Good Bye India!

Ha! :D I made it!! ..back in Delhi and already taken care of the bike. I sold it to a friend of a friend and I’m happy there was such a smooth solution! In the end,  it cost my less than 500 USD to have this bike for over half a year (2.5USD/day) and I rode it for about 14 600km (too bad didn’t reach the 15 000 ;) but I rode as well 3400km on an Enfield and that makes up to 18 000km, what is a pretty nice number ;) all of this used approx. 430lt of petrol, what makes a bit more than 500USD spent in fuel. Yes, it’s expensive to ride around here, but otherwise there would be even more crazy drivers on the road ;) The bike has a very good range with over 40km/lt! With a fully filled tank you get as far as 700km.. what I consider extremely far! :) The Karizma was the right choice! A very good and reliable bike and not to kill (I can claim that after what I’ve been through with it ;).
I managed to get a 2 month Visa for the Philippines and all the paperwork here is done! :) ..a friend helped my to get two different didgeridoos from Mumbai to Delhi and I’ll be testing those in the next days. I’m also scouting the market for another third type of didgeridoo that I haven’t found yet (the one I’m actually looking for.. the ONE! :) but yes.. so far all my attempts were fruitless and I’m running out of time here.
I finally managed after four days of running around (and taking Rishaws and Metro in Delhi) to get all my stuff together and send it off. I found some nice items and clothing to do Life Roleplay back home. It’s gonna be awesome!! :D I bought more that I really intended too, but got a good selection of things now for decoration and gifts. Won’t be showing up here so soon, I guess.. was a great time, but after India, I’m open for all the other things in the world! :)
nearly 40kg of gear and equipment and all kind of stuff that might come in handy one day or fulfil a purpose not known yet ;) feels good to have gotten rid of this burden. Now it’s just a few kilos, easy to strap on my back and ahead lies another chapter of this journey that I gladly take after I have so successfully finished this one!

Nepal Wrapup

It’s week ago that I’ve written something in my blog and I think most of the past events just slipped away, but let me give you some of them.
today I crossed over from Nepal. There is a strike going on for the last eight days because of the elections. Pretty chaotic, but it worked out for me, because traffic was banned and I got the roads mostly for myself! :D today I had to call the guy from the Emigration office and he just showed up to stamp me out :) all the police and military along the way was friendly and helpful and I passed in no-time! Now I’m spending the night in some village town (in the best hotel I could find) and the next 2 ½ days I’ll make my way to Rishikesh, where Delhi lies just one day away. Yes.. this is it, the end of my bike trip. I’m happy and relieved, but was also a bit nervous about all the coming change. Well, I should embrace it! Beach instead of mountain and some good exercises and some diving.. it’s about time! It will be close to 18 000km when I sell the bike.

Yesterday I had a 12 ½ hour day.. way too long, but brought me to the place where I wanted to be. After leaving Bardia National Park, I had two super long days, making a last loop in Nepal to explore the roads and the places along the way. It was great riding!! (and roads just for me ;) nobody was bothering me along the way.. everybody super friendly! :) was a great experience! ..only thing was an oil patch behind a curve and I realized too late what it was. Have never dropped a bike at this speed and was sliding for some meters before everything came to a stop. The bike suffered just a bit (some more stuff broken to lower the resell value :P but I don’t have a single scratch! :D HAHA!! Finally the investment in the bike gear paid out! The knee guard did its job well. I’m happy to wear all this stuff :) so I’m an experience richer and pray for nothing more happing on the last 1000km.

