K2K, Siliguri to Chitwan NP, Across The Terai
19/9/18
Siliguri to Birtamode
After a good nights sleep and a filling breakfast, we said
our goodbyes once again to the staff at Hotel Loft. These guys looked after us
so well. Then it was onto our clean steeds and away we went down the road
through a very busy market. Stall holders fill buckets with vegetable waste and
feed it to the street cows. They all looked so well, with their coats very shiny.
It’s not just cows that wander the streets, we spotted a couple of really big
bulls just resting on the road enjoying the morning sunshine.
It was pretty hectic getting out of Siliguri as the road was
busy with people starting their day with lots of buses, trucks, rickshaws and
bicycles going in all directions. The traffic police are there to save the day
and get you across intersections in one piece.
It was only a 30km ride to the border crossing, and the
riding first thing in the morning was pretty easy. The only thing that held us
up and broke our rhythm was having to stop for a train. The boom gate came down
just as we approached, so stop we did. We got encouragement from a guy on the
other side to go under it and cross, but we thought ‘Ahh Nope not trusting that
thanks’. By the time the train came, both sides were jam packed with traffic.
We were lucky as we had shade from a new bridge that was being built. The cows,
goats and dogs all use the shade from this new bridge too. What a scramble it
was once the boom gates went up, everyone trying to get going as fast as they
can. We were able to pick a nice line on the side of the road and seemed to be
in front of all the traffic.
As we approached the Border it got crazy with people and traffic
everywhere. The street was lined with stalls selling just about anything you
could imagine. It was now getting very hot and this place is dirty and very
dusty. Just as we approached the train line, the boom gates went down again and
yep we had to wait ages for the train to pass. This time, there was no shade
and there were lots of people making a quick escape under the boom gate while
we sat in the scorching sun, sweat dripping off us waiting forever for that
train to pass.
It seemed like forever, but eventually it was clear to go.
Now it was time to start looking out for the Immigration Office. There were no
signs in view at all, so we had to ask a few people along the way. Eventually
we were guided down the right dirt road and into the Immigration Office which
sat in a back paddock. We had to explain a couple of times that we were coming
from India and going to Nepal, but the officer kept trying to get us to fill in
an entry form. Finally, he understood and it was sweet sailing getting our
stamp to leave.
Now for the next exciting adventure, crossing the Mechi
River (no mans land) and entering Nepal. The river is a wide flood plain with a
small river running in two sections through it. The bridge is a very long
bridge and you can just imagine what it would look like when in full flow.
There were lots of hello’s and welcomes as we crossed the bridge, it was quite
an exciting experience.
Next stop Nepal, awesome, but where is the Immigration
Office on this side?? We asked different people as we rode along including the
Police and they all pointed forward, waving their whacking sticks. Forward we
went, so far forward we were in a town. Woops, time to back pedal as we were
sure we had gone too far. This time the people we asked pointed us in the right
direction and we found it. It was a large building, how could we have missed
it? Ummm, maybe because there were no signs LOL. In we go, sweating like crazy
cyclists do in the heat and tried to fill out our forms with sweat dripping
down our arms. Thankfully the Immigration Officer didn’t mind wet soggy forms!!
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| Welcome to Nepal |
With that job completed, next was money exchange and new sim
cards. We got these all sorted in quick time, so it was now time for a feed. We
found a nice little shop and ordered a couple of cold drinks that then turned
into another couple of cold drinks with a serve of veg fried rice. With tummy’s
full and nicely hydrated, we were back on our bikes for another 20km’s to our
accommodation.
Here we hit the jackpot, a lovely hotel and great manager
who organised our bikes to be stored in the guard’s house while he took us
inside, offered us cold water and organised a lovely room for us. After nice
cool showers, we went and sat down in the garden and had an early dinner. There
was a function on at the hotel with lots of music, singing and laughter, it definitely
sounded like lots of fun. This however did not prevent us getting a great night
sleep.
20/9/18
Birtamode to Itahari
Across the Terai. We had been agonising over our route for a
while now, we really want to see the mountains. But a combination of a few
things, namely very heavy rain, and us finding that our climbing legs were’nt
really up to the climbs on offer on the midland route. So we decided to go back
to our original plan. How often does that happen?
So the route now, was to blast across the Terai, Highway 1.
We will visit Chitwan National Park, then head up to Pokhara and do a week or
so of hiking to get our dose of mountains. Then it will be a blast from Pokhara
to Kathmandu for celebrations and a few days exploring there. There you go, new
plan. How easy was that?
