Max speed: 47.9 km/hr
Overall total: 416km

The road, despite a few hilly and very rough patches, was very good. Daman is a reasonable little town, about 180 km north of Mumbai, on the coast and has a few forts, churches and beaches, although these are no good for swimming in. I'll most likely head off tomorrow, north, in the direction of Surat, but who knows, as the hotel I'm in is quite comfortable (in fact, one of the best I've stayed in in India - it costs about $20 per night.) The food so far has been pretty good, and I can recommend the local version of Chinese food if you begin to feel tired of just eating Indian food. The fried rice is delightfully hot, and is bright orange in appearance.

I'm happy to report that my bad gut was jsut a flash in the pan, and I'm in shipshape condition once again (unfortunately the immodium I took as a precaution resulted in not successfuly going to the loo for the next 3 days... (is this too much detail for you dear readers?))). I have developed a bit of a cough and chest congestion, but I recall having the exact same issue the last time I cycled India, in 2000. It may well be a result of diesel and other nasty stuff from cycling the roads here. I went to a pharmacy to see if I could get something for it e.g lozenges,and they quite happily gave me a blister pack of antibiotics (amoxycillin) - no prescription needed. I figured probably not a great idea at this point.