Mae Hong Son 🚲 Tour

9 Riders | 9 Days | 625+kms | 13,300+mtr Elevation | 1,864 Curves

Mae Hong Son district is tucked away in the remote north west corner, in a scenic mountainous region of Thailand, known for its spectacular views. A popular motor cyclists loop but otherwise not much swamped by regular tourists as Southern Thailand has already been.

People travel to #Thailand for pleasure, we few of the bicyclists came here for 9 days of suffering on mountains as we signed up for "Mae Hong Son Loop" Bike Tour.

This is second year of #tbaInternationalBikeTours and also my second International bicycle tour with The Bike Affair (TBA) this year. The 1st #tbaInternationalBikeTour executed independently by TBA in terms of route recce / route finalization, accommodation booking, sag / support logistics as well as planning the rider experiences.

Riders: Durgesh Kumar, Gokul Krishna, Hemanth Chandan, Krish Agrawal, Pavan Kumar Reddy, Paul Nicholas Woollams, Praveen Khajuria, Vamseedhar Bezawada and Vinay Kiran Guntur

Bikes: I rode Polygon rigid fork hybrid whereas there were all kinds of road bikes (Specialized, Merida, Felt, Trek, Orbea..) and a Merida 29er ridden by different riders.

Day0 (Saturday, Dec 15th 2018): All the riders arrived at #ChiangMai a day in advance and after meeting and greeting we went out for local sight seeing.

Golden Pagoda, ChiangMai, Thailand

In the evening we all assembled at pool side for tour briefing and share our individual riding experiences with each other.

Listening to Paul's bicycling expedition before we start the tour next morning.

*Day Break* - Tour Begins

RideDay1 (Sunday, Dec 16th 2018): After sumptuous breakfast, tour started from #ChiangMai to #MaeChaem (125kms). First 70kms of flat road for riders to warm-up their legs and then there was a wall like mountain Doi Inthanon (highest peak of Thailand) waiting for us to climb. There are number of beautiful waterfalls on the way to hilltop.

"Mae Klang" Waterfall 

"Wachirathan" Waterfall

Few of the riders got into support vehicle after giving their best, few walked and only few could ride it all.

Group Pic @ Doi Inthonon

It was a LONG tough climb overall. 

Climbs of Doi Inthanon

MHS Loop - Ride Day1 #ChiangMai to #MaeChaem

RideDay2 (Monday, Dec 17th 2018): from #MaeChaem to #MaeSariang (129kms). 

#MaeChaem

Another day of climbing mountains, this was supposed to be the highest elevation gain day of tour. 

Winding Climbs

Picnic lunch was arranged at pine forest on top of the hill.

Picnic Lunch spot, Pine Forest

Despite higher elevation, it wasn't as painful as it was yesterday or the legs were better prepared after 1st day's ride. At the end there was a 20km DOWNHILL to feel the thrill after all the climbs :) 

MHS Loop - Ride Day2 #MaeChaem to #MaeSariang

Rest Day1 (Tuesday, Dec 18th 2018): After continuous two days of climbing a well planned rest day to relax the stretched muscles. We went to Ban "Mae Sam Laep" near the Burmese border on the #Salween River.  

Bunch of Riders

Salween River flows between #Berma (Myanmar) and Thailand. We went for an enjoyable two hours boat ride.

Berma is on my Right AND on my Left is Thailand

Evening was well spent at Ching-ching cafe. A very retro / rustic theme bar.

Ching Ching Cafe, Mae Sariang

RideDay3 (Wednesday, Dec 19th 2018): from #MaeSariang to #KhunYuam (97.4kms).

Group with owner of the riverhouse, "Tip"

MHS Loop - Ride Day3 #MaeSariang to #KhunYuam

RideDay4 (Thursday, Dec 20th 2018): #KhunYuam to #MaeHongSon (67kms). A leisure ride as compared to previous 3 ride days.

Climbs ahead

MHS Loop - Ride Day4 #KhunYuam to #MaeHongSon

We went for walk around the lake and then evening shopping at local street market around the lake.

Mae Hong Son Lake

RideDay5 (Friday, Dec 21st 2018): #MaeHongSon to #PangMaPha (74kms).

A quick stop at Bamboo bridge on our way..

