We slice through a line of trucks and people, weaving as is customary through Nepali traffic, and come to a gate. The gate on the road is shut, but the pedestrian gate is open. Through the gate and past the armed police, people are milling around. We ride through the gate and finally have to stop when there is no more space to ride in. In front of us we see some Chinese border guards, and the bridge - known as Friendship Bridge - one of the few crossings through the Himalaya. Suddenly, up rushes a rather concerned man and asks me what country I'm from. Out of the corner of my eye I see the Chinese border guards notice me - I suppose I'm not so difficult to spot being a 6 ft 3 white man in a country of short, dark skinned people - and start to walk towards me. Achut talks to him and explains, then suddenly he takes my arm and strongly guides me back to where we had just come from. The Chinese behind us speed up, and as I reach the gate they can't be more than 5 metres behind me. The man keeps on pushing me down the road until we reach a building. Achut is keeping up behind us, trying to talk to the man and find out what's happening. Once the man stops he talks to Achut for a few minutes, and then tells me I can't go past the building. I look up. The sign says "Department of Immigration, Tatopani". All is then explained. Apparently I left Nepali soil for a few minutes, the Chinese were looking to either let me through the border or arrest me. I almost caused a diplomatic incident. How exciting.
OK, I realise it was probably a bit silly and should have read a little about the place first before going there to find out what's what, but still, I would have thought that the half a dozen policemen guarding the gate should have stopped us coming through.
It was Achut's idea. Well, Achut or one of his friends. The border with Tibet is only 100km from Kathmandu, but still takes a good 4 hours on bike due to the state of the road. I had a feeling the trip would be all about Achut and his friends taking pictures of themselves, not something I particularly care for. And later as we set out being told that we would only spend 20 minutes at the border as there isn't much to see didn't put my mind at ease any more.
For the few days before we left, I kept on being quizzed by Aama: Were we going to do the bungee jump? This is the only jump in Nepal, from a rope bridge into the Koshi river below. I said I didn't know. What followed was a series of stark warnings if I were to jump, the stories of the people that have died and the usual niceties. I had wanted to do the bungee jump after being a wimp in New Zealand. However, to be diplomatic, I said I wouldn't.
We woke up at 3.30 am, we had to leave by 4 o'clock to make sure that we got there and back again before nightfall. The sound of the rain on the window was of great comfort to me. We won't go. So, I went back to sleep. At 5 o'clock I was roughly shook by Achut. Time to go, the rain had stopped and we had to meet up with everyone in 10 minutes. I groaned, partly from laziness and partly from resignation; we would be going. We met with Achut's friends and then followed the usual Nepali procrastination, involving tea, people being late and general nothingness. We finally left at 6.30, two and a half hours after we meant to.
We left Kathmandu, but not an hour into the ride the first problem happened. We lost one of the bikes, they got a puncture. So, the bike limped to the nearest collection of houses where there was a bike repair station. The puncture took nearly 2 hours to fix, during which time we had some food and I got extremely bored. And we were off again. The time was 9.30, now four and a half hours later than planned.
The Road to the Border
The road was stuck to the side of the mountains that surrounded us. All the way along the road, landslides littered our path, forcing us to crawl along long parts of the road. The scenery was amazing. This time, at the beginning of the rains, is the time of dhan - rice. Firstly the rice is planted in a small field, a nursery almost, before being transplanted into the paddy fields. The nurseries were an intense green, luminous against the dull green of the weeds in the mountains behind them. Surrounding these were the prepared paddies, dark brown with mud and flooded with water, ready for the dhan.
Achut the Model
There is something that puzzles me when I travel around Nepal. When you are driving along a road, no house, settlement or anything visible or within a few miles, there are always 2 or 3 people sitting by the side of the road. No sign of how they got there, no sign of how they were going to get back again. One time we were coming back from Rajghat, there was a large group of 30 or 40 people walking along the road. We passed the last house maybe 5 miles before. And as we rode past, there was not a house or building for the next 7 miles. Where did they come from? Where were they going to? Were these just figments of my imagination trying to overcome the pain in my rear end from sitting on the pillion for the previous 3 hours?
We ate some lunch in a town, passed the bungee jump which was stupidly expensive and scared me just looking at it, and then headed to Tatopani - hot water - just 4 miles from the border. We reached Tatopani about 1 pm. These are naturally warm waters, it is said if you wash in these waters then any ails and pains that you have will wash away. I was hoping it would do the job on my pillion-riding pains. Well, the name does the place justice, the water is very hot. As for curing my pillion pains, for a minute or two yes, but once I got back on the bike they reappeared swiftly.
We went to the border in Lipling, the Nepali side of the border, and after the incident with the immigration officer I found myself at a loose end. Achut and his friends went back in the area, as it's a kind of duty free place, where you are able to buy Chinese goods cheaply. So I sat and looked. In all the shops, surprisingly enough, there were Chinese things. Anything you could want could be bought here. The strange thing is that it is such an out-of-the-way village, with nothing but China going for it. If the border were not here, I would doubt anything else would be.
Then we set off home. It was 2.30 pm. It had taken us 5 hours riding to get here including the food stops, so we were looking at getting back to Kathmandu at about 7. Sun set at 6.30. Hmmm. One thing I am always scared about is travelling at night in Nepal. It just isn't safe. To make matters worse after twenty minutes the rain came. And not just light drizzle. A full on Asian monsoon. The road instantly became soaked, and riding along at any speed was impossible as the rain pelted your face like a bb gun on automatic. We managed to outrun the rain after 2 hours, and started to dry out over some food. However, this gave the rain time to catch up, and by the time we left, it had started again.
It was dark as we arrived in Bhaktapur, 20 minutes from Kathmandu, and as we were driving along the road, the car in front of us stopped quickly. On the other side of the road a bike was lying on its side, a woman next to it not moving. Cars were still just driving past hardly slowing. The lady fortunately was not too severely injured, a broken hand and leg where a lorry had driven into her. It only amplified my fear of riding in the dark here.
We finally reached our house safely, completely soaked through and rather sore. And the first question from Aama?
SAM
