Day Out on the Enfield

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Geo: 27.868, 83.5455

Having not had the chance go venture far for a couple of weeks we decided to head up to Tansen fof the day, just a short 50kms away. Got up early and hit the road at 7:30am, the morning air was sligtly cool and had the fresh smell of burning rubbish. The great thing about this time of the morning is most locals are not on the roads only a few buses and a couple of trucks. The meant the normal 1to 1.5 hours it takes to get to Butwal (only 21 kms away) took 30 minutes, could not believe it.

Butwal is the town at the entrance of the valley that leads toward Tansen and ultimately Phokara, the road is frequently covered with landslides thus the condition of the bitumen was seriously pot holed in the steeper sections. Now this is normally normal however the fog was thick and it seems that if you cannot see the road and or anything then you should drive in the middle of the road... I assume it is so they do not fall over the edge.. I however fail to see the logic because it amlost guarantees multiple head on collissions. None the less we kicked the Enfield down a gear and let her rip.. only to have to madly go for the brakes as we approached another landside effected are.

The funny part is I have taken to giving Lisa a quick tap on her knee so she is aware some rough stuff is comming up and hang on.. However sometimes I find i canot let go of the handle bar and she finds herself head planting into the back of me and then levitating her backside off the seat as we bounce over some bumps and holes.

The Enfield only has drum brakes.... well this means when you apply the brakes you feel the pads engage the drum and then expect the normal slowing down process to start.. funnily enough this is not what happens, you need to squeese a little harder then harder again and sometime so hard you are sure the cable will break with all the strain.. None the less in the main it all works out.....

However there was one corner... a blind right hander.... the turn tightened up as we progressed... i had the apex of the corner all lined up when i noticed some sand on the road surface.... to miss the sand i needed to tighten my turn a little more.... then the bus appeared.... strategy time... okay straighten the bike ease on the brake miss the gutter and the bus.. easy ... well bugger me in times of crisis the brain reverts to what it knows best... for those of you who do not know Enfields the back brake and the gear levers are on the opposite side to what is normal!!!..my brain panicked then reacted and I pressed what i thought was the brake.. so we changed up a gear and speed up.... paniced, pressed everything... and all this happened as we hit the sand... I am happy to report the Enfield (weighing 169kgs) does a perfect sideways slide Lisa assisted us in keeping vertical by putting her foot down... we missed the truck and did not end up in the 2 foot deep gutter..... No Problem.

We arrived in Tansen.. Tansen is known as an Ancient City with amazing views of the Annapuna Snow Capped Mountain Range. We got lost in the crazy small winding streets straight away... went the wrong way arround a roundabaout thing and the police man just gave us that look like... another forigner out of control... Lisa and i's tackticks with people in authority is to immediately engage them with a question, (directions are good) this distracts them and they normally point us in the right direction and wave us on.

Today we learnt a lesson if you go sight seeing on a Saturday do not bother, as everything is closed. We also knew Tansen was in coffee country and real coffee sounded like something we needed about now. We walked past the shops with organic coffee signs above all boarded over. This time of the year the mist is so thick you cannot see the Himalaya. Hence the photo of Darren admiring the Annapuna Range.

Went for walk.. checked out some temples... had lunch then headed back to Bhairawa. The return trip to us about 3 hours compared to our 1hr and 50 mns on the way up.

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Photos

Tansen
Crazy old town perched on top of a hill with small very steep roads

Silguri
Action shot, Darren on the little blue rocket. PS given this was not taken on speed film facinating there is no blur. Good shot of the prefered nepalese housing paint colours, White at the top, terracotta at the bottom.

The view of the Himalayas
Taken from the balcony of a restaurant called the White Lake... Maybe a better name would be White Mist.

Saturday Laundry Day the World Over
Scene next to the temple we visited. Temples generally have water and many locals washing

Comments

[Rosemary]

Lucky you wer't going over 20kms hr. It does do over 20km hr does'nt it? :)

[cousinbev]

All in all then, an excellent day out.

[cousinbev]

Cool.

[cousinbev]

This looks like how I expected Nepal to look; shame about the fog.