So Dan has left. I just waved him off in a taxi to the airport. I'm in my hotel room, feeling a bit like you do in the immediate aftermath a break-up. When the goodbyes have been said and you have to carry on with your own life.
I haven't written a separate entry about Dan, and I am in two minds about it. He has been an integral part to the first part of my travels, that is didn't feel quite right to write about him in that way. I am still not sure, but maybe.
We drank strong Kingfisher beer last night until quite late, laughing, sometimes quite hysterically about the journey through Delhi.
This morning we had an appointment with Rajesh, so Dan could tie up his paperwork and get his deposit back. Normally he opens at 11, but he had agreed to try and get there by 10 so Dan could catch his flight.
Rajesh was late, and didn't want to see us immediately, so we hung about outside. He didn't look happy but then he never really does anyway. Eventually we were shown upstairs to the low ceilinged office.
'You see the problem is this,' he began. 'We are hearing a noise in the engine. Piston noise. Something is not right. We will have to strip the engine.
'This is always a tricky issue with the customers. It is costing us a lot of money to do this.
'This is a new bike, it shouldn't be making this noise. It is an expensive thing.
We kind of knew this might happen, that there would be charges on the bikes. We had joked that whenever Rajesh needed something doing to his bikes, he would hire it out to someone who would then have it done on the road somewhere.
But we had looked after the bikes well. Checked the bikes everyday, changed oil and air filters, had mine looked at by experts.
'You know these bikes are not made for the really rough roads. Customers take them to excessive speeds....' Rajesh's story continued, both of us waiting to but in.
'That engine was making that sound when I got it', Dan finally managed to interrupt. "There may be a fault with the engine, which is nothing to do with our hiring it'.
'But..' Rajesh tried to interject but now it was our turn.
'We have looked after those bikes. If there is a fault in the engine, then the rough roads won't affect that', Dan continued.
'And another thing. I checked the air filter in Shimla, it was full of holes and dirty as hell. That shouldn't happen. I have had to tighten the chain half a dozen times too.
'Also the tools you gave us were not right. I had to buy spanners to take the wheel off.'
'They are the tools that Enfield issue...' Rajesh again tried to get in...
Dan was getting warmed up, and both of us were genuinely quite cross. 'To be honest, if I hired a car somewhere else, if I had a problem, I would expect the car company to say sorry, take that car away to fix and give me another car, not try and charge me to fix it'.
And so it went on for a while. All of us trying to get our point across, and the time ticking away, and Dan's need to get to the airport ever more urgent.
And to his credit, Rajesh sighed, accepted defeat, and counted out Dans deposit. I do understand that it is his bottom line that it is coming out of, but also it genuinely is because of the bikes and not us.
'On the plus side Rajesh, I will be taking a 500cc now, which is 200rps more a day, and I will be hiring it for longer'. I would have returned the bike and refused to do any more business with him if the situation with Dan hadn't been resolved satisfactorily.
I will go back in a couple of hours to see what problems he has uncovered in my bike, find out what charges he wants to throw at me, and then work out what I am doing next. Without Dan's expertise as a mechanic I fear I may not come off white so well in the struggle.
So Dan and I walked back to the hotel a little heavy. We had stood up in a confrontation, but it was one that shouldn't really have happened. And it was time to say goodbye too
'Thanks mate, its been great. Next time somewhere a little warmer, on roads a little better. Or on better bikes'.
'You loved every minute of it. Especially tinkering with the bikes!'
He grinned at me. 'You're right. Taken my mind off work. If I had been by a beach, I would only have started to worry'.
We shook hands, hugged, then I watched him go off in a shiny silver car to the airport.
So the story of me taking a bike round the Himalayas is over.
And a new story will begin. This time it will be in the deserts.
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