One last photo of India, shot on the way to the Nepalese border, to show that even cows don’t escape Holi, the Festival of Colours.

We had an easy border crossing from India into Nepal - no baksheesh and $30US each for a 60 day visa. Although we loved travelling in India for the sheer diversity of its people and sights, we were pleased to be leaving behind the heat, the dirt, the craziness and the intensity and arriving in Nepal was like a breath of fresh air.

We took the road that winds up through the hills from Sonauli to Pokhara - enough bends to keep Rich happy but as we are nursing the rear tyre along, not fast enough that I had to wear my motion sickness wrist bands. The road surface on this road is pretty good, the seal only washed away by landslips in 6 or 7 small places.

Before leaving India we posted our tent to Darwin as we haven’t camped since Iran and won’t need to camp again till Oz, so that’s 4.5kg gone from the boot which should help the tyre. (more space for shopping she says).

click here for another image

Friendly waving Nepalese calling hello, namaste, how are you? without hoping to sell a thing; woman in Nepalese and Tibetan traditional dress; cool temperatures and even rain (we’d almost forgotten what it was); no hassling; respect for other’s personal space not to mention the relative cleanliness, far less spitting, farting and belching - all these contrast with India.

The fantastic 400gm steaks at the Everest Steak House and the availability of good beer have kept Rich pretty happy since we arrived.

We gave B.O.B.’s front fairing to a Thanka artist named Buddha Lama for a couple of days to paint something a little like the beautiful Buddhist artwork we’ve been admiring in this region. We think the result is great and we shouldn’t have any problem picking the bike out from the crowd or frightening little girls as we ride past.

click here to see artist at work

We visited the Pema Ts’al Sakya Monastic Institute on the outskirts of Pokhara, a 6 year old monastery with 20 super friendly monks ranging in age from 8 to 20 years. All of the monks took an avid interest in our motorcycle instead of studying for their upcoming math and English exams.

click here to see monks learning m/c mechanics

We rode down to Chitwan National Park for a few days where we saw full bellied crocs camouflaged on logs in the river during a canoe trip and rhinos as big and as dangerous as tanks but far more agile and fortunately we were safely perched on elephant back.

click here to see beauty the baby rhino

At the elephant breeding center we played with the adorable baby elephants, young enough to want to play but big enough that we were constantly wary of them.

click here to see baby elephants at play

The road from Pokhara to Kathmandu is in really good condition with beautiful vibrant green rice fields flecking the dry, brown terraced hillsides that rise high above the Trisuli and Seti rivers which the road follows.

Turning off it at Mugling to go down to Sauraha for Chitwan brought us a different road. The Maoists had called a 10 day strike in this area meaning everything must grind to a halt - they want no shops open, no public transport to run and even private vehicles are not allowed on the roads or the Maoists might blow up the road or bomb the vehicle.

click here for another image

Everyone was disobeying the Maoists strike under the control of the army but we had to wait 2 hours in Mugling for an army convoy to form. Everyone was supposed to keep behind the front bus which was full of plain clothed, heavily armed, Army guys. Well this was OK for the first couple of kilometres but then the local, lightweight, 125cc motorbikes overtook and then all the other vehicles reverted to the usual horn blasting, high speed, maniacal driving.

click here to see another image

This shouldn’t have been a problem for us except the road was completely unsealed, potholed and dusty for about 30km and we were having carburation problems. We were enveloped in thick dust for about an hour where we really couldn’t see any more than 10 meters in front of us and there was a big drop to the river 150 meters or so below.
We stalled at one point and under pressure from all horns behind us blasting us to get going, Rich managed to get a flat battery trying to restart the bike. Off I got and pushed it to the side of the road where we sat until the convoy completely passed us. We had a few tries at pushing it up the hill then me giving a push start - hot work in 30 degree heat in bike clothes. No luck with that but there was one bus still nearby, perhaps plain clothed army waiting to ensure all vehicles got off the road and we finally convinced them, begrudgingly, to give us a push start. What a relief as we were in the middle of nowhere and we didn’t wish for any problem with the Maoists.

We rode up through the thickening smog and choking pollution into the grey Kathmandu Valley. Fortunately Rich knows Kathmandu well enough that we didn’t have to worry about maps or asking directions to get to our desired hotel so we only had to stress over the all too frequent problem we have when coming into cities.

