The quarter life crisis and a new year
Trip Start
Oct 28, 2006
1
22
Trip End
Jan 09, 2007
Kathmandu, Nepal
Monday, January 1, 2007
J: Hey clint, what do you reckon about staying in Nepal?
C: there's a lot to like about that plan
J: I really like Nepal
C: yeah, me too
And that was that. I'm not gonna make it back to India to see Rajasthan, but I am gonna spend more time in this fantastic country. I'm a bit sad abnout bailing on India, but that said we really didn't have enough time to see Rajasthan properly. I'll defintely go there after Pokhara in 4th year.
From Pokhara we made the somewhat disconcerting bus trip to Kathmandu. Nepalese roads are poorly maintained, narrow and wind through some intense mountain terrain. On the trip to Kathmandu we saw a disturbing number of recently crashed trucks and buses sprawled across the road. I spent a lot of time thinking of the best position to assume if the bus rolled off the side of the road, the best I could come with was the airline approved head between the legs and kiss my sweet arse goodbye. But... we made it (the more astute among you would have probably realized this by the fact that I'm writing this blog in the past tense... sorry for the lack of suspense).
The next day was the beginning of my official quarter life crisis... I don't want to talk about it.
We also spent that day planning a mountain biking trip for the next few days, with the possibility of extending into a 4th and maybe even 5th day. There's a heap of fantastic mountain biking around the Kathmandu Valley and I was keen to get me piece of it. Unfortunately, enthusiasm alone isn't enough to get a person through several big days of mountain biking. I learned quite quickly on the first day that I really wasn't well conditioned, a euphemistic way to say a wasn't fit and my perineum (undercarriage) was far too soft and supple after the steam and mud baths to cope with long days in the saddle. That said, it was some fantastic mountain biking, riding single trial through the terraced rice paddies was a highlight. We also rode through some really interesting terrain and a lot of villages
that see little/no tourists. Seeing those villages, and meeting the
people in them was probably the best part of the day.We were lead by Chandroo, a former Nepalese mountain biking champion (talk about making me feel inadequate). He was a great guy with about as much energy as a bus load of 4 year olds on a red cordial bender. On the first day (31st Dec) we pulled into our hotel after about 6hrs in the saddle. Clint and I quickly decided there was no way we'd make it to midnight to see in the new year. We used the Australian new year (7pm Nepal time) as our proxy celebration and collapsed into bed by 8pm.
The next morning Chandroo got up at 4am to go jogging, perform yoga, meditate and get in a bit more exercise before we rolled out of bed. Based on our condition we decided to shorten the trip to 2 days but to make the second day a big one and spend whatever energy we were able to give. So we rode this great circuit up to Namo Buddha, the place were the first incarnation of Buddha died (he donated his body to a family of tigers). There was a lot more down hill single track on this day which made the day great, when you're worried about dying you quickly forget the pain in your perineum. After the circuit we made our way back to Kathmandu via the highway (we were running out of light). I've gotta say that pedaling through Kathmandu rush hour as it got dark probably ranks as the most risky thing for the trip so far. Again... (still no suspense) I survived, but it's an experience I'll avoid in future.
