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Coming back to Nepal a second time was a different experience than the first time I was here. Maybe it was because I left a chaotic, diverse, contradictory rollercoaster of a country (India), for a laid-back, predictably calm country (Nepal). But definitely, it's GOOD to be BACK!
Elad and I took off from Rishikesh on Mike the Bike and covered a mere 80 km to a city called Dhampur, where we were the only foreigners in this mid-sized town that had only two guesthouses: a sh*tty one, and a sh*ttier one, where the sheets aren't cleaned and mosquitoes dominate the room, 50:1.
We took off the following morning at 7 a.m. because we had about 200 km to cover to get the the border, as my visa was expiring that day. If anything happened to keep us from reaching the border, I would be in real big trouble, because here in India, they apparently come down on those who overstay their visas (unlike Korea, where I've overstayed my visa four times, and I've managed to get myself out of the mess).
The pro about riding on a motorbike in India is that you get to see and feel
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enroute to Butwaleverything more intimately, but the con is that you really do put your life in jeopardy at times. The stupid underlining road rule here is that the bigger mode of transport has the right of way on the road, which puts us on the bottom of the food chain. The roads have only two-lanes (each lane going in opposite directions), so it's a frequent sight to see big Indian trucks trying to cut past a slow moving car, ox-drawn cart, rickshaw, etc. Keep in mind that because of the unwritten road law, the trucks completely disregard that we are on the road... at times causing us to break completely while driving at 50 km/p/h or to drive off the road. I suggested to Elad that we buy a carton of eggs to chuck at these idiotic drivers. Another obstacle we face on the road is that there are sometimes the egotistical youngins who see the Enfield and think, "Hmmm.. I bet I could race and fade that," and they continue to follow us around, sometimes getting in the way of our drive. Once, Elad was trying to lose these two guys who were shadowing us, and as a result, we
flower blossoms
en route to Nepal Ganj got stuck right between two Indian trucks going in opposite directions, with mere centimeters to spare on both sides. It was THISCLOSE, and probably one of the most frightening experiences on Mike. The last, less-serious obstacle is bugs and pebbles that charge us-- Elad got stung by a bee two times! Once on his arm and another time on his nipple and we had to pull over... Hahahaa! .. it was so hilarious (for me, not him)!!! I couldn't stop my laughing tears, and all the villagers came out to see his nipple sting and we all had a nice laugh...hahahaa...
Elad and I were getting pretty weary with all the road games, and luckily, we made it to the Indian border town of Banbassa by late afternoon and crossed over to Mahendrnagar, the border town of Nepal. Victory!
A funny thing happened at the border. There is a gate where Nepali and Indians just cross back and forth without having their papers checked. There is another gate for foreigners. When I was showing the immigration guard my passport, I said, "Whew! I made it on the last day of my Indian visa! I was so scared to
Leaving India
And the cop who pulled us over in Rishikesh said this never happens! (on route to Banbassa) be late!" And the man said, "You look Nepali. You could've just walked through the other gate and nobody would've stopped you!" So far, in almost every country I've been to, I was mistaken as a local.. Chinese, Tibetan, Nepali. I guess I have a "is she..isn't she..." look.
The next morning, we left Mahendrnagar and headed out for the road again, not really having a destination. In our plans, we eventually wanted to get to Chitwan National Park for a few days and then head over to Pokhara to... sniff sniff ...sell Mike. From Mahendrnagar, Chitwan is about 700 km away and Pokhara is about 500 km away, so it's a lot of distance to cover, considering that the roads here are windy, bumpy, pot-holed and mountainous. We decided to take our time with the journey, just to make sure Mike stays in good condition.
During our drive, we were immediately reminded of the overtly friendly nature of the Nepalese. Possibly we felt this to a greater extent because we are in rural villages and stretches of road, rather than the heavily touristic areas, like Kathmandu and Pokhara. We have seen only one foreigner along the entire
drive so far. The friendliness here is not agenda-based as it sometimes is in India (people nice to you b/c they want something from you); the Nepalis are just genuinely good-hearted people. After having to have been so "guards up 24/7" in India, I am so damn happy to be back in Nepal! P.S. don't get me wrong-- India is an incredible country.. it just gets wearisome and annoyingly redundant dealing with some of the more aggressive-natured people you encounter as a foreign woman! Plus this country has possibly the most astonishing landscapes in the world, with it's lush farmland, rolling hills, flowing rivers and, of course, the great Himalayan Mountains. To me, no monument, ruin, temple or other man-made creation can surpass the sublime beauty of nature. All along the drive, all we see are green, green and more green. Oh, and tons of smiles, waves and "bye bye."
After driving about 150 km, we decided to stop over at Bardiya National Park which is less famous than Chitwan Nat'l Park b/c of its far distance from Kathmandu and Pokhara. The guy said that they get about 5% of tourists while Chitwan gets 95%. We had a group
Mike problems...again
on our attempt to leave Butwal of touts follow us into the park, and we chose to follow Laxman, the quietest one of the bunch (the others were soooo annoying). The first night, we chilled around in the lodge and played the guitar and local Nepali drum, while singing Nepali folk songs ("Leh sam pre li li"). It was a serene and nice way to unwind from all the crazy driving through India.
