Over for now

In the end i just ran out of steam. I felt better once i'd got back into Kathmandu, but by no means back together again, and the prospect of going back to Delhi to recover just didn't seem logical, so i bought a new ticket home. Now that i've got home where's it's much cooler i feel better again, but it still seems a ways off before i'll be back to solids.

These trips tend not to run along as being just ok, they are a collection of incredible highs and incredible lows. From the breakdowns and the punctures to the wild elephants and that last run into Kathmandu, every day is full of opportunity. Some of the best days where i had problems which i could overcome, and where things were good, it was often such a rush to experience it.

It's unfortunate that the India leg will have to wait, but it's not going anywhere, and i felt i'd ridden my luck enough for one trip. Riding when not 100% can only work for so long before something breaks. In this scenario the most likely thing to let go would have been me, and since i'd like to do many more of these type of trips in the future so it just wasn't worth the risk anymore.

Next time will be easier, i learned a lot, and have made a few good contacts, as well as finding out where some of my limits are and how i can push past them for a short time.

It's unlikely you will have enjoyed this as much as i did, but here's hoping it kept you interested at least.

Roadblock

The is a lot of good riding around Pokhara but i still don't have much energy despite eating and sleeping for most of the last two days so i thought it best to head back to Kathmandu. This is a day ahead of the plan i originally had but it gives me another rest day before i decide what to do about the India leg of the trip.

It had rained all through the last night and into the morning while i was loading the bike so i sat under the veranda for an hour hoping it would clear up, but when that didn't look likely i set off in the rain. The ride was going well, not exactly flowing as the tyres weren't fantastic on the wet road, but well enough and i was about two hours in to an expected six hour ride when i came across another long line of stationary vehicles, so i thought it was another strike. As before i rode up the the front, but this time it was more difficult as there were a lot of pedestrians moving on the opposite side of the road that i had to ride along. A bike in front of me actually clipped a guy stepping off a bus, and stopped but the guy who had been hit, didn't seem to mind and just kept going.

When i got up to the front i could immediately sense that this roadblock was different, much uglier than the last. I took off my helmet again, but this time no smiles so i moved the bike to the side of the road and dismounted.

What happened was a few days ago two men were killed on a motorbike when they were involved in a collision with a truck. The people manning the roadblock were relatives of the dead men and they were protesting because the negotiations for compensation had been going on without success. What they wanted was 25 million rupees for each of the dead men from the truck owner, just over £200,000. So angry at the lack of a result they just closed the road. This is the main road from the capital Kathmandu to Pokhara, and one guy i spoke too had been there for more than a day.

The only alternative to this route is to go back to Pokhara then back to Butwal and along the road i had originally came out from Kathmandu on, which would be about a 400km detour to get to a point 80kms along the same road.

I had no choice but to sit there. If i had gotten any kind of friendly look from the folk on the barrier i'd have tried my luck, but they weren't happy at all and i could even see ambulances lined up on the other side. More of the local people would wander up to chat for a bit and one suggested i say i had to catch and flight and try my luck, but i wasn't in a rush and felt i'd already pushed my luck enough so far.

It was a really strange thing to watch, there were cops around, some in riot gear, a couple with shotguns and a couple with tear gas guns, but they didn't do anything at all. Occasionally the crowd got mad and started shouting, even jostling a bit with the folk on the roadblock, then when that didn't work they went over and vented at the cops. The guys who came up to talk to me were interesting, some saying they sympathized with the family, other saying it was an accident, how can they want money. Some going further and saying this is an example of what is wrong with the country, their taxes have doubled but they get no services from the police. Another saying it was better when the King was in power, everyone was safe then.

I also got talking to another westerner who had driven up to the front of the queue in a 4x4 which had MS Nepal on it, so i guessed he was from a charity NGO. He had been there since 8.30am and didn't think there was much hope of getting through. I wasn't sure what to do, i didn't want to ride around as it would take too long, but i couldn't wait all day since then i'd have to ride at night again, but i figured i'd hang around a bit longer and see what happened.