The bike often starts running badly and Rich struggles to keep it going, revving it ridiculously high to try to get the motor running cleanly whilst being forced to a snails pace through the one laned streets of cars, cycle rickshaws, cows, small children, chickens etc, etc. Rich is looking forward to getting the bike to Bangkok where a decent mechanic and a new ignition coil awaits us.

click here for another image

We arrived at destination Thamel, center of the tourist district with lots of tourists turning around to look at this noisy, filthy bike being revved and running like crap. We stall in the middle of the road and I’m ordered off the back to push it to the side of the road - the indignity of some jobs.

Well that’s it; London to Kathmandu, the classic overland adventure….. Not a destination we’d thought of previously as being worthy of mention as its only half way through our trip but now that we’ve done it I think its worth a thought. Seven and a half months, lots of fun, some hard work but yeah pretty cool looking back on it all, although I think we’ve done it twice as quick as it should have been as there are so many places we just didn’t have time to visit properly.

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We met Heidi and Bernd, a German couple on KTMs (www.welt-tour.com) after we found their bikes in a hotel courtyard. They’ve been following us on their world tour since Turkey, just a couple of days behind almost the whole way without us knowing, so its great to finally meet. Vincent Dana was also in Kathmandu and we are all flying our bikes to Bangkok within a week of each other.

We went trekking in the Langtang region, just 5 days walking, in the hills north of Kathmandu. Going up 1000 meters each day has made us realise how unfit we’ve become sitting on a bike watching the world go by, so it was wonderful to have a leg stretch.

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We loved climbing up through the rhododendron and pine forests, following the wild raging river up above the trees to reach the snow line with 7000 meter peaks all around. As we got higher the villages took on more of a Tibetan influence and we passed many prayer flags, mani walls and domesticated yaks.

click here to see intrepid trekkers

A hell return bus trip to Kathmandu for my birthday, only 130 km but the road is so bad it took 11 hours, not helped by the constant army checkpoints where the Nepalese men have to disembark and walk about 100 metres through a search point. The buses are packed full to the gunnels, a smelly experience with your nose far too close to the armpits of those standing and children placed in our laps when mothers cannot hold them without falling. We eventually sought refuge on the roof, perched precariously on top of luggage but able to enjoy the fantastic views of the terraced hills we passed through.

click here to see view from the roof

We also managed to go white water rafting for the day on the grade 4, adrenaline raising Bhote Khosi river which was loads of fun and gave us little time to rest.

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Its taken ages organising flying the bike to Bangkok which has meant we’ve not done the sightseeing in the Kathmandu Valley we planned to which is a shame as there’s so much to see. Instead we’ve supplemented the time with great Kathmandu shopping (Rich says Ho Hum).

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Its really all happening too quick. If anyone out there is reading this who is planning an adventure of this nature…take your time. The world and your friends and family and your career and your mortgage will wait, monsoons unfortunately won’t so we are leaving Nepal sooner than we would choose to as we need to get through Cambodia before the rains hit and the tracks turn to goo.

We’re looking forward to the South East Asian adventure to come.

Its been six weeks since we last wrote due in part to our not having the laptop with us.
We have a confession to make – purporting to be motorcycle travellers whilst really we have been scumming it on public transport.

Click here to see more of the delights of public transport

We ran out of rubber on the rear tyre but a helpful Goan tyre dealer promised he’d have one for us in a few days so we rode inland to Karnataka to check out Hampi, a ruined city set amongst a weird boulder strewn landscape.

Click here to see a temple at Hampi

Stayed there a few days checking out the temples, crazy carvings of Hindu gods, the river life and the usual beggars that go with tourism in India. When we got back to Goa to pick up said tyre we found our tyre dealer had been telling half truths and didn’t have one at all. We probably wouldn’t have bothered going to Hampi if we’d known there was no tyre at the end of it as the road was so appallingly bad – choking in red dust on an unsealed road behind trucks for the whole day over the Western Ghats and then potholed for the rest of it.

click here to see a Blazing Trails tour ready for departure

Pete Baird, a kiwi guy working for Blazing Trails (www.blazingtrailstours.com) – running tours on Royal Enfields out of Goa had contacted us through the HUBB to catch up whenever we were passing by. Suzie Lumsden, the owner of Blazing Trails kindly let us leave our bike at her gorgeous big 300 year Portuguese house (typical of houses of the wealthy in Goa) while we went backpacking in Kerala & Karnataka States (without the laptop as we only took one backpack).

