Feb. 2 - near Nepalganj, Nepal
Thursday, February 2 :: Mahendra Highway, near Nepalganj, Nepal :: 13km today / 3326km total
Another absolutely crazy day. It started normally enough, with a short ride into Mugling for a Nepali breakfast. Pushing South, I was now only 34km from Bharatpur, almost having completed the out-and-back from the flatlands of the Terai to Kathmandu. Almost. 13km along, hammering along, I heard a horrendous sound coming from my rear wheel, with great tension in the drivetrain. I slowed to a controlled stop, thinking "what now?". Well, one of my bungee cords had snapped, dropping the 2 pieces of clothes that it was holding; my shorts onto the road, and my favourite shirt - that I use for warm/hot weather cycling - into my rear derailleur and gear cluster. Great. On closer inspection I realized that things were worse than I thought - my rear derailleur - the thing that changes gears - was broken in 2 places and unfixable. Without my chain tool (lost in Bombay) I couldn't even put the bike into one gear and ride - the drivetrain was caught up in broken derailleur pieces. And of course the shirt was a goner.
After a few minutes of rationalizing I slipped my sandals on and, again, started walking with the bike. I'm getting too used to this mode of transportation. I coasted on the downhills, and walked the flats and uphills. After a few kilometres I came across a landslide that heavy machinery was busy clearing away. This was good news for me, because there was a lineup of buses and trucks waiting to be let through. In about 5 minutes I was loaded, and off for the short ride down to Bharatpur.
Bharatpur was well-stocked with little bike shops, I knew from having passed through before, and it wasn't long before an able mechanic was furiously working on my drivetrain. Fortunately there are some geared bikes around here (this IS Nepal, the people need gears on their bikes to climb) and the mechanic pulled out a shiny new derailleur and slapped it on my bike. For $7 total (labour and parts) it was all done. The bike will ride, but with a $5 derailleur I know the chain will be slippy. Only a few hundred metres away was the bus "station", and soon enough I was off to Mahendranagar, Nepal's Westernmost town on the Mahendra Highway. I have 2 days to get out of Nepal before all businesses close.
The driver drove like I've never seen before - absolutely crazily, as fast as the bus would go. At times I swore we were going to roll over, and I was actually scared. I've seen far too many crashes on these roads, I know they're far from rare. I sat at the back, I knew the safest place, since most crash relics I've seen have crunched-up fronts with relatively intact rears. But there was a reason he was going this fast, as I was about to find out.
The bus went through army checkpost after army checkpost, and several times we all had to get off, be checked over, and get back on. We also passed Mao roadblocks, obstructions made of rocks or logs, unmanned but highly annoying. My fellow passengers told me we'd be stopping for the night near Nepalganj, for security reasons. Fine enough. Well, we almost made it through cleanly. After darkness set in, about half an hour from our stop, we were motioned over to the side of the road by a silhoutte of a man with a machine gun. I happened to be watching at the time and asked the man next to me "Army? Or Mao?" Mao. Great. Believe me, its not a reassuring feeling to be in a vehicle that has been pulled over in the dark by some stranger(s). The bus ticket agent jumped off and talked to the man, who demanded that the men on the bus get off, two at a time, to be fleeced. Sigh. Being dark, I couldn't see anything out the window, or how many Mao were out there. So, starting from the front, 2 got off, gave up their cash, and got back on. Of course those of us at the back were furiously burying money wherever we thought it could go undetected... but the problem is, when you're the only foreigner on the bus, everyone is also watching where YOU are stashing your cash... what a rock and a hard place. Do I get off the bus with all my cash, hoping to retain some of it from the Mao, or do I stash lots on the bus, hoping my fellow passengers won't take it when I get off? I went with the Mao, and stashed cash in various places on my body. As I was about to be summoned, some vehicle headlights appeared from behind, and the Mao apparently made for the bushes, waving us off. Whew! I later found out that large sums of money had been extracted, and that many passengers doubted that the men were Mao... they were probably bandits pretending to be Mao. Even better (shudder).
We made it to our little oasis, apparently well guarded by the army, with many trucks, buses, and other vehicles huddled in. There were some guesthouses, and I had a marginal room. I HAVE to get out of Nepal.
Another absolutely crazy day. It started normally enough, with a short ride into Mugling for a Nepali breakfast. Pushing South, I was now only 34km from Bharatpur, almost having completed the out-and-back from the flatlands of the Terai to Kathmandu. Almost. 13km along, hammering along, I heard a horrendous sound coming from my rear wheel, with great tension in the drivetrain. I slowed to a controlled stop, thinking "what now?". Well, one of my bungee cords had snapped, dropping the 2 pieces of clothes that it was holding; my shorts onto the road, and my favourite shirt - that I use for warm/hot weather cycling - into my rear derailleur and gear cluster. Great. On closer inspection I realized that things were worse than I thought - my rear derailleur - the thing that changes gears - was broken in 2 places and unfixable. Without my chain tool (lost in Bombay) I couldn't even put the bike into one gear and ride - the drivetrain was caught up in broken derailleur pieces. And of course the shirt was a goner.
