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2003-09-08 - Butwal - Kathmandu (Day 146)

The first thing I notice on waking is my face hurts and I'm not very surprised to find that the lotions and potions that my triple-shave last night entailed has left me with an itchy rash all over my face. Lovely way to start the day.

The three of us are ready to go downstairs and off we go on what we hope will be the last leg to Kathmandu. There is quite a bit of apprehension though as we have been told the road has had some landslides and is impassible by busses and possibly by us. We have heard this since we crossed the border into Nepal so much of the day is spent wondering what is around that next corner.

One of the first things we encounter is a several kilometer traffic jam of busses and trucks going north. While I feel reasonably safe, its still clear that we are in a civil war with reports of bombing a daily occurrence, the killing of soldiers and policemen. Fortunately, the Maoists have made it clear that foreigners are not to be targeted but there is always the possibility of crossfire. We have been stopped at many roadblocks on the way but this one is horrendous. The searching is so slow that we pass the several kilometers on the right side of the road, as there is almost no oncoming traffic with only one truck every few minutes. We wind our way up through the jam and ride through the roadblock; they wave us through when they see we are white tourists. I'm very thankful to be on a bike at this point at that road block would have taken 2-3 hours from the looks of it if I was on a bus.

We soon start hitting the landslides with uncountable number of boulders and mud that has blocked one lane or less of the road and are easily passable on a bike, but there are also more then 10 long stretches, the last almost 20 kilometers where the road has been completely washed away or covered in mud. Its slow going and the last stretch adds in a few streams, which make the mud really loose and slippery as well as adding in the fun of water crossing in deep mud. It is slippery and dirty and to top it all it starts raining reasonably hard.

The worst part was waiting for the busses or jeeps that would be ahead of us but had to slowly make their way through. There were no cars to speak of, this being a little much for the little Marruti type compact but there were plenty of trucks. My guess is the road had been closed for days and we were in the middle of a serge as the only highway crossing the country had been partially reopened.

For the three of us however, it was dirty off road fun. Once you get used to riding an Enfield on roads like this, it is just like motocross. It would be nice not to have the luggage which makes the bike exponentially harder to handle but in all, the ride was exhilarating and just hard enough to keep the adrenalin flowing and make it a challenge. We had a couple of water crossings up to the crank case which finish pulling out of the water into a mud slope and then back into water which frankly were just a blast. For an off-road dirt toy, the Enfield can hold its own!

We make it through the last of the landslides and stop for tea and to exchange smiles. Guys just love this sort of thing and with three of us to egg each other on was just a great day of riding and all of us have big grins.

Another hour and we are 40 km away from Kathmandu though its starting to get a little late and it will be a question if we will be able to make it before the Army clears the roads. We make one last rest stop and as we are drinking our tea, five other bikers ride up, two with the same paint-job as mine.

Me - "Lalli Singh bikes?"
1st Rider, a British woman who looks like she can hold her own in any bar fight - "Of course."
(I get the feeling from her tone that in her opinion it would be silly to consider buying from anyone else.)
Me - "You are travelers?"
1st Rider - "No, we live in Kathmandu, have a bar there, but we buy all our bikes from Lalli. All of the Enfield's (there was one dirt bike) are his."...

That is the third time I have been on the road and met people talking about Lalli Singh! I am ever more impressed with Lalli as I see how far hi reputation extends!

The last bit into Kathmandu is marked only by another two several kilometer long traffic jams caused by army check posts. Again, we just weave through the traffic and I am very happy not to have to waste that time sitting there.

I have finally arrived Kathmandu, a place that has always seemed so exotic and distant in a little valley at the foot of the Himalayas. We come over the mountains from the south and my first glimpses are of the valley spread out before me bathed in the orange light of sunset. Simply lovely!

We are sent a long roundabout way but finally make it into Tamel, which is the tourist center of Kathmandu and the whole world changes. For the first time since crossing the border 1000km back, I see white faces...and they are EVERYWHERE! Tamel is the epitome of tourist areas with shops hawking cheap carvings, embroidered shirts and trekking equipment crowded in with the Kashmiri rug shops, restraints and hotels. A lot like Koh Shan Rd. in Thailand or Kuta in Bali. However, after a while with no western food, I am looking forward to a tourist town for a while.

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