Zen and the Art of leaving Kasar Devi

Kasar Devi does not appear on the map but it gets a very brief mention in the Lonely Planet - thank goodness it has still not been completely overun by us. You cant even find Kasar Devi without help. Kasar Devi consists of a long narrow street which splits in twwo at a little fork and along this road and a half are a number of guest houses - the tourist population is mainly Israelis and at least half, if not more are riding Enfields. KD is perched on top of a little hill and on a clear day you can see across huge mountain ranges the hugest of them all, the mighty, snowtopped Himalaya (sorry, I kind of got carried away there). Anyway its pretty impressive and even on an overcast day you can see acroos the valley for miles into the mountains. It's very tranquil, electricity is the exception rather than the norm and even when its on its weak and the light flickers and there is no running water. The locals hump it up from the stream some 100 meters below us in buckets and jerry cans and for the first time in my life I used bottled water to brush my teeth. If the water were clean you could have a clean hot shower if

you could get hot water.



But every morning I'd wake up to the view and at 7:30 the litlle girls in the little school across the little valley would raise their little voices and sing for half an hour at school "assembly". The peons till their fields with oxen and monkeys scamper about and birds sing and it was almost paradise (the grass was crap).



Besides enjoying nature there are 3 centers of entertainment and meeting in KD. In the morning there is Mohans which has high-speed internet, great muffins and the sun in the morning. Then there is the Galaxy which is where you sit in the late afternoon if its warm, to watch the sunset or if its cold you crowd into the one room and eat supper. I did try their snitzchel but it was more like KFC and I dont like KFC.



The third and most important center of socializing and activity is Danis' Enfield Garage run by Dani and his brother Dani. For some reason every bike that reaches KD needs an overhaul or some other major repair job or at the very least a 2000km service. Dani and Dani know nothing about motorbikes (apparently they have property and several businesses, our Danis do) but they

do employ a very talented mechanic called Asim. However Asim works alone, no

assistants and he is completely illiterate, cannot even write his own name so if he finds a problem that he hasn't dealt with before he cannot go to the manual, which they don't have anyway, but must proceed by trial and error. At any one time there are at least 4 bikes and their owners screaming for attention and Dani is bouncing around trying to calm everyone down and promising everyone the earth and that he'll be first out and pandemonium reigns. Things calm down after a while and we all sit around drinking tea, chai or coke brought by the 12 year old "babu" who works at the kiosk just down the road and swap stories of our adventures on the highways of India and the mechanics who have fucked us or not.



We become used to spending our days at Danis and only occaisionally wander off to the market in Almora which is a totally local one, nothing for the greedy tourist (since leaving Pokhara I have had no desire to shop at all, maybe I am kicking the habit). I was lucky, the work on my bike was mainly cosmetic and though I spent hours sitting around and waiting the work only took a few minutes and a few rhupees.



Finally we were all ready. Even Noam's bike, which had stubbornly defied repair was pronounced fit to travel. We decided to leave the next day, Friday the 13th (and I can hear your ominous sighs but we're Jewish for Christ's sake, for us 13 is a lucky number). Toto did voice an objection but very quietly and I was the only one who noticed and I told him that he was not fit to make a judgement (this because he had just become number 36 or 46 on Ms X's list (Noam had been number 35 or 45)  and wanted one more night of passion as she was leaving on Saturday. On Friday everyone except Toto got up and started packing and by about 12 we were ready to roll. Although we did only take delivery of Noams bike that morning but it was supposed to be in perfect working order. Except for Toto but he too was eventually persuaded to move and by about 3 (!) we were ready to roll. Except that Noam's bike died on him again and we went back to Dani and Dani. Fortunately the road from KD to Almora is almost all downhill and Noam managed to coast down to the garage where there were three Israeli bikes being worked on and it soon became clear that Almora was as far as we were going to get that day. Indeed, we spent the night in an empty flat below the garage which was owned by the Danis and was due to be let in the near future. It did have a hot water boiler but we ran out of water after only two guys had showered. As soon as it became clear that we were not moving Toto rushed up the hill and got his (last) night of passion.



The next morning we got up, all the bikes were working and we set off. the journey to Rishikesh took two days of not too hard riding, we couldnt go more than 55kph because Toto's engine was being run in. And now we are here and this is another picturesque town with more cows than I have seen up till now in any other town, in addition there are monkeys all over and although I have not been bothered by them they often become very troublesome (is that how you spell it?). The big problem is that there is nothing here for me to eat, since this is a particularly holy area, on the banks of the Ganges and all that, everything is veg or pure veg or purest veg. Mind you we did organize a chicken BBQ last night but it was still only chicken.



Tomorrow we are probably leaving (I still have some "luf" and Nepali biltong) and heading to the Paravati valley although since my companions are all still in the garage (again) I am not too sure about that.



Till next time.

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Back in India

I woke up this morning to the sun on my back and the Himalayas right in my face - I didnt see this in Nepal.



