Kathmandu - New Delhi

  New Delhi, India
Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Itinary : Katmandu - New Delhi
Dates : 22 October to 26th October 2007
mileage in Nepal : 1350 km
mileage in India : 390 km
mileage so far : 7300 km

Eaten up by boredom in Kathmandu, I decided to head off towards Pohkara on my own while Kevin is doing his visa in Kathmandu. So at 8 am I was already on the road on my way to the second most "touristy" town of Nepal. And this is when the real adventure starts for me...Adventure in the "difficult" aspect of it...First, I collided with another motorcycle coming in the opposite direction. As I was sticking a bit out of my lane behind a tata bus to see if I could overtake, a motorcyclist coming in the opposite direction clipped my side panier with his engine protection bars...Straight after the impact, I stopped on the side of the road to assess the situation and when I turned around to have a look at what was happening with the guy, I discovered that there was already a huge gathering of maybe 20 people...I think I didn't have that much options but to ride off...I was in the middle of nowhere, by myself, with 20 nepalese with whom I can't communicate...So a bit panicked I rode another 50 km before stopping to assess the bike...The hour riding was a bit messy in my head as I was wondering if I had done the right thing, I was eaten up by the fact of not knowing what was the situation with the guy...By the looks of it, there's no much damage on the bike apart from the side paniers which is in aluminium so easily bent, and I was probably at 50 km/h following the tata bus going uphill, so hopefully the guy is ok...

my damage side paniers...

So I quickly disposed of the side paniers, which was of no use anymore and re-did the setup of the bike to balance it equally on both sides. The only option I had was to put the tyres on the right side of the bike, put all the stuff that was in my right side panier in the spare sausage bag I had brought and place it behind me and finally to lighten the left panier as much as I could. Lucky enough I had extra straps and duct tape (fantastic invention by the way). Took me maybe 2 hours to setup the bike again and was pleased to see that it was holding well and everything was secured. Most of all, the bike was balanced and didn't want to turn left anymore when in a straight line...

view from the rear...

new bike setup...

So that was it for me and Nepal...I just didn't feel comfortable and safe in this country. The people are just too annoying and aggressive to my liking...And to top it all, I've been having a weird series of problems that rang a bell and made me realize that I had to move on out of Nepal. So I rode off telling myself to go as far as I could towards the Indian border. And fortunately the road in the south is flat and good so I could put some mileage in. The only real drawback of this road was the amount of people and cows on the road...It was just ridiculous...Beeing along the Indian border, I told myself that it was a first taste of what is waiting for me in India. Everytime I stopped, people would stop and just stare...And not just a few people...It was a little crowd and it was very tiring!

still nepal...almost reaching india...

So I almost didn't stop, even to drink...I waited for the night to fall so that I could hide in the dark and I would plan my stops in a hidden place along the road...But even there people would pop out of the bushes or climb down a tree while I pee! Argh! Didn't smoke that day as it would take too long and allow enough time for the surrounding villages to come and send me a visit...I hadn't eaten the whole day and at around 7 pm, I saw a banana stall and thought that it was quiet enough to have a quick bite...And it turned out to be a nice stop...The stall was actually the house, kitchen, shop and room at the same time...The whole family came out and they generously proposed to cook food for me. I don't know what the hell they gave me to eat but I just know that I've never tasted something like it before...I left that place hungry. Stayed for almost an hour...The husband was explaining me how he worked for 3 years in Malaysia in order to buy the field behind his "house" to cultivate it...

their home and office.......

dinner on the road with nepalese family...

Back on the road again, and I decided that I would ride as far as I could and sleep near the border so that I could be at the crossing in the early morning. I was looking for an hotel on the way but there was nothing much and I was starting to prepare myself to ride the whole night...Less than an hour later, I stopped again because I was really tired and needed a drink as the family in the previous stop didn't have any mineral water.Was a scary stop, with a lot of people gathering around me again, but this time drunk or drugged...Didn't feel at ease until an off duty policeman (well that's what he said...) that spoke English came to sit beside me...He was drunk as well but somehow I felt a bit safer. I explained him my plan to ride another 120 km and he thought I was nuts. He explained me that it's the beginning of the national park and that it's not safe to ride a bike alone as there are bears and tigers roaming around...I don't know if he was joking or not about the tigers but I had to believe him as I didn't really know what to expect...Then, as we were talking about the dangers I was facing by riding alone in the night, a police convoy passed by the rest area and the off duty police guy told me that they were going to the same town I was heading to and urged me to jump back on the bike to follow them trough this road. So I executed his order and I was speeding to catch them up...But only to realize that they had stopped only a kilometer away in a roadside restaurant-hotel to have dinner and when I discussed with them the possibility to ride with them, they explained that the planned to arrive in Kohalpur at 1 am...Which was a bit late for me, especially with the difficult day I had...So I looked at this hotel along the road and decided that it would do for tonight...Telling myself that hopefully I will be giving myself a treat when in Delhi by staying in a nice hotel.

the no star hotel in "lost city"...

my room in "somewhere"...

bike parked in the hotel restaurant...

