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Published: November 10th 2017
The Dream
If you look closely you can see me taking the photo in the shine of the paintGeo: 27.6154, 85.611
We leave the relative safety of Bhairawa and set out for Kathmandu Bike shopping. Neither of us was much keen on a seven hour bus ride but theoretically it was going to be for a good cause so we sucked it up. Well that was for the first ten hours anyway then the trip was wearing a bit thin. Kathmandu turned out to be a bit of a generalisation as the Bike was actually located about three hours the other side of Kathmandu in a little visited village on the way to the Tibetan border.
We had some sketchy directions and full of confidence headed off. Today being the second day of the Depawali festival (one of the crasier in Nepal) we had the added pressure of many people on the public buses who take the opportunity to return to their villages to visit family. Two buses later we are once again in a small village looking for another bus. There were crowds of people on the roadside and using our most polite English asked if the bus was going to the place we wanted to go. Head wobbles confirmed we were at the right bus stop although there was
Bus top View
Crowded and numb.. Video to come soon a complete lack of a pole or timetable or anything for that matter. Shortly a very packed bus arrived and much Australian swearing between the two of us translated to there is no way us two larger Australians and packs are getting anywhere near that bus, far less on it. No problem we will wait for the next one. Hmm the next one was worse and we were directed to upside. Really, travelling on the roof of buses is illegal in Nepal due to the carnage when the overcrowded busses crash, roll and do other crazy things. Oh well what choice have we. There was nothing that looked like a taxi, so with a fair bit of hip and shoulder we push up the rear ladder and climbed up onto the roof. The roof was extremely crowded, I counted 20 people, plus their luggage meant there was not too much room to plant ones but. I managed to get enough room to sit cross legged on the RHS frame and so had the pleasure of some child plant their but on my leg. Darren was struggling with his but size to even sit down. The bus conductor managed to rearrange
Lisa
The look is dreamy as Lisa reflects on the VTR at home. passengers and their luggage to get Darren's butt down and his legs dangling over the edge. Now the scenery was quite amazing and the air was actually much much fresher than downside (inside the packed bus with large number of folks who could do with some BO Basher) however when the bus set off we fast realised this was probably not our safest move. The bus lurched around the corners and quite frankly Darren telling me to focus on the scenery was doing little to distract me from planning how Bear Grills would jump off if the thing went over. We discussed how we would try to save ourselves however my leg with the girl sitting on it had now gone completely number and I doubt would move if I wanted it to.
Long story short the worry was for nothing and we arrived safely in yet another village. We followed the sketchy directions and much to our amazement found the Bike. Now we pretty much decided on the walk from the Bus Park we were taking the Bike regardless of whether it was a complete nugget as we were not going through that saga to get back so we are
Tinkering
Well one must start to plan what needs to be modified... The damdest thing is i recon she is perfect maybe a little grumpy in the morning but none the lest beautiful now the proud owners of a very nice coloured blue Enfield. Darren is stoked, I am just grateful we no longer need to travel on public buses.
Enfields are notoriously unreliable, they are Indian manufactured after all which is like made in China but worse so watch this blog space to see if we manage to get it back to the safety of Bhariaha where you know who will be pulling it apart I am sure… yeah yeah sure Lisa (Darren's addition) Now for the untold parts of the above story.
Stayed the night at the Kathmando Garden Guest House in room 301… so what I hear you say well we stayed here when we arrived so it was nice to go back to something familular where the people running the place were glad to see us back.. The Tihar (Divali) festival was well underway with fire works and the strange but pretty chalk drawings in from of everyone's house…Awoke had cheese and egg omelette hot coffee (dam I miss good coffee) and headed for the KTM bus park to catch the bus to Banepa.. Nice trip although the bus was packed Lisa's backpack was on my legs and I went numb
Condoms
Just one of the many strange but true things we see.. from the neck down..
Arrived and found a great Guest house, Snow View, and bugger me looking out our window we can see the snow capped Himalaya freaking awesome. Dropped out stuff and headed back to the bus as lisa mentioned the bus to the village was more than full and no amount of shoving by me could match the 80 year old women who easily pushed past me and into the bus regardless of how many people were trying to alight… We looked at each other then headed for the roof.. when in Rome… Lisa got up first and a couple of 80year olds pushed past me again and climbed up the little ladder like they were on their way to church.
The roof was now getting full and I had to navigate my way towards Lisa… now as I stepped over a cardboard box a lady thought I was going to sit on it and grabbed hold of me and started shouting at me… Calmly I informed I was not going to sit down on it however I guess she did not understand what I was saying…. It got to the point where I said.. for freak sake lady
Tihar
Tihar road side decorations I am not going to sit on your freaking box so move your ass and I can get past.. to which she smiled and moved.. maybe it was the look in my eye's I am not sure.. so great I have a place to plant my bum onto the RHS frame work hang my legs over the edge and though wow this is great… then the dam bus moved my feet slipped down a little further and the RHS frame dug into the back of my knees which was not too bad until the blood flow stopped then the sideways lurching started at which time my but cheeks spread apart on the RHS frame… Then Lisa started on about the possibility of the buss going over…. At least the pain would stop…. I said look at the mountains aren't they beautiful to which she replied… how can you look at the view when we are in danger of dying… oh the drama… and then she mumbled something about Bear Grills however I was just trying to hang on.. the funny part was I needed to lean forward and grab hold of the RHS to steady myself however this move also increased the pressure that was being exerted onto the back of my knees by the RHS so looking at the view was the only thing that made the experience worth while…
So now we have an Royal Enfield 350 Bullet and wow what a beast.. the pain and suffering were worth it…. Lisa is of the opinion it is going to be just like a Land Rover, unreliable and leak a lot of oil… So what and by the way Lisa it is an Indian bike made to specific British standards… so what is your problem.. ha ha.
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saroj
non-member comment
Congratulation! mate finally u got your dream bike Royal En field'