Bamboo Bridge

Two back to back killer climbs, though looked not so significant but forced many riders a long foot walk.

MHS Loop - Ride Day5 #MaeHongSon to #PangMaPha

Rest Day2 (Saturday, Dec 22nd 2018): A chilly, lazy morning in the #CaveLodge. This wooden lodge was built by John Spice in 1984; lots of handwritten scribbles on the wall about his adventures in Thailand. Picked up copy of his book to know some of his exciting encounters. 

Cave Lodge @ PangMaPha

Post lunch we went to "Nam Tham Lod" cave. This 900meter deep cave like many other caves can only be visited with the help of a local guide; This humungous natural cave is pitch dark and we came to know why it must NOT be visited without local guide; One can just get slip and die at any point in time. Guides carry "petromax lantern", flash lights and other safety equipments. Nam Lang river flows thru it and visitors can take a bamboo raft ride through the water stream that has thousands of large fish swimming frantically next to rafts in absolute darkness. Cave has 3 major sections "Big Column, Doll Cave and Coffine Cave". There are 2,000yr old teak wood coffins inside a ledge groove. 

Nam Tham Lod Cave

After coming out of the cave, we all waited outside the cave to witness a natural phenomenon where hundreds of swifts come and keep encircling at the entrance of the cave and as night descends, they go inside and the bats come out in thousands #CheckIn #CheckOut. (around 1800hrs local time)

Outside Nam Tham Lod, watching swifts encircling in hundreds to get inside the cave.

RideDay6 (Sunday, Dec 23rd 2018): from #PangMaPha to #Pai (50kms). Misty, Chilly morning start and a big mountain awaited right at the beginning. Lots of motor bikers on top of mountain.

Misty Mountain ahead

In the evening riders spent time in the #Pai street market doing shopping and tasting local food.

Octopus Tasting by Dr Pavan

Not all the scary looking climbs are challenging... this one looked like spear but was easy enough to ride-up.

MHS Loop - Ride Day6 #PangMaPha to #Pai

RideDay7 (Monday, Dec 24th 2018): #Pai to #ChiangMai (80kms). Though it was very cold for an early morning start it helped us push harder on climbs  as riding in cold weather results better than struggle in the hot sun. 

I am PAI

More than 20kms of gradual climb to push thru and then two more kickers on the way.

MHS Loop - Ride Day7 #Pai to #ChiangMai

My Overall experience of tour - A well organized tour to give riders all the freedom to just ride and feel accomplished without worrying about where to stay, what meals to order and what all to see enroute. Routes maps were recorded without any error to ensure riders can reach PointA to PointB without getting lost. Kudos and Three Cheers to TBA.

About - 

Thailand: Beautiful country, Lush green mountains, Lovely roads. 

Thai Villages: clean, calm and sleepy. Plays folk music on Radio using loudspeaker for all.

Thai Markets: Traditional, Nicely decorated, colorful; mostly run by women of all ages.

Thai Locals: cheerful, courteous, hard working and cooperative.

Wat (Temples) and Gods: Thais haven't caged Buddha, No need to pay any fee to see him in any temple. No priority queue or special token. No money is asked by priests, No loud music chanting for him relentlessly, nothing on hard sell in the name of him. He is available for everyone EQUALLY. One bows, sits, prays and experiences peace.

What to expect ? Heck of climbs, Beautiful countryside, Smooth Termac Roads, Freshly grinded Coffee, Free WiFi at even small coffee shops, Women drivers and riders, Hell of polythene bags (Thai love poly bags) and BEER everywhere.

What is Needed ? Good enough base miles before the tour and a strong core. To avoid sufferings and enjoy the tour you should have clocked 750 - 1,500kms (with climbs) in last 2-3 months.

What did I gain ? Proud feeling of climbing gruelling 13,300+mtrs of hills (1.5 times of 8,848mtrs Mount Everest) without putting my foot down.

What did I loose ? kgs of body weight and inches of my waist line :-)

Non-Vegetarian food warning - Vegetarian food is not a big challenge in most of the towns of Thailand but in villages where no menu is availalbe (if so written in Thai), it can be tricky due to the language barrier. One comes to know how difficult it can be to get a plate of vegetable fried rice sometimes :D

~~ I'd encourage and recommend such bicycle tours to all the riders for not just climbing challenges but for overall experience of riding in different part of world, meeting new people and for understanding different religion & culture. Not to mention it specifically, for greater health benefits too.