After a while the folks let through some ambulances, but this only seemed to wind the crowd up more. Some bikes left so mine was standing on it's own by the side of the road, so one of the people waiting came over and said i'd better move it out of the way since things were getting tense, and it looked like it could develop into a mass brawl. The guy in the yellow waterproofs in the picture above seemed to think it was ok to ride through at one point and he got chased off by a guy waving a stick.

Some other guys came over and said i'll ask if it's ok if you can go through but you'll need to come over with me, but that meant leaving the bike with my luggage on it and i wasn't keen on that given the tension in the air. A little while later a jeep approached the barrier and a guy said if that gets through you should follow it, but i couldn't see who was in it and really didn't like the look of the way it was surrounded, so i just stayed near the bike. Negotiations continued for a while with the people in the jeep and i noticed the guy who had offered to ask if i could go through there also.

After maybe fifteen minutes the crowd moved back and the jeep started edging forwards. Some of the guys also pointed to the western guy in the NGO jeep and he started moving, then they pointed at me and beckoned me forward. I chucked on my jacket and helmet, not even bothering to fasten either up and jumped on the bike, finally getting through after about three and a half hours. On the other side i saw one of the bikers i had been chatting with while we waited, he seemed genuinely happy i'd gotten through, he was still annoyed that he was waiting, but he was resigned to it.

After that it was one stop for fuel and to take some pictures of wrecks then the final approach to Kathmandu. The city sits at an elevation of 1,200metres so just outside there is a series of hills that you need to climb, with sweeping bends and numerous twists and turns. The heavier vehicles really struggle here but you need to be very careful when passing since there isn't much room to see if it's clear.

By this time i'd found a perfect rhythm on the bike and even when the rain started again it felt great. The most dangerous thing was the lunatics in the minibuses who pulled out at every blind bend, causing numerous head to head stand offs. Once up on the plateau the rain was so heavy it was creating little rivers on the road so the trucks were going slow even there. I was finding it lots of fun so i was carving through the traffic, really enjoying myself. I only wish i could have filmed it.

The ring road around Kathmandu was chock full of traffic. There is no discipline whatsoever on the roads, buses will happily drive up the wrong carriageway, pedestrians will wander all over and every other vehicle just goes wherever it wants. I was loving it, dodging along in a sort of 3D Frogger game, and i found my way back to the hotel without any problems.

Despite it being the off season they were full unfortunately, i thin because some flights were cancelled so they put me up in the hotel next door and i'll move back in the next day.

Rather than get cleaned up i took all the luggage off the bike and returned it to the guy i had rented it from. I explained about the problem with the fuse and the new tube in the tubeless tyre, but the didn't seem to mind, just saying it's still under warranty so any problems it just goes back to the dealer. I also mentioned the lack of a headlight so he switched the bike on to check and sure enough it didn't work, then he hit the switch in a particular way and it came on. Oh say i.

After getting cleaned up i went back to Sam's Bar and this time i met John a friend of the guy who had been giving me all the recommendations. John has been out here since 1986, and opened the first bar in Thamel, before that you only got alcohol in restaurants. He had some great stories about how things have changed in his time here, it was a great evening chatting with him.

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.

A Day Too Far

The mornings are still incredibly hot so but i managed to get ready and load the bike in a decent time, but it took the manager looking at my bike to notice that i had a puncture. I'm hoping it just needs air and that it'll be ok, but it needs fixed before i can leave which means the luggage has to come off again. The manager takes it off to the marketplace for me to have it repaired, but calls back half an hour later to say that it's a previous repair that's burst again and is it ok to fit a new tube. i say yes, and the total cost is a fraction over two pounds.

So an hour or so later i had out, taking the road very gingerly as i'm weak, it's hot and i don't need any more problems with the bike. There are lots of locals folk on bicycles going about there business so i always try to defer to them, which seems to cause confusion as my bike is bigger and therefore should have right of way in the normal scheme of things here.

