Speaker A
Namaste. India problem. We actually have three big problems, but one of them was just solved by these gentlemen. Thank you very much.
Sur Ronster rides an e-bike through India and Nepal, facing gas shortages, lockdown barricades, police checkpoints, and a fine risk for riding without a license.
Key Takeaways
- Traveling on a rented e-bike across India requires checking licensing rules in advance, since riding without the proper license can lead to serious penalties.
- Delhi's pollution, traffic, and checkpoints make riding stressful, and planning fuel and routes matters.
- Nepal offers a contrast to India in traffic flow, cleanliness, and atmosphere, and it is closely tied to the creator's personal history.
What the video covers
- The creator flew to India to ride an e-bike but discovered he lacked the proper license to ride there, risking fines or jail time.
- His planned e-bike rental fell through, forcing him to ride a different vehicle that he ran out of gas for early on.
- He navigates police checkpoints and barricades in Delhi, where the city was locked down, and negotiates small payments to pass through.
- He comments on Delhi's extreme air pollution, which reaches levels considered deadly, and on the crowded, chaotic traffic.
- He visits landmarks such as the Jama Masjid mosque, the Red Fort, and India Gate, noting the stark contrast with the sights around them.
- He stays at a luxury hotel and points out how far US dollars go in India compared with US prices.
- He flies to Kathmandu, Nepal, and reflects on childhood memories of the city, including its smell and the traffic.
- He discusses Nepal's 2001 royal palace massacre, which ended the monarchy's political structure overnight.
- He highlights Nepal's tuk-tuks, their reckless driving, and the country's proximity to Mount Everest and other tall peaks.
- He jokes about the 'Tiger Muscle Fuel' gas station name and other amusing moments while he gets fuel.
Chapters
Full Transcript — Download SRT & Markdown
Speaker A
Nihal bike rental. The plug. These guys are awesome. First issue is that I was supposed to have an eide pro here and that just didn't work. The second big problem, and this is really a doozy, is that uh I flew all the way here, and
Speaker A
Nihal bike rental. The plug. These guys are awesome. First issue is that I was supposed to have an e-ID pro here, and that just didn't work.
Speaker A
without realizing that I don't have the proper license to ride here. And I was thinking, [music] okay, well, let's see what the fine is. Oh, they blocked the road. This is the third problem I'm about to get to.
Speaker A
The second big problem, and this is really a doozy, is that I flew all the way here. Keep in mind, we're not close to America. This is 17 hours' worth of flying, a 12 1/2 hour time change. We're pretty much on the other side of the world right now.
Speaker A
in Indian jail is what I'm risking right now. Riding. Every time I go through a checkpoint like this one, man, it's like one of the worst gamles of my career.
Speaker A
I flew all the way here without realizing that I don't have the proper license to ride here.
Speaker A
is. I got no gas, dude. They started me with nothing. Oh, and now they won't let us out this way. Bro, we're trapped between two [music] barricades. What the is this system, dude? Bro, there's no way they're closing it on us.
Speaker A
And I was thinking, okay, well, let's see what the fine is. Oh, they blocked the road. This is the third problem I'm about to get to.
Speaker A
There's a very distinct smell [music] cuz growing up in Nepal, it smelled the same way. It's like burnt trash, sweaty clothes. The traffic is very fluid here.
Speaker A
Hello sir, is it okay to pass through? Thank you very much.
Speaker A
driving really recklessly. That's why when I got my kitten and she was all crazy, I named her tuk tuk. Rose pushing the rickshaw, helping this guy not have to pedal as much. Too much stopping and going for no gloves. I'm a little
Speaker A
Thank you.
Speaker A
Little collision, bro. I feel like there's a lot of accidents here. They're just like 3 m an hour, so it's not that bad. Tiger Muscle Fuel. That is the coolest name of a gas station. Yeah, let me get some of that. Hold on. Tiger
Speaker A
Anyway, I got here. I'm like, okay, well, what's the punishment for riding without the proper license in India?
Speaker A
I'm just honking, dude. Let's see if we [music] got some gasoline up here. Oh, man. Why do these show up as gas stations dude?
Speaker A
It's three months in jail.
Speaker A
That's what they say in India. It was only a matter of time. [music] This is a common sight in India.
Speaker A
Three months in Indian jail is what I'm risking right now.
Speaker A
here. I'm getting a little stressed running out of fuel here. I don't have anyone to come pick me up or any of that, dude. There's no way. I just got duped [music] again, dude. I go this way.
Speaker A
Riding. Every time I go through a checkpoint like this one, man, it's one of the worst gambles of my career.
Speaker A
So is this guy. No, no, no, no, no, no. Hello. Can I do 500?
Speaker A
One of the lowest-return gambles.
