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Published: November 2nd 2012
Himalayas
And then they just appear again...as if out of no where you remember where you are.After landing in Kathmandu we boarded a bus to take us to the terminal at the airport. The terminal was 100 feet away. Immigration was a bit of a gong show and I managed to lose one of my forms …well … technically, Nepalese immigration lost it, but one doesn’t argue these kinds of things. When we walked into the baggage area we were absolutely delighted, delighted, that sitting in the middle of the floor were big blue and red bike boxes. Hallelujah! We arrived at the hotel and headed for a quick walk to Thamel, the tourist district. We built up our bikes and one of the doormen from the hotel was very interested and wanted to help. He also wanted to know how much the bike cost. This becomes a recurring theme throughout the trip. We then met up with our group for the first time. One couple from Vancouver, another who are from Vancouver but live in SanFrancisco and two guys, brothers-in-law, from Montana. Since I know they’ll be reading this I must say they are a great group. We again thanked the gods because 4 members of the group had their bags lost in transit. We met
Swinging
Standing better than sitting as our western hips are too wide... our guides and got the lowdown on the trip and then headed for dinner. Great Newari food.
Day 1
We piled into our van and headed up into the National forest near Kathmandu. The best description I have for the ride that day is “un-manicured”. It was quite overgrown which makes it exciting because you don’t know what is coming up. There were also some stinging nettle type bushes which got us all, but of course Shelagh got the worst of it. The trail is called the Scar trail because of the wounds inflicted by the bushes. We rode to the home of Mads and Claire who are the Danish couple who are the local tour organizers. They made us a great lunch. The Nepalese festival of Dashain was just finishing which means that there are huge bamboo swings set up around the country. All of us girls had a go at it. We are not as skilled as the local children. After lunch we rode a trail called Heaven. The afternoon was a combination of jeep tracks and single track. Some of the jeep track is more technical than the riding lots of people do
Boudhanath
The one eyed Bhuda... anywhere, not exactly smooth roads. A few of the sections of single track were pretty gnarly but in general the riding was a lot of fun.
Day 2
Our second day of riding was a “cultural ride”. We drove up high and then rode all the way back down into Kathmandu. The first section was through villages with people and animals everywhere. Shelagh got a flat tire and that was clearly the biggest excitement of the day in that area. We had about 10 people, adults and kids, watching us, touching our bikes and picking up our things while we fixed the flat. They are very interested in these amazing bikes. We arrived in Bhaktapur for lunch. Bhaktapur is a very old city with Hindu temples and other sites. After lunch we had a tour of the city. Then we jumped back on our bikes and rode through some more villages and down to Boudhanath Stupa. Boudhanath is a large Budhist temple. There were hundreds of people – Nepalese, foreigners, monks, worshiping at the temple and walking around the outside of the temple. You must walk three times clockwise around for good luck. When
we got near the edge of Kathmandu they gave us the option to get in a jeep to go home or to ride back to the hotel through Kathmandu. Most of us took the option to ride. For those of you who haven’t been in Kathmandu traffic this might not seem like a big deal. Those that have been, I believe you will be either suitably impressed by our bravery or astounded by our stupidity depending on your perspective. It was epic. Our guide led us and we formed a giant snake winding our way between trucks and motorcycles and cows and pedestrians. At one point, the sidewalk was the better option for some reason so we literally rode through shoulder to shoulder people on the sidewalk. We all arrived safe and sound at the hotel so I can describe the experience as awesome.
Day 3
We had to get up very early today to go do a quick ride before our afternoon flight. Well we had to when you factor in the hours of standing around waiting that is part of any travel experience in a developing country. The trail we rode was the Nepalese
Heather
On the Nepalese downhill trail...shredding the gnar... downhill championship course. I kept asking our guide Dawa if I would have won the race. Apparently not. The ride was quite fun but also quite short. We then took our bikes apart and wrapped them up– with the help of all the bored Nepalese men that happened to be hanging around that stretch of road – and loaded them on a truck. We drove back to Kathmandu to shower and pack for the flight to Pohkara. We had a delicious buffet lunch in the hotel where all of us were complaining that we had “butter paneer food babies” in our bellies afterwards. I am trying to set a record for the amount of naan I can eat in a single setting. I’m getting pretty good. We flew from Kathmandu to Pokhara which is a short but beautiful flight up into the Himalayas passing the Annapurna Range. A tight, low, banked turn immediately before the landed created an exciting end to a short flight. We went for a walk around town and had a beer while watching the sun set over the Annapurna Range. It was beautiful. Our hotel was great, very posh and we all just hung out there
Smog in Kathmandu
Beautiful view of the valley....and the smog over Kathmandu. having some drinks and food before heading to bed early. So far the latest we’ve managed to stay awake is about 10. Life is hard.
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Beth
non-member comment
Exciting Adventure
Great blog. I'm glad to learn that you are having such a good time with lots of different experiences.