Meanwhile, back to today. The forecast was a bit cooler
fortunately and we managed to roll out of Birtamode just before 8. Around 9,
the light easterly that was forecast stepped up to help us along on our direct
route West.
This was great, dead flat, tail wind, cloud cover. What
could go wrong. Oh Yeah, that’s right, rain. It was ok, really. It happened so
quickly that we were already sodden before we could think about rain gear, so
we just rode on, it certainly wasn’t cold.
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| Another Bunch Ride |
We stopped for a quick roadside drink and a lovely old man
stopped and talked to us. He just started rambling on in Nepali, oblivious to
the fact that we didn’t understand a word he was saying. We didn’t have the
heart to interrupt him. He had a great face, and a newly hand carved walking
stick. I didn’t even want to interrupt him by taking a photo. Unfortunately, a
passing lady cottoned on to what was happening and very nicely let him know.
When the penny dropped, he just laughed, said Namaste and bade us farewell. We decided
to imagine that he was relating to us about the time when he was a young boy
and he rode his single speed bike across Nepal fed only by the lactating nanny
goat that he kept in his frame bag.
The Terai so far, is farm land, the food basket of Nepal.
Lots of rice paddy, cattle, goat and pig grazing. The towns and villages are
very busy, but the road in between was not. What a pleasant surprise, we had
been worried. Everything is much more relaxed in Nepal so far. The few busses
and trucks give us plenty of room.
There is also plenty of fun along the way with all the
cyclists out riding. It is so flat, that it really lends itself to cycling, and
it’s great to see that it is still used as a major form of transport here. The
school kids race us, the rickshaw drivers have great conversations with us
while their passengers sit in the back giggling. Everyone who turns a pedal out
here is your brother, we are all equals, and it really feels that way.
We arrived into Itahari and found a nice momo place for
lunch and had a great chat with the owner who had some wonderful photography on
display. Very good wildlife and landscape.
It took us a while to find somewhere to stay, which was a
bit dodgy, but the bikes were safe, the food was good and the mattress was
doing a very good impression of a piece of plywood. Lucky we were carrying our sleeping
mats.
21-09-18
Itahari to Lahan
With the Easterly wind forecast to continue, we decided to
make the most of it and planned a big 107k day.
We rolled out of dusty Itahari at 7:30 and it was already
feeling quite hot, but our tail breeze was already there waiting for us, and we
put the spinnaker up and went for it. The country changed dramatically today,
especially across the Koshi River delta, which was dry, dusty and very poor
country. The people were different here too. We were just clipping the Indian
border here, and it had a bit more of an Indian feeling about it.
Riding down a nice tree lined section of road, we could see
a pall of very black smoke rising about a kilometre ahead. It looked like a
really bad accident, and as we got closer we could see a lot of people milling
around in this small village. Police were everywhere with rifles, shotguns and
their long whacking sticks.
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| Across the Koshi Barrage |
It turned out that there was a transport strike on and the
drivers had blocked the road with burning tyres. The police waved us around the
mob, through the acrid smoke. We just held our breath and pedalled. All the
protesters called out merrily to us as usual, cries of ‘Cycle’ and ‘Namaste’.
We relaxed a bit, this mob wasn’t about to string up a couple of crazy Aussies
on bikes. We rode through two more of these road blocks today, it all seemed
pretty friendly. However, reading the Kathmandu post the next day, we found
that tear gas had been used to disperse the protesters later that day. The Bus
and Truck drivers were protesting government changes to the law, making the
drivers responsible for crashes. Sorry guys, I’m on the government’s side with
this one. Too many crazy drivers who went to the Xbox Fast and Furious school
of driving out there.
We crossed the massive Koshi Barrage which was quite a sight
with lots of gates open allowing the big water to flow on down to the Ganges.
After this we had to turn North for about ten ks which had
us pushing into the wind for a while, much to our displeasure. We knew we had
to go through a village called Kanchanrup which had been declared for an
outbreak of swine flu, several had died in recent days. We were worried, but
luckily at that point we would turn west again and the wind would be with us.
We rode through quickly, having decided not to stop obviously. We were wary of
the kids who wanted to ride with us though, they were all out as the schools
were closed to try and stop the spread. Interestingly, we noticed that there
were a lot of pigs out grazing here. Much more than we had seen anywhere else. |
| Highway One Traffic |
The afternoon was uneventful, we just finished off the
distance shortly after 2pm and hit the shower in a hopefully better room than
last night. Time for some dinner, the food in the Terai is just as good as
India, loving it.