The whole Everest experience was just amazing!! I found myself first a bit short on money, but in the end it worked out well (then we spent a lot and I had to borrow some more ;). I have been to Everest Basecamp, Kala Patar, before that at the Island Peak Basecamp (in a snow storm) and have marched a lot around the mighty Sagarmatha (Everest). I got a nasty cold that finally seems to pass (same my Ex got last year). But despite it, I climbed all these peaks and passes and played Didgeridoo at high altitude! ;D ..yes, it was an epic and unforgettable trip. (unfortunately had no one to share the bed with at night :( ..but hey.. I met Kevin, a cool guy from the States and we had great times together! In fact, we spent a whole month together after we met on the trail. It was very inspiring for both of us and it made my Nepal experience so much better!!
for the passes were closed after the snow storm, I went down after the EBC and hiked up the Gokyo valley (where I met Kevin along the way). Climbed Gokyo Ri and then over Renjo La down to Namche Bazar (where I met Kevin again.. he took the less crazy route). Then we went together to Luklah and figured out that there were not enough planes flying to get back to Kathmandu. So we decided to hike out (3 days to where you can get a jeep). Well.. I decided this for myself (didn’t want to wait) and Kevin joined me and it was a really nice trip that bonded us pretty much :) We got ourselves a porter the second day and it turned out to be a 15 year old kid (did a great job) that carried our stuff out ;) yes.. sounds a lot like child work, but they marry also very early here and we had a hard time to keep up with him :) after a lot of up and down (Kevin already walked in the long way), we reached the road (isn’t barely a road, but jeeps drive on it). So we got this very, very long jeep ride out (luckily I got this audio book to trip away) and after a lot of shaking and knee pain and staying one night along the way, we reached Kathmandu. I got my India-Visa shit done and went straight away to extend my overstayed bike papers. Didn’t get a fine for it (lucky me! :) and went to Pokarah, where I met again with Kevin. We went for a bike trip to Tattopani and I visited three days in a row the hot springs! (love them!! And I’m good playing Didgeridoo soaking in the hot water ;). Was a tough road to  get there and after we continued a bit, we decided to turn around. Different bikes (250ccm XT Offroad bikes) would make this much more enjoyable. With our touring bikes it was a lot of work and Kevin already did a lot and showed great riding skills! So we left it there.. would have been worth the effort though! I’ve seen some pictures from a friend who went beyond this point with a group on a bike tour and the pictures are great!! (furthermore it’s the place where I and Nadia came down last year after the Annapurna circuit. So I wanted to see it again). Maybe next time ;) ..but actually.. I think, I won’t be back again so soon. I find I’ve seen all I wanted and much, much more. I’ve ridden everywhere where there is road and it’s sensible. It’s much nicer on paved roads, because you don’t get shaken to death and you have more time to enjoy the landscape and don’t have to deal with the rattling noises of your bike ;)
I spent two days playing the walking dead game and really loved it! was great to just do nothing for once! ;D  Then I hiked around the lake of Pokarah with a Chinese girl and after that we were off to Bardia National Park. It took us two days to get there, but for me it lied pretty much on the way and I was happy to have Kevin with me. It’s just more fun! :) We went for a one day jungle tour, but didn’t get to see the exiting stuff. Still, was a nice day out and my (our) last trip on this journey (pretty colourful ;). We saw some kind of otter and lots of deer and monkeys. For a moment I thought, I saw a tiger (was really exiting! ;D but turned out just to be a monkey when it showed up later again). still.. was an exiting moment ;)

..moving forward, making my way..

Well.. I’m grounded again :/ this time, because my burned leg needs to rest and all the care it can get. I’m observing it and will decide tomorrow morning, if I have to head straight to Kathmandu, to get some antibiotics (what I really don’t want). But it’s swollen and sweating and riding bike didn’t really help to heal.
I still managed to do a lot every day.. it’s my thing, keeping my busy. I hate idling and it feels just so much better when you can look back and you have done a lot in the last days. This feeling goes for the whole trip, even if it wasn’t easy all the time.. physical, psychological and technical problems created a lot up and downs, but to handle all of it is pretty cool! :) I find I can handle life and especially myself pretty well and it surely came through travelling and expanding my horizon.
But now is also a lot of change about to come.. I find, I did a lot so far and there’s still all the way back to go (that I luckily still can do riding ;). But then I’m also running out of ideas and pushing it beyond the limits. The places I go, the roads I drive, no one can tell you how they are.. you just have to go and see. Now where I faced some very bad roads, I’m happy I didn’t push it to Diktel and further. Not on my own, not with this bike and setting. I turned around before getting to the point where I wanted to go, but I came to the conclusion that only the highway is good to ride (but boring as hell).  Furthermore.. there are no suitable loops, because if two ways go to a place, only one is more or less drivable (the other isn’t that important).
The day before the wet day, I just drove to Hile and had a tripping day out, found though that the chosen area wasn’t big enough to really get lost and when I got back to my bike, it was mutilated by some kids.. nothing too serious except letting the air out of my front tyre. Also somehow sucked :P
then this impossible day described earlier, where I still suffer from that overheated exhaust pipe :/
after the bike was fixed (same night!). I drove to Dharan to get proper service at the shop (was shitty). Was still quite a ride (couple of hours) and after getting there I managed to fix the bike more or less and getting drunk and high in a nice hotel room with good food and cable TV :)
Then one day more than 200km but on the boring highway to Janakpur. Getting a good hotel, doing the same as yesterday, getting ready to renew my bike papers next day. I knew that I had to get back and get down to the hot and boring flat to do that nasty paperwork.
Today I delayed quite a bit, because someone said I can get the papers in Janakpur. No.. it’s not the case and the officials didn’t know anything.. was more confusing :P
then down to the boarder.. where I accidentally passed and ended up in India.. asked the wrong guy, had to stop, sit down, wait.. clear things up, leave again with all my stuff back to Nepal to talk to the Nepali customs. The guy there just sent my away, but for good luck (and some waiting) another guy showed up that renewed the papers. Now I wasted some dollars in days I didn’t used from the old paper and will pay some extra, because after Everest I will be late anyway. But not as late as with the old one (appr. 1USD import tax/day and 5USD fine/day for overstay). So I’ve chosen the lesser evil with quite some hassle and detour to get it. phew.. yes.. part of my trip is just determined by the things I have to do and all this little missions I have to do on my own.. but yeah.. it’s totally possible. Just not as relaxed as lying on the beach ;)