Speaker A
Thank you. 200 rupees. Going over half a tank. Good thing I didn't give him 500 like I was thinking. Dude, 200 rupees. I almost just got a full tank [laughter] for $2. Let's go. We're cruising towards the center of Delhi. As if it couldn't
Speaker A
See if they'll let me through.
Speaker A
This is a pillow store right next to a competing pillow store. Smelled so good.
Speaker A
This is where the gas station is. They're not letting anyone in.
Speaker A
Largest mosque. It can house [music] over 25,000 worshippers at once. This is awesome. Oh yeah, that was cool. That was totally worth 400 rupees.
Speaker A
This is the other big problem. The whole city is locked down right now.
Speaker A
One piece, two piece. How much is one bunny? Uh there's 1,500 there. One piece 800.
Speaker A
That's where the gas station is.
Speaker A
That's pretty pretty bad. You can smell it. It starts rotting. I was about to just leave India without riding. When I read 3 months in jail, I was like, that's just no way that's worth the risk. But here I am taking the
Speaker A
I got no gas, dude. They started me with nothing.
Speaker A
Hello. Pardon? Okay. Thank you, sir. [laughter] Thanks. Never seen anything like this. Also built 400 years ago. The red fort is where all the rulers of India would live. Made [music] out of red sandstone.
Speaker A
Oh, and now they won't let us out this way.
Speaker A
Never got a ticket. No one gave me a ticket when I came in. 20. Okay.
Speaker A
Bro, we're trapped between two barricades.
Speaker A
20. I'll pay that all day. The power of the US dollar is so much stronger here in India. You can get so much more for $1. My hotel probably the nicest hotel in in Delhi. pretty much the same price
Speaker A
What the... is this system, dude?
Speaker A
hotel, there's one person opening the car door, one person welcoming me by name, one person taking my bag, one person opening the door to the hotel.
Speaker A
Bro, there's no way they're closing it on us.
Speaker A
it's not possible. It's very polluted. The air index is up to 300 in Delhi. 170 is already like, "Hey, stay inside." 300 is like deadly. So, I I tried to keep the route to a minimum here. I should
Speaker A
Why is this exactly what I was expecting right off the rip?
Speaker A
Wow. Wow. Oh, that's awesome. That is India gate. I want to stop, but the police are telling us to keep going.
Speaker A
We are in Delhi. This is the capital of India.
Speaker A
Black and yellow. Black and yellow. Hello. Hello, sir. Thank you very much. That's my hotel. I'm on the 15th floor.
Speaker A
It's a very intense place. It's not relaxing. It's very high stimulus. Just a lot going on.
Speaker A
We're out. I'm on a flight 500 miles away to an entirely different country. One that's close to my heart. Where [music] the tallest mountain in the world is. Home to elephants, rhinos, and tigers. Welcome to Catmandeue, [music] Nepal.
Speaker A
There's a very distinct smell, because growing up in Nepal, it smelled the same way. It's like burnt trash, sweaty clothes.
Speaker A
This is Tamel [music] Catmandu. This is the tourist capital. Not only does Nepal have Mount Everest, the tallest mountain in the world. Nepal has eight out of the 10 tallest mountains in the world. So if you like tall [music] mountains, Nepal
Speaker A
The traffic is very fluid here. It's like you're at a rodeo.
Speaker A
cleaned it up a lot. I used to hate coming here because there would be these guys with a disease that deforms your limb. It sounds rude, [music] but they look like human spiders and they would crawl on the ground and you wouldn't be
Speaker A
It's okay. It's okay.
Speaker A
This thing is sick. Here we go. [music] Already way better than finding gas in India.
Speaker A
Oh, it smells...
Speaker A
1,000. Hella traffic right now [music] but we got a full tank. Everyone stays in their lane here too. There's like more control than in Delhi. [music] We are downtown Catmandu Nepal. This is the capital. And that is the palace for the
Speaker A
These are tuk-tuks. It's like if they put a scooter on three wheels and then gave it a back-row taxi equivalent here. And they're famous for driving really recklessly. That's why when I got my kitten and she was all crazy, I named her Tuk Tuk.
Speaker A
one of the poorest, most remote countries in Asia. And they were ruled by a royal family, a small royal family, and they were having a party one night at the palace, as they do. They said, "You know what? It's just the royal
Speaker A
Rows pushing the rickshaw, helping this guy not have to pedal as much.
Speaker A
his own father, the king, the queen, all the heirs of the of the royal family. So overnight, the smallest poorest, one of the smallest poorest countries in Asia lost its entire political structure. And I only moved here a couple years after
Speaker A
Too much stopping and going for no gloves.
Speaker A
It smells like nothing, dude. They cleaned out so much. We used to be on the bus going to school crossing that river and we'd have to all close our nose. It wasn't even a joke. We'd all have to close our nose. Look at those
Speaker A
I'm a little nervous about someone stealing my iPhone off the stand, but it's pretty, pretty solid on there.
