Jan. 30 - Kathmandu, Nepal

Monday, January 30 :: Kathmandu, Nepal :: 85km today / 3199km total

A great start; at the 17km mark I passed 3131km, the total distance I rode last winter in SE Asia! My ride down to Bharatpur was only 79km, relatively flat, and I hammered it off fairly quickly, allowing myself to go to exhaustion, since the culinary bounty of Kathmandu was just ahead. From Bharatpur I have a 150km out-and-back to Kathmandu, and I would take the bus one way. Now, Kathmandu sits about 3000 feet higher than Bharatpur... if you were going to take a bus one way, and ride the other, which way would you take the bus? Ya, me too, so a bus it was to Kathmandu. A very slow bus, going through many military checkpoints. At one point all the men had to get off and walk through a barbed-wire corridor past soldiers. Fun fun.

The road climbed and descended often, much to my dismay, meaning lots of climbing on my return bike ride, even though overall its downhill. Its spectacular, however, and will easily be one of the most beautiful rides I've ever done.

It was dark when I was unceremoniously dumped at the side of the road in Kathmandu, and there are few/no streetlights here... a dangerous, bumpy, confusing ride into the heart of the city. As I've done a few times in India I paid a driver to guide me into my destination - following him on my bike - when it only costs $1CDN to save an hour of time and immense hassle, why not?

I'm staying in the Thamel district of Kathmandu, the backpackers centre, and it has nothing in common with the rest of Nepal, except for the Nepalese, of course. The restaurant options are the most diverse and incredible that I've seen on this trip - even more choice than in Goa! The food is AWESOME, I can find pretty much whatever I want here. And I'm taking bigtime advantage of it, with 2 very hollow legs to deal with. You name it, Thamel has it. Except for lowfat milk or rootbeer, both of which I crave like you wouldn't believe.