........... some days later............

I’m in Nagarkot and having some easy days. Well.. I was still walking around today, but can’t overdo it with my leg. The wound looks actually pretty good, but today I felt the lymph knot of my right thigh. I feel almost getting over concerned, because I know the symptom, but there was not so much to do about today and wanted to give it some more time. Well.. let’s see how is it tomorrow morning, but I might still go and see a doctor (could be signs of infection -> getting antibiotics :P

On the way to Kathmandu I stopped in Delikel again in this nice hotel and had another relaxed day (Sunday). Monday morning I headed straight to the Indian embassy. Still had to wait for pretty long (was token number 61, because people start waiting at the gate over an hour early. Used my waiting time to bring the bike to service (some more stuff has been done and now it looks almost like new ;). The final costs aren’t that high after all (glad didn’t turn out to be a big issue :)
I met (after a very long time) some great people and was delightful to talk. I guess, I’m getting a bit lonely out here. My longing for love (or having a little romance) is taking over from time to time. I hope Everest is “overrun”, so I get to meet some other hiking people :)
Sometimes the greatest challenge I’m having here is myself. But then I think before leading people, you have to be able to lead yourself, to know yourself. How can you understand other people, if you don’t understand yourself. So there are probably benefits to this “treatment” of mine :) even if I would choose a different reality at the moment.
I also don’t like idle time, like I’m doing something that is not incredible superb. Watching TV, clicking in the internet.. stuff that is just not that epic as other things that I’ve done. But yes I’ll have to accept this. On such a long journey, you probably face every state of mind and all kind of emotions. At the moment, I’m going through a phases where I lack somehow the spirit to do all these things. I find there should be more appreciation while doing them and being happier. Also have seen so many things here, done so much. A lot what captured my attention when I got here first time, is not like this anymore (playing with children, interaction with locals..). Feels like I’ve done this a lot and being interaction anyway all the time through all the things I have to get done here. Feels like 50% of this trip is determined by the outside world (e.g. paperwork and limited roads).  At the moment, I even don’t have the energy to go out and meet people :( ..today was cloudy but hot and dry and I was walking around here. Was good to keep me busy, move around, being outside, but also felt like going back and resting and passed out in the late afternoon already.. feel that my body needs to rest.  
 I bought a new cam.. and yes.. I think it will serve me well. The old one had a problem with light detection and the new one excels it in any way. More Zoom, HD movies and higher resolution. Lots of fancy effects that I probably won’t use too much ;)
Okay.. still have two days until my flight. Let’s get myself patched up and surrender to the change that surely will bring many cheerful moments :)
I didn't do too much Yoga and exercises lately. It's a shame, because let's me feel really good, but I also found that they can't take over too much. They have their place and are nice to do, if everything else is fine. Doing only this doesn't satisfy me. That's also why I'd like to find a partner in my life with whom I can share all this over a long time (rest of our lives ;). Practice Thai massage and Acroyoga (man.. haven't done in sooooo long!! :( I now know what I love doing in my life and looking forward to run into someone who also is strong but soft at the same time. Passionate and loving. Someone who can combine many positive attributes :)
take care and be safe! Cu in the not too distant future :)

