A Ride Out to the Countryside

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Chris and I rode through the backstreets behind Thamel, weaving in and out of wall to wall pedestrian traffic, searching for the main road. After making it out to the first intersection we were free. Chris rode up beside me and I gave him the thumbs up signal as we both smiled at one another, this was so much fun!

We rode back home and picked up Celeste, as she would ride pillion on Chris’ bike whilst I took the lead. After refuelling, we rode out to the ring road and began our ride. It was quite muggy and the dust and pollution in the air from the many trucks, bikes and cars on the road did nothing to add to the comfort factor. I signalled to Chris to follow me left down a side road which would take us along the back roads to Bhaktapur. We rode for about 40 minutes before we reached Thimi where we took a 5 minute break. Thimi is a small town, famous for wood carving and pottery. We stood on the side of the road for a minute or two before we got back on our bikes and rode for another 20 minutues before we reached Bhaktapur.

We parked our bikes in the lot and walked up a steep hill into the town. A little boy by the name of Beju followed us as we walked about the Durbar Square and didn’t leave us until we bought him a book.

We decided to ride on to Nagarkot. On a good day, there are 360 degree views from Nagarkot to the Himalayas and Kathmandu. Unfortuantely for us, storm clouds were threatening so we did not get to see the mountains, but the ride up was a lot of fun. The road wound up up up and as we ascended, the mountain air got cooler, making the ride more enjoyable. We stopped at a hotel and had lunch and a bit of a rest before riding back home.

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