right near a Puncha Walla (tyre repair
establishment).
We soon entered Pokhara and
headed for the resort area of Lake-
side. There were a lot of tourists here
and the usual accommodation places
were booked out or had jacked up the
prices. Another one was soon found
at a reduced rate.
I got to share a room with Rajesh
who assures me he didn’t snore.
He was curious about what I eat in
Australia as he’d heard we didn’t eat
much rice.
A hot shower to remove the sweat
and road grime, clean clothes and
an afternoon nap was the immediate
plan. By 7pm we went for tea at the
Amsterdam Bar and then afterwards
to the Paradiso Bar and still later to
the Busy Bee.
Binod and the other guys knew a
lot of locals, it was quite a late night
and the streets were deserted as we
walked back to our rooms.
I’m sure I dreamt most of yester-
day again, it felt like I was still on the
bike. Trying to sleep in, the tea boy
knocked on the door with some hot
milk tea. A great Nepali custom.
A clear blue sky for the mornings
ride to Beknas Tal; another lake, not
far out of Pokhara.
The road was lined with flowers
as a large festival was taking place.
People, banners, lots of school kids
in uniform and groups of women
dressed in the same colour saris.
Very colourful. Army and security
were massed as the Prime Minister
was also in attendance.
We settled into a teahouse for
some dahl baht and a refreshing ale
for lunch and watched the crowd
disperse after the ceremonies.
The road was full of people as we
wend our way through on the En-
field’s. The bikes just plodded along
in first gear at a little over walking
pace, they must have heavy cranks as
there was not a hint of stalling.
When we reached the main road
there was a large traffic jam. We
worked our way to the front, a bik-
er’s prerogative, only to find that the
army had stopped everyone to keep
the road clear for the Prime Minister
as he headed for his helicopter at
Pokhara airport.
A half hour later we were set loose
and it was obvious that security was
very high as army personal were
deployed at regular intervals along
the road back into Pokhara. There
were many army trucks and the odd
armoured troop carrier.
As we’d been split up in the traffic
jam, we regrouped under a shady
tree on the edge of Pokhara. After
some time, Chandra came along and
said we should go back to the hotel as
Rajesh had had a minor accident with
another motorbike and they’d gone to
the police station to sort it out.
Rajesh showed up a little later with
a broken taillight and said he had to
go back to the police station tomor-
row to retrieve his licence and pay a
fine.
In the evening I went to a dance
restaurant with Rajesh. These estab-
lishments are very popular, they’re a
bit like the 1960’s go-go scene, with
girls dancing on stage at regular in-
tervals to the latest Indian pop tunes.
It had been raining overnight. I
wasn’t looking forward to the ride
back to Kathmandu without a front
mudguard, especially if the roads
were wet.
It had now started raining steadily
but as we left the blue sky reappeared
and remained for the day.
There were now seven bikes, as
Jiggy, an American expat and his wife
joined us.
Jiggy is a bit of a character as he’d
taken on Buddhism and married a
local girl. He also drew cartoons for
the Nepali Times.
I rigged up an old rice bag to act
as a mudflap to stop the front wheel
spraying water in my face. The ride
back to Kathmandu was without
incident and the road was relatively
traffic free. It made for good riding
TRAVERSE 80
through the sweeping turns chasing
Binod. He was better when we came
to traffic, more experience with horns
and indicators, so I was often left
behind playing catchup.
The group spread out and when we
stopped to regroup before entering
the Kathmandu valley, we were now
only four. After some time, the deci-
sion was made to move on. I found
out later that there was some confu-
sion about the rendezvous point.
An army checkpoint on the rim of
the valley caused a huge traffic jam,
they needed to check our registration
again and as before it was bikes to
the front of the queue. We were soon
through, no doubt saving us at least
one and a half hours.
More Kathmandu traffic, looking
out for the goats, we were soon back
at the Himalayan Enfielders work-
shop with smiles all round and a few
local beers to wash down the diesel
fumes. An interesting experience, as
we lived … to die? SM