requires some thought . When approaching a slow-moving truck from behind , apart from the horny riding technique the drivers are very helpful and put on their indicators when it ’ s safe to pass . I was still yet to differentiate the difference between this and when they were moving over to miss a pothole , and now I knew how a sardine feels .
Binod , who was leading , had to pull up abruptly as another truck came around the corner on the wrong side .
Once we passed through Mugling , a large town on the India route , we turned off to Pokhara and the road was a lot more traffic free ; only those pesky goats to contend with .
The country flattened out and the valley opened with several large bridges to cross . We were now able to flog the bikes a little and were averaging around 90kph .
About 20 kilometres from Pokhara the road was very low and must surely flood seasonally as the basic bitumen road was undulating with many repaired and unrepaired potholes . Sometimes it was easier to ride off the road altogether . Yet , a consequence of this was vehicles weaving all over the road to pick the best path . It was another high concentration zone and again the usual assortment of domestic stock wandering amongst it all . The sacred cows have right of way over everything .
One story has it that the locals drive their stock on the road in the hope that someone will run them over and must pay exorbitant compensation .
With only 10 kilometres to go , I knew as I was right next to one of those concrete marker posts , I had a crash .
The small truck in front of me performed a dangerous manoeuvre and stopped ; probably to avoid some animal . A goat perhaps ?
I was unable to stop in time and crashed into the back of the truck . It wasn ’ t serious but the impact jammed the front mudguard down onto the tyre and I banged my left hand . I was still upright but stranded in the middle of the road .
It caused great consternation , not only for me but also for the mandatory passengers in the back of the truck who immediately started a shouting extravaganza . Not able to understand much of the hullabaloo , their tonal inflections and body language seemed to indicate some concern about my parentage .
Unsure of the local etiquette in these matters and having heard some interesting stories of past incidents , I was sure that being taken hostage and forced to marry the driver ’ s daughter was on the cards . In the end the crescendo died down and the truck simply drove off without so much as a by your leave . A great source of relief to me I don ’ t mind
TRAVERSE 49