Here are some of our favorite photos from the trip (each photo is a thumbnail linked to a higher quality picture.):
31) At our first break Jonna showed the Aussies how to drink... chai tea (they had the other form of drinking well covered). Wherever we stopped in Nepal we were never far from somewhere that was selling chai.
32) The roads in the foothills of the Himalaya were exactly what one would expect: curvy! The road conditions varied greatly - sometimes well paved but at other times there were as many potholes and cracked surface as actual pavement. Due to the steep nature of the landscape we were often riding with a sharp drop-off on one side and a vertical cliff on the other.
33) Another tea break and another glimpse into Nepal. We stopped at a roadside market to find some shade and bottled water. Next door was a fruit and veg stand where the produce was brought in from local gardens in these reed baskets.
34) Our destination for the first riding day was the city of Pokhara right up against the spine of the Himalayas. As we neared the city we could see the giant snow-covered mountains towering over the surrounding area.
35) Pokhara is a popular tourist area in Nepal and is the start of many treks into the nearby Annapurna range. As a result, we had fancy accomodations.
36) Pokhara is famous for its location on the banks of Phewa Lake and boat tours of the lake are a big tourist draw. While walking near our hotel we found the graveyard of the wooden boats used for the tourist tours.
37) As the sun set the tops of the Annapurna Range glowed red.
38) We had a day off in Pokhara so we hired a boat guide to take us across Phewa Lake so we could do a hike on the other side of the lake. Despite our just getting a ride to the trailhead the boat guide still took us on a mini-sightseeing trip that brought us along the shore of Tal Barahi Temple which is on an island in the middle of the lake.
39) The boat guide was also kind enough to take a photo of us.
40) The hike we did on the west side of the lake was to the Pokhara Shanti Stupa, also known as the World Peace Pagoda. The hike up was quite scenic climbing 1,000 feet from the edge of the lake to the top of the hill. The views across of the Annapurna Range across Phewa Lake and down onto the city of Pokhara where fantastic!
41) A close-up of the main Buddha statue at the stupa.
42) We hiked back down the way we came up. It was a short (2 miles round trip) but steep trail.
43) For the afternoon we tried something new - Paragliding! We took a bus up to the top of Sarankot mountain, just north of Phewa Lake, and then jumped off! Thankfully, we were strapped to an experienced paraglider at the time.
44) The first order of business was to find a thermal and use it to gain altitude. This involved going in tight circles as the column of hot air lifted us up. It was literally dizzying but one very cool part of the circling was having Egyptian vultures spiraling up alongside us. The birds would swoop by at arms reach as they used the same thermal to climb up to higher altitudes.
45) Once we'd gained the necessary altitude, and as my stomach started to settle back into the correct location, we then had a long, peaceful glide all the way back down to the lake. Needless to say, the views were spectacular!
46) The next morning we were back on the bikes and heading south. Our first leg stretch was in the village of Syangia where we met this nice family who served us chai and told us about life in their village. The girl in the yellow shirt was named Lily and she loved cats. We showed her photos of our cat named Lily and she beamed with happiness!
47) The central parts of Nepal that we rode through were hills covered in jungle. Little villages of maybe a dozen buildings just seemed to pop up out of nowhere as we rode through the dense foliage.
48) The highlights of this area were the river gorges. As rivers flow down off the high peaks of the Himalayas they cut deep, narrow canyons into the jungle. The roads that wound through these gorges were wonderful motorcycle roads and the views were lovely.
49) Our lunch break had it all. A restaurant, bathrooms and Free Wifi (at the toilets).
50) Even the view from the toilet window was beautiful!
51) Another lunch, another plate of dal bhat.
52) When riding in the foothills of largest mountains in the world, rock falls are always a possibility.
53) After a day of riding through small, rural villages our arrival in and passage through Siddhartha Nagar was jarring! It was a quick reminder of just how chaotic traffic is in Nepalese cities.
54) That afternoon we arrived in Lumbini, the birthplace of the Buddha. We had time to tour the holy site. This is the Maya Devi Temple, the main temple within the huge Lumbini temple complex, and is home to the ruins of the oldest known Buddhist temple.
55) The massive Bodhi tree at the Maya Devi temple and the pond where, according to legend, Queen Maya Devi bathed before giving birth to the Buddha Shakyamuni.
56) This Ashoka pillar over 2,000 years old and marks the spot where Emperor Ashoka visited the site in the 3rd century BCE to honor the birth place of the Buddha Shakyamuni.
57) The infrastructure in Nepal is crude at best so the nicer hotels insure they have power by installing huge generators. Every time a power brown out occurs the silence is shattered by the sounds of dozens of diesel generators cranking.
58) Generators may power the buildings but chai powers the motorcyclists! These little plastic cups are the standard serving size of a roadside cuppa.
59) Next door to our chai break spot was this bicycle repair shop. This gentleman had crude tools (some basic screwdrivers and wrenches, a little metal anvil and a big hammer) but as you can see from his queue of bicycles he had plenty of work.
60) The third riding day turned us east to ride all the way across the southern half of Nepal. We turned onto the Mahendra Highway which basically parallels the southern border from west to east. The good news was this is a major road so it was in reasonably good condition. The down side is that a solid, flat surface has many uses in Nepal so it wasn't unusual to find a herdsman guiding his cows down the road, a home-owner using the road as place to build a fence for a roadside house, a big truck up on jacks getting a major repair and school children playing soccer. Riding in Nepal is always an adventure!
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