The next morning, we had a pleasant surprise. While Laxman went out "fishing" (a term they use for getting customers from the main road), he saw a Dutch couple, Wim and Peet, who knew Elad. Wim and Peet are a mid-aged married couple who bicycled from Turkey through Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India and now Nepal, with plans to cycle from China to Tibet, then through Southeast Asia to Australia, then from Alaska through Canada, America, Mexico, Central America and then South America. So gangster! They made a slight change in their plans when they arrived into India-- Wim rightfully sensed too much danger from the Indian roads, so they decided to motorbike through India. During their journey, they met Elad somewhere, and from there, the three of them spent a few weeks
traveling together.
Imagine Elad's pleasant surprise when Wim and Peet bicycled into our lodge! Elad had already told me lots about them, so it was nice to finally meet them. They have a website if you want to check: Wim and Peet. The two had originally planned to stay for a few hours, but ended up staying two nights hanging out with us, and we all had a lot of fun in each other's company. We spend the rest of the days doing walking safaris and looking at some animals in a super barebone "zoo."
From Bardiya, we did about 100 km to Nepal Gung, which is another border town along south west Nepal. Nothing much going on there.
From Nepal Gung, we drove about 200 km for Butwal, and along the way, we had two motorcycle malfunctions. The first was a problem with this small tube-cylinder thing that got clogged (ok, I don't know the technical names for these things), which was stopping the reserve fuel from going through. Elad fixed it within an hour, and we took off again... but the problem was that there were no petrol stations along the drive... only diesel.
So we eventually ran out of gas. While we were pulled over on the side of the road, a minute later, an Enfield came along, so we flagged him down and he donated a liter of petrol (he refused our money). See what I mean about the kindness here?
We planned to stay only one night in Butwal, but when we took off the next morning, a mere 5 km out of town, the bike's gears stopped working. Elad tried to fix it, but a part was broken so we flagged someone for help, took Mike for repair, and was back in Butwal for a second night.
From Butwal, we decided to forgo Chitwan and took off for Pokhara, which was about 150 km away. The drive was simply b-e-a-u-t-i-f-u-l! The entire drive was soooo amazing, with beautiful, climbing paddy fields staircases, fertile mountainous landscape and clear flowing rivers. Wowwwwwww! The entire drive was a treat, and it was the first time that I had not been restless on the bike, as the scenery was just too incredible! One of the highlights (there were just too many) was when we were rounding a corner on the mountain and
Korean food!
my third and last night of being a Korean food ambassader in Pokhara (we're eating sam-gyup sal and bulgogi!) all of a sudden, we were greeted by the Himalayas peeking over the mountains. WOW. Absolutely breathtaking, God's land.
We finally arrived in Pokhara and it was a nice feeling to be back to this sleepy, lakeside town. After doing about 1,000 km from Rishikesh to Pokhara on Mike, a part of me was ecstatic that we would no longer have to do the grueling drives under the unforgiving sun...but still sad, nonetheless.
As the unofficial Korean-food ambassador, I had raved so much about Korean food to Elad (and every other backpacker I've met), so we of course had to eat it. I took Elad and some other travelers out for Korean food at a place called Hangook Sarang-- three different groups, three different occasions. I obviously take my role very seriously! 😊 But I was so sick of Korean food by then. I had been eagerly anticipating kimchi, bulgogi, samgyupsal, donkatsu, japchae, ban chan, etc, but sheesh, talk about mediocre Korean food overload. I kept telling each group, "Korean food is much better than here," but all of them didn't seem to mind, and thoroughly enjoyed the dishes. Later I found out that the Korean restaurant on
the other side of the lake is 100x better. 😞 By then, I couldn't even think of eating Korean for dinner again. .
While we were in Pokhara, I decided to get a tattoo on the back of my neck (so I can hide it from my dad!). I decided to get a symbol from the Nepali stupas because I was so impacted by my Vipassana meditation course I had taken in Sarnath, and because of my general fondness for Nepal. So on every stupa in Nepal, there is a face: Buddha’s eyes (all-seeing, all-knowing, known as wisdom eyes), a "third eye" (spiritual awakening of knowledge and wisdom) and the nose which is a curly symbol that looks like half a question mark (Nepali character for the number 1 which symbolizes unity of all things in the world). I'm not Buddhist and don't understand these things as a Buddhist might, so I didn't commit to the whole face. But through my own interpretation, I decided to get the third eye and the symbol of the curly nose because I felt it relevant to my life today and this moment. I thought that all my experiences as I live and
Ladies in Nepal work so hard!
en route to Bardiya Nat'l Park travel in this world comes together (curly nose), and hopefully with enough insight and consciousness ("third eye"), I can become a better, more insightful and more compassionate person. And isn't that the goal for everyone? To evolve to be a better version of myself each and every day...? Elad crazily decided while we were in the tattoo shop to get the exact same tattoo to mark on the back of his arm! Tattoo twins!
Most of the time in Pokhara was spent at the Busy Bee. I bumped into Gali, who I had met in Varansi, while Elad bumped into a girl he knew from back home. So that's how the days in Pokhara passed.. as laid back, Jack Johnson/Bob Marley listening hippies. I may very well be the only person to go to Pokhara (two times) and not have done a trek. Does the climb to the World Peace Pagoda count? I think so. 😊
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jomamama
non-member comment
wheres the tattoo picture??
GRACE :) love love love the blog, its the highlight of my sad boring thursday! are you still staying at room #218? or was that looong ago? i miss you! i esp. like the picture of the monkey on that kids head...