22, 23-09-18
Lahan to Mithili to Nigadjh
Just crankin out the k’s at the moment. The Terai is
actually really interesting, but a bit lacking in photo opportunity. We are
loving seeing how the world operates here. We are shocked, we are awed,
disappointed and intrigued, all at the same time.
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| Bemused Onlooker |
The shocking:
·
Ponies hobbled so tightly that they have to hop
across the road to find a blade of grass in the market, dodging the trucks and
buses as they go.
·
The abject poverty of some of the villages that
we pass through.
The Awe Inspiring:
·
The never ending welcoming spirit of the Nepali
people. There is a lot of love here.
·
The kids who see us ride through their villages
and promptly jump on their bikes and ride with us down the road, sometimes
quietly, sometimes wanting a chat, it’s all cool and we love it. Kids on bikes
are awesome.
The Dissapointing:
·
The recklessness of the local bus drivers. They
have the most precious of cargos, and the greatest lack of respect for their
safety you can imagine.
·
We see a lot of people really caring for their
fine looking farm animals. Cows, Goats and Pigs. Occasionally however, we are
seeing some really tragic cases of animal suffering and abuse.
The Intriguing:
 |
| Nigadjh Sunset, Noice |
·
The guys who ride around on their bikes with a
frame bag made out of a feed bag, and have a goat riding in side. WTF (still
trying to get a photo)
·
The guy outside our hotel in Mithili who cooks
Masala Omelettes from 7am to 10pm every day, he must sell thousands.
We arrived in Nigadjh and found the most amazing little café
bakery right across the road from our dodgy little hotel. Is that Crema I can
see on that Espresso?
24-09-18
Nigadjh to Hetauda
The sun rose through a thick dusty haze over the Terai. You
could just tell it was going to be hot.
We had a quick but strange brekky at the café across the
road, then rolled on west. The going was easy for the first twenty five k’s,
the traffic did seem to be getting heavier though, especially the trucks.
Arriving at the intersection for the turn Northwards, we
stopped at a little shop for a cold drink. There were a stack of kids hanging
around there, and we enjoyed their antics as they checked out our bikes.
Everyone needs to squeeze the big fat tyres and pump the hydraulic disc brake
levers. High technology for a bike here.
Once we turned North towards Hetauda, the climbing and the
swearing started. The grade was actually pretty easy, but the traffic combined
with the road conditions made it horrendous. We were really struggling again
and it was a real mental game. The combination of belching truck fumes, the
road made of large round rocks, the heat, and the crazy drivers made for slow
going. Luckily, we only had twenty five k’s to go.
Nearing the top of the pass, the road turned to new concrete
and widened out, solving all the problems.
We cleared the pass and began the descent into Hetauda. Finally, we had a bit of breeze across our
sweat soaked bodies. There were still a few hair raising moments, usually
caused by a lapse in concentration. Mary’s mountain bike skills, and
Priscilla’s knack of keeping the rubber side down saved the day more than once.
We caught a glimpse of a snow capped peak in the distance during the descent,
we’re not sure which one it was, but promises of things to come we hope.
Hetauda is a fairly large town, nestled in quite a dramatic
valley and was a little cooler than down on the Terai, despite only being at
about four hundred metres.
We went out for our usual evening walk, past the butcher
shop at the entrance to our hotel. We just did a lap of about two ks, which was
nice. The people were so friendly and the town is very tidy and clean. Nearly
back to the main road we heard a voice call out to us from behind. It was an
old lady who we had greeted about a kilometre back and who had decided to chase
after us, more specifically, Mary. This lovely lady had her knitting clutched
in one hand and had a hand knitted purse in the other that she was trying to
give to Mary. She was talking away in Nepali, she knew we didn’t understand,
but she was just so grateful that we had acknowledged her we think. She needed
to offer Mary this wonderful little gift. It is a bit awkward, we feel that we
should be the ones to offer something in return, but we knew that this was not
her intention. Namaste beautiful friend.
On the way back past the butcher shop there was one less
goat tied up out the front.
25-09-18
Hetauda to Chitwan National Park.
We are finding that most of the hotels here are offering
breakfast quite early which is helping us a lot. Heading West again and back
down to the Terai, we were on our way to Chitwan. The traffic and road surface
was still pretty bad getting out of Hetauda, but improved into a gently rolling
ride alongside a nice looking river with a bit of cool forest at times. We were
enjoying this.