addon:
darn.. now I'm officially grounded :((( went to see the doc and he suggested Antibiotics, what I'm taking now for five day. I wish, I would have started earlier (at least yesterday), but I hope that I'll be fit for hiking anyway. So I try to sleep a lot and drink a lot.. play some didge because the power is off here during the day (bummer). ..yesterday I picked up a leech.. god.. these are so nasty creatures! tried to burn it, but stinks awfully, so I scratched it off, what led to bleeding without stopping :P
maybe I can blame my low energy mood lately on that infection ;) anyway.. should be cured soon! learned already quite a bit about taking care of myself ;)

take me to the river.. :P

Oh man.. this was just not my day! ..I left for a loop out from Hile to Hile and I totally, but totally blew it in the end.. I already figured out on the way that I wouldn’t to that stretch again, because  there were many really tough parts on the way. The front wheel blocked because of all the dirt. Then dropped the bike in the mud, burned my leg (a thing that I forgot about the last couple of hours) and afterwards I dropped it in a water hole, what was also pretty shitty. So putting it together, I was riding already for very long, didn’t stop for food, just wanted to get back to Hile and there was this river in my way. I managed to get to the middle of it and stopped to unload my bike (smartest thing of the day!!) and they continue with the bike only to the other side. Dude.. there was a small bamboo bridge and it’s only made for walking across and carrying bikes across, what would have been the correct way of crossing this river. But there was no one to see (had all siesta) and cocky me took the attempt. Very bad mistake!! The bike went down to the handle bar and then choked, just to get swept away together with me from huge water masses.. so I was floating down together with the bike (yes.. this really happened..) and got ahead of it.. there I realized how bad this could end, if 150kg get stuck on me in a flowing river :P I climbed over it and almost lost it for a moment below the water (I thought that’s the end of my bike journey). Then it got stuck 30 meters below and I climbed out of the river. This was nearly as dramatic as it sounds! :) Only one handlebar was still looking out of the water and surely it wouldn’t stay there forever. Shouting for help, running to the next house, where only a drunken guy was to be found. I stayed polite (thought might be my only help), but was incredibly desperate and realized shortly that this guy was of no use.. so I ran across the small bridge to cross the other side of the river through the water and ran to other houses close by. Some ladies told me there would be a man sleeping in a house and on the first floor, there was indeed a man sleeping. Waking him up, repeating the words “motorbike cello nadi” what means about, the river took my bike. He got it and came down quickly, shouted for help (I thought the drunk guy ;) but then about 10 workers (working on the bridge) popped up and saved the bike from being taken forever by these ravaging floods! ..phew.. at least.
unfortunately there are no pics of that adventure, because my camera was amongst the victims. (I thought today about getting a new one, but decided to “no” but I guess it’s a “yes” after all ;)
so.. hooray.. I live! :) and hooray, my stuff is safe and sound (and dry). This would have been very costly and annoying. But still.. it sucks a bit. I’m paying money for recovery and repair and the re-sell value dropped drastically I guess.  But this is just money and things are the way they are. What I most got out of this experience, was how surprisingly relaxed I’m all taking this. Well.. at a certain point I was impatiently waiting for a randomly passing tractor to bring the bike and me away from the scene and I’d have wished for my carefully elaborated plans to come through. But all in all it’s no big deal.. so end of the story (almost, because it’s still going on). I gave the workers some tip (hope was enough) and a tractor passed, taking me and the bike to the next settlement.. what took about 2 hours of shaking, suffering with the bike in the back that banged in agony against the metal of the trailer.. brr.. well.. then now I got a room with a family and some awesome guy is fixing my bike. Before I heard the motor running again, what is totally amazing, considering that it was taking a bath for a couple of minutes.. there was water in the tank, the gearbox, piston, airfilter, carburizer.. just everywhere.. there was a liter coming out of the exhaust and another liter when draining the oil :P too bad.. I had such a flawless driving record on this trip. But well.. I guess Ilam is not an option anymore and I will get that bike running again, then making papers, back to Kathmandu, Service it for real and do the India Visa thing. It has still to happen all of it and as there is this nice evening bike fixing session going on, I’m very positive about all this! :)
what I learned so far in my life is that conditions are just temporal and are changing all the time. Broking things will be fixed and worries from today are long gone tomorrow. So it’s best to not give all the time fully in to these emotions, but look at things from a distance and do whatever has to be done.