The following day, I was on the road at 5h30 the next morning. A bit cold and weak due to the little sleep (and food) but I still got to enjoy the misty sunrise...

sunrise on my way to indian border...

And by noon I was at the border. Luckily I knew it was the border because it didn't look like one...There's an agreement between India and Nepal so that people can cross freely...Finding the customs and the immigration was a bit of a challenge as you can just ride trough to India without knowing! Funny border with funny scenes...cows, horses, buffalos, pigs crossing with their owners...Quite chaotic but I did all the formalities relatively fast and in less than an hour I was in India!

Banbaasa border city...

indian taxi...

nice school bus...

The bridge crossing from Nepal to India...

 






Now, I knew India would be crowded but I didn't expect anything like what I saw. I thought that stopping in Nepal was quite tiring...But in India, it's even worse! When you have 20 people in Nepal, there are 70 people in India! And the road is just crazy...Full of animals, people, bikes, motorbikes, tata buses, cars riding all over the place like if there were no road or no lines...The cows are just sleeping on the road and are not bothered by the cars going around them...If I were a cow, I would walk to the field where it's quiet but no, they are laying down by the center pavement on the tarmac...Hmmm...Weird cows...

Every stop was a fight...Buses, cars, bikes were stopping just to look at the bike and ask from which planet I was from..."sir, what is your good name?", "sir, what is the average?" which actually means how much km can you do with a liter of fuel....I even had a "sir, which caste are you from?"!?!...They start trying your helmet, wearing your gloves, starting the bike or the GPS, sitting on the bike...I try to stay patient, understanding but firm. After all, I can understand their curiosity. And at the contrary of Nepal, although there are more people gathering around me in India, I still felt much safer. Somehow there's more respect and kindness and you immediately feel it as soon as you cross the border.

So a bit like in Nepal, I almost didn't stop and decided that I would ride up to New Delhi in one go to reach there before the night fell...There was only 350 km left to do...What a dreamer I was! I left the Nepalese border at 1h30 pm and reached the hotel in New Delhi at 11h30 pm! Completely drained...Riding at night was suicidal...Never again...It was almost an 18 hour day on the road...I looked for a nice hotel when in New Delhi, where I could have a proper rest from the tiring last 2 days. And I realized that my good taste didn't vanish in this past month as I decided to stay at the intercontinantal hotel near Connaught place...Fantastic! I finally got a TV, aircon, hot shower and good food...All at the same time! Indeed, I've had these in the previous hotels I stayed but never at the same time...

tried to stop in a quiet place...i misjudged...

food stop in india...

drink break...can you see the bike?

a road in india..no comment...

I didn't really want to stay in New Delhi but the main purpose of my passage was to pick up my Iranian visa which I did...Surprised how quick and easy it was. Less people and less chaotic than I thought. So I dropped my passport and came back two days later to pick it up. Picking it up was a bit longer as they made me wait for 3 hours in the waiting room. The guy at the desk told me that the officer was in a meeting but I realized that it was Friday so maybe he was busy praying...I actually fell asleep and luckily I was woken up by my saliva on my shoulder because the guy at the counter was not going to wake me up although my passport was in his hand and ready for collection...I was planning to go straight to Agra from the embassy so I was a bit pressured by the time as I didn't want to ride night time...If everything goes as planned, I'm meeting Kevin tonight in Agra. And I planned, on my father's advice, to do an early day to see the Taj Mahal during the sunrise.

Good thing I got this last visa out of the way...No more bike flying and all the visas are in my passport...Now it's just to make sure I keep the bike straight and that the GS doesn't let me down...

I don't have that much picture as I try not to stop, scared to create a crowd gathering...and I lost another 30 pictures...So I will try to take and put some more road pictures as I cannot find the words to describe my indian riding challenge...