#SigningOut #HaveFun #tbaRides #tbaMaeHongSonLoop #tbaThailandRide

First Camping in the Rain

What seemed like a cancelled trip at one point in time because of lack of participants, turned out to be the best outing ever so far.

Initial plan was to go to http://www.deccantrails.com/ and rent pre-pitched tents and enjoy the ready made food (was costly affair though).Cost factor made many back out and we got only handful of folks RSVPed for it. 2 days before the event Krish B & I discussed about cancelling the plan since going that far with 2-3 folks was not the whole idea of the trip. Sumit initially confirmed but he had to leave town because of personal emergency came back just a day before and was keen to still join us, Krish B initially didn’t have plan to go but may be seeing less # of participants he decided to pitch in (he decided to drive his car which was huge help to carry the supply). We also got confirmation about few of the Krish B’s friends who were very enthusiasts to CAMP but didn’t want to ride so they were to come to Pargi Hills in their car.

Saturday early morning 04:30am Frank’s call woke me up, he started early since he was coming from other part of the city & confirmed that he’ll meet us at Shankerpally (breakfast point). He asked if it’s raining this side of city. I was surprised why is he asking about rain, also didn’t see rain in the dark. Got ready & packed the backpack for night stay and met others @ IIIT junction. On the way realised it had rained in the night, roads were still wet. Came to know a cyclone is approaching & we might get rain on our way. Rain warning wasn’t gonna make any difference in our plan anyways.

First 40kms till Shankerpally it was awesome, it was cloudy & cool breeze was making the journey enjoyable. But by the time we finished the GRAND BREAKFAST it was raining heavily. We thought of waiting for 5-10 mins to see if it stops but then as per cyclone warning it wasn’t gonna stop soon, WHY to waste time. “Rain or Shine, WE RIDE”. It was first ride in full rain, which annoyed initially coz shoes & all the dress was damp. After sometime dropped the rain thought and just kept enjoying the route. Rain clouds over the hills were just awesome and treat to the eyes.

After visiting a lake on the way and soaking feet in cold water got recharged for next 35kms ride to Pargi Hills. Before even reaching the camping ground it started drizzling, by the time we reached there in the middle of no-where it started raining cats & dogs. I got totally disappointed for sometime with this. How the hell are we going to sleep in tent & WHAT ABOUT GRILLING ? 110+kms of ride was tiring & this rain made me take a nap in the car. Rest others were doing something which to me at that point in time was… WHAT the HELL is going on in this RAIN, what will happen (may be because this was my first camping trip, was having no clue what all campers can achieve even in rain). Glad we had Krish B with us with all his camping experiences :P

When I woke up after the nap, didn’t find anyone nearby & looked like I’m the only one stuck here in dark land and everyone is gone somewhere, called up Krish B to check where they all are. Came out of the car to see fire under a tarpaulin shade. WOW.. Thats what we all needed that time a shade under which coal griller can be kept.. Rest all Kerosine+Coal and lighter did :) Delicious grilled items and heat brought me back from my disappointment. Seeing a fire lit was the best we could achieve in this heavily raining night. Guys did some EXCELLENT job.

Pitched the tents & after few hours of grilling it was time to get inside the tent. It was still drizzling and WE were all suspicious that water would have gone inside the tent. WE WERE WRONG :) slept inside the tent like a dog till morning. It was so WARM & COZY though was raining heavily and pretty cold outside. AN EXPERIENCE OF LIFETIME. Rain which annoyed before turned out to be the best part of this trip. Rain made the whole trip very challenging and remarkable experience. Krish B. says he never pitched tent in rain before, it was a very new experience for all of us in some or other way. 

Total 200+ km bicycle ride + Tenting in the rain @ Pargi Hills: Awesome weekend spent with some great enthusiasts.