Speaker A
We'd have to go home and and miss the day. We are entering the Jawal neighborhood of Catmandeue, which is where I lived. We're actually heading towards my old house. And there's the Nepali flag. not blowing very strong in
Speaker A
Oh my god. Oh my god.
Speaker A
They've done a lot. No trash on the ground, clean air. That's it. This was my house. This is where I lived.
Speaker A
Little collision, bro.
Speaker A
Man, they built it up a lot. This was all a dirt. There was nothing here. One day I came here on my bike and there was a plastic bag, like a garbage bag, and it was moving. There were puppies inside
Speaker A
I feel like there's a lot of accidents here. They're just like 3 mph, so it's not that bad.
Speaker A
People adopted all the puppies. But yeah, dude, somebody left them there in a trash bag. This was my walk to the bus stop is where I stood for 3 years to catch the morning bus to school. That was a open air slaughter house and they
Speaker A
Tiger Muscle Fuel. That is the coolest name of a gas station.
Speaker A
cute. I I can't eat animals. I just can't. It's a cat do six street bridge.
Speaker A
Yeah, let me get some of that. Hold on.
Speaker A
And these are called prayer flags. They write prayers on them and they blow in the wind. It sends the prayers out.
Speaker A
Tiger Muscle Fuel. Awesome.
Speaker A
Oh, wow. I That looks so unappetizing. Here you have 500. Thank you very much. That looks nasty.
Speaker A
Not even a gas station, but it shows up as a gas station. That's so convenient. I knew it was too cool of a name.
Speaker A
Okay, I didn't stall. Let's go. [music] Now we're getting into more of a Tibetan Buddhist area. The last spot was Hindu.
Speaker A
I'm just honking, dude.
Speaker A
And everyone walks clockwise [music] around it. You never walk the other way. Thousands of prayer flags. Hella chill little stores and restaurants and shops around here with [music] Tibetan mandala art. The doggies. As you walk around the Buddha knot, these are called prayer
Speaker A
Let's see if we got some gasoline up here.
Speaker A
Bike still here. Come on. Bro's got the ladder leaning on the wire. That's wild.
Speaker A
Oh, man. Why do these show up as gas stations, dude? It's killing me.
Speaker A
I feel like these ride outs have really trained me for this type of riding.
Speaker A
I haven't even put gas in this thing yet. I'm already getting burned out here.
Speaker A
end. Meonomster ho. [music] I love it. I love the language. They're playing cricket right there. Haven't seen a white person since we left Buddha.
Speaker A
Third time's the charm. That's what they say in India.
Speaker A
Like really really scared of ghosts. And I wake up in the middle of the night and my entire room is shaking. And everything on my desk, like whatever, a couple things on my desk start shaking off. They [music] fall off the desk. I
Speaker A
It was only a matter of time.
Speaker A
It was like 2:00 a.m. The water truck's filling us up. It's the most scared I've ever been in my life. I love how they just got [music] their rice patties squeezed in wherever they can, just making use of the land.
Speaker A
This is a common sight in India. Full-sized cow just hanging out on the street.
Speaker A
[music] Oh, I haven't seen one of these in forever. They make a huge swing out of bamboo like that.
Speaker A
Cows are technically holy in India.
Speaker A
and a rock fell from from a higher terrace [music] down. Hit me right in the head. Knocked me out. Needed some stitches. Look at this map. We are going up the twisties climbing a bunch of [music] elevation.
Speaker A
Let's go. We're making moves.
Speaker A
This is exactly our trees and grass. This looks remarkably [music] similar to California. [music] We're pretty much at the top now.
Speaker A
I wish Tiger Muscle was a real gas station. That's just so epic.
Speaker A
I'm like out of breath. These are the tallest mountains in the world. The Himalayas. Let's [music] see. Where is it peeking out? There we go. Look at that. So tall. It's over the clouds.
Speaker A
Oh, fingers crossed we got a gas station here.
Speaker A
Hey, subscribe. Oh, this is great content, dude. Nice meeting you. My favorite Himalayan mountain is not Mount Everest. That's so basic. That's so default. My favorite Himalayan mountain [music] is Amad Blam cuz it's it's gorgeous. It's one of the tallest
Speaker A
I'm getting a little stressed running out of fuel here. I don't have anyone to come pick me up or any of that, dude.
Speaker A
Guava [music] juice. Cold guava juice. 10 out of 10. Damn, that's good. Busting going in the trash bag.
Speaker A
There's no way. I just got duped again, dude.
Speaker A
and to a viewpoint where the Himalayas [music] just barely peak through the clouds. The adventure continues. I am off to another country. We're switching continents again. As always, thank you so much for watching until the end and stay tuned
Speaker A
I go this way. Let's go.
Topics:India travele-bikeDelhiNepalKathmandumotorcycle traveltravel vlogIndia licensingDelhi pollutiontuk-tuk