We are perhaps unusual amongst bike overlanders in that we don’t carry hard panniers for our luggage. Rich designed and built our steel racks based on what the Enfield travellers in India use; big metal racks to strap your backpack to. This gives us the flexibility to park up and leave the bike if we want to go walking, or in this case if we have to, and the design has paid off.

click here to see biker monks

We jumped on an overnight train (needs to be booked about a week in advance at least to get a sleeper) and then a bus and finally arrived at Bylakuppe, a small township now the home of the largest Tibetan refugee settlement in India (around 30,000 people) and stayed at the Sera Monastery (home of 5000 Tibetan refugee monks).

click here to see Golden Temple

It was great staying at the monastery – we saw the monks debating, making incense sticks from natural herbs for puja offerings, praying, playing music and of course their incredibly colourful and detailed paintings.

click here to see monks debating

click here for a sample of the murals inside Tibetan monastrys

We had planned to visit Bandipur National Park to see some tigers but it was closed to whities due to threats of tourists being kidnapped for ransom. The popular tourist city of Mysore didn’t appeal to us – most cities don’t, so on impulse we caught an overnight bus down to Varkala, a beach in the south of Kerala where we hung out for a few days recovering from all the public transport stress.

We stayed with an old friend, swam and amused ourselves watching Indians at the beach. Indian women generally don’t swim, far too unseemly, and if they do, they go in sari and all up to their knees at most. Men go in wearing their dhoti or underpants, love it and act like 5 year olds but the lifeguard will blow his whistle calling them back if they go past their waist or stray more than 20 metres away from where he is sitting (and they obey – oh, that respect for whistles!). Children and babies are allowed to roll around in water up to 1 foot deep while 20 or so people stand around watching. They don’t seem to be taught to swim, instead just roll around until they get a mouthful then are hauled out to dry.

click here to see Indian bathers

We spent over a week at Fort Kochi, a gorgeous sunny town with a colonial Portuguese and Dutch atmosphere spread over a large harbour. It has old Chinese fishing nets along the beach; the oldest church in India; a 16th century Jewish synagogue; trendy art galleries and cafes; a Portuguese palace and spice and grain dealers, natural perfume merchants and antique hawkers selling from dusty, ancient shops.

Lisa and Harvey (www.chasingthesun.org), our Delhi friends and hosts to many overlanders flew down to visit us and we ate seafood, shopped and experienced the famous Kathakali theatre, a riot of bizarre make-up and costumes, high pitched screaming and music – a oncer which you can’t miss but hope the show doesn’t go on too long.

We hired a rice barge styled houseboat for a day and night, cruising the vast backwaters of Kerala, through rivers and canals winding past water edged farms and villages lined with coconut palms and complete with smiling, waving children. We felt thoroughly relaxed and spoilt with 4 staff to look after us.

click here to see comuting backwater style

In Kochi, the four of us caught up with Suzi & Simon Harby (www.mccs.co.uk/global), had dinner together and listened to stories of their African adventures on a Honda Africa Twin and a Honda Transalp. Lisa & Harvey and Simon & Suzi were all staying in the swankiest hotels in town so we got to enjoy their swimming pools and room service which was a lovely change. After they left we were sadly forced back to the reality of our budget.

click here to see what we ate for $5

We bussed in to Munnar, a town set amongst the gorgeous cool, green hills on the border with the state of Tamil Nadu, where there’s acres of velvety green tea plantations and cardamom farms. We had planned to do some walking but Rich succumbed to the horrors of eating rotten chicken so we spent a few days laid up watching BBC News and the National Geographic channel on the tele. We’ve been really lucky so far with this being the only really bad stomach problem we’ve had in the whole 7 months. He actually kept away from meat for a whole 4 or 5 days afterwards – amazing.

click here to see tea plantation

In search of tigers, we went down to Periyar Wildlife Sanctuary. We had a days guided walk inside the park and went on a boat cruise around its lake, seeing a bit of wildlife but the stripy cats continued to elude us. This area is rich in farmed spices so we visited an organic spice farm and saw the trees and plants of vanilla, nutmeg, coffee, cardamom, insulin, cloves, jackfruit, allspice, peppermint, rubber, pawpaw, plantain, peppercorn, curry, cinnamon and of course coconut, banana and pineapple. The air was thick with birdsong, the scent of spices and muggy heat and we tasted the delicious, strong seed pods off the plants.

click here to see elephants at Periyar

Yet another day on a bus then an overnight train back to Goa we were reunited with the bike and spent a last couple of days at Arambol beach – no more beaches until Thailand.

click here to see Indian Railways showers

After our public transport experience its fantastic to be back on our own wheels. We see much more of the country on the bike since we can stop when we want. The train and bus service is efficient, usually running ahead of time and they are much, much cheaper than bike petrol, but we spent so much time pre-booking train tickets and having to decide exactly which date we will travel it became too tiresome and inflexible. Indian buses are crazy, dangerous and driven way too fast and we are relieved to have survived them unscathed and to not have to use them again – EVER.

