Product Description

Bitten By The Bullet is the story of how Steve Krzystyniak and Lily, his partner - both long-time global wanderers who now live Waiheke Island in Auckland's Hauraki Gulf - came to set up and operate an innovative motorcycle tour company that takes small parties through the northwestern Indian state of Rajasthan. One of the heroes of this story is the Royal Enfield Bullet, a classic fifties-style motorcycle that is still produced today in India and which is Steve and Lily's bike of choice. A fast-paced narrative with two storylines - the main one follows a particular tour group's adventures over a three-week period, which is underpinned by Steve Krzystyniak's account of how he and Lily took on the bureaucracy of India in order to achieve their dream - Bitten By The Bullet will be of enormous interest to armchair travellers and devotees of the colourful and dramatic Indian sub-continent, keeping them breathlessly involved until the very last page.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #752154 in Books
• Published on: 2002-08-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 208 pages

About the Author
Travel and motorcycles are in Steve Krzystyniak's blood. Although he is now happily based in New Zealand, he has spent time in nearly every country in Europe and Asia. Karen Goa is an Auckland-based travel writer who has had wide experience of travelling in India, most recently on one of Steve and Lily's Bullets.

Customer Reviews

Kiwis go wild in India
Nothing beats a good road trip read, whether you like to actually go on them, or just dream about it with the rain beating down outside. Bitten by the Bullet is an interesting & colourful account of a New Zealand couple running bike tours around India. The descriptions of the places they pass through, the characters they meet & most notably the food they eat are all crisp & fascinating. The photographs are good and suffiecient to run with the tales without taking over. If you're not a biker you will enjoy this & may seriously consider going yourself. If you are a biker (as I am) you may be a bit disappointed in the lack of commentary on how the Enfield Bullets that their intrepid tourists rode behaved. You will learn all about the various regions that they passed through, often with potted histories of the local area as well as the authors view on how we in the west could learn a few things from the basics of Indian life, (All of which I agreed with). What doesn't get much page space is what goes wrong with the motorcycles & how they fix them. If you're not really interested in this aspect of the story then it's great. My experience is that road trips always have one or two near mechanical disasters, reading about how these came about & how the victims rose to the occasion really sets apart the travelogues from the adventure stories. Maybe they just didn't have any, (other than the ditch incident), or maybe they thought this might alienate too many readers. Overall a good read but not in the same league as Ted Simon's "Jupiter's Travels", definately the best book about travelling around India on a bike that I've come across & a lot less heavy going than "Up the Trunk Road with a Bullet".