*Dropbox_link: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/6aswujr7c0s8vfw/eFJgCb70PY#/

A Funfull Basket Ball Match

Pretty Saturday afternoon, temperature raised till 64'F & our Basket Ball Final match was due @Hillcrest community Park. Two enthusiastic team with handful of audience and few lovely kids, all gathered for fun full game. We were expecting 3 teams but we could form only 2 (without any referee). Both the teams were formed on the fly and match begins:  

Below is the initial team structure: 
        Pavan Korrapa, Karthik, Tanu, Harish & Subhendu  - Defenders 
        Suresh, Piyush, Krishna, Pavan Kumar & Srikanth  - Warriors
       -->   Anil, Dheeraj, Vrishesh joined later as backups. 

my opinion, team can do better in RUGBY than Basketball (wanna know, keep reading). 

First Match: 
Game Theme "Defenders banging the Basket and Warriors kept hitting the VICTIM." 

Who's victim?..... aaaah don't ask me "Suresh started another counter for number of times he was hurt... " 

First Hit - oh sorry.. Second Hit - Heck man, Third one.. Poor guy... 

But then suddenly game stops; one Warrior down, Piyush got twisted ankle and had to leave the game (thanks a lot to spot doctor who took care of him, but still he couldn't continue the game & had to go back home). 

Fourth hit on face, Fifth then Sixth.. Hufffffff & score reads Defenders 5 vs Warriors 2 

Another warrior hugged the ground; but Srikanth is still on the court. 

Angry man Pavan Kumar busted again this time; Tanu had to deal with it. 

Score reaches 7, hey I'm not talking about the number of basket but the number of hit to the victim :)  

Defenders won the first match. 

Second Match: 
Warriors & Defenders both running restlessly to bang the basket, armed with the shooters like Harish, Pavan Korrapati, Karthik V & Tanu Defenders kept banging the Basket and score reads Defenders 6 vs Warriors 3. Even after getting many definite shoots all the War strategy of Warriors seemed to be cursed because of the lack of shooters; some of the very obvious shots were also missed. 

Even though we didn't have any appointed referee for this match both the teams had 3 referee each side and they kept arguing on each others decision. 

ok let's play some serious game now, NO MORE RULES, NO MORE CALLING; play whatever way you wanna play. 

Yo Hoooooo score reads Defenders 7 vs Warriors 3 

now it's time for Warriors, "do or die" one more crash, what's the score, victim was hurt 8th time man. 

Warriors showed some unexpected game strategy and started chasing the big number, one after the other; at one point of time score reached Defenders 9 vs Warriors 9.  

One more to go guys; yea and people didn't disappoint, not only one but two more hits to victim.. he just survived ankle twist and eyeglass breakage. 

Defenders & Warriors were struggling for lucky point and Finally Warriors got it. 

Warriors won the Second match. 

so it was a 1-1 TIE between Warriors & Defenders. 

 Despite victim had enough of his share we do appreciate his patience & strength. 

 Good sportsman spirit guys, Special thanks to our audiences; we hope they had real fun watching this game. 

Note: 
* Team name was not decided initially based on the performance, team name was given to make this commentary meaningful. 
* Wanna know Victim: Harish :) 
* Thanks Anil for the suggestion of first-aid kit; it was the need for the game. 

Basket Ball match organized by FnM team

18th Oct 2008

By,

Krish

Re-Birth in U.S.A.

it's 30th April 2008, it's my B'day, today I'm going back to India after 9+ months in U.S.A. it was whole great period with loads of learnings and heartful of memories.

9 Months: in 9 Months a baby gets birth; after 9 months I am reborn; Personally as well as professionally. With all new learnings of life it's time to say good bye to US and head back to home.

30th Aptil: I had no idea when I started from home to airport that I'm gonna have real adventureous journey (same as all my previous trips);

Begging @ Airport: I started from Macon to Atlanta in the afternoon by cab, it was sunny & pleasant day. Cab fellow dropped me at airport and left. I went to rent a CART & got shocked; Where is my wallet? I searched for wallet but it's no where; Probably it's dropped in the CAB; gosh, NOW WHAT? I'm left with no money (not even 3 $bills to take the CART) and also bigger worry was all my CREDIT Cards, Driver's License are there in the Wallet, which can be misused. I had few $1 coins but machine accepts either $ Bill or Credit Card. I was already running late for my flight and thought of dropping the idea of searching for wallet anymore. I started asking people for $ Bill (even though I was ready to give $1 coin for each $1 bill; I realized people interpreted me a beggar :)). One kind old lady had only 1 Dollar bill; she said "I don't have whole bunch of $ bills but I can give you one"; I wanted to give her $1 coin but she refused saying "God Bless you". I still need 2 more $1 bills.