One final journey on the train though, as the tyre isn’t fit to make it to the Nepalese border from Goa. We put the bike and us on the train to Jhansi (more about that in a second) and endured 36 hours of boredom and people watching. Got it off and had another 12 hour overnight leg up to Gorakpur, an uninteresting town near the Nepalese border. The Hindu festival of Holi, the ‘Festival of Colours’ was being celebrated while we were on the train. We luckily got to see lots of the goings on but managed (mostly) to avoid being doused in brightly coloured water (mixed from beautiful but toxic coloured powders) that is thrown over everyone and everything.

The picture of the smiling sadu with the Holi inflicted man behind was taken waiting on the train platform. He looked great and was happy for Rich to take as many photos of him as we liked, for a small fee. Rightly or wrongly we do occasionally pay for photos so Rich gave him 5 rupees – but no, he said he was a saint and his photo would bless our home therefore he commanded a higher fee. He was happy with 10 rupees which rather amused us.

We will cross into Nepal tomorrow, don’t have much riding to do there and can get a new tyre in Bangkok.

click here to see bike being loaded onto train

BIKES ON TRAINS
We chose a station where the train commenced its journey as we could be sure there would be room in the luggage carriage (they fill up quickly and you cannot pre-book space) and arrived at the station about 4 hours before departure as instructed. Railway luggage packers wrapped the bike up really well with straw and sacking, charging us far too much in the process (no fixed rates and no-one else for us to use). We’d bought tickets for our carriage a couple of weeks before but had to buy a ticket for the bike on the same day as travel, which cost slightly less than the price of our ticket. We also bought insurance for it but that’s possibly not worth the paper its written on even though it was worth almost as much as the ticket itself.

click here to see our fellow passengers

The train carriage was about half a metre higher than the platform and it took about 4 men to lift the bike up into the carriage. We had to unload it at midnight during the 20 minute station stop involving racing back to the last carriage in the train, which took about 5 minutes in itself – these are long trains! The bike was completely packed in with long flat boxes of gerberas bound for Delhi. These were being roughly thrown onto the platform by 4 luggage movers and as we approached they were attempting to drag the bike off by the front fairing. No-one seemed to speak English and Rich ended up having to yell at the unloaders to get them to stop damaging the bike. I had to locate the guard to tell him we had to get the bike off before he could let the train go and also get the train moved forward a couple of meters as it was about to be unloaded behind the end of the platform barriers where it would have been stuck. All the flowers ended up on the platform, the train was delayed, the bike was pulled and pushed off rather than lifting it but we only sustained damage to our 50 rupee mirror. We paid baksheesh to the 5 luggage men for helping Rich push the bike up a steep ramp from one platform down onto the next where we left it locked on the platform for the night. That’s the first baksheesh we’ve had to pay for the trip and it hurt but they were in charge of the bike for the night and we wrongly thought they would be the same guys who were putting it on the next train tomorrow.

click to see bike being loaded....again

As it turned out when we went to the station the following morning we were told that our 8pm train was coming from Bombay so there was no way there would be space in the luggage compartment by the time it arrived in Jhansi. We couldn’t change our ticket to the 1pm train as it was full so we had to send the bike on to Gorakpur alone. This was a bit stressful, as we couldn’t be sure they would want to unload a 240kg bike at 3am without us hassling them to do it or to give them baksheesh. However, when we arrived the next day we were pleasantly surprised to see the bike waiting in the luggage office for us. Multiple copies of signatures in big dusty hard-backed ledger books and we could wheel it away past the baskets of squawking chickens, maggots falling off sacks of rotting fish and hundreds of other 100kg bikes waiting to be rescued.

We unceremoniously unpacked the bike surrounded by the usual 30 - 40 or so curious onlookers and found that the luggage frame had been cracked and a mirror broken. Minor damage that was easily repaired and not worth the effort trying to claim on railway insurance.

So yes, the train was cheap, got us halfway up India relatively stress free in two days with little damage but it’s a bit of a run-around with the Indian railway beurocracy – something you can blissfully avoid if you have your own wheels.

Got sick of gorgeous hilltop forts, opulent palaces, coloured cites, snake charmers and Rajasthani women in colourful dress trying to sell us silver ankle chains and brightly painted puppets. We were really feeling the winter too (down to 20 degrees in the day is just not acceptable) so we finally left Rajasthan after nearly 3 weeks there - it really is enough for a holiday in itself.

