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!