North To Nepal

Right now I am sitting in the Nirvana Peace Guest House in the pumping heart of the Nepalese capital Kathmandu. To be more precise I am nursing an horrendous whiskey, gin, vodka, beer hangover in the Nirvana Peace Guest House. Somehow I have managed to stumble on a crazy crowd of Spanish, French, Italian, Belgian, Irish and Nepali party animals. After last nights exploits I have realized just how hardcore I am....NOT.......

I have a couple more days in Kathmandu while I collect my VISAs for India and Pakistan. I was hoping to go further north into Tibet and then China proper, but I am finding it very difficult to convince the paranoid Chinese that riding a Nepali registered motorbike into their country would not pose as a security threat. Regardless, I'll head back to the shockingly beautiful lakeside city of Pokhara to see my new pal Rick so we can custom build my yamaha from the bolts up, only then will I know which way my journey will take me.

My travel buddy Jay is now on her 4 day journey back to Bangalore. It was sad to see her go for we had gotten close on the journey north together. Talking about anything and everything on the 2 day sleeper train from Bangalore to Varanasi. We discussed everything from American politics to episodes of Star Trek, from the meaning of life to cultural diversity of different Indian states. It's hard not to get to know someone well when you're trapped facing each other for 2 days solid. On arrival in Varanasi we headed straight for Jays ancestral guest house/temple that caters for her caste, which are the business like Chetans. She is American but with parents originally from Tamel Nadu in Madras. I don't think they were used to having foreigners stay with them but I was greeted warmly and ate with the Babas and other holy pilgrims. I'm not sure if you remember but this was my second visit to the holy city of Varanasi. The first time I decided not to take a dip in the holy Ganges for fear that everyone else's sins would wash off onto me. This time in a moment or two of madness I stepped out of the hired boat and into the water, of course directly after having my head shaved during some holy ritual of offering. Not the smartest thing I have ever done, it was on a par with having my chest waxed 1 day before going to Ibiza, where I swelled up like a plucked chicken. The water at Varanasi is known to be dead now, there is no dissolved oxygen in the water anymore, mainly due to the raw sewage pumped into the water coupled with about 100 dead bodies being dumped in per day. Samples of the river show that the water has 1.5 million faecal coliform bacteria per 10ml of water. In water that is safe for bathing this figure should be less than 500. Nevertheless in I went and did my holy puja and climbed back out. Of course Jay too had her head shaved and after we both got the mandatory massage from the head shaver we paddled across to the Ghat side of the Ganges and made our way to the burning Ghats. We stayed in Varanasi for a couple of days before taking a couple of long haul bus rides north to the Nepal boarder crossing. During the trip Jay brought to my attention that my newly shaven head was swelling up. The muscle ridge around my crown had taken on about 5mm of extra packing, I was looking like a Ferengi or perhaps some kind of novelty Dildo. I could actually feel the tops of my ears touching my head, a very strange and peculiar sensation. This was the last thing I needed for my already sunburnt and over-sensitive scalp. Now it has all gone down and I have a new layer of skin on my head, though I do look like a cross between Marlon Brando, Lex Luther, Gary Glitter and Grant Mitchel. The boarder and immigration between India and Nepal was really non existent, there was no checking and after paying my $30 for my VISA we pressed on to Lumbini the birth place of The Buddha. Jay was now not only an illegal alien in India but now also in Nepal after sneaking in without using her passport. Very naughty. Lumbini was great, a collection of Buddhist temples built by different countries surrounding the actual rock at Buddha was born onto. Of course there have been many Buddhas (just meaning enlightened one), but this fella was the only one who devised a methodology for teaching people to also join his enlightened state. Apparently, there were 30,000 people enlightened around his at this time and this gave rise to the belief system that is known as Buddhism today. The further we traveled away from the boarder it became more and more evident that we were no longer in India, the smells the litter the attitude of the Nepali people was quite different. I was happy to be here. Although we were really at the "wrong" time of year for sight seeing, being in the Monsoon the air was clean and some of the hills could be seen. We headed to Nepals second city, called Pokhara to check out a motorbike dealer ran by an English guy and his Dutch girlfriend. Pokhara is built under the AnnaPurna range of the Himalayas and just on the lakeside of a breath taking stretch of water. After a couple of days discussing with Rick I had gone off the Enfield idea for a Nepal Enfleld suffers an extra 150% TAX on top of the cost of an Indian bike. Also the maintenance on one is shocking, needed to be checked and rechecked each day. Of course riding an Indian one out of India is out of the question for a new law forbids foreigners to take them out. So what to do? Well looks like I will now get a Yamaha 135cc and have it customized so I can make it back in some sort of comfort. Rick has found me a Yamaha which we will rebuild with wider wheels, new suspension, luggage racks and a custom made petrol tank. I was hoping to ride north into China and down into Pakistan through the China/Pak mountain pass, but this looks a little unlikely, though I will certainly try.

I really do love Nepal, I knew I would, I loved the feel of Darjeeling and Sikkim when I visited last November for my trek. The people are honest and friendly and the women pretty and smiling. Kathmandu is really the only city in Nepal the rest of the population being rural and very poor. I have yet to be held up by Moist rebels, which is a shame really I was looking forward to getting my receipt and having chat while they take the $ donation to their cause. The situation here looks like it has calmed down a lot with the guns put away and the Kings power greatly reduced and the Maoists now represented in the government. The King here is universally hated and despised by all. A shame really for the king and Queen before were universally loved and revered by the people. His rise to power is cloaked with great suspicion after the whole royal family were gunned down by the crowned prince who then turned the gun on himself, with the son of the present King being the only survivor. The main conspiracy theory is that the anti American family were murdered by the CIA to put the present King who is pro-American on the throne.
Tonight I will take it a bit more easy as I head out with the gang from Nirvana Peace Guest House, Gwedo the crazy 25yr old bearded Italian eternal traveler may try and drag me into a few bars. This guy became a good friend very quickly, without wanting to sound too gay we hit it off immediately. The second day I saw him he was bare chested, head hung down, long hair and beard and arms stretched out with blood poring down from his head, he really did look the spit of The Christ. In fact he had just slipped on the steps and banged his head. Last night we were treated to a fusion of funk and Nepal beat music. The bongos, flute, guitar, bass, sitar and digiderdo made a crazy combination and really rocked the house. About half way through Cloe the cute French elf like hippy girl flicks out her hidden silver flute and starts jamming adding in what can only be described as mystical-jazz flute to the mix. It was such a good night, I have to tell you. Walking back we were jumped on by a gang of street boys, Gwedo knew them well and they just wanted to play. He has been living in Kathmandu for 4 months and these kids love him. Imagine about 8 boys from the age of 4 to 11, with only each other as their family. They sleep were they can, get what food they can, looking out for each other. The leader/boss is just 11 years old and you can see how much stick together. We played with them, throwing them around like you would normal kids that age, thats all they wanted was some adult play attention rather than being hit or asking for food, brought a tear to my eye.