This must be the end. Today i left Kathmandu and got after 1.5 hours to Dehli. Himalaya from the sky look beautiful, magnificent!! dehli much less. I reached my hotel after 1h of mad driving. It was dark. Traffic was terrible, taxi driver stopped and asked me to walk!After quick shower i went to eat something. I was attacked almost immediately.This is my shop...buy this...buy that...flute?Tomorrow i have to get to the airport again. at 2:50 am i am flying to Krakow. I cannot wait.
czwartek
11.12 KTM
i have running nose and i have just sneezed 5 times in a row.This is my absolute personal recors! i have never managed more then 2 times. I am ill since two days. This is of course my fault. I am spending whole days sitting on the roof with no t-shirt on, reading Clive Cussler, evenings the temeratue drops significantly and i cannot put something warmer on. When thinking of it, whole trip i have been wearing nothing but motorcycle gear which was very warm. Since my bike is away i am left with few t-shirts and a sweat shirt. that's it. Though,Aspirin, polopiryn and few other 40 % medicins should help.Last few days after shipping my GS were slow. Kathmandu isn't a special place. More like a stop before climing mountains or shipping bike further east. I have visited few places, quite interessting. But after 10 days i have nothing left to do. Tomorrow I will go to Pashupatinath where you can experience a dead body burning ceremony. It should be quite an experience.
everyday, hundreds of people want to sell me something. Bracelet, fruit, flutes, tiger oil,cannopy etc. Cannopy is everywhere and you can smell it everywhere.
I said bye to my french friends whom i met in POkhara. They flew to Goa to have some fun on the beach.
It is a very dirty place. tons of rubbish lying on the streets. It doesn't seem to bother anyone but tourist.I have visited "my kids" again. It was my last visit. They were very happy to see me. Unfortunately i did not have much time this time. VSN have located 2 new volunteers in Shining Stars, so this was an oportunity to go and see them. I have managed to take some photos. They just loved it. Kids wrote few letters to Tasha and Buzz.
I am learning how to cook simple nepali food. Gamju work in my hotel as a do-everything-what-is-requested-from-you-boy. I have learned to cook Dalbat and milk tea (seriously simple;)
Still 6 days to kill. On MOnday i fly to Dehli, one day later to krakow. It will take only 13 hours!!it is hard to believe somehow that from the day the Idea was born till now it's been almost a year. Time flies, especialy when you having fun.
5.12 Nagarkot. 6:30 am
Nagarkot is close to KTM. With public transport it takes however 2hrs. Wrecked bus climbed all the way from Bhaktapur to Nagarkot. But it was absolutely worth. We left hotel at 5 am and marched 5km to the view tower on the top of mountain. It was freezing cold. Mountain range from Everest to Langtang in sight.
6.12 Kathmandu
That was one stressful day!!! From early morning until 3pm I was stuck at the airport preparing the bike for shipment. It wasn’t easy and there was no end to curses and swears. I told those clowns not to start preparing cargo pallet until I dismantle the bike. As it appeared the pallet was just big enough. I could fit panniers and helmet into it. I wasn’t satisfied for very long time and they could sense it. Anyway, I worked my butt off. Didn’t fit here didn’t fit there, not enough here, to heavy….! I cursed in Polish, German, English and even in French…(influence of French guys I met in Pokhara). But at last we have packed everything, motorbike was inspected and carnet stamped. Now into the office to discuss costs. All together it weighed 326kg. I am not going to mention now how much I paid, who cares about that. However after a while I decided it is not to bad as the bike is being transported from one end of the world to the other. Now maybe I can start sightseeing and have a rest!
6.12 Kathmandu
Yesterday, was one of the best days of my travel. At last I met all the kids, I did my journey for them. It was an amazing experience for me. 28 kids from Shining Stars orphanage are real darlings. I have never seen more smiley and jolly bunch! The moment they saw me I heard loud Namaste! We sat in the circle first and everybody introduced themselves. Later I told them about myself and my trip. We’ve put laptop on the chair and kids sat in front of it. I started to tell them my story, showed pictures of motorbike and myself from different corners of Europe and Asia. There was no end to questions , and we were running out of time.
poniedziałek
3.12.Kathmandu.
