Pokhara

In the morning i found an ATM so i was able to settle my bill in Nepali rupees, though i had to wake someone up to pay him and then checkout. I think most of the people using the hotel were up and away before seven which is when the buses leave, so he'd gone back to bed. Being sensible i tried to have breakfast but there was no-one in the restaurant.

As ever the first thing to do is fill up with fuel and water. I'd noticed a shop selling water i'd have to ride past and there was a fuel place about 20 metres away so i figured it would be simple enough, but another power cut meant that the pumps wouldn't run. I left the bike at the pump and went for water , by the time i got back the pump was running and i was all set for the day.

It's only 150kms to Pokhara from Butwal, but the consensus was that it would take about five hours. So that translates to an average speed of around 20mph. I couldn't figure out why it would take so long, until i saw the road. Fortunately is was only the first 10kms or so that was patchy like this, the rest was okish tarmac.

The low average speed was more due to the traffic on the road combined with the twists and turns, plus all the villages you need to go through fairly slowly. What i've also discovered along with the bigger vehicle always having right of way, is that if you do have an accident regardless of what caused it the bigger vehicle always gets the blame. So if i hit a pedestrian it's my fault. If i run into the side of a bus it's the buses fault.

The trucks are painfully slow during the climbs but that makes them easy to pass, as long as they are not in a group. They are slow on the way down too, and it's easy to tell when one is ahead of you on a descent because of the smell in the air. At first i couldn't place it, then i realised it was burning brakes.

The ride was mostly uneventful, and i only drank 1 litre of water as opposed to 5 or so yesterday. The bike ran ok, but i think it needs oil, which can wait until i return it. i did think about getting the light fixed but i don't plan to ride at night again so didn't bother. It's much cooler in the hills, even chilly at one point and at times it was spitting with rain which made a nice change.

Pokhara is another tourist destination so it's full of cafes, bars and hotels together with all the folk that feed off the tourists. It reminds me a bit of Queenstown in New Zealand, due to the lake and the mountains. It's off season here so the people that depend on the tourists are even more keen that you spend some money with them, but it's mostly good natured.

My plan was just to rest up and stay here for a couple of nights, which turned out to be about all i could do as it started to rain on the first evening and continued for 18 hours. So my days were mostly sitting about and eating when i could. I had a really good steak here which perversely was slaughtered in India then imported.

I wandered around when it was dry looking for another well known place on the overland bike trail called Hearts & Tears. It wasn't hard to find as it's in the main tourist drag but whenever i went in there was no-one there.

Saturday night on the main strip saw all the locals come out, the guys on their motorbikes and the girls in their high heels, both sets parading up and down. There was also a lot of cops around, some just keeping the traffic moving, but others with their sticks. None of it felt dangerous, so i guess it's mostly just token thing.