It takes me almost an hour to get out of the park, at one point i have to stop completely as the road is being worked on, but i still think it shouldn't be too bad a day as it's not as long a run as on the way in with the plan being to stop in a town called Butwal, which is on one of the main routes in from India.

I'm a bit worried about cash now because the stay in the park has cost 4,000 rupees, as they add the US$ cost of the trek and convert it, where it would have been better for me to pay in dollars. I figure i'll find an ATM in one of the towns i'll pass through so it shouldn't be a problem.

The day if anything seems hotter again but i'm feeling ok at the start, i'm stopping to take pictures every now and then since it should be a shorter day, and i should have more than enough water to last. As the day goes on though it gets harder and harder and i need to stop more often.

What i do is find somewhere i can get the bike off the road an then sit in the shade drinking for a while until i feel better. This all adds up and it makes the day longer.

It's difficult to describe the heat but if it helps, this is one of the larger rivers that runs through this part of Nepal. I'm not sure how long it's been since it actually had any water in it, but the earth all over long stretches along the road is completely parched.

Things are going ok though despite the stops, until i hear a sort of hissing noise behind me. It's likely one of two things, either a strap has come loose or it's another puncture. I stop when i can and have a look. The straps are fine which probably means it's a puncture. It's hard to tell at first but it seems the rear tube has let go again. This was the tube that was replaced this morning already.

I've got no choice but to ride on with a deflating tyre trying to find somewhere that can fix it. It's about 15kms to the nearest town which isn't a healthy distance to ride on the tyre. Worst case it fully deflates and becomes unmanageable and i crash, or slightly better i can still ride it, but i also wreck the tyre and or the wheel.

Fortunately there's a petrol station closer so i roll in and ask if anyone can repair it but they say no and point along the road. I get to the next village but no-one can help there either so i roll on until i find the town and hear metal being bashed, the sign of a true mechanic.

I park the bike up as close as i can and sit in the shade until the guys who are working come over. The guy is a boy of about 14 who speaks no English, but by pointing it's easy enough to understand what the problem is, so he sets about working on it. This means the luggage has to some off again, which is a pain since i've also strapped my rucksack and bike jacket to the rear of the bike since it's too hot to wear them. I'm flaking again so they give me a seat in the back under the fan while they work. I don't know if the tube this morning was replaced or not but either way having ridden on it for so long it's going to need to be replaced again now.

When it's done i pay up, 350 rupees this time, just shy of three pounds, but i'm not fit to go so i ask through miming if i can rest here, the kid seems happy so i get my bike jacket and crash on the floor. He sees this and insists on getting me a mat with a cushion to lie down on. My gear is abandoned at the front of the shop and i can't see it, so i need to hope it's ok. The guys here don't seem to mind walking over me to get parts, but i feel like a clown for needing to lie in their workspace, but i can't get up for an hour or so, and mostly then it's because i need more water. The kid takes me to a communal pump and shows me how to fill the bottle, i ask about food and he points out a cafe so i wander over. I'm now really low on nepali rupees and need to choose between food, drink and petrol and somewhere to stay for the night.

i decide i need to eat and drink so i get some noodles in the cafe. The owner wants to chat so i ask about ATM's or money changers but there are none in this town. I don't think he's ever seen a $20 bill before and he shows it to his wife. He will arrange for indian rupees to be changed though, but he makes maybe 200 rupees out of it, and then seem to go into a crafty calculating mode which i find a bit troubling. He's asking if i have a room, but i decide then i'm going to continue back on the road.

I've got maybe two hours of light left and i'm not sure it'll be enough, but riding in the dark should be ok, and if not i'll crash out in the bush if i can find somewhere off the road to do so. It's very hard work riding and i'm suspecting i also now have a fuel leak as the gauge is going down to fast, but i'm trying not to stop any more. I manage to get into the mountains where it's cooler and i need to pull over again and rest. There's been nowhere i've felt would be ok, where the bike couldn't be seem from the road, so i ride on.

