Kathmandu

  Kathmandu, Nepal
Thursday, October 18, 2007

Itinary : Kathmandu
Dates : 17th October to 18th October 2007
Mileage so far : 5500 km (+ 8 km by bicycle taxi)

Yesterday was the big day to pick up the bike at the airport in Kathmandu. The Thai airways flight was due to land at 12h30 pm so I had planned to go visit the monkey temple in the morning before heading for the airport at 2 pm. I will be going to the airport by myself as Kevin was stuck in the Indian Embassy to apply for his visa. So I figured that if I went there first to get the bike out, I would know the procedure and it would help Kevin accelerate the clearing of his bike the next day. But I still took along Kevin's airway bill and a photocopy of his passport just in case they would allow me to clear his bike as well. He's been trying to get this bloody visa for 3 days and for no real reason the Indian officer at the embassy is giving him hell. If everything goes well, he will have the Indian and Pakistani visa by next week wednesday only!

Can I have the one by the door knob please?

Can I make a phone call to France please?

So I started the day by a "quick" update of the travelpod which lasted 4 hours! By noon I was done uploading the pictures and it left me only an hour and a half to visit the monkey temple...So a bit like a rushed New Yorker calling a yellow cab, I jumped out of the Internet cafe and with one leg in the air I waved to...a bicycle taxi! When I told him that I wanted to go to the monkey temple, he replied that he wanted 200 Rupees because it was far and alot of uphills...They all say that so I started negociating until I realised that I was bargaining for 50 cents, so with the time not on my side, I cut short the negociations and jumped in...
Well the poor guy was actually serious when he said it was far and uphill...So I decided to give a dollar more for his efforts and asked him to change his horn to an orangina bottle...

Bicycle taxi with coca cola horn...

I arrived to monkey temple and, with no real surprise, it was on top of a hill with 365 steps to climb...No problem for me I thought...Until I started to have a hard time breathing at the
10th steps! Yes I forgot Kathmandu is at 1500 meters! Nevertheless I didn't quit and continued my way up knowing that I will be rewarded with a nice view of Kathmandu.

100 steps left before reaching monkey temple...

View of Kathmandu from monkey temple...

Once I reached the top, I stayed for maybe an hour because it was like a little town with shophouses where you could relax, buy some souvernirs and have a drink. The temple is a temple...Still took a picture of it so that I can say that I've been but they all look the same for me...Then I was back to the steps again...Going down this time...

Monkey temple...

Young monk thinking of a playstation...

Once I reached the bottom, I smartly opted for the car taxi to go to the airport...Anyway there was no bicycle taxi as I was the only one crazy enough to ask a bicycle taxi to bring me to the temple...

Off I was to pick up my bike! On my way there I was wondering what surprise could be waiting for me...Well I had a surprise, not the one I expected but it was an unpleasant one...Here it goes...

So I arrive at the cargo area where it was hectic like hell! But no problem for me, I was not expecting any less...As I stepped in the gate leading to the warehouse I got approached by 2 Nepalese kids that were telling me that they were here to help me...for free! Ya sure I thought...Nobody ever gave me such a big smile while saying I would like to work for free...Anyway, I accepted their offer when I saw they had a good face and I wanted to go the end of this issue to discover the scam...Well it was the best decision of my trip so far to have accepted the help of those 2 kids! They were 18 and 19 years old and super efficient! (unlike me at their age). So the first thing they asked was my airway bill and after that I was surfing on the wave...

Cargo warehouse...

The custom officers...I'm worried...

I started by going to the wrong office, so they took a taxi and brought me to the international airport where the thai cargo office is, about 1 km away. When I arrived at the thai cargo office, I gave my airway bill and the officer quickly handed me back my carnet, bike registration and the cargo authorization letter for me to be able to get the bike out of the warehouse. Then I handed him Kevin's airway bill and that's when the trouble started...He refused which was not really a surprise, but what I didn't expect is when he said : "tell your friend to come back in 10 days to pick up his bike"! After decoding what he was trying to tell me, I understood that the thai cargo office and the cargo warehouse would be closed for the next 10 days because of the festival that was going on! Now that's really not good news...

