Tough Rides – India

Some of you will remember that a while back I ran a review of a book and DVD combination of an adventurous motorcycle journey around the periphery of China. The adventurers themselves were a pair of Canadian brothers, Ryan and Colin Pyle, who had pretty much staked everything they had to ride the adventure of a lifetime.

I thoroughly enjoyed the book and DVD both and recommended them a number of times. Well it seems that our favourite Canadian bikers have acquired the taste for the extreme. I recently learned that they had followed up their journey around China with one around India, and are even now engaged on a similar escapade around Brazil. For those of you who didn’t hear about the first one, the premise was simple (even though the journey was far from): Two men on bikes riding around the circumference of the country.

The second series (Tough Rides: India) follows the same principle, starting from Delhi and riding around the outline of India in a clockwise direction.

The first thing I can most definitely say is that compared with the first volume, which was self-funded and self-produced and was the brothers’ first attempt at anything like this, Tough Rides: India has a more polished feel. The first was an excellent DVD but at times had a little issue with clarity of sound or roughness of segue. That is gone in this series. Clarity and professionalism-wise, it might well have been BBC or Discovery Channel.

Also, this volume seems to have more depth to it. The first was based purely on the journey and the struggle to complete it (and that was enough, by the way, given the difficulties they faced.) In India, the brothers seem to have gone into the whole project more focused on the production of a travelogue than the journey it charts.

The places they visit on the route are among those that are at the top of my Asian Bucket List. Varanasi, Amritsar, Taj Mahal and Mahabodhi temples to name but the biggest. It helps that in my heart I am more or less Buddhist in my belief, so the brothers’ journey took in some places that really interested me on many levels. And it seems the pair planned well the sites they would visit to give variety, culture, and the unexpected for the viewer.

As with their journey around China (and any good travelogue) the brothers visit places that are both famous and obscure, ancient and modern, meet fascinating people and discover peculiar customs. Unlike the China journey, there is less focus on the roads and the traffic, though it still plays an important part, obviously. Some scenes are enough to put you off the idea of driving in India, and make my complaints about bad British drivers pale into insignificance.

But the thing I like most about this, especially given the Buddhist leanings I mentioned earlier, is that the brothers explore something of what religion means to the vast and varied population of the sub continent. They visit Hindu, Buddhist and Islamic temples and speak to the holy men and the ordinary believers of them all. And the strange way in which the great religions sit juxtaposed and theoretically at odds, and yet actually work seamlessly to support the people and the land, is fascinating.

And while the sound has improved immeasurably in volume 2, the photography was already superb and has maintained its high standard, perhaps also improving somewhat. The scenery and imagery is stunning.

As previously, the journey is at times funny, heart-stopping, exciting, sad and exhilarating. It certainly boosted my urge to visit the place.

Bravo Ryan and Colin Pyle. Job well done, I say.

If you have a liking for good travel documentaries, go get this and give it a watch.