91 days, 11 050 miles, 15 countries, 15 lost kilograms. That’s the balance of my journey. I entered Kathmandu 1st of December, exactly! It’s a pity there was no road sign to document my achievement. For now I’ve attached just a few photos. I decided to fly back so have to organised cargo for my bike. It is almost all set, but I still don’t know how much it is going to cost me. I also met my charity organisation and had a chance to visit one orphanage. It was a completely new experience for me. On Wednesday I will go to Shining Star, the orphanage YOUR money are going to. I will also met the kids and tell them about my travel.
KTM it’s a city with dreadful traffic jams, stench and millions of tourists and shops with fake North Face gear. Riding a bike seems to be less dangerous for your life than walking. I promise to write more soon.
I have to confess it was an exhausting journey.
And now something for Buzz…
sobota
30.11. Back to Pokhara
I woke up at decent hour, I mean when the sun didn’t let you sleep anymore. My tent on the roof was getting hot very quickly. From 8 am packing, for last few days everything in my panniers was upside down. It took me 2 hrs. As always obligatory photos with owners, staff and whoever was there. From there to Raju for a cup of tea and bear hug. Next to Rick in motorcycle club, photo, and then to filling station as my tank was dry.
It took me until noon. Chitwal National park is not far, 140 km I could do in 3 hrs if I hurry. Well, maybe 4 if I stop for photos. I had time. I left from Raju exactly at 12.20.
I passed by familiar stands with fruit, lovely woman who was selling me water, bazaar. Next over the bridge, passing busses parked across the street. Something was wrong with my front suspension, and a noticed that a while ago. I even told Raju, we checked and everything seemed to be OK. 15km outside the city, something started to bang loudly, and I started to panic. Handlebar was shaking, I used front break… , noise became louder. F*** I thought…dancing on the road….I’m going to kill myself. I braked with the rear…I was slowing down not being sure if I land in the ditch or not. After all I have newly painted shiny tank! What an irony would it be?! Obviously you don’t think much about your own life in moments like these.
I stopped, my heart was pounding like crazy, when I was getting off the bike I stumbled on the bag fixed to my back seat. I fell on my face, couldn’t stay on my feet…
I looked at the wheel..OK….tyre..OK…air…OK….I checked clamp… missing screw!!! F***, just recently I’ve changed front tyre, I didn’t tighten the screw! It fell off causing vibration and fright. I followed my tracks back in hope I could find it, no success. Luckily it was Nepal, workshop after workshop. One guy turned upside down 3 buckets of screws looking for a similar one. Fruitless. I decided to go back to Raju. 10km took me almost 50 min.
….“Raju…do you remember when I said something was wrong?” “I do”…
He didn’t have appropriate screw, but he jumped on his Enfield and came back after one hr, with screw in his pocket. A bit longer than the original one but fit perfectly.
It was after 2pm. I am not going to hurry, it was a sign. And during my trip I’ve learned to read them. In Turkey I wanted to avoid Erzorum and what happened? I crushed into rear of the Tofas…I had to stop in Erzorum. So I decided to stay. Tony, a nice English man who spends half year in London half year here, lend me his Enfield. F***, what a bike.. hard work! Gears don’t work well, kick start after previous decompression… no brakes… top speed? Forget! HOW TO RECOGNISE ENFIELD RIDER? BY SMASHED MOSQUITOES ON THE BACK OF HIS HEAD!!!
Anyway I made a 100km trip to mountains. It was amazing if I don’t mention engine stalls, unsuccessful tries to start it and frustration…
100km cost me 5 lit of fuel same as my GS! But Royal Enfield is 350cc whereas my bike is 1150! And it has brakes and speed. But there is something about them (RE), the sound they make is so sweet! I’ve just finished rum with Raju. Hotel is not the best but hey it is close to the workshop. Tomorrow after omelette (I didn’t like before, now I do) and tea I head to KTM.