Here I was at the airport, it's 2h15 pm, I had no way to reach Kevin as his phone was not working, and the cargo is closing in 3 hours for 10 days! The only thing I knew was that Kevin would be at the Indian embassy at 4h30 pm and would give me a call to ask if I managed to clear both bikes. 4h30 was far too late for me to be able to meet him or warn him of the situation. I had no chance of finding him in Kathmandu so I had no choice but to go ahead with the clearing of my bike and hope that Kevin would call me earlier than planned...I still tried and asked the thai cargo is there's some kind of "fine" or "fee" I could pay in order to have the documents on his behalf but the officer was too "straight" or too rich. He told me that the only way to get the documents was to either have Kevin come himself or to have him write an authorization letter for me to pick up the bike on his behalf. As time was running short for me to clear my own bike, I told the kids to go ahead and clear my bike first.

So we rushed out of the thai cargo office back to the taxi on our way back to the warehouse. Smoke was going out of my ears, trying to find a solution on how to let Kevin know of the situation but there was no way at all I could reach him. So I asked the kids to see with the warehouse coordinator if with a little financial help, he could convince his colleague at the thai cargo office to release the documents and get the bike out, but him as well was uncorruptable...

I just stood in a corner of the warehouse, watching the kids work on getting my bike out and it was absolutely great! I didn't do a single thing! I gave them the carnet, the bike documents, a copy of my passport and 25 Rupees (I dont know what for) and they filled up all the documents for me, asked me to follow them once in a while to see a couple of guys to sign their papers, and that's about it. Fantastic because an hour later, they gave the news that the bike was on the way to beeing picked up and brought out of the warehouse. But I was not that relieved as I was still trying to figure out Kevin's bike. Finally, in one of my few moments of intelligence, I had a clever idea that was worth a try...I was thinking of the authorization letter and decided that my last chance was to write the authorization letter myself and fake Kevin's signature which I had on his passport copy. So I sat in a corner, wrote the authorization letter (to myself!) and after a few practice on a carton board, I immitated Kevin's signature at the botton of the authorization letter.

We were back in the taxi again, on our way back to the airport again to meet the thai cargo officer. As I entered the office, I switched into acting mode and waited for the officer to look at me so that I could start gasping for air...As he approached me, I started explaning how much trouble, time, energy it took me to go all the way back to Kathmandu so that I could get my friend to write this authorization letter for me to pick up the documents on his behalf...And...Well I'm a good actor and "signature immitator" so he believed me...After years of immitating my father's signature to sign the punishment papers that my teachers at school requested him to sign (maintenant papa t'es au courant...), I had no doubt that I had mastered the art and that immitating Kevin's signature would be a piece of cake...The officer handed me the documents with a little smile...

So I handed the documents to the kids again and we re-did the whole process again but this time I was going to the different custom officers signing papers as Kevin! After a couple of signatures, his bike was on it's way out...Feew...It was 4h50 pm, and ten minutes before it closed I had managed to take the 2 bikes out! I still don't understand how the officers at the warehouse that saw me sign the paper as "Aprile" 45 minutes before that, didn't say anything when I signed "O'Keeffe"!? Anyway good for me...

So I turned around to finally discover my crate only to realize that they took out the wrong one! They had no choice but to let me in the restricted area of the warehouse to show them which box was mine...I guess the reference code is not really important for them...Finally at 5h15 pm Kevin called and I warned him of what was happening, that it was normally already closed and that the customs officer wanted to see him before signing the carnet. I could hear the panic in his voice and I think he was already running in his head while talking to me...
I decided to try smooth talking to the custom officer to stamp Kevin's carnet although he wasn't here, which he finally did...I think he wanted to go home....Our 2 bikes were out and ready to be uncrated!

Yes! X'mas is early this year!

Uncrating the bike...3 guys to remove one nail!

It was by far the most exciting day of this trip! I knew that it would be time consuming and tiring to clear one bike, but I had 2 bikes to work on! When the bikes where beeing uncrated and revealed to the public, a huge crowed gathered and all of sudden the warehouse was open again! I was really not at ease...I was in this warehouse which had little light, it was night time, by myself, with 2 bikes, with our luggage on the floor, and 30 Nepalese asking questions and touching the bikes...The kid was telling me to not worry and that nobody would steal our bags but I was not convinced...Maybe if I guy kicks our bags out with his feet to his car, he would not consider it stealing?

crowd gathering...

