I rested in the first hotel i came to over the border. My shoulders were aching, as were the backs of my legs, as well as my ar5e, from the ride up to the border crossing. Next day i just headed off, not really knowing where i was going to end up.
I was still in the frame of mind that whenever i would stop there would be Ali Babar and his 40 mates surround the bike immediately, all wanting to look with their fingers. I put it to the test, i stopped at a petrol station, and.....nothing. The fella serving said good morning, filled my tank, and that was it. No crowds, no questions, no touching or twisting the throttle or pulling the clutch in, great. I stopped at a fruit stall, bought a couple of bananas, no crowds, no touching, no twisting, no questions, i knew i was going to like this place.
I carried on driving, really enjoying the scenes of the Himalayas. Eventually i caught up a guy on another motorbike, i could tell he was a westerner. We stopped and had a chat, then carried on together until we ended up in a place called Pokhara. I didn't know this but Pokhara is a tourist resort situated by the side of a lake. It offers trekking tours, paragliding, rafting, kayaking etc. I found a hotel and had a shower. The westerner was a 7 foot tall German guy called Tilo, he had hired the bike for 6 days and had just gone around Nepal touring. We met up for dinner and had a chat.
The next day i went for a ride on my motorbike without all the luggage on. I found a trail just outside a village and decided to go up it. There was a young kid about 12 years old, it was obvious he had been sent to the local village to fetch water. He spoke quite good English and asked if i could give him a ride up the trail, 'No problem kid' i said. When i dropped him off he asked if i could give him a lift back into Pokhara when i came back along the trail 'No problem kid' i said. I gave him a lift the 20km back into town. He was really excited, it can't be very often he got the chance to ride on the back of a westerners big motorbike, i hope he remembers the ride for the rest of his life.
Just by chance i found a place in Pokhara that sold Royal Enfields as part of a package deal. The deal included the purchase of a Royal Enfield Bullet, riding lessons and mechanic skills for 800 euros. The company was called 'Hearts and Tears' their web address is http://www.heartsandtears.com/
I decided to stay in Pokhara for 3 nights before moving on to Chitwan jungle reserve. Rick, the hearts and tears owner, told me about a particular route to go that passed the reserve. The reserve offered tiger viewing tours, safaris and elephant rides, but i was only interested in riding my motorbike. I stayed there for one night before heading off again. I followed the route that Rick told me about, it took me up and over a mountain, the road and scenery was probably the best road i have been on in 29 years of riding motorbikes, thanks Rick. I carried on until i reached Kathmandu.
The next day (8th or 9th of November, i can't keep track of the days anymore) i got in touch with a shipping agent to sort out the freighting of my bike to Turkey, after the experience in India i really didn't want to ride through Pakistan. We got the paperwork sorted, we got the bike boxed up, he got his money. It was interesting watching 8 guys lift the crate onto the weighing scales, 255kg kid. After that they lifted it onto the xray machine, then off the xray machine, well done lads.
I was still in the frame of mind that whenever i would stop there would be Ali Babar and his 40 mates surround the bike immediately, all wanting to look with their fingers. I put it to the test, i stopped at a petrol station, and.....nothing. The fella serving said good morning, filled my tank, and that was it. No crowds, no questions, no touching or twisting the throttle or pulling the clutch in, great. I stopped at a fruit stall, bought a couple of bananas, no crowds, no touching, no twisting, no questions, i knew i was going to like this place.
I carried on driving, really enjoying the scenes of the Himalayas. Eventually i caught up a guy on another motorbike, i could tell he was a westerner. We stopped and had a chat, then carried on together until we ended up in a place called Pokhara. I didn't know this but Pokhara is a tourist resort situated by the side of a lake. It offers trekking tours, paragliding, rafting, kayaking etc. I found a hotel and had a shower. The westerner was a 7 foot tall German guy called Tilo, he had hired the bike for 6 days and had just gone around Nepal touring. We met up for dinner and had a chat.
The next day i went for a ride on my motorbike without all the luggage on. I found a trail just outside a village and decided to go up it. There was a young kid about 12 years old, it was obvious he had been sent to the local village to fetch water. He spoke quite good English and asked if i could give him a ride up the trail, 'No problem kid' i said. When i dropped him off he asked if i could give him a lift back into Pokhara when i came back along the trail 'No problem kid' i said. I gave him a lift the 20km back into town. He was really excited, it can't be very often he got the chance to ride on the back of a westerners big motorbike, i hope he remembers the ride for the rest of his life.
Just by chance i found a place in Pokhara that sold Royal Enfields as part of a package deal. The deal included the purchase of a Royal Enfield Bullet, riding lessons and mechanic skills for 800 euros. The company was called 'Hearts and Tears' their web address is http://www.heartsandtears.com/
I decided to stay in Pokhara for 3 nights before moving on to Chitwan jungle reserve. Rick, the hearts and tears owner, told me about a particular route to go that passed the reserve. The reserve offered tiger viewing tours, safaris and elephant rides, but i was only interested in riding my motorbike. I stayed there for one night before heading off again. I followed the route that Rick told me about, it took me up and over a mountain, the road and scenery was probably the best road i have been on in 29 years of riding motorbikes, thanks Rick. I carried on until i reached Kathmandu.
The next day (8th or 9th of November, i can't keep track of the days anymore) i got in touch with a shipping agent to sort out the freighting of my bike to Turkey, after the experience in India i really didn't want to ride through Pakistan. We got the paperwork sorted, we got the bike boxed up, he got his money. It was interesting watching 8 guys lift the crate onto the weighing scales, 255kg kid. After that they lifted it onto the xray machine, then off the xray machine, well done lads.
love it.
ReplyDeleteespecially the bit where you gave the little guy a lift :)