TEA, TIGERS AND TWISTIES

I’m awoken by the sound of small motorcycles buzzing up and down the road outside our hotel. Out the front gate and over the road is a beach with vendors selling coconuts and other local delicacies under palm trees and five kilometres of beach to walk.

But we’re here to ride motorcycles in chaotic, enchanting, beguiling India.

We’d landed in Kochi, a Southern Indian city of 3.5 million people, the night before to ride through the jungles and forests of Kerala and Tamil Nadu with four couples, all good friends. Dan Benster, an ex-pat pom, and his Indian partner Niaz run Kerala bike tours and have planned a 12-day ride on venerable Royal Enfields.

Parked under a marquee are six late-model Royal Enfields. All 500cc but different model derivatives. There’s the army camo Desert Storm — single seat that military buff Margaret claims as hers; a shiny gloss black Classic that Bill