Nepal
Nepal impressed us straight away with our most straight forward border crossing yet - stamped out of India and into Nepal all within an hour. The transition from India was incredible. As soon as we crossed the border, we breathed a sigh of relief. There were far less fumes, dust and traffic and we rolled into Shuklaphanta National Park where we were greeted with chickens and monkeys! After the 5 nights we spent in Indian cities constantly surrounded by horns beeping, this little jungle cottage was just what the doctor ordered. We settled in and went for a walk through the small, local villages. It was amazing to see how they lived and in particular, how hard the females work. At one point, we walked past a rice field and saw at least 8 ladies working (very hard!) whilst the men were down the road playing a game of cards. It's very common to see women walking along the side of the road with a bunch of grass strapped to their backs - you can barely see their legs and we often mistook them for donkeys.
After leaving Shuklaphanta, we headed for the next national park. Bardia National Park is well known for the chance to see elephants, rhinos and tigers but due to this time of the year and the grass being high, it is unlikely to see the elusive tiger. We spent 2 nights on the edge of the jungle in a guesthouse where we visited a tame rhino and an elephant breeding park. On one of the nights we were there, a wild elephant walked through our guesthouse grounds on his way to the elephant camp. Apparently the wild elephant bulls stroll into the camp and help themselves to the ladies.
We hit the road early the next morning hoping to get to Butwal. We had previously commented on the fact that the roads were quiet and lots of people were either walking or riding bicycles. We assumed this was just the way the locals rolled but we soon found the reason when we tried to fill Tez up. We were pretty desperate for fuel and after the 5th petrol station told us 'no petrol' we started to get a little concerned. Having no internet in the jungle for the previous few days, we were completely out of the loop. We soon found out that India had stopped all cargo trucks entering Nepal and no fuel was coming in. This was all due to Nepal recently passing its new constitution and India not agreeing with certain parts of it. Unfortunately due to Nepal being so small and the vast majority of its trade coming over Indian borders, there's not much they can do. We managed to get hold of enough fuel to get us to Pokhara by asking random people in the streets. This involved me jumping off the bike and waiting on the street, a big 90kg guy launching himself on the back of Tez and heading off down some back roads, only to come back with just 6 litres of fuel. This happened twice in the day! We had to make the decision to push on to Pokhara and Kathmandu or exit Nepal and go back to India. Our biggest issue was having to get our Burma visas in Kathmandu. We really didn't want to head back into India as this would mean going back to New Delhi for the visas and missing Nepal. So we pushed on.
We hit the road early the next morning hoping to get to Butwal. We had previously commented on the fact that the roads were quiet and lots of people were either walking or riding bicycles. We assumed this was just the way the locals rolled but we soon found the reason when we tried to fill Tez up. We were pretty desperate for fuel and after the 5th petrol station told us 'no petrol' we started to get a little concerned. Having no internet in the jungle for the previous few days, we were completely out of the loop. We soon found out that India had stopped all cargo trucks entering Nepal and no fuel was coming in. This was all due to Nepal recently passing its new constitution and India not agreeing with certain parts of it. Unfortunately due to Nepal being so small and the vast majority of its trade coming over Indian borders, there's not much they can do. We managed to get hold of enough fuel to get us to Pokhara by asking random people in the streets. This involved me jumping off the bike and waiting on the street, a big 90kg guy launching himself on the back of Tez and heading off down some back roads, only to come back with just 6 litres of fuel. This happened twice in the day! We had to make the decision to push on to Pokhara and Kathmandu or exit Nepal and go back to India. Our biggest issue was having to get our Burma visas in Kathmandu. We really didn't want to head back into India as this would mean going back to New Delhi for the visas and missing Nepal. So we pushed on.
Our bungalow in Bardia
We made it to Pokhara by about lunch time as the roads were empty which made for an amazing ride through the mountains! We stopped at the first petrol station we saw and it had a huge line of cars and motorbikes. After asking some of the locals, the general consensus was that fuel was being delivered 'soon'. We decided to join the queue and wait. After 4 hours, a petrol tanker arrived and we soon found out that there was again 'no petrol'. Great. So we left and went to our guesthouse. The lovely guesthouse owner somehow managed to get us 3 litres which we were very thankful for, seeing as though his bike was also empty. The next night, we heard rumours of the police operated petrol station distributing fuel. We knew that the locals had been limited to 3L per week so we were a little worried. I left Chappo at the bike and made my way through the hundreds and hundreds of bikes, cars and men hoping to find the sergeant in charge. I somehow worked my way into his office and explained our desperate need for fuel to get us to Kathmandu. He told me to come back at 8am in the morning and he would give us 10L. A little skeptical, we left hoping he would come through with the goods the next day. That morning, the government had just announced that they were no longer giving fuel to private vehicles, only public/school buses and government vehicles would receive fuel. Nervously, we arrived at 8am and got waved in and directed to the bowser. We were given 10L which didn't quite fill the tank and kindly asked for a little more and all of a sudden, we were full! Now we could relax and enjoy Pokhara!
Pokhara is an amazing little town set around a lake at the foot of the Annapurna mountain range. It's a major tourist destination in Nepal, but sadly it's struggling because of the earthquake. You can sense the desperation from the locals who run restaurants, bars, clothing shops etc.. they need people to come back to Nepal. Chappo bought a shirt from a local shop one night for $6 and it was this guys only sale all day - it's a little heartbreaking. We spent a few days there where we canoed around the lake and climbed the mountain to the peace stupa for some amazing views.
Pokhara is an amazing little town set around a lake at the foot of the Annapurna mountain range. It's a major tourist destination in Nepal, but sadly it's struggling because of the earthquake. You can sense the desperation from the locals who run restaurants, bars, clothing shops etc.. they need people to come back to Nepal. Chappo bought a shirt from a local shop one night for $6 and it was this guys only sale all day - it's a little heartbreaking. We spent a few days there where we canoed around the lake and climbed the mountain to the peace stupa for some amazing views.
We should wear cow suits on the bike - untouchable gods
On our way to Kathmandu, we stopped off at Bandipur, a little hilltop settlement where we camped for the night and enjoyed amazing views of the Himalayas. We arrived in Kathmandu where we successfully applied for our Burma visas and went through the whole fuel saga again but this time it was a little easier as we went straight to a military operated station. We visited the Monkey Temple and enjoyed wandering the streets of Thamel. Umesh, the owner of Hotel Premium took us out for a lovely local Nepali dinner which was delicious! We then made our way down the BP highway which is a brand new road connecting Kathmandu to the east. The road was amazing! As much as the fuel shortage was a major problem in Nepal, for us it meant riding on empty roads which are renowned for bad traffic. Along the main East-West highway which runs along the Indian border we came across many piles of glass on the road. We later found out that these were bus windscreens. Apparently pro-India protesters based in Nepal were stoning the windscreens of all the busses passing by as they too didn't agree with parts of the constitution. By the time we got there, trucks and buses were only allowed to travel in convoy at night so this, coupled with the fuel shortage, made for completely empty roads.
So many bananas......so much shame.
A section of the BP highway - the road from Kathmandu down to the East-West highway
