Newsletter 7

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Nearly we were in Nepal but first the border at Mahendranagar  has to be taken, this is always for us an exciting moment, will everything go the way we wanted? You never know. Till our surprise we met friendly guys at the border and showed us the way to the "building" for the stamps etc. The road was a loose big round stone road and it goes downhill, when you keep on driving no problem at all, but to stop and go again was hard, Leon forgot to put the bike in the first gear when he stopped and after he left the bike it was rolling down the hill by it self, he managed to grab the bike again and with a lot of luck get the control back on the bike. He dropped the bike to much already with packing luggage.
Even the Indian employees helped us without problems.
On the Nepal border; the Nepalese men told us to wait till eleven and the man will show up to stamp the carnet the passage, to our surprise at exactly eleven-o-clock the man was there, in the mean time we get some tea and a chair in the shade.

The road through the Terai is from Mahendranaga till Katmandu is in a very good condition but I'm writing this in 2001 and the road was build with help from India so we don't know how the road is in a few more years. Less cows and goats on the road and nearly no trucks at all. We could easily speed up till 80 kilometers a hour but we didn't, the view was to beautiful. Lots of threes, green hilly landscapes and easy traffic made the drive perfect. 

The next day we went to Bardia Park this is one of the many wild life parks Nepal owns. A exciting gravel road for 14 km with another river crossing brought us to Forest Hideaway Guesthouse. It was a pity for the others guesthouse along the way -they had nearly no guest at all- but the guesthouse we took was indeed a nice spot with threes, bushes, a nice garden and friendly people. A lot of the other places didn't have. From here it was easy to go in the park 12,5 u$ each. included a guide. Our guide was not talkative at all, so be prepared. We walked the whole day and saw no tiger -only fresh footprints- but a lot of birds, deer, and we chased a wild elephant through the elephant grass and saw the elephant finally walking in a dry riverbed. 
At 6pm we were back "home" eat some food and hit the sack early.
We get the same gravel road back to the main street we have to take the river crossing again and Jolanda want to do this all driving, now there was more water and Leon has to follow and we succeed without falling off the bike.

From the Bardia park we continued the trip trough the Terrai, Kathmandu was still to far to reach in one day so the next stop was Butwal a place just to sleep and grab some food. After Butwal we were heading to Mugling the area was still the Terrai and that means a perfect way to drive a real nice landscape and hardly no traffic, we followed the Trishuli river for several kilometers till we came to Riverside resort, the cabins were "only" $60,- and when the man looked at me that I don't showed any interest, he came down to $30,- I decided to have a look. The cabin was really nice and I have to discuss with Jolanda, let go crazy and take the cabin was here reply. The guys from the hotel helped with the luggage and we could take our hot solar heated shower. We took a look to the swimming pool but again the water was to cold. The river view  was great and the food excellent so if you still have some dollars left, take your chance.

