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Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Dream Ride

I blinked and a whole month passed without a single blog posting. My life hasn't been too interesting and I just returned from 2 weeks of visiting family and friends in S. It was so nice being back after a year and little Z loved everyone. In spite of being introduced to new faces on an almost daily basis, carted around to strange places and sleeping in different locations every few days, he took it very well and I am a proud parent.

Back in Doha and temperatures have climbed to over 40 degrees now. Summer is upon us and I promise to blog more now that I am spending more time indoors.

During April, we did do something quite magical.  It was more T's triumph but I am staking my claim too. When we first met in 2003, T used to cruise around on a bike. I always enjoyed being on the back of one. It beats being in a topless car.

After we moved to KL, I bought him a 1967 vespa and that was fun. The little bike remains in a carpark in KL when we moved and is in the care of a loyal friend.

Now that we are here in the desert, we often talked about buying a second car because cabs are so expensive and one needs to drive everywhere. Either by luck or cunning planning, T found the perfect solution here.

A classic that made its debut in the last century, the Royal Enfield is lustworthy. Made by the English, then bought over by India and now re-released with updated Euro specifications. A quick check revealed a distributor in Dubai and they were willing to ship them to us at minimal cost.

Question is, like the many I have asked myself during retail therapy.... which colour ?

Classic 350 in claret?


Classic 500 in teal?


Or the Bullet in black?


Or the bullet in military?



They could not decide and so, we had to go and look at them. So a day trip to Dubai was hatched and before long, we were picked up at the airport by the dealer Nelson who took us to the garage.


The showroom wall had a incredible photo collage and the historical graph from the 1900s.




I was particularly intrigued by the side car.


Big scarf and sunglasses with hair blowing in the wind, I can already see myself in one of those. The miltary classic 500 was stunning but the teal just looked like a mistake.


T hopped on for a test drive and disappeared for a good 10 minutes. When he returned, he could not stop smiling.


Sold, sold and sold. Both the boys got one each, T the black and A the military. The bikes arrived a few days ago and I have never seen such glee in a bunch of middle aged men.

Nelson not only sells the bikes but runs bike tours in India, Middle East and the Himalayas. The registration for the Himalayan Odyssey 2011 just closed and the photos from last year's trip are breathtaking.





The 2 week journey may be heaven for riders, but I rather sit by a pool thank you very much. 

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