Click for view of Udaipur

Continuing south, we left the desert and it got warmer. Udaipur is another relaxing town where tourists while away a few days relaxing on the lakeshore, shopping and eating western food. We joined them in this, also visiting the many temples and palaces. It is a charming place despite the cow poo covering the roads and putrid liquids trying to run through its open drains.

click here for beautiful bull

Motorbikes are pretty low down in the pecking order on Indian roads but we’ve tried to change that. Trucks being king of the road choose the bit they want to drive on with everything else having to scatter or they overtake when there is obviously oncoming traffic which is smaller than them. Usually we are forced into the ditch as they drive straight at us but a couple of times we’ve come to a deadstop in our lane and refused to move and some have conceded by moving back to their side of the road which they find rather amusing after they realise we won’t play their game although it does confuse them somewhat.

Click here to see how trucks are commonly parked

If its not trucks impeding our progress then its water buffalo crossing the road, dead dogs or pigs spread across it, cows sitting on it, small children pooing on it, mangy dogs standing in the middle suckling puppies, rickshaw drivers and bicycles approaching us in our lane in the wrong direction and of course Indians who never ever look before they cross. I’ve been thankful on many occasions in India that I’m on the back (I had briefly flirted with the idea of riding my own bike home) but I’ve become so used to watching the video game unfolding in front of us that I’m sure its almost as stressful for me. Its little wonder we don’t regularly manage the same distances we covered in the west. That said we have managed some ridiculous distances for India and have so far managed 6 of what we call big days (over 250 miles) in the 7 weeks we have been in India. These are, without exception long, tiring rides of about 8 hours that we have undertaken to arrive at a pleasant destination instead of shortening the day and arriving somewhere that’s only a pitstop for the night with crappy hotels.

click here to see view across Wesern Ghats

Further south into the state of Madhya Pradesh where we were told after enquiry that the state minister had recently been replaced for not putting any money into the roads for sometime. They could not in most cases be called potholed, rather a series of craters with no remaining evidence of tarseal which had me wondering if our KKH suspension mount repair would hold. Fortunately it’s a small state which we were able to pass through in a few days but it didn’t surprise us not to see any tourist buses and only a handful of travellers. It’s a shame as they would miss the old ruined hilltop fort at Mandu. The city was founded in the 10th century on a lush, verdant plateau surrounded by valleys dropping away to all sides around. We spent a quiet day walking around the various temples, mosques, palaces and buildings that had served various religious periods and rulers.

click for another image

click here for another image

Not so quiet but beautifully stunning were the World Heritage listed Ellora and Ajanta cave temples developed by Buddhists, Hindus and Jains dating back to 200BC. It’s impossible to describe the beauty and serenity of the setting, the huge carvings and paintings.

click here for another image

We rode westwards, south of Mumbai, over the cool, green Western Ghats, the hills running parallel to the coast. It was a beautiful ride with only a few small villages along the way relying on the lucrative Indian tourist trade, strawberries and blueberries. Down towards the coast and south through Maharashtra, a state with almost no roadmarkings in English so that we were constantly forced to stop and ask for directions.

Click here to see Sadhus

Riding south it got hotter, lusher, fields thicker with coconut palms, and then finally we reached the Goan state border. Another half-hour ride and we reached a little paradise, finally after 4 months we were at a beach again and were able to watch the sun set into the sea, which we haven’t done since Turkey.

click here to see 40 year old Parkie

Rich had hoped to celebrate his 40th birthday at the beach and while it was a low key affair that’s just what we did. We had a great day sunning ourselves on the white sandy stretch of beach lined with coconut palms, eating pineapples and seafood, playing frisbee on the beach and swimming in the warm water. God bless Indian winters.

Click here to see Lisa and friends

We feel like we are on holiday again and have parked the bike up for a much needed rest.

We were shocked and saddened to hear about the earthquake that has devastated Bam. Our hearts go out to the survivors and we hope the wonderful people we met there are OK. A German biker passed through the day after the quake and reported that the guesthouse we stayed at was flattened. Akbar, the owner and his staff thankfully survived but we believe one English tourist was killed: http://www.erwinvoogt.com/overland/bam.html

click here for another image

Today is New Years Day 2004. Seasons greetings and a Happy New Year to all.

