Don't have much speed and will abide with any pictures.)
Calchhi, Nov 24, 2011. 40 kms.
Kathmandu to Bombay
Oh how nice it is to be on the road again!
I flew out to Kathmandu some 6 - 7 weeks ago. Then I went on a 36-day trek from Jiri to EBC, Gokyo, Renjo-la and eventually out through The Arun Valley. I took a flight from Tumlingtar back to Kathmandu. Was there for a week, resting my tired body, buying a mountainbike, and generally hanging out.
Once again I bought a brand new Trek 4300. This time it is a 2012 model, 19,5" frame. I had with me my Schwalbe Supremes that had rolled 4000 kms last winter in Thailand, Cambodia and Laos. I got the bike from "Dusk to Dawn" a cycling setup in Kathmandu that in addition to selling bikes and accessories also organizes guided cycle trips in Nepal and Tibet.
I went there as soon as I had settled in in Kathmandu. But the owner Chimmi had no recollection of our recent email conversations, in which he had told me a Trek 4300 would sell for 40 000 Nepalese Rupees. Instead he wanted 47 000.
But after my Everest trek he had come down to 43 000, and the rupee had shrunk in value once more, so I accepted. I think it comes to about 400 Euros, pretty much what I have paid previously for Trek 4300.
I don't make very detailed plans for my trips. I start in Kathmandu and fly home from Bombay almost four months later. But I have not checked at all how far it is, and I am not beyond taking a train or bus if I find some area too cold, or annoying in some other way. I do however wish to cycle through Madhya Pradesh, the middle Indian state, where I have never been. For a while I planned to take a mountain road between Kathmandu and the Indian border at Raxhaul. But when I realised that Raxhaul is in Bihar, an Indian state of which not much nice has been said, I changed my plans to go via Bhairawa instead. That will take me straight to Uttar Pradesh, heavily populated but with a better reputation.
So this morning I set off at about 0830. It is late November and winter is coming here as well, nights have been cold since I came back to town. It was still chilly in Kathmandu when I left, but I soon warmed up riding mostly uphill for about an hour in heavy traffic.
Quite soon however I was over the ridge and enjoyed some 30 kms of winding downhill. K is at some 1300 mtrs above sea level. Already now I am at 400 mtrs asl, and it is definitely warmer here.
Once I was out of K the traffic became much less intense, and I found myself enjoying the ride thoroughly. Nepal is a very beautiful place, and the countryside people very nice. When I had just stopped by the roadside to rest my butt and check the map I had several people stop to ask if I needed any help. And many waved at me and greeted me with Namaste!
Suddenly my brand new bike computer froze. It is an "Asaklitt", a Swedish brand, most certainly made in China. Cheap and obviously not that good. I had to do a hard reset by taking out the battery. It was of course a nuisance to lose the accumulated distance. But it had the good side effect of me discovering that I had stopped just outside a "resort". I like to start out easy and so took a room here. The room itself is pretty grotty, but there is a nice garden. Tomorrow I plan to ride to Muglai, about 60 kms from here.
So nice to be cycling again!
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