29.11.2064 Still in Pokhara
Yesterday I was on pins and needles for few long hours. Raju just finished pouring rest of the whisky, and next bottle was ready to go. The guy who was supposed to bring my fixed tank, that “suffered” during crash with Tofas in Turkey, was already 2 hrs late. I was like a ticking bomb. He didn’t come at all. But OK, weather wasn’t appropriate for drying of freshly painted tank, but he could have shown up said sth. It was 9 pm when we parked the last Enfield inside. I was buzzed coming back to hotel. I had a dream that my tank was poorly done, but lets start from he beginning…
I came to Pokhara 24.11. It took me whole day to get from Butwal in the south to the city centre. Only 150 km in 10 hrs. Roads were fantastic. I had to stop almost every other km, because I thought that “this is the best view I have ever seen in my life” and so on. I was filling memory cards one after one. The closer I was getting to the city the more beautiful mountains seemed to be. I stopped on the bend, city underneath and in front of me Annapurna range with the magnificent Mahchapuchare (Fish Tail) in the sunset light. The red of mountains and white of rising full moon made a mark in my memory forever. I quickly reached for tele lens. I took maybe 20 shots, Unfortunately now I have only the one here in the blog, By mistake I’ve formatted that memory card. I have no original pics, I came back to that place twice trying to catch the moon again. And I did, but the moon moved somewhere else.
I was shooting photos when I heard Pajaj 100cc behind, and loud “ O Puton!!!” A French guy noticed what I was photographing, and immediately reached for his Panasonic, then with maniacal zeal was running around shooting pics. I don’t know how it happened, but I’ve spent 3 days with them, in the same room in Green Park Hotel, cool guys.
Travelling one day to Saranghot (mountain with great view to Annapurna) somebody waved to me. I turned I waved back. An old guy sat there with maybe 8 Royal Enfields around. I haven’t stopped, though.
On my way back I stopped in front of the workshop. I met him, young Nepalese Raju, and few Brits. One of them funded motorcycle club “Hearts & Tears”. They looked at my GS and shook heads. Rick told me there is a tinsmith guy here that works for him sometimes. We jumped on the bikes, he had a beautiful enfield. The guy said it would be a job for 3 days and it would cost me 3000 Rupees, which makes 23 £!
Later when I came with my tank I found out it would be ready on Thursday not Wednesday. Promised 500 rupees extra for the young Nepalese worked. He said OK. Yesterday however, the weather was dreadful and it was not possible to deliver my tank. I got it today and I have to admit I am satisfied. 500 rupees went to the youngster and 3000 to the master. In Scotland I would probably request to paint it again. Small imperfection here, smudge there… but have to admit it looks better than when I got it from Buzz ;)
I fit it back and was shocked how shiny it was. You could see your reflection, superb job for 23£. Few people in turkey told me it was not repairable. I’ve learnt in Nepal that everything can be fixed. People here have no money to buy new things so they have learnt to repair old and theoretically unrepairable parts.
Pokhara is a beautiful place. So beautiful it attracts thousands of tourists. Touristy tourists and crazy tourists- walking bare feet, half naked singing songs and shouting “shanti shanti”. One day we woke up 5 am and rode towards Saranghot. I wanted to ride further. After 15 km we turned right and rode to the top of the hill. In front of us we had whole mountain range. Sunrise, 8000 m peaks. Unforgettable experience. The other day I went for a light trekking. I wandered few hrs in the jungle looking for nice spots to rest, phtograph etc… World Peace Pagoda, it’s a temple on the big square on top of the hill, with flood of flowers. From there view must be excellent. The only thing I could see were clouds. So thick and high they cloaked the highest mountains on earth. The view became so ….. normal, uninspiring. After 2hrs waiting for weather change I gave up and went back. Somewhere in the middle I witnessed a fight. Over a dozen of monkeys chased and battered one poor monkey that cried loud and run as fast as she could. I was able to record some of this but then the camera battery decided it was enough..
Most of the days I’ve spent walking around and resting from riding. After 3 days spent together French guys left and I moved on the roof with my tent. Every morning I woke up greeted by mountains. Evenings I’ve spent in Raju Bullet Surgery with a glass or two of whisky ;) plus traditional food. Tomorrow I set off for KTM. VSN contacted me and wait for me. We are going to meet on Saturday. I just want to go to Chitwal National Park before, and on the way to KTM stop in Daman from where I could observe sunrise over the highest peak on Earth!
wtorek
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