We have now been on the road for 5 months, have visited 12 countries and covered 15 000 miles. We have visited many fantastic places, met many people and made some wonderful friends. B.O.B. has let us down twice - gearbox problems in Bulgaria and the suspension mount breaking in Pakistan, but is going strong and is still a pleasure to travel on. As we have moved east, the standard of driving has progressively deteriorated - much as expected and driving on Indian roads, especially in cities, is akin to a video game.

The Indian weather has been colder than expected and we have been wearing all our winter woollies whilst riding. Most mornings we have woken up to cold fogs which burn off by mid-day leaving us with a warm afternoon. Hopefully all that is behind us now as the last couple of days it has been getting warmer - roll on sun and sea down in Goa.

click here to see us at the Taj

Visiting the Taj Mahal was great, the Taj, surrounding buildings and gardens are exquisite and supremely evocative. The most breath-taking part of the experience was the price - 20 rs for Indians compared to 750 rs for foreigners. We had experienced this dual pricing ever since Turkey, but the price differential here took it to new levels of absurdity.

click here for another image

For the last couple of weeks we have been enjoying the delights of Rajasthan. Opulent forts and palaces, colorful cities and even more colorful turbans and saris, huge handlebar moustaches, painted elephants, bright green parrots screeching in the trees, golden sunsets and sand dunes, camels with floral patterns cut into their wool, searching for tigers and bird spotting.

click here for another image

Those map readers out there may be interested to know that our route from Delhi has been to Agra for the Taj Mahal and Red Fort, then on to Fatehpur Sikri - a deserted Mughal city that surpassed even the Taj for architectural splendor. Many of these buildings used to have gold lined ceiling and walls but we were told that when the British arrived they built fires inside the rooms so the gold would melt and they could take it back to England.

Click here to see Indian Santa

We spent some time enjoying nature and watching wildlife at Keoladeo Ghana National Park where we hired big black Indian style bicycles and escaped the madness and noise that is India for a few hours. Very peaceful but we had such sore butts after that so we’ve decided to stay with the TDM. We visited Sariska Tiger Reserve where we did not manage to see any tigers but saw lots of parrots, cranes, pelicans, kingfishers, ducks, hens, jackal, deer, antelope, warthogs and monkeys.

click here for another image

click here for another image

We rode west to Jaipur, Pushkar and Jodhpur. Spent our time in Jaipur and Jodhpur visiting palaces and forts and had a couple of relaxed days in Pushkar taking in the vibe of this holy pilgrim town come backpacker hangout.

click here for another image

click here for another image

Lisa still seems to be possessed by the demonic shopping bug with the handicrafts being just too tempting for her to bypass. So she now has many delightful new purchases and we have far too heavy a load on the bike, time for another visit to the post office.

click here for another image

We are now out in the desert relaxing at Jaisailmer - a superb desert fortress that glows golden in the setting sun. We saw in the New Year with a few cold ones in the company of Hugo - a retired Dutchman we last met in Iran who is cycling from Holland to Nepal (www.hugo-kruyt.nl). The fortress here reminds us a little of the citadel in Bam that has now been devastated and in fact we’ve been told that all the water used by hotels and restaurants inside the fort is causing it to slowly crumble back to its origins which is rather sad.

click here for another image

We intend to spend a couple more days here before heading south on our continuing quest for sun and hot weather.

click here to see a TDM850 Lowrider

Bugger. Mechanical meyhem.

Its been a busy month since we last wrote. After returning down the KKH to Gilgit we decided to brave another cold valley and rode up to Khapulu, past Skardu.

click here for another image

Despite being the only road link into disputed territories with India, the road here is worse than the KKH, being mostly one lane, very rough and cut into the cliff above a river running through a gorge. It’s a manic days ride with blind bends that have crazy truck drivers appearing just where you don’t want them. We covered 230km in 6 hours after which Rich was exhausted but we were treated to a spectacular vista at the end. A huge open basin with a river bed meandering through sand dunes and surrounded by snow capped mountains. Whilst the view was spectacular, the scruffy town of Skardu was not, but we rode another day further up the valley to Khapulu, a very beautiful and friendly village in an amazing setting. We could go no further for the valley has the Siachen glacier at its head. This is contested with India so we found a few roads off limits to all but the army.

click here for another image

Leaving the mountains of Pakistan behind for the last time and heading south on the KKH we passed a BMW GS riding north. We had thought we were the only ones mad enough to be up here on a bike at this time of year so were pleasantly surprised to meet Brian and Shirley, a couple riding from the UK to Melbourne (www.aussiesoverland.com).

click here for another image

After chatting to them for about an hour we pushed on to get to our destination of Besham by nightfall but were delayed when we rounded a bend and found the bike coming to a grinding halt on the road beneath us. It was with some dismay that Rich discovered the top suspension mount had broken and the bike was literally sitting on the road (see pics for better idea). The rough roads we’d been enjoying for the past 3 weeks had finally taken their toll on our loaded bike and we weren’t going anywhere fast. The first vehicle to stop 5 minutes later had the District Commissioner in charge of the Kohistan region on board with 10 armed cops along for the ride. This meant that the next pickup truck to come along was easily persuaded to take us and the bike to Besham where Rich spent the next day welding together a new mount. All seems to be hanging together so far but we were initially nervous going over bumps at any speed.

