"Nepal! Oh Nepal!"

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From a text sent to me a week or so ago by a friend when I told here I was changing plans and skipping out of India. But they kind of sum up my time here so far. Uplifting, exciting, adventurous, but also difficult, tiring, painful and a little lonely. And at times frustrating. I've just spent half an hour typing and then kicked the power cord. Damit it! Curse, bother, shhhhh.....ugar! Always back up your work... But its all part of the adventure, experience and learning, an "ant in a land of giants".

I've spent a couple of days in Kathmandu now and am feling really ready for the weeks ahead on the bike. Thamel is pretty full on when you first arrive - cozy, narrow little alley ways set between shops, cafes and hotels. Cobbled lanes and little flags criss crossing above, which flicker and rattle in the breeze. Oh yea, wind. Its pretty bloody nice, never had much in India. Every second shop seemd to be selling high-end brand camping and trekking gear, but my aunty had warned me back in NZ that its mainly cheap knock-off stuff, and to be careful what you buy. However, if you know what to look for and do a bit of shoping around, a bit of haggeling, you can get some pretty good stuff pretty cheap.
Theres tourists everywhere. It was quite a shock after India, trundling aong in the taxi and suddenly theres white faces everywhere. Again though, tourism has its downfalls, and every second local you see in the street wants to sell you hash, trekking or a mind blowing combination of both. Its kind of funny at first, and I spend a bit of time chatting to quite a few of these guys, but it slowely becomes annoying, especially when its the guy outside your hotel asking you for the third or fourth time. No, I don't want hash. No, I don't want trekking. No, I don't want something stronger (good quality, just to try?). I know I'm still pretty tired and weak from the journey here, but I find myself getting shirt and a bit rude with these guys, and I don't like to be rude.
However, please don't let this deter you if you have thought of coming here, or even if you haven't, its still an amazing city and gateway to some of the best trekking in the world (and later I'm discovering some of the best biking I've ever done).

"It looks lovely on you deary"

I'm really appreciating the jumper I bought back at the border now. With it being so hot in India I hadn't really needed anything too warm, but now being much higher up its much colder. Theres a real nice nip in the air. Its a pretty dagy thing, the kind of thing your grandma might give you for christmas, or the hipster kids might wear at the moment with their thick framed glasses, but I love it. I've even gotten my moneys worth and it lasted at lead eighteen hours before the stitching started coming undone. Its gotten a little daggier after having it repaired by an old Nepalese man in Kathmandu, being restitched with blue thread which doesn't quite match the earthy brown of the rest of it, and the bottom of the zip doesn't quite line up anymore. But I still love it, and it was worth it when I gave him 50 rupees for the job. This is only about 70c NZ, but I think its a lot more than he was expecting and his face lit right up with a huge smile. And I truly was greatful for it.
It reminds me of my Oma, who I'm sure would've given me something like this when I was younger, so I'm wearing it for her. I'm missing her quite a lot here, missing a lot of people, but especially her as I know time is growing a little shorter. Her memory is a bit like a goldfish now, and in half an hour you can have the same conversation numerous times, but the last time I visited her a couple of days before I left was one of the best shes had for a while. We were able to chat for almost 45 minutes about the trip and life and God and all sorts, and I really thank God for that, even if she probably still would have forgotten it all soon after I left. I've been praying for her everyday, for good health and mental clarity so I hope shes still doing ok.

"I wanna live with a Cinnamon Girl, I could be happy the rest of my life..."

With a Cinnamon girl. Neil Young lyrics have been going through my head all morning. Its now the 27th of November and I met up with my aunties friend Sumit, who I believe shes planning to climb Everest with next year. It was great to finally meet the guy I'd been emailing for a couple of months and have a catch up and coffee, but all I I can think about is the bike I'm picking up in an hour. Flying along, hanging off the handle bars, flared jeans, arms bare in a t-shirt and my hair blowing in the wind. I won't be riding like that at all here though, not if I value things like skin, or my life. But its nice to dream.
We chat a bit about the trip I'd planned and he recommended some routes and places to visit, and then I was off to pick up the beast.
Its a Bajaj Avenger, 220cc, 14hp single cylinder kickback cruiser. Its a little under powered and with all my gear on it'll only manage a top speed of 60ish km/h, this will be plenty fast, the guy assures me, with the lumpy roads and crazy traffic. Its kinda top speed for everything anyway. And, going slower, a 12L tank will get me betwen 350 and 400km. Not bad.
Its brilliant fun riding back to the hotel, carering through the bumpy streets and slightly mental traffic. Its good to finally be riding a bit and seing what its like, and its not as bad as I'd built up in my head. I'd been a little nervous about riding here, simply the dangerous nature of the traffic, but its not actually too bad. Nothing moves more than about 40km/h so you've just got to keep your wits about you, keep a constant watch on whats going on and a big courage pill with a good dose of ball-soup doesn't go amiss.

Well, I had planned to write a lot more, but having written this bit twice I'm kinda wanting to get off this machine and back out into the street, so I'll leave it there for now.
God bless, peace and love,
Traveller out.

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