As i get higher the air gets cooler and i feel better so i keep pushing. In the mountains there are occasionally pipes sticking out from them where water must be channeled down through a ravine and then fed into them so folk can use them to wash or drink or such. At one of these points i come across a few truckers washing and they are pointing at the sun, which i'm thinking means i should be parking up and it'd be safe to do so next to them, but i'm keen to get to the town so i keep going.

As it starts to get dark i'm still 80 or so kms away from the town but feeling ok so i think it's just a matter to time until i make it. I've got enough fuel and even if there isn't an ATM i should be able to change Indian money since it's on a main road into India. But this is when i discover that the headlight on the bike isn't working.

I don't have a choice but to push on and at first it's ok. The roads are still alive with local life so it's dodging people, bikes, animals, buses and trucks, but it's getting harder. I can see pretty well in the dark, but what wrecks it is the traffic coming the other way always has it's main beam on so it kills your night vision. As it gets darker i'm having to consider giving up, and just crashing somewhere and hoping it'll be ok. The towns are lethal because folk can't see me coming, though once i'm past they can see the rear lights, but that's hardly consolation.

The first couple of police roadblocks have been ok, surprisingly they let me though with no light, though i wasn't going to give them the chance to stop me, since i figured they might, but they won't chase me. But as it gets darker i'm really worried about hitting someone and causing an accident.

I come up with a new plan of trying to let something pass me than hanging on to the back of it and use it as my lights. I try this first with a bus, but it must be empty as it's moving too fast and while it can sweep over the entire road without worry i can't so i need to let it go. I have better lick with another motorbike with a pillion passenger, but it weaves through some traffic that i nearly hit because they can't see me so it gets away.

The final attempt is a jeep which seems crammed full of people. This is tricky since it doesn't have any brake lights, but i've no choice, and since it also doesn't have a left rear light i just ride close and pretend that's what i am at the roadblocks. The guys in the back can see me and seem to think it's amusing, so i'm waving and just hoping they are going all the way into town. I've been counting down the kilometres using the trip computer on the bike, but i know this is a really stupid thing to do.

We get to a serious roadblock where traffic is stopped everywhere and i think that's it, there's no way i'll get through this, so i'm resigned to giving up and just crashing wherever when the jeep flips on a set of internal flashing blue lights, the traffic immediately parts, barriers go up and we're through. I'm kinda stunned it's cops i'm following and that they are happy for me to do so, but i'm also delighted and eventually we roll into the town. I notice a hotel on the right just as i'm past it so i look for another, but nothing seems as prominent, so i pull over to do a u-turn. The cop jeep pulls in also but i'm not sure if they are worried about me or stopping anyway.

A guy from the hotel points to the ramp leading in which i take it means i can roll the bike right up, then i can see one already there with the helmet left on it so i figure it'll be safe. That is until this little fed appears with his gun. I take his picture since the kids like that and it makes his mother happy to see him amazed. They seem to live on the lower floor while most of the hotel is on the upper one, so it's handy to have another set of friendly eyes on the bike.

I'm a bit hype after all of this so it's weird to have them show me a room and ask if it's ok. You need to bear in mind i'm dusty, filthy, smelly, been dozing on a workshop floor, bus shelter and on the ground, but they don't seem to mind, suggesting to go straight into the restaurant.

I persuade them i need to get clean first, and check indian rupees will be ok to pay with so i'm certain i'll have no more problems tonight. The room isn't great, just two beds, the bathroom is dirty and has open mesh high in the walls so it's noisy, but i'm grateful to be there.

When i'm clean i go order food and they somehow bring me two dishes, chicken tikka masala and chicken fried rice. The masala is incredibly hot and the chicken fried rice is incredibly dry but i eat as much of both as i can before i crash, but it isn't much.

