Sensory Overload

Nepal & India

After being in Tibet we were all very happy to arrive in Kathmandu. We stayed in the tourist district of Thamel which was really cool. Small alleys, trendy cafes, hippies with dreadlocks everywhere you looked; we were temporarily back on the tourist circuit. I got struck down with a fever on AFL Grand Final day of all days, forcing myself to a pub full of Aussies to try and watch the game but only lasting 10 minutes before I put myself back to bed.

This little piggy went to market

 

Who needs a windscreen?

 

 

From Kathmandu we drove the 200km to Pokhara which took about 9-10 hours. With a population slightly higher than that of Australia in such a small country and single lane windy roads through the hills it only took a slow or broken down truck to bring things to a halt. Once we arrived we had 4 nights to put up our feet and relax, with my feet being so high I was almost upside down, especially the first night when apparently I ended up on top of the pool table after an afternoon session with Will & Alli. I recovered well enough the next day to jump on a microlite flight which I have never done before and really enjoyed it, soaring above the city in a aircraft no bigger than my car.

My sturdy microlite

 

What do you do when your flight gets delayed?

Flying above Pokhara

 

 

Along with the traffic problems in Nepal they also have major electricity shortages. Every day for hours at a time the power would be out, businesses being forced to use generators to keep themselves open. Its sad to see such a basic utility not provided and along with the crippling traffic congestion makes me realise what a lucky country I live in.

The view from town

About 30 paragliders sailing on the jetstreams

Lake Phewa

 

 

A short drive day took us down to Chitwan National Park with the major drawcard here being the elephants. Most of us went for a ride on them around the park and then visited the breeding centre the next morning. The conditions they were kept was below par however and they were chained up each night and did not look comfortable when we were there. I would not recommend it if you find yourself in Nepal in the future.

Going for our elephant ride

 

 

We crossed the border a couple of days later and upon my arrival to India I already had a case of Delhi belly so I felt that I had a head start. My first meal was just a couple of samosas from a roadside stand and it almost blew my head off. The smell, the taste and the noise of India was there to greet us right on the border and I can see how some people get quite overwhelmed by it. We spent our first night in the nondescript city of Siliguri as we heard the road up to Darjeeling was too tight for our truck and would have to arrange 4WD’s the next morning. 2½ hours of hairpin bends with hundreds of these 4WD taxis jostling for position made for a really fun and scenic drive. The English tea junkies on the trip made the most of their stay here but its the drive back down that I will remember most from my trip to Darjeeling.

Tea plantations near Darjeeling

 

One of the many hairpin bends

Mexican standoff

 

Unfortunately halfway down we came to a traffic jam and after asking some locals discovered that a 16 year old student had been hit and killed by a truck, the driver decamping on foot. All the schools in the district had got together and were protesting, marching up and down the road screaming justice. The driver had probably made the wise decision of running off as it was most likely he would not have survived if the mob and the victims family got a hold of him. After 6 hours we got through and spent another night in Siliguri.

 

Poacher lookout in Manas NP

Ranger patrol in the park

Sunset looking out over Bhutan

 

 

Manas National Park was next on our itinerary and is where we have just left, right on the India/Bhutan border. We went on an afternoon safari hoping to see a Bengal tiger or a rhino but both evaded us, instead seeing some elephants, a monitor lizard and a wild pig. At $20 you could probably say we got our moneys worth. We are now making our way east to become the first overland truck to enter Burma from India, in just 10 weeks I will be landing back on home soil.

 

 

 

more...