The resort was only a hundred kilometers from Kathmandu it was a easy drive, we entered Kathmandu round 2pm and we stopped in the neighborhood of Durban Square we asked a little bit around and soon we found Durban Square from on that point Jolanda still remembers the way to Tibet Guesthouse in this Guesthouse she stayed three years ago, it has a parking place for the bikes and the service was excellent, she managed to get the price down to $6,5 a night, without tax but with a bathtub a TV set and a balcony. So far not bad at all. After a few days Leon get sick again stomach pain, high fever and diarrhea, no fun at all. He slept for many hours to get the fever down but after five days no result we decide to go on medication, not as in India for one day but now for three days. And the medication worked out the way we want. The last days of the medication Jolanda put in her earplugs again to get finally a night of good sleep. We forgot for the first time to take the money-belt into the bed. In the middle of that same night we waked up by a lot of noise, people were banging on doors, the telephone was ringing, so Leon went out of bed to pick up the phone and the man from the reception called that there where thieves on the balcony. He opened the door -Jolanda was out off bed already- the men stormed in the room and asked us "are here any thieves in the room" we answered no we were sleeping and nobody has entered this room, he looked under the bed bed and shouted 'here is one' and dragged the thief by his hair under the bed. We where really shocked off course. Jolanda was looking for stolen stuff and found out that the money-belt was gone, he has the belt shouted Jolanda and all the ruppees, the thief gave back the ruppees right away. He also have the credit cards was the next discovery, we found them back in the bathroom, Leon was still so angry and punched the thief in the middle of  his face, that gives a good feeling. 
The police and the guards asked several times do you have everything back, but in the mess it is hard working to search the place, and the policemen brought the thief down to the street into the police car, Leon walked with them and when he was on the street, Jolanda shouted from the balcony he also has the dollars, so I told the police that we where missing dollars, 2 notes of 100 and some notes in  smaller amount. In just one second the two notes of 100 came out of the car but they "couldn't" find the rest. Your watch is also missing came from the same balcony I asked for it and right away the watch showed up. You come tomorrow to the police station for a talk the policemen told Leon. And he went up to the room. We drink a rum and went back to bed Jolanda didn't sleep that night and Leon picked a few hours. 
The next morning we have to tell the whole story to the manager again, he assured us that we will find the money back -we ad our doubts- and we went to the police station where they brought the thieves. Here we find out how they tread the criminals, they where squatting on the ground and have to jump like frogs for a twenty meters, turn around and jump back, when they are to slow or try to cheat they get smacked with a stick.
The inspector was not there at the moment and we should come back at 11am, if we want to see the cellblock? The answer was yes, under the building they keep the prisoners and you don't want to be there; dark, humid, 12 people in one room and no beds at all. So no place to be I guess. 
At 11am no inspector (he was to busy)  maybe at 4pm and also this time no inspector, maybe tomorrow -this is Asia-. The next day no manager from the hotel, no inspector and no small notes of dollar, no mosquito-gaze repairing and nobody knows when the manager will be back. We where not happy anymore. We went out for another hotel and found one named Acme Guesthouse the next day when we paid the bill we will check in this hotel. 
Surprise, surprise, the manager showed up and we asked for a decent bill, -the first three days no hot water- and he promised us a 20 percent discount over the first 5 days. He count the days we where in the hotel and to our surprise he also counted the day of the robbery, he forgot everything over the discount of twenty percent for the first 5 days. To make a long story a little bit shorter we nearly got in a fight with the guy and by the director everything was settled. We get what we want and could finally left the place. So if you have a choice skip this place, in three years time it was not the same hotel anymore. And we have to live with the fact the rest of the money is somewhere not by the thieves, but a policeman has a really nice week. 

We not have been only in Thamel Ktm, we have visit the monkey temple (it is a pleasant walk from Thamel) and you have to climb up to see the temple. This is the temple where Hinduism and Buddhism can prayed in the same temple. Off course plenty of monkeys are watching you.
Pashupatinath is a must to visit, we went there with a minibus just outside of Thamel. In Pashupatinath you will find the most holy Shiva temple of Nepal. The man Pashupati is the Patron of all living creatures.
On the riverside you can see the small houses where elder people live till they are dead. Along the riverside are the ghats (the places where the people -when they are dead- get burned) It is easy to watch the cremations but take some respect for the family's with your camera.

After 21000km it was time to change the back tires finally -we carrying them from Greece- and a friendly Englishman (Connor Carson) was so nice to watch and gives us a hand if necessary. It was hard working to get the outer tube from the rim Connor has the right tools and with long levers we managed to get the tire of the rim. From this point it was not so bad, it only takes some time.
We made some extra plastic tubes on the bikes -3 each- to put stuff in so we have some extra spaces in the boxes.

We arranged all the things for the bikes to get them -and us- on the same plain to Thailand. We found a cargo agent  World Freight Link cargo just on the upper side of Tibet guesthouse, close to the steakhouse they are making the crates and the total cost are around 1280$ for two bikes two crates and two one way flights Kathmandu-Bangkok. We will give more information in the next newsletter how everything has been worked out. 
Please don't forget to sign the guest book so we see you have visit us.