On the Terai

This is the bike loaded up. At this point i'm wearing my normal bike boots, trousers and jacket along with the helmet. I've left the gloves off because of the heat and i've got a small rucksack on my back too. The fabric panniers i bought in India and they seem to be ok, with a useful pouch on one of them for a one litre bottle of water.

What i discover soon after i set off is that a National Highway in Nepal means a single lane in each direction, which for the most part will be tarmac. This road is shared by everyone and everything in any kind of random order. It's fairly common to come around a corner to find two trucks coming towards you or two buses or a herd of oxen or goats in the middle of the road. Size rules right of way out here and the bikes are fairly low down the pecking order. Despite only being 200cc the bike is nippy and it's agile so it's possible not to get squashed if you really concentrate, but i'm still feeling rough and i left at the hottest part of the day so it's hard work.

I'm finding it hard to get into a rhythm as i'm still getting used to the bike and the heat is intense so i realise that i'm not going to make the destination i'd planned for the first night and will have to stop somewhere else.

The road through the mountains is twisty and narrow which amazing scenery but i'm keen to keep moving before it gets too late as i know how quickly it gets dark. Just before the light begins to fade i come down on the plain or terai as it's called here into a decent sized town. I can see a few hotels so i roll up to the nicest looking one and ask if they have a room, but they tell me no. I don't know if they are full or just don't like me being scruffy and dusty but i find another one around the corner which lets me ride the bike inside a hall and gives me a room for less than four pounds.

The rooms are grotty at best and i'll spare you the bathroom view, but i'm still grateful to have found somewhere because it doesn't look like there is anywhere better. It seems the hotel is mostly for local folks moving around rather than westerners, so this must be the normal standard.

It's too hot and i'm knackered so i can't eat at first, then when i'm about to go out later there is another power cut which lasts until after 10pm, so the only thing i've had to eat is a mars bar i found in my rucksack that i brought from home, so i decide just to crash out.

It's then that i discover a problem with the hotel. Perhaps you can see a clue on the room key. To be fair i'd seen the bus park around the corner, maybe 200 metres away but what i didn't realise that every bus and truck passing through would stop beneath my window and rev it's engine for a while.

I don't sleep much that night, partly because of the noise but also because of the heat. The bike is still there in the morning so i load up and set off on my way. The riding is easier now, long flat stretches rather than the constant curves and gear changes so i can move faster, but before long i come across what seems to be a huge traffic jam. There is a long line of trucks, buses, jeeps and a few cars, maybe 50 all told just sitting there not moving, and i'm not sure if it's a police checkpoint or something else so i do what i'd normally do at home and roll the bike up to the front of the queue in the opposite lane from which no traffic is coming. It's only when i get to the front i see the mob and smell the burning tyre.

Now if i'd just caned the bike straight away i'd have made it through, but i'm curious since i can see the mob is made up of schoolkids judging from the uniforms i've seen all morning on kids moving along the highway. As soon as i get to the front the crowd starts "Oi" "Oi" and surrounds me, and i get concerned but not really scared since they don't seem angry or nasty. The guy who seems to be in charge comes over and starts shouting at me, then pointing to flick up my visor, and it's only when i do that they see i'm a foreigner and back off. Then i get the usual where are you from question, then a couple more before they say i can go. Like an idiot i start to ask what the protest is about, then i think better of it and drop the clutch to roll out. Once i'm clear on the other side a local guy on a bike heading the other way asks me questions but i can't understand him so just keep moving. I hope they didn't torch his bike.

The day just gets hotter and hotter and i'm starting to struggle in the heat, even the bike seems affected because i notice after a while that the horn isn't working. This is a problem as the horn is fairly crucial to staying accident free here. You need to sound it almost constantly to let people know you are there or overtaking as lots of vehicles either have no mirrors or rarely bother to check them.

I also begin to think that i'm not taking enough pictures so i tell myself to stop more often whenever i see something interesting, the next opportunity is a small village and a set of fields. There are what seem to be villages everywhere, which seem to have their own farming patch. The buildings mostly seem to be made from sticks and mud and they have thatched roofs, which can't be fun in the monsoon. They still farm with oxen drawn plows as you can see from the picture.