I try to sleep but it's noisy and hot so to get through it i keep going for cold showers during the night then going back to bed wet, or at least until the water stops running.

Tomorrow should be easier.

Bardia

The heat here is worse than ever, at 6am it's over 30 degrees and the humidity is just breathtaking. I know i'm not working properly but i'm not sure why, i haven't been sick or had diohhrea, but i have no energy at all. It's possible that it's because i've not eaten enough, and that could also be why i haven't been sick, but i'm not sure. To get through the riding i've taken a few electrolyte sachets that i brought out with me, which should replenish salts and such, but it's not enough.

So i'm feeling pretty sorry for myself but climb up to the viewing tower i'd seen the night before and watch the morning begin. There are a lot of little villages within the park boundary and as i'm watching a local woman with a big stainless steel bowl walks along collecting the dung that animals dropped last night. She rolls it up a bit to make it more compact, then adds it to the bowl, and when it's full put it's on her head and wanders off. This puts things in perspective for me a bit so i figure i'm just feeling sorry for myself and wander down to arrange one of the activities the manager and i spoke about the night before.

There are a load of things you can do in the part from treks, jeep trips, rafting and going through on the back of an elephant, but he has suggested we'd need more people for the rafting and the animals just hear the jeep and hide so i opt for the jungle trek with a guide.

The guide is maybe late 40's and looks like an old leather boot, he's tough and hard and the heat doesn't seem to bother him at all. His English is ok, but the accent makes him harder to understand, but not impossible. I've got a rucksack on with 3 litres of water and a spare camera, he has a rucksack with one litre of water, the packed lunches and some binoculars, and a four foot stick. He tells me if we encounter any animals he'll explain what to do, mentioning that there are five really dangerous sets of animals in the park, tigers, leopards, rhino's, crocodiles and elephants. He says if we see an elephant i should climb a tree but not a little tree like the one beside us at the elephant will just pull that down. The tree beside us is fairly substantial. I'm also curious how that stick is going to defend us from tigers.

We walk until lunchtime crossing a couple of rivers and stopping every now and then but only see some deer and monkeys. At one of the river crossing he creeps up to the bank, then looks puzzled, saying there are usually crocodiles here. This has me wondering where they are. He suggests another river bank which might be better so off we go again, crossing the river he was just worried about. I'm now thinking how often do you cross here and how often are the crocodiles watching, but it all goes off ok, but he is wary.

We've walked maybe five or six miles and i've started to flake again so when we stop for lunch i have to say to him that from here i should only go back, not further in as i think i'd be a liability, possibly becoming a casualty. He then says that it's best to wait here as if we head back now it's the hottest time, so if we hang around we may see some animals and can head out when it's cooler. So the plan becomes we make a place for me to crash out of leaves, he stays on watch and will wake me if anything comes along.

So i'm dozing thinking this was a stupid idea to come in when i didn't feel good, and since the park is 962 sq. kms and we'll only walked in for about 9 then i'm not going to see anything, but after a while he nudges me and says rhino. Now i apologise for the quality of the photography and the distance but i could barely stand in the heat and had to say no to his offer of going closer. I also need to figure out how to get the autofocus off as it dials in to the close objects rather than the far ones. The little grey smudge you may be able to see in the centre of the picture is the rhino. It looked a lot better through the binoculars.

Glad that i'd seen something bigger i returned to crash out until it cooled down. After a while he comes over again and says elephant. This time i'm more excited as he's speaking very quietly. On the opposite river bank, maybe 25 metres away a male elephant walks out of the bush and cools off in the river. He then walks even closer throwing mud on himself then goes back up onto the bank directly opposite us and starts to eat for a while.





He hung around for maybe 30 minutes or so just eating and spraying water and it was a really special to see it so close.