We headed to Peshawar, home of the legendary Pathans, one of the largest tribal societies in the world. They are known for both their incredible hospitality, extended without question to all strangers and guests and their long running blood feuds, whereby a Pathan must avenge any insult against himself, his family or his tribe if he is to retain his honour. The bazaars of the Old City combine an amazing mix of Afghani, Baluchi and Pathan cultures and I had been looking forward to doing some shopping. I was disappointed however as everything was closed for Eid (end of Ramadan celebrations) for 3 days so we were unable to see much.

click here for a night at the movies

Next stop Islamabad where we enjoyed the hospitality and ex-pat luxury of Ian Robinson (who we linked up with on the Horizons Unlimited website). Being a newish city Islamabad doesn’t have a lot of sights but we managed to stay for 5 days hanging around his washing machine and enjoying western food.

click here for another image

Finally to Lahore, where we caught a couple of amazing local Sufi music shows which are held every Thursday. These were pretty much men only affairs but exceptions seem to be made for western women and we were surprised to see so much expression and freedom after experiencing so much reserve in this very Muslim country.

click here for an image from our daytime Sufi exerience

We enjoyed Pakistan so much that we spent 5 weeks here instead of the planned 4. Finally the border – another one with no baksheesh and no delays. The Indian customs guys asked us to take our luggage packs off the bike so they could put them through the scanner but Rich said it was too much hassle and took too long. Would they like to look in the boot and tank bag instead? ‘Yes, certainly sir, and would you like some chai’?

Click here to see Lisa and friends

Riding into Amritsar we were struck with women walking unaccompanied, women riding scooters and pigs roaming in the streets. We stopped by the legendary Mrs Bhandaris guest house to see who was there and ended up staying a couple of nights as Brian and Shirley were there. This elegant 1960s guest house has retained its style and many of the 1930s art deco features with which it was built. Leisurely breakfasts taken on table-cloth clad tables outside in the beautiful big gardens, staff everywhere, fires lit in the fireplaces every night, fresh cream and milk daily from their water buffaloes, ice in silver icebuckets for our evening G&T’s; all this is the style we enjoyed there.

click here for another silly image

We returned to Wagah, the Pakistan-Indian border for the border closing ceremony the following night. The guards, chosen for being tall and handsome have huge preened moustaches and provide an hilarious display of high kicking, fast and furious marching, foot stomping and aggressive saluting. Each country takes this daily show as a serious, patriotic display; theres Bollywood music, fist waving crowds with their national flags and its all very Python-esque.

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Amritsar is the holiest city of the Sikh community with the centerpiece of this being the Golden Temple, an elegant marble masterpiece and the lotus shaped dome of the temple is said to be gilded with 100kg of gold. We spent hours marvelling at its beauty, watching the pilgrims and joining them for a free communal meal.

Despite being the middle of December, we were yet again drawn to the mountains for the International Himalayan Festival at McLeod Ganj, home of the Dalai Lama and Tibetan community in exile. Its touristy but a laid back place to hang out and we were treated to some fantastic displays of music, dancing and culture. It felt like being on holiday in India with none of the madness and was not nearly as cold as northern Pakistan, being only 1730m. We stayed for 6 nights enjoying the vibe and Tibetan friendliness before being forced south by the approach of winter.

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Continuing on our route of luxury we have been staying on the outskirts of Delhi with Lisa Roberts and Harvey Gordon-Sawyers (www.chasingthesun.org) in their beautiful apartment.

Tomorrow we will be back on the road for what feels like the true start of our Indian adventure and 3 months of craziness.

Deserts are hot, mountains are cold. A rather obvious concept that has been reinforced by our experiences here in Pakistan.

From Bam in Iran through to Quetta in Pakistan is a 1000km ride across the desert through the bad lands of Baloucistan.

Bam, a small oasis town covered in date palms with an amazing old adobe citadel, had seemed warm to us but it was only a foretaste of what was to come.