We also had the prospect of getting off the main road a
little later which we were looking forward to. First, we had to do some ks
though, which meant a quick stop for a cool drink. Mary spotted a place and
called a stop. We had a drink handed to us, sat down, turned and saw that we were
sitting right next to the chicken chop chop hut. Oh No. Drink fast and move on
again. |
| The Bus of Love |
Finally, we turned off the main road onto a very narrow
little lane with a rocky surface that had us questioning the navigation. It all
looked good though and we pressed on. The route took us through some very basic
villages perched precariously on raised ridges between the rice paddies. These
huts were often split bamboo with cow dung or mud render plastered over it. The
people we passed were happy to see us and very welcoming. The traffic now consisted
of an occasional bike and a few Buffalo, much more our style.
We meandered through these villages for quite a while,
chilling out and becoming a little less destination driven.
As we entered the Chitwan village area we saw our first
tourist Elephant. More on that subject later.
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| Village Life |
We had booked a really nice hotel here to give our bodies a
break after nine days straight, and we weren’t disappointed when we arrived.
Two Days Off In Chitwan.
We found the tourist elephant ride thing a bit disconcerting
when we went to watch the goings on a bit later in the evening. The economy is
very dependant on it at the moment, we understand this, but despite the
espousing of cruelty free methods and the banning of hook usage by the Mahouts,
what we saw certainly contradicted this.
We wanted to see the park however, and needed to do our
research as to the best way. A canoe ride down the river seemed a good idea,
but the official way was to end with a visit to the Elephant breeding centre.
This is not a breed and release programme, they are purely breeding for supply
to the tourist ride industry. We did not want to visit a depressing elephant
prison where it’s inmates are chained up most of the time. So we booked our river
ride, but to end early without going to the breeding centre.
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| Dugout Canoes |
The next morning our guide confirmed with us that we wanted
just the canoe trip and mentioned that most western tourists prefer this
option. We believe that we should still come here and spend our money as
ethically as possible, this is the only way to get the message across in a nice
way that there are other ways to promote tourism in a National Park. After all,
we don’t offer kangaroo rides as part of National Park visits in Australia. But
then again, there is Koala Hugging for moron tourists.
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| Endangered Ghariel |
We hopped into our amazing dug out canoe and set off down
the quite quickly flowing river. Almost immediately we saw crocodiles including
the critically endangered Ghariel as well as the more common and disturbingly
named Marsh Mugger.
There was quite a bit of bird life, mostly aquatic species,
herons, waders, and some awesome white throated kingfishers.
This was a nice, chilled out way to see the park and the
river wound through open grass flats and heavy forested areas as well. Quite a
few people take this trip and it’s concerning to see the boatmen taking their
canoes back upstream and having to get into the water with the crocodiles to
push up through the fast flowing sections.
We had a nervous laugh when our guide nearly jumped out of his
skin when a large fish splashed directly in front of the canoe. We’re not quite
sure what that was about.
The boat pulled up a little short of the end, and we disembarked
on a Rhinocerous scrape. This is where they access the river. We walked on
across the river flat from here hoping to see a Rhino, but no such luck. We did
see Fishing Cat prints in the mud and lots of sign of Rhino activity, so they
are around. Luckily our guide had a stick, to save us from any rampaging
beasts.
Chilling out, walking and soaking up village atmosphere was
the plan for the rest of the day. Of course, we ate well and stayed cool in the
heat of the afternoon.
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| White Throated Kingfisher |
We weren’t done though. We needed to see more of the park.
So we booked a jeep tour for sunrise the next morning. We had the same guide,
Robbie. Somehow I don’t think that this is his real name, haha. We thoroughly
enjoyed this ride in a classic open backed four wheel drive with the park and
it’s inhabitants on display all around us. We had a great time and saw four
different types of deer, a wild boar, peacocks, monkeys, and finally a wild
Rhino, lazing in the water on the opposite side of the river. So, I suppose we
only saw half of him.
Robbie pointed out some figures moving through tall grass on
the opposite side of the river. This is really tall grass and we could just see
these three guys floating above it. They were mounted on elephants that we couldn’t
see at all. This was an Army Patrol. They use elephants very successfully for
poacher control, with shoot on sight orders. There are over fifty government
check posts throughout the park with Elephant based patrols. It was awesome to
see them, if only from a distance.
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| Chitwan Sunrise |
It’s now time to re-fuel our climbing legs as tomorrow we
start a three day ride to Pokhara where we plan to do a short mountain trek. At
this stage we plan to do the Madi Himal Base Camp Trek which will take about a
week, and hopefully some amazing mountain views in the Annapurna region.
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| Elephant Patrol |
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