When he wandered off i figured it was time for us to do the same. The guide would have been happy to hang around even longer but i wanted to start towards the way out as i wasn't feeling any stronger, even after the packed lunch which seemed to be potatoes and onions. It felt like a shorter route on the way back, with only one river crossing but when we got back to the entrance i still had to sit for thirty minutes and drink water before i could mange the last 2km's back to the lodge. When we made it i went into the main building where they stuck on a fan and i had a cold coke, then i had to go and stand under a cold shower for a while before crashing out again.

The huts that the guests stay in are mud walls, which are rendered then thatched, and have a concrete floor. There are gaps here and there and small animals can wander in and use them as a toilet. The attached bathrooms are sort of wetrooms, but the water can also go off as it all has to be pumped up to a tank to give it the force to get through the pipes.

I emerge after a while feeling vaguely together again and they bring out dinner of roast chicken and potatoes and some kind of green veg. I eat as much as i can but i still can't finish it despite knowing that i need it for energy. They don't say anything but i feel terrible about the waste of food, considering how hard the life is here for the staff who live in these mud huts all the time.

I head off to bed resolving to leave in the morning as i'm not getting any stronger here, if anything i'm getting weaker.

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.

Kathmandu

With Delhi being too hot and a bit intense i'd arranged a flight to Delhi one morning. This seemed to cause a bit of panic at the hotel and they had a taxi sitting outside before i'd packed or the flight ticket confirmation had even turned up, but it all worked out ok.

Kathmandu is warm but not quite as hot as Delhi so there was some relief when i landed. That's until the left us standing on the tarmac for about 20 minutes while a bus was found then it had to do two trips. It would have been quicker to walk.

You get the visa on arrival in Nepal so there are some forms to fill with a new emphasis on the swine flu virus. They even use some machine on you when you walk in, i think to take the temperature of your head, which i guess tells them if you may be carrying it or not. The visa itself is 17 pounds or the but you can pay in a few currencies. I paid in sterling and got change in US$. The tricky bit is that you need a passport photograph for the visa application, which fortunately i had, but that could have been a problem.

Once outside there is a desk of what i can only describe as touts that also run the prepaid taxi rank. I usually try to use the prepaid taxis just to lessen the hassle factor, but these guys also wanted to arrange a hotel. I lied and said i had a place booked, and they were arranging eveything else for me, and they seemed almost annoyed saying, well next time make you sure we can make some money too.

I hadn't actually booked a hotel so i pitched up at the one recommended to me by a friend and just asked if they had any rooms. It's supposed to be rainy season here so there are few tourists around and a room wasn't a problem. I mentioned my friends name and how he had recommended it, then they became even more helpful and the room rate was cut in half.

It was late afternoon when i got to my room, so i spent a bit of time sorting through my gear and going through emails, then went out for a walk at night trying to find another well known bike rental/repair place for overlanders. What i didn't realise was that it gets dark so early in Nepal and although i knew about the power cuts it's just not something you expect to happen in a capital city. There had been one or two in Delhi but i'd been in my hotel room at the time so not known if it was citywide, but here i was out and about and everything just switched off.

The map from the hotel seemed to be ok, and it had the Israeli embassy marked which is on the same street as the bike place but for the life of me i couldn't find it, so i returned to the main touristy part called Thamel. Here it's a bit like Delhi-lite in that you have the same touts trying to sell you drugs, or a massage but i find it less annoying. The guys that annoy me more are the ones who say they want to practice their English talking with you then ask for money.

The next day i went back to look for the bike place, but still couldn't find it. I walked until i found the Japanese embassy which was a kilometre or two north of where the bike place should be, which meant i must have passed it. It's only when i walked back i realised that the numbers corresponding to the dots on the map were incorrect, and i finally found it. They have a few enfields for rent but the 500cc bike the guy was pushing was filthy and would have cost $210 for a week so i left in search of another option.