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Leaving Bam we rode out across open desert and the temperature rocketed to the high 30’s. For the most part we were riding across a barren rocky landscape devoid of any vegetation, with mirages appearing as lakes in the distance surrounding us and occasionally passing camels that seemed to be surviving off roadside rubbish.

We arrived at the border around 4pm planning to complete all formalities that day so we could get on the road early the following morning, however this was not to be. Ramazan had just started and customs and immigration officials took this as the perfect excuse to close the border early, so we were left camping in the customs compound on the wrong side of the Pakistan border.

The next morning we were first in line for border formalities and 2 hours later, having completed them we were riding towards Quetta.

We got a bit of a shock when we found ourselves on the same side of the road as the first oncoming car. Traffic switches from driving on the right side of the road in Iran to the left in Pakistan but there is nothing at the border to inform you which caught us off guard.

click here to find shade in the desert

For the first 200km we were on a quality two-lane road but then road conditions deteriorated as the desert started to encroach and in many places dunes were spreading across the surface. It narrowed to single track and became increasingly rough. We passed some huge, beautiful sand dunes, colourfully dressed tribal folk with camel trains and big mountains off in the distance.

click here to see desert petrol station

The old colonial town of Quetta provided our first chance to relax for a day, change the oil and do some other bike maintenance. We loved the vibrancy of colours in women’s clothing and more relaxed feel after Iran. We caught up to Kenny McLean from Scotland again, and he has travelled with us for 2 weeks on his Armstrong 500.

click here to see kenny in the traffic

The police are desperate to ensure tourists do not have any problems as the country has had far too much bad press in the world media, which has ensured we have more contact with the police forces than we would choose.

Arriving in towns we have often had armed police guards accompany us around town and sit outside our hotel room all night. In Dera Gazi Khan hotelliers and police told us we could not stay there and would have to ride a couple of hours to the next town. After lengthy discussions during which we told them it was too dangerous for us to ride at night they finally relented and granted us permission to get a room.

click here to see Punjab Elite Police

Through Sind and Punjab states we were provided with a relay system of escorting police pickups which provided us with much amusement. They like to drive in front or in the lane beside us, siren blaring and force all other traffic off the road. A handy way to get through towns rapidly. The state of the vehicles and police sent for escort duties has varied from Punjab Elite Police VIP anti-terrorist squads to local cops in clapped out old pickups that struggle to do 50 km/hr. Needless to say we don’t want to travel this slowly all day so we soon burn the cops off which must frustrate them.

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For the past week or two we have been enjoying the delights of mountainous northern Pakistan and the Karakoram Highway.

The Karakoram Highway (KKH) is an amazing feat of engineering. Constructed between 1967-78 as a joint venture between Pakistan and China at the cost of 400 lives, 1,000 trucks and 8,000,000 kilos of dynamite, this sinuous route winds up through the tangle of mountain chains where the Himalaya, Karakoram and Hindu Kush meet, to connect Islamabad and the plains of Pakistan with Xinjiang and the might of China.

It’s also a damn good ride. 800 kilometres up from Islamabad to the Khunjerab Pass, the 4733m high border with China. The road winds through deep gorges and up through snow clad peaks passing terraced hillsides and mountain communities that were independent principalities 100 years ago.

click here to see the KKH

From Gilgit north the road winds through some stupendous mountain scenery that had us going WOW every time we rounded a corner, up to the Pakistani border town at Sost.

November is not the ideal time to be visiting the mountains as winter is fast closing in. We had suspected we would not be able to journey up the KKH this late in the season but have been pleasantly surprised to find it still passable. Almost.

click here to see how we cope with ice

From Sost it is a further 80km to the top of the Khunjerab Pass and China. We were not planning on visiting China due to the prohibitive expense involved in taking a motorbike there, but couldn’t resist trying to ride up to the pass, despite the fact that we were informed it was snow covered and very cold.

Our attempt, alas, was doomed to failure. We managed to get about halfway to the pass before we were beaten back by the snow and ice on the road.

click here to see Kenny on the ice

Kenny left us in Sost to hurry down towards India as his visa was running out. It has been a pleasure having company and riding with another bike and we wish Kenny the best for the rest of his travels.

We have been about a week returning to Gilgit, an easy days ride from Sost, as we have stopped in a couple of villages to hike in the hills and wander around the villages.

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From the hot deserts to the icy mountains, Pakistan has been full of contrast and a fascinating country to visit. The friendliness and hospitality shown to us will forever be enduring memories.