T-Mobile: I called up T-Mobile and informed that since I'm going back to India please discontinue my service from 30th onwards.

I Need Cart: In order to catch the flight I must go inside the airport and before that I must get a CART to carry all the bags; Since morning I was facing problem with my mobile (was not able to make calls and couldn't hear the incoming calls at all), I got even worried what will happen if this number is barred? I tried calling 'Suman' so that he can contact Macon GROOME centre and report this loss, I always feel myself lucky in some situations :). yea yea I could reach him successfully and informed about what all happened; he said he'll contact GROOME office and will let me know in another 15 mins; he called me back but same problem I couldn't hear anything from him. I tried calling him but failed. Hufffff, I'm in mess

Running short of time: It's less than 2.30hrs left for me to board the international flight and still I was standing outside the airport; I tried Suman again and this time it went thru :), he said he talked to GROOME office and they confirmed that my wallet is there in the GROOME and driver is coming back to return me at the same place he dropped me; he also told me not to move from the place (I said boss, even if I want I can't move). I waited for another 10 minutes and could see the GROOME coming towards me, I thanked the drive and finally got the CART.

Security check @ Atlanta airport: I had smooth Checking of baggages but while Security checking officer said "OK, this mark on your ticket shows we need to perform an additional security check sir" come with me, I followed him they scanned all my cabin luggage twice; even one lady officer checked it manually; officer said "No Alarm", lady officer said "looks good". You can go sir; thank you (I didn't understand, why this?).

Security check @ Frankfurt airport: Till Frankfurt journey was pleasant; I changed flight @ Frankfurt airport; while security checking again I was caught for special security check. Officer: "Please carry all your stuff and follow me" one lady officer also came to inspect all my items; she said we've doubt on your Laptop bag, Open it Please, I took out all the items "What's this?" I told her it's Speaker for laptop (looks like bomb, she mumbled). she was still searching for something suspective after a min "Oh my God, aahahahahaha see this, Harley-Davidson toy bike" actually in the scanning machine that Harley-Davidson toy bike looked like a small Revolver and that was the reason Atlanta security also suspected me (finally I came to know what's wrong :) ).

Swap the Seat: I got a seat in set of 3 chairs row and was alone (two other seats were not booked); little after take-off airhostess requested "sir would you mind swapping your seat with a "window seat" currently allotted to a lady, she's carrying two children, and if you swap she'll be comfortable with these two empty seats"; why not!!!

From Frankfurt airport Mr. BODA RAO (project manager, SEAGATE) joinned me; he was also asked for a swap; I was sleeping when he came and stood next to my seat, he had an argument with lady airhostess; she was telling him; sir you are not supposed to use your mobile, even after strict instruction why is it still on, Mr. BODA was trying to explain her but she was not convinced; she took his mobile and said she'll hand this over to him once flight LANDS.

He sat next to me and we started chatting about IT, he had worked for Wipro; (he was curious to know about Infosys, and wanted me to compare Infosys with Wipro); I said I have no idea about Wipro and it won't be good if I say something without knowing anything about Wipro; then some general talks; I was sharing my U.S. experiences and "how I met with a major CAR accident and the car was scrapped, how I got ticket for clicking one of the tunnels, missing flight and recent most of loosing the wallet and getting it back". he said "wow, now I must pray that, this plane will land safely"; I smiled.

After a while the same lady airhostess came running and was very furious; sir this mobile is ringing, I was shocked how come @ the height of 35,000 feet this mobile is working, it was ringing perfectly (you should have seen the face of airhostess). Mr BODA wanted to say something but airhostess said "yea it's ringing see". Mr. BODA: it's just alarm; she just gone MAD :) and requested him to switch off the phone. I laughed and said to Mr. BODA, you drove her nuts, he smiled.

Rest of the journey was fine, smooth clearance of my luggage without any loss and finally reached guest house at 1.45am.

Hope you enjoyed.