So the synopsis is as followed.. the bike runs again and with all the oil to clean out the engine and fresh petrol, including the transport and tips it was about 40 bucks so far.. pretty affordable ;) furthermore it took only 8 hours from the moments when it was completely sunk to up and running again :) well.. there are some more parts to be changed and tomorrow I will head straight to the Hero dealership not too far from here and get full service done! (this I wanted to do in Kathmandu, but it seems to be an appropriate moment ;) then Ilam is cancelled and definitively is the bumpy dirt road to it! :P but yeah.. didn’t delay me for too long (bike probably has to blew up for this ;) hehe
so yes.. riding here is more than I can take (should mean something ;) and even if I got spared by all the rain, the roads are still in the very bad shape as they have been left by the rainy season! I was more sliding down on steep basalt passages than I could climb up and the bike was cooking! Would be fun on a 250XT 100% dirtbike, but not on my fully loaded touring bike and finally it was not a flat tire that stopped me, but a little bath in some treacherous river :P ah well.. we’re getting smarter I guess :)

addon: the service in the Hero shop wasn't as good as expected.. guys just cleaned and washed the bike (and it was already pretty clean after the river ;) but then I found a workshop around the corner and they had some spares (because the Hero shop didn't have anything in stock! :P ) so some parts are put back on, others have been superglued and all in all, it's pretty OK again. Just have to live with the broken headlight (still working though :). would have been a good episode for NatGeo.. people love this shit! ;)

to the eastern end - days 1 to 4

Day 1:

this was so far the only day I could make the trajectory that planned. I stayed the last night in a nice hotel on a steep flank of a hill with gorgeous view! From Dhulikel, I took the long road around to Charikot and Manthali and from there over a bridge for pedestrians back to the main highway and after some more endless seeming Kilometers to Sindhulimadi (took me all day to get that name straight ;). The place to stay was pretty OK.. even wi-fi and nice balcony, just a smelly bathroom, but can't have it all out here ;) just a few raindrops, but mostly sunny and awesome to ride! :)

Day 2:

From where I stayed, I had to go down to the Highway running from East to West through the plains (and being extremely boring!). I went over to Choharwa and took the turnoff to Katari and from there to Halesi. Wanted to reach Diktel, but was impossible. Arrived late, because the pavement stopped early and it got bumpy and dusty and there were two ridiculous river crossings on small bridges with other pedestrians. The last part was extremely bumpy (dirt truck track) and it was hard to take the eyes off the road. When it got dark, I finally arrived in Halesi and had no other choice to take the only hotel available. Overpriced and without TV, what made me do some Yoga, what is a good thing ;) I really get the idea of how impassable these mountains are. Is really tough to get out here and people wonder what I'm doing here. Me actually too ;)

Day 3:

I started really early to have all day to get where I wanted to go.. Diktel and then down to Gaighat. But when I had a very simple breakfast consisting out of puff rice and beans and nuts, someone told me that this road is not yet cleared and the other one to Bhojpur is not suitable neither (this one isn't even on my map). So I decided to listen to this advice and not to try it, for it took me forever to do a couple of Km on this "good" road to get to this place. So I looped back going another way out that I came in.. what made me cross three brides and one counter traffic (people bringing goods over from the other side). Horrible! :P I managed to pass the very moment when they came along with mattresses strapped to their head.. had the size of a big fridge and made it really tricky to get to the other side...
felt a bit defeated, but had to take the same road back to Katari, where I arrived also pretty late. Got a nice sunset on the roof, but during the night the mosquitoes got me badly :P

Day 4:

from here I could take another road short-cutting over to Gaighat, but I somehow missed it and ended up at the highway again (where I turned over two days before). Didn't figure it out before and didn't want to turn around.. so I drove a part on that highway and then turned in to Gaighat (coming from South now). There someone told me that apparently there is a boat to cross the river on the way to Diktel. So it might have been possible. But he also told me that the roads to Chatara are good (they were very OFF-road) and there is a boat to get over. and there was of course no boat.. when I drove to the end of the road, down to the river (a path that only a bike could go, but hasn't been driven for long time), then I just found an old, inoperable rusty ferry boat, stranded on the shore :P took me quite a while to turn around.. a shitty road with insanely deep river crossings (gave me wet feet for the rest of the day). Had to get back to the highway again to cross that river (only one bridge down south). and from there I managed to get to the place that I wanted to stay for the night. Was already dark when I arrived here (really hate to drive at night). but now having found a nice place with good service :) ..was a good day, but also a very long day and as usual I end up shattered and looking forward to crash ;) ..tomorrow shall be a short day to Hile (only 40km) and then off the bike and rest my buttocks (by hiking around ;)