My friend had also given me a contact for a local guy outside the tourist area that hires bikes, so i set off in search of him. These bikes are smaller 150 or 200cc but they haven't been thrashed as much as the tourist bikes so it may prove a better option. These bikes are Bajaj Pulsar's, which are modern bikes made locally in India. They have front a disk brake, electric start, and realtively modern suspension unlike the 1950's technology on the enfields, so having had a look at them i arrange to hire a 200cc model for 3,500 rupees for a week., that's just under 30 pounds.

With that organised i go for another wander to find Durbar square, during which time i pick up a new tagalong who only wants to practice english. I pretty much know the way but he wants to lead me on a roundabout route wandering past a few temples that i can go into. I just smile and keep walking past until he starts to get more agitated. When we get to Durbar Square he insists that foreigners need a ticket which costs 300 rupees. I query why you'd need a ticket for a public square but he insists it's true, so i just say never mind and wander off in another direction. This really worries him so he switches too, i don't want any money but could you buy me some rice, to which i politely decline. He then wanders off in search of another tourist and i go back to Durbar Square where no-one asks for a ticket.

On the way back there seems to be some kind of disturbance going on. when i get closer it's a running fight with 5 or so guys carrying bats. Now i've been warned about the strikes and flash mobs in Nepal so i'm a bit wary, but as i get closer it looks more like street theatre with fake blood, or they just really suck at fighting. Once safely past that i get into the square and wander around. It's partly an open market, with some local things, but also a lot of tourist tat, including loads of kukri's, but there's nothing i really want to buy so i wander back to Thamel.

The last thing my firend had insisted on was that i go to a bar and say hello to a lady called Verena who owns it with her local husband Sam, so i set off in search of it. This place is mentioned in a lot of blogs about Kathmandu so i'd been keen to see it anyway. It's not open until 4pm so i go back to the hotel and on the way look for somewhere to eat, but a problem i have is that i struggle to eat anything when it's hot, so although i have been eating and eating locally where possible i'm not eating enough.

When i get back to the bar it's about 6pm so i find a seat at the bar hoping they do food, but the don't so i order a beer and take the time to read the remarks left on the walls. I see a lady who must be Verena but she is busy with folk so i just sit there and have a couple more drinks. I get talking to an Australian couple who were celebrating getting their business licence so that they can start to grow wine in Nepal, they have a place out in Pokhara which i'll get to later. It's interesting listening to the hoops the guy has to go through though, talking about importing something fairly inoccuous inside an oak barrel just to get the barrels into the country. His wife/girlfriend paints and makes bread and other foods so she has the same hassle importing her kit.

Another wierd thing i'm findong about being out here is the lack of the need to go to the toilet despite drinking anywhere up to four litres of water a day, so it's refreshing to need to go to the toilet in the bar. On my return from one such trip an American girl has sat down at the stoll between me and the Australian couple so i chat to the barman then finally get to say hi to Verena.

Boom. I go from a guy at the end of the bar to a friend. She insists on making me a cocktail/shot thing then hauls the other bar staff over to say hi. Unfortunately due to me chatting elsewhere i've missed a couple of friends of my friend, one of which is still using the Triumph he brought out form the UK. While i'm chatting away i can hear the American girl blethering, saying how she had lost both her husband and her number one lover in a month so she's throwing herself into her work at the moment. She's pretty but she also looks like trouble so i'm edging away at this point.

It's maybe around 9.30pm by this time and concious that i haven't eaten since breakfast and i'm leaving on the bike tomorrow i set off in search of food. Unfortunately i don't make it, only getting as far as a bar with live music, where i sit for a while. I notice the American girl is there on her own, but only for a while until she see's some locals that take her fancy then she has a small crowd to keep her company. I get chatting to a couple from Inverness, and stay out later than i should, completely forgetting to eat.

The next morning i pick up the bike, but i'm feeling a little under the weather so can't eat again, and don't leave until 11.30am. The plan is to head to Royal Bardia National Park which is on the other side of the country in the West. It looks ok on the map, maybe 5-600kms on what is classed a national highway, so off i go.