Major Most Accident of my Life

It’s 29^th Dec 2007; since morning I was not feeling good. Even tough I got up on time; Enjoyed nice shower, had healthy & tasty breakfast, still something was missing. Now what? I called up my friend Kaushal; (together we used to develop small scale software’s for local companies of our city Raipur few years ago, later on I joined software company but he’s still continuing the same business and has got enough base to live with it. He had some problem with a VB code where data entered by operator was not getting saved into the database, also he had written one complex query and wanted me to simplify that (you know it’s always difficult to simplify things; life)); I asked him to send me the code and promised I’ll look into the problem. After that we chatted for 1 more hour and remembered our old days.

Mausiji: pinged me and we had general chat (aur ji, kya ji, haan ji, ok ji, bye ji, bbye ji).

Code Review: I looked into the code and found some problem related to commit transaction because of that data was not getting saved properly for specific conditions, ok Quila Fatah (1 problem solved)!

What tooooooo dooooooooo nowwwwww? Thought of going for shopping so searched in the Google (no doubt Google’s America’s killer company, it exactly gives you what you are looking for) for near by stores. I got the address of family dollar (I actually wanted to go to Dollar Tree but thought let’s checkout Family dollar also); family dollar is bogus store, nothing interesting to buy, came out with empty cart and grab the GPS for nearest Dollar Tree, one was there in 6.2miles towards South - West. I headed there following my GPS & purchased few items, after that came back to home. Had stomach full of lunch and started looking into other problem of Kaushal (complexity of simplification) but was not in a mood that time so left it half way. Now what? I thought of going to Wal-mart; I went there and purchased one Alarm clock and one Harmonica (Learn & Play kit). Came back home and was not feeling to have dinner.

At night 11.30 I had a chat with one of my Delhi friends Rahul Maheshwari and we were discussing about job opportunities in Google. After couple of minute I told him I’m going for a drive; I grabbed my GPS and headed towards “Zebulon Rd” again but this time I took different root thinking, anyways I’ve GPS so wherever I go I’ll be able to come back. It was raining and complete dark; since it was around 12.00 midnight only couple of vehicles were there on the road, I was driving whole long way straight, wherever I was finding turn I ignored and kept going straight. I drove for around 20-30 mins and thought of taking turn many times in-between but again dropped the idea and kept moving straight, at one point finally road was divided into 2 (left / right). I took right, gusty winds were blowing and whenever such chunk was kissing my windshield, making me unable to see anything outside.

Holy $&#% man: I was driving happily and enjoying the weather this was an unknown route to me; I never came here before. Car was going @ the speed of “I don’t know I didn’t notice”. There was a sudden, complete 90’ right turn that moment; which I couldn’t take and WHOOOP; I could see some tree leaves on my windshield and all the air bags of the car were blown out, soon I realized I’m in “holy $&#%”. $&#% I was shocked what happened? Where am I? Smoke is coming out of the car, both the airbags are blown out, I tried opening the door but ^#*@ it’s locked; I realized I’m in a DITCH. I had to break the driver window glass in order to come out of the car. Wow, perfect dark, I couldn’t see anything & I was standing in water… WHOOP its CREEK. I climbed the ditch and wanted to call 911; Holy &##@ man no network coverage at all. Now now now, I’ve recently met with a major most accident of my life, my car is in Creek, No network coverage, No one around and it’s raining (forget about cold).

Steven: This creature of nature was definitely sent by someone to help me, no doubt he was drunk and coming in his junk truck with loud rock and roll music, I waived him and he stopped the truck;

What man, in the middle of the road are you here to give me a heart attack?

No man my car is there in that ditch, could you please help me out.

What? Where is your car?

That’s in this ditch, right behind me.

He took out his torch and focused on the car, Holy $&#% man, I don’t believe you are still alive, this car must have flipped the upside down man, you’re one of the luckiest person I’ve ever met.
Please drop me till home & also I’ve to call 911, here no network coverage

Nooo don’t call 911 they’ll lock me up (Steven said, He’s drunk).

What road is this? Steven told “Pate Rd”.

Ok then please drop me home and then I’ll call 911 later, he agreed saying he need to get the gas filled and if I’ve some cash we’ll go to gas station, I said I don’t have my wallet with me if you drop me till home I’ll give you the money. He dropped me till home I prefer using credit card and don't carry cash; so found my wallet empty; and also realized that all my car documents are still in the car ($&#%).