Once i've taken a few pictures i suit back up ready to continue, but when i turn the bike in the bike the ignition is dead. I also remember that i was supposed to look at the horn to see if i can figure out what's up with it, but i'd forgotten in the heat. Horns are fairly simple, they take a feed from each side of the battery and usually just have one bolt connecting them to the bike. They sit externally to the fairing since the noise needs to get out, so i check that first. It all looks ok, which suggests the problem with the bike is electrical in nature since nothing will come on at all. I don't know anything about these bikes, but they are all fairly generic, so i start looking for loose wires externally but find nothing wrong, so then i have to figure out how to take the fairing off and hope the problem is a loose battery connection.

I didn't think it would be since the regulator should have kept the horn working and if i hadn't switched off the engine it would have ran all day, it's just restarting that won't work. I have to take my kit off again as it's too hot otherwise and dig out my floppy hat as the sun is ferocious, but i finally figure out how to get the fairing off and then check the battery. As i was worried this is fine so then i have to dig deeper to figure out what's wrong. After maybe 10 minutes or looking and prodding i find that the fuse assembly is the problem. The wires have come loose and have very little strands left within them. To get around this i disconnect what's left of the wires from each end, and connect them directly to each other bypassing the fuse. This is slightly dangerous for the bike since it isn't protected anymore, but it's not my bike and it's too warm to go looking for a piece of wire on the road, and there are no garages nearby so it's going to have to do.

I'm really struggling now in the heat as i reattach the fairing and put my gear back on, i've been through Australia, spent time in LA and Las Vegas, even the heat in Delhi, but this is insane, added to the humidity i'm having a hard time bearing it. I notice these oxen behind me looking nice and cool and i'm tempted to slide down the banking and join them. I manage to resist the temptation and get back on to keep riding.

The map i have is to a fairly large scale, so while i
know where the national park is i can't see the entrance and i don't know much about the accomodation. The area i'm passing through looks much like what i've seen of Africa so i'm imagining a shady lodge with air conditioning to help me get through.

I ride on for maybe another 100kms before i have to pull in for something cold to drink. At this point i'm in bits again, now thinking that i'm ill rather than just hot, so i buy a cold drink and some more water and try to rehydrate. The store is a typical dusty roadside place, this one made of concrete and in a row of similar places. There's a bench and a bed outside so i sit for a while, then start to lie back, when the woman who runs it comes out and points me over to the wooden/rope bed thing. This picture of me is taken after i've been lying down for about half an hour.

Once i feel vaguely coherent again i try to ask how far it is to Bardia, but no-one speaks much or any English. They know the name, but can't tell me the distance, so i take out bank notes and point to the ground then along the road saying Bardia, and hold up a 20, then add more and more, but that doesn't seem to work. After a while a young guy comes along and tells me it's 24km, and after a further while the woman shop owner comes over with a 20 and a 10 banknote to tell me it's 30kms. I manage to get back on the bike and roll off thinking i'm nearly there.

There are a load of police roadblocks just before the park, but they just wave bikes through so i only know i'm there when i stop to ask a policeman where it is and he points to the road beside us. I finally roll in thinking i've made it, only to discover that this is the start of the boundary not where the main buildings and lodges are. There's a group of touts peddling various places so i just ask which has air conditioning, they all look at me blankly and say none of them. I'm not sure if this was true but i didn't see any that looked like they did.

It's too hot so i take a card and ride in, then another bike follows me and the tout on it suggests another place and he'll show me the way. What i then discover is that the park isn't paved at all and i have to ride along a road made variously of sand, dirt, loose stones, and even a river crossing to get to the lodges. The tout can ride through this stuff ok, but even at my fittest i haven't spent much time off road so i'm really worried that i bin the bike. The road seems to go on forever and it's only on the way out that i measure it at 23kms. If i had known i wouldn't have gone in that evening.

When we finally get to the lodge they show me a couple of cottage/shacks, tell me the price, then hang around. I can't understand whats going on until someone explains that it's the off season so none of the staff are around at the moment and they need to wait. By this time i need to flake out again so just go and crash on one of the beds until someone turns up.

The manager finally arrives and i struggle out of bed for a chat before everyone is happy. I'd ordered food earlier but with no guests other than me in the place they don't have anything in the kitchen and have to send someone to the market. Then the power goes out. About an hour and a half after i order i'm presented with fried chicken rather than the chicken fried rice i'd ordered. They are apologetic, but i need to eat something so i start on it, eating by candle light so every second bite i'm taking bone out of my mouth. I force myself to eat as much as i can then go and crash out for the evening.