After staying alert to guard the bikes, Kevin arrived at 6h15 pm and we could finally start fixing up the bike, meaning plugging the battery back...fixing the mirrors...Mounting the wind shield...filling the tank with petrol...THE PETROL! Shit I forgot that...And this is the final surprise...Petrol is imported from India and because of political problems (which means corruption problems) there was a shortage and they told us that if we needed petrol, we had to go the next morning at 4 am to go queue! I couldn't believe it and I thought they were joking...But no the weren't...So as I was getting my wallet out to pay the kids for their "free help", one guy in the back saw the green bills and in a very helpful tone of voice said : "I have the solution to your problem sir" while pointing at his fluorescent green color Wolkswagen combi van! The van was probably 50 years old and the petrol it uses is probably not unleaded...But we'll give it a go...It's Sam's dream car so I told myself it's a good luck sign! It will probably be the most expensive fuel of the trip at 2,50 usd/liter! I guess we had no other choice but to pull our pants down, bend forward, give him some lubricant and accept his proposal...We took 50 liters, 30 for me and 20 for kevin. While he was transfering the petrol from his van to a jerrycan, we returned to our bikes to continue fixing them up and it was maybe a mistake! I think we should have had a look at what he was transfering because while I was pouring the petrol into my tank I tried smelling what was coming out and funnily it didn't smell anything! I think there was a lot of water in there and we must have actually paid 5 usd the liter! No wonder he took so much time to bring the petrol...He must have gone to the river just outside to help reach the 50 liter mark...Nevertheless, the bike managed to start and we were all set to go!

The bike out and working!

To come back to the kids, they were nice, helpful and not free! At the end, they said that it was time to pay the custom officer, the warehouse manager, the forklift operator, the guard, the guys that uncrated the bikes,...All the jobs you can think of in a cargo warehouse and more! I was starting to worry about the bill as I was hearing the list of people that I owed money to but when he announced the figure of 120 usd for the 2 bikes, I was smiling inside...

So mission accomplished and had a beer (actually maybe 2) to celebrate later that night...Oh and I was right about the petrol...The bike can start but had no power at all! I actually did the 5 km road from the warehouse to the hotel in first gear! Seriously couldn't go faster!

We woke up the next day with a bit of a headache so we went to the soya bean poll to rub our heads...More seriously, we woke up at 12 and the plan was to just relax today before leaving Kathmandu the next day to explore the eastern part of Nepal while waiting for Kevin's visa. But we couldn't wait to ride again and by the time we double checked the bike (while it was day time), we had only 3 hours of daylight left so we decided to just ride to the old city of Bhaktapur which is about 40 km away and sleep there. The only thing I can say is that the riding was hell going out of Kathmandu! The road condition and the traffic were just ridiculous...

The calm streets going out of Kathmandu...

To give you an idea, I reset the GPS tracking once we were out of Kathamandu and we were still averaging 35 km/h! But I didn't regret anything, the one hour ride to Bhaktapur was just incredible. It was all new and nothing like I've seen before. The scenary, the house architecture, the towns we crossed, the life going on...I was like a kid discovering and learning...I literally had my mouth open for an hour...And there's one thing that surprised me is that Nepal is much poorer than I thought. And Kevin read somewhere that Nepal was the 12th poorest country in the world. If I compare with Laos, Laos is poor and people live in haye houses but what is surprising here is that you can feel a country that is going backwards, whereas Laos is moving on. You can see alot of buildings that were built during probably a booming period where tourist were abundant, and that are now wrecks. The cities look like they were abandoned...And one of the waiters explained us that the tourist haven't been coming for the 5-6 years and this is the first year that tourist are coming back, at least in big numbers. I think that since the loss of the whole royal family (The whole royal family was shot at a gathering by the prince who killed himself as well after the shooting), there's a sort of war between local army groups and the new royal family which has been chasing away the tourists...

Typical Nepalese condo...

Nice stop an hour out of Kathmandu...

Anyway, we arrived at Bhaktapur to discover an overcrowded scary city that I didn't even dare to stop and went passed it before stopping in a quiter area further out! I looked at Kevin and we didn't even have time to discuss that we were already U-turning to head back to Kathmandu and sleep there!

Scary town crossing in Bhaktapur

Tomorrow, I'm going to wake up early and go to Durbar square at 7 am. We came to Nepal exactly during this festival (which I forgot the name), and it's like the most important festival and holiday for the Nepalese. So tomorrow at 7 am, they are having this ritual where they are bringing 108 goats, 108 cows, 108 sheeps, 108 chicken to slaughter them in the main square. The guide explained me that it can be hard to see and it's a blood bath...I'm not super keen and excited but I have to see it at least once...The whole day, while we were riding to Bhaktapur, we could see goats beeing transported all over the place and I knew what was going to be their final destination...weird...

If the goat knew...he wouldn't be on the bike!

So heading to bed for an early morning wake up...Will try not to get blood on my cloths...