His Girl Friend:

I took my credit card and came back to Steven. Hey man we need to go back to the location because all my documents are in car. He asked for my cellphone saying he has to make an urgent call, he called up a number and later on I came to know that he called up his Girl Friend who was waiting for him; he was supposed to meet her 1 hour before, she was not allowing him to stay anymore here and wanted to come back right that moment, he said he’s helping me but she was not believing him, Steven gave me the phone saying please talk to her and tell I’m here to help you out, I talked to her and tried to convince, she finally agreed.

Back to spot:

Truck again headed towards location and Steven took out all papers of my car. We drove back to gas station and I said let’s fill the gas, he said no, he needs cash, I don’t have cash, but still I can get gas filled using my credit card, he said no, he needs cash. Then I told him if you come till my apartment again I’d give you the cheque; he said it’s not required. Then also I gave him a cheque thanking for all his kind help.

Sleep: I was dozing so thought of taking a nap.

911: early morning I called up 911 and sheriff asked me all the questions related to accident, she asked me where am I, I’m at home. And where is the vehicle? It’s there in the “Pate Rd”, where is that? I don’t know ma’m I’m new to this place and all I know is my car is somewhere in “Pate Rd”. Ok that doesn’t come under our county please call Monroe County. She gave me another number and I reported this incident with them, they gave me a file#. One sheriff went and verified that the vehicle is there in the ditch.

Progressive.com: I called up my insurance company (progressive) and told them about this accident and also that my car needs to be towed away from the ditch, lady said it’s Sunday and they’ll be able to take out the car on Monday morning, what? Are you mad? You want me to leave my car whole 24 hrs. there in the mud and water? I suggested her that I’ve an AAA membership and I’ll get the car towed away from the dig. She said go ahead.

AAA: I called up AAA and asked for help to tow away my car, Linda asked me where is your car, it’s there somewhere in Monroe county (Pate Rd.), ok tell me any other intersecting road or some other land mark so that we can reach there, I said I donno except Pate Rd, Linda said she won’t be able to help me out if I can’t tell her any other land mark. I called up 911 again and asked them for other landmark to that place, lady cop replied saying it’s near to Hwy 87. Now I had enough information for Linda, she promised me within few moments one towing truck would come to the “Pate Rd”. But then I’m here @ my home, what? You are @ home; then we can’t come there at all, because we provide emergency service only if you are stuck up somewhere, I said yea ma’m I was the one who was stuck up in that ditch but since it was raining and dark there; also no network coverage I had to come out of that place. Finally she agreed to send the truck to my apartment and I with the towing truck moved towards location.

Bobby: By this time it was 7.30 in the morning, and after seeing the CAR in ditch Bobby said you are god dam lucky man, how did you come alive out of this CREEK? I don’t believe this, I also donno, please don’t ask me. It’s impossible to take out the car from the Creek; he experienced no network coverage there, so he said he’d have to go back. What will happen to my car, He called up his office and informed them that the car is stuck in an impossible ditch and he’s never handled such a situation before. I’ve full coverage of my car so officer said just give a try anyways customer has full coverage, Bobby said he can only try nothing more than that and also that car may break in 2-3 pieces while towing from the creek. He asked me to sign on a paper that if anything happens to car; towing company would not be responsible. I had to sign, he called up his office for even a bigger truck to carry the car back, after 30 minutes one even bigger truck came to the place and Bobby pulled the car out of the Ditch; while pulling the car out of ditch there was a point when car was about to flip upside down, but it’s only because of his years of experience he could successfully take the car out of ditch. After seeing the damage Bobby told, it's 'TOTAL LOSS' and if wanna get this car repaired it'll cost 12 great grand ($12,000), Hufffffff. Now he loaded the car in bigger truck and dropped me till my home. He took the car with him, as he’s to get the towing charges from my insurance company.

Sixth Sense: For the last one month I had been getting some sort of signal that something similar is going to happen (we call it sixth sense) and finally it happened just before 'new year eve'. something similar was expected; that's the reason I'm not so shocked / surprised with this, but yea little bit of injured. OOOHHHOOOOOOOO let's back to life. Bacardi says "Life is calling, where are you?" I'm still alive man :).

'Accident pictures" of “lal pari” [before and after the accident]

Survivor,

Only Krish