After a few minutes of rationalizing I slipped my sandals on and, again, started walking with the bike. I'm getting too used to this mode of transportation. I coasted on the downhills, and walked the flats and uphills. After a few kilometres I came across a landslide that heavy machinery was busy clearing away. This was good news for me, because there was a lineup of buses and trucks waiting to be let through. In about 5 minutes I was loaded, and off for the short ride down to Bharatpur.
Bharatpur was well-stocked with little bike shops, I knew from having passed through before, and it wasn't long before an able mechanic was furiously working on my drivetrain. Fortunately there are some geared bikes around here (this IS Nepal, the people need gears on their bikes to climb) and the mechanic pulled out a shiny new derailleur and slapped it on my bike. For $7 total (labour and parts) it was all done. The bike will ride, but with a $5 derailleur I know the chain will be slippy. Only a few hundred metres away was the bus "station", and soon enough I was off to Mahendranagar, Nepal's Westernmost town on the Mahendra Highway. I have 2 days to get out of Nepal before all businesses close.
The driver drove like I've never seen before - absolutely crazily, as fast as the bus would go. At times I swore we were going to roll over, and I was actually scared. I've seen far too many crashes on these roads, I know they're far from rare. I sat at the back, I knew the safest place, since most crash relics I've seen have crunched-up fronts with relatively intact rears. But there was a reason he was going this fast, as I was about to find out.
The bus went through army checkpost after army checkpost, and several times we all had to get off, be checked over, and get back on. We also passed Mao roadblocks, obstructions made of rocks or logs, unmanned but highly annoying. My fellow passengers told me we'd be stopping for the night near Nepalganj, for security reasons. Fine enough. Well, we almost made it through cleanly. After darkness set in, about half an hour from our stop, we were motioned over to the side of the road by a silhoutte of a man with a machine gun. I happened to be watching at the time and asked the man next to me "Army? Or Mao?" Mao. Great. Believe me, its not a reassuring feeling to be in a vehicle that has been pulled over in the dark by some stranger(s). The bus ticket agent jumped off and talked to the man, who demanded that the men on the bus get off, two at a time, to be fleeced. Sigh. Being dark, I couldn't see anything out the window, or how many Mao were out there. So, starting from the front, 2 got off, gave up their cash, and got back on. Of course those of us at the back were furiously burying money wherever we thought it could go undetected... but the problem is, when you're the only foreigner on the bus, everyone is also watching where YOU are stashing your cash... what a rock and a hard place. Do I get off the bus with all my cash, hoping to retain some of it from the Mao, or do I stash lots on the bus, hoping my fellow passengers won't take it when I get off? I went with the Mao, and stashed cash in various places on my body. As I was about to be summoned, some vehicle headlights appeared from behind, and the Mao apparently made for the bushes, waving us off. Whew! I later found out that large sums of money had been extracted, and that many passengers doubted that the men were Mao... they were probably bandits pretending to be Mao. Even better (shudder).
We made it to our little oasis, apparently well guarded by the army, with many trucks, buses, and other vehicles huddled in. There were some guesthouses, and I had a marginal room. I HAVE to get out of Nepal.
posted by Graham Durrant at 4:07 AM
7 Comments:
i would have just left the money on the bus. but as i was hiding it, i would have started to chant and do some fancy hand moves, like smack my own forehead a couple of times, and make it look like i was putting a curse on the money. after the chant, i would make sure i say the words DEATH, MONEY and TOUCH a few times, nice and slow, and look around at the fellow passengers manically.
i can assure NO ONE on that bus would steal your money. and who knows, maybe you would even get the back of the bus all to yourself ;)
The other option would to have shove the money down the back of my pants, the nether regions, work it around a bit, and bring it back out, leaving it in plain view on the seat. Nepalis and Indians are quite sensitive about the hygeine issue, and this would have probably kept their hands off, as well. It was a large sum, though, to them - for many Nepalis the amount I was carrying would be 6- months wages... what would you do for a quick $30,000?
Maybe you should get a female wig for travelling through Nepal, as the Nepalese seem to have teh good sense not to mess with the women. Funny you say they are sensitive about the hygiene issues after the piss rivers at the train stations.
Sophie
They are sensitive about hygeine on their hands and body, but remarkably don't care about cleanliness of the land. The Nepalese seem to care more than the Indians.
it's in their religious belief that the gods will keep the lands clean as long as they keep themselves clean.
hindus and muslims are steadfast about their personal hygiene. you're not even allowed into a mosque or utter the name of God unless you have not showered within 10 minutes or so.
but you're right if it's not on their personal being, they could care less (again the gods will take care of it). i think the only reason the nepalnese "care" more is because there is a lot less of them per square inch. i can assure you that that same piss/poo phenomena is going on in china as well. it's a population thing.
oops...unless you HAVE showered within 20 minutes or so.
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