The start of the ride in Nepal

Noam on the detour

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2003-09-03 - Mahendranagar - Royal Birdia National Park (Day 143)

I join the Israelis and we head off at 7:00am into a relatively clear morning. All excited to have good weather we head out - the roads are wonderful, 100% change from India - flat, no potholes, and it is going to be a great day for riding....

Or so I thought for the first 2km. Just outside of town, a portion of the main highway had collapsed and trucks were backed up and the locals were all out looking at the collapsed road. Considering there is only ONE road though much of Nepal this is a good-sized problem. We head back a kilometer and try to take a path through a small village and some fields to circle around the problem and this turns out to be one of the tougher rides I have done yet. Here we are on a dirt road that has seen several weeks of monsoon rains and just the last two have been severe flooding, so the mud is deep enough to sink the tires. Adding to the fun, jeeps had been using the same path so the path had deep ruts and anywhere I put my feet to steady the bike it just sunk into the slosh. It did not take more then about 5 minutes before I went over stuck with one foot in the mud and the tire spinning. With the help of Noam and Gal (the Israelis) we get the bike pushed out and can continue on. There are puddles and stream crossings that make things even more exciting though we all manage to get through. Of course, everyone from the villages had come out to see the fun of these crazy foreigners with packed bikes trying to go off-road Nepal. This turned out to be a bit of a problem for Gal who also fell over, though not because of the road as much as his head was turned watching the local girls.

Crossing the border was the difference between night and day in terms of the women. All of a sudden, the unattractive Indian women turn into these beautiful Nepali girls with wonderful skin, faces and slender bodies. There must be something to that old phrase, "there is something in the water" as the women were completely different and it was not just Gal that was having his head turned in shock at the amazing change.

It took an hour but we circled around the collapsed stretch and back out onto the highway. Still in a light rain, we set off. As the rain stops people start coming out onto the road, which is the main artery for all transportation - tracks, the occasional car, and the infinitely more common ox, and goats. The animals were amazing in their complete disregard for the vehicles simply standing in the road or darting one way or another. Noam hit one goat straight on but both stayed on their feet and seemed little fazed. A couple more were pushed out of the side by the bikes or luggage racks and a few running across the road or jumping without warning are lucky to be alive.

The real head turner though was that everyone lined up on both sides of the road and waved and smiled as we passed. This went on kilometer after kilometer and for all the world felt like we were the presidential motorcade people were so friendly and happy to see us. The combination of the warm welcome, smiling and waving people and 50% of them being beautiful Nepali girls was very dangerous and we are very lucky that the road was flat and there were so few vehicles.

By late afternoon we make it to the park entrance and after just a couple of kilometers are facing yet another challenge - a river 200 meters wide which we can't see the bottom. The three of us are just looking at each other when we watch a few Oxen wade across. It is deep but probably do-able though it must be a soft bottom. Gal is apparently not up for waiting and plows into the water. The water was deep and he slipped a bit but still made it across. Noam and I followed neither having any problems but both giving a bit of a sigh of relief as it certainly looked like it was going to be a problem.

We make it to the edge of the park and book into the Tree Tops lodge just in time to site back on the porch with a coke and watch the rain pour down for another hour.

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