In 2004 Leah and I had been admitted to the Tuck Scholl of Business at Dartmouth (in the US) to do our MBA’s and were wondering what to do for a couple of months before heading to the US.
Why not get on the bikes again, and since we like hard things, why not bike from Kathmandu to Lhasa and then out to Lijiang. We also wanted to add a little something special, so we raised money for the Christina Nobel Children’s Foundation. Sounded like a great idea, and it was. Our trip notes are below. It was an amazing adventure, and got the nickname of “Leah and Hamish’s Crazy Tibetan Adventure”, since it was kinda crazy, and hard…
The Kathmandu mail: to summarize
7 days in Kathmandu = 7 days of running demonstrations
4 (plus) days kitting out the truck
4 days lost to feeling sick between us (2 each)
3 bombs in Kathmandu
3 days of general strikes (and another 2 days coming)
7 days of Hamish beard growth (and Leah still kisses me :)) (That's what he thinks! L-)
USD11 our most expensive meal, and it was a superb Thai meal
14 days since our last day in the office and counting
40 custom made "Tibet by Bike" badges sent
70 postcards in the Kathmandu post - how many will arrive is anyone's guess....
So that's Kathmandu in a nut shell
Kathmandu has not changed in some ways, but in others it is significantly different to when we were here 5 years ago. It is still the same dirty, dusty, chaotic, noisy city it was then, but you now have running political demonstrations, a real Maoist threat and general strikes that occur early and often. The level of uncertainty makes the place all the more chaotic. It is still full of dreamers, climbers (maybe they are the dreamers), hippies (half stoned), and a few well dressed trekkers and cycle tourists ;-), all in a third world environment with taxi's, cyclos and buses (and cows! L-) competing for the road. Chaos is the only winner. So that sets the scene.
Now for what people really want to hear, stories from the road, and no this is not the sealed section as one of the donors asked for.
A "typical" Kathmandu day this time round - I got up early, to go to Pashupatinah Temple. This is the most holy Hindu temple in Nepal, and is an interesting place to wander around and observe life as it goes by. Having satisfied my early morning curiosity, I started to head home. Confidently I approached the first taxi, and asked to go to Thamel, the backpacker haven where we are staying. A big no, too DANGEROUS, big demonstrations .. Oh no, how am I going to get home. I approach the next taxi and am in business. Thamel and breakfast, here I come. Maybe not so fast. The first road we go down is blocked by a mob of people and burning tyres. A quick u-turn later and we are off winding our way down through the back streets of a Kathmandu slum. Another blocked road, another u-turn, and I am starting to sweat (and get hungry..). Eventually we find a way, and safety is reached in the old city. The little old taxi driver is glad to get me home, and I am glad to be home, having felt like I was in a movie as the taxi ducked and dived around back streets in a slum. Not something, or somewhere I want to go back to.
As you'd expect, the day only got better. Breakfast, in a sunny pleasant garden, was destroyed when Leah decided she needed to go to the toilet NOW.... (Leah had a bad night, Kathmandu bad stomach, no more needs to be said). Three sips of lemon tea, and she was off. Two minutes more, and a panicked little man comes to get me. Leah wakes up on the floor, having fainted and smashed the glass on a Thanka (an expensive Buddhist painting). Luckily she was none the worse off (so he says!!! Miserable day! L-), and the actual painting was fine as well. So home for Leah and I was free for the day. Later that day, a bomb went off a couple of miles away (no injuries). The hotel shook, Leah was worried, but I was walking home and thought it was a door closing (blissfully unaware as usual :-) L-). Such is life in Kathmandu.
What else have we done in Kathmandu. We have kept ourselves busy in between sick days buying essential items for the truck, and writing post cards. At last count we had written and sent approximately 70 postcards. Our fingers are crossed that they eventually make it, once the general strike stops. We have designed and sent 40 badges to our most generous donors. We have ridden the bikes, once (we are tapering....), to ensure they made it in one piece.
About the Truck:
Some people have asked us why the truck. We have a reliable Chinese truck meeting us at the Tibet border. For us to complete the ride legally (i.e. with a proper permit, and without running check posts at 2am in the snow), which we are, we must have a truck, driver and guide accompany us while we are cycling in Tibet. As you can imagine this is a bit of overkill, two cyclists, 1 truck and 2 support crew, but that is the way it is. The advantage of a truck is that it allows us to carry a few necessities, like 48 Snickers bars, down jackets and folding chairs when we buy them in Tibet. The important things in life. (The Snickers bars are critical, the rest are nice to have - sorry Cas no Coke though! L-)
Looking forward. We say goodbye to Kathmandu today, and make our way to the Tibetan border to cross on the morning of the 10th. Then we start the longest uphill in the world. Statistics: from 500 meters in Nepal, to 5,050 meters in Tibet - in the space of 160Km (and about 7 days cycling! We're trying to do as much acclimatization as possible, but when the first stretch goes from about 2400m to 3700 meters in a day, it's pretty hard!! L-)
So that's it for Kathmandu. In some ways we are looking forward to leaving city, (in some ways? Impossible to stay healthy here - we're outta here!!!! L-) and in other ways we are cautious. Saying goodbye to the easy life of the city and the good cheap chocolate cake and coffee will be hard, but we need to move on (I haven't had anything but tomato soup since last week, forget the cake, so good riddance :-)! L-).
Hamish and Leah (written by Hamish, edited by Leah :-)...)