I left Pokhara comfortably early after a 2 cups of coffee and as many joints (okay 3). the first 150 kms was a magnificent twisting turning mountain road in good repair but despite that the going is slow but despite stopping too often for photo ops i made it down to the Nepali plains in about 4.5 hours and then had a straight run through to Kolhapur where I slept in what was probably the most miserable guesthouse of my life. The next morning I got up early again had a cup of coffee and a joint and set out for India. I did the 200 kms without any problems and crossing the border despite.... was no problem.



I looked at my trusty map and there were 2 routes to Kasar Devi where I now am, a long route and a short route, I chose the short (obviously!). BIG mistake, big, big, big mistake! there is an old Scottish song that goes something like this "You'll take the high road and I'll take the low road and I'll be in Scotland before you" (or vice versa). Anyway I took the high road and very shortly regretted it, the view along the way is staggerig, you drive along the edge of the mountain with a sheer drop to the valley floor hundreds of meters down and a clear view across the valley to the other side which is dotted with little farms and famers plowing the fields far below with their oxen and wooden plow as they ignore the twenty first centuary and just get on with their daily 12th centuary lives. They draw water from the well by the river and carry it home in jerry-cans on their heads, sometimes hundreds of meters down to the river and then up again. And I breeze past on my bike and when I stop they gather around (I'd forgotten about that in Nepal, but here in the north they seem less intrusive).



And the road gets bad, really bad, apparently there is a big project on to improve it at the moment and from my experience here that means first tearing it up, without building western style bypasses and you end up with a one lane track creeping up and down the mountain cars and jeeps and buses come at you from both directions and since arriving in India I have become the most patient and least agressive of drivers I let anyone who wants to pass do so. But still I have a good vehicle and I make good time and pass most other vehicles which are generally slower and on this road very considerate. At about 3pm I decide its time to stop and I begin looking for a guesthouse and at 6 I still havent found one and I'm starting to worry but I've still got 45 minutes of daylight, the trouble is that there has unly

been one town along the way and I didnt see a guesthouse or lodging and whenever I asked someone they just wagged their heads at me and gave no sign of understanding or intention of answering. The road runs along a steep

bottomless cliff and when cars or lorries come towards me one of us has to stop to let the other pass, and I see no motorbikes. And no guesthouse.



Suddenly it is dark, really dark, pitch black dark and I have nowhere to go except on. So I drive very slowly and carefully and I can see nothing and part of me is grateful for that because I'm not sure I want to se down. I approach a little village and hooray, theres a guesthouse but when I inspect it I know that I have reached the point of no return, I'm not spending the night here. On my way again and my shoulders are sore and despite my new seat my arse aches and there is nowhere to stop. By the side of the road I see 3 horse herders with a little fire so I stop to get warm, remember, I'm high in the mountains here. Then after a smoke and a natter in Hindi and Hebrew the fire goes out and they get up and I'm off again.



During the hours of darkness i met no more than ten vehicles and 6 of them were huge Tatas in convoy. I understand now why that was so. Only a total nutter drives that road at night!



Long story short, at about 10:30 I finally reach Almora and there a friendly, helpful local gets on his motorbike and leads me to Kasar Devi which I would never have found on my own and I quickly find my friends. I am wasted. They took the low road and had an easy time of it.



When I had finally rested up I realized that I had known all along that I was taking the tough route, it is obvious on the map, it looks shorter for fuck's sake, that is always a good indicator. And I wanted to do the whole route even if, maybe especially if I could do part of it in the dark.



And the next morning I woke up and there were the Himalayas, snow topped and reaching the sky and the sun was shining warmly on my back and I had a cup of decaffe in one hand and a joint in the other and complete silence all around. I felt a great sense of achievement and was at peace with the world (again) and the ride had been worth it.

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I leave Nepal

I leave Nepal, well not exactly Nepal as I will need to drive for at least two days before I reach the border but I am leaving Pokhara which is probably the last place where I can have a steak before getting back to Israel in 4 months time. But I have bought a few tins of "luf" to eat along the way and I should survive. In addition, for those of South African descent, I found the local "biltong" and except for being a bit hotter than I'm used to it is fine, much better than beef jerky as found in the USA or the Far East, I bought 750 grams and that may last me for a couple of days on the road.



After Katmandu, remember Katmandu? I rode to Chitwan Nature Reserve which specialises in Rhinos and I have never really seen a live rhino in the wild close up. I left Katmandu with Noam, Elad, Tomer and Kobi whose bikes were more loaded than an Indian - they have evrything with them, a stereo, cooking equipment, matresses, a tool box, an electric kettle and a juice mixer and other home comforts and ameneties to numerous to mention. They are unbelievably well organized and the way they load up in less than 8 hours is truely amazing and I'm not sure how they can ride even though I saw it with my own eyes. We drove all day but didnt get very far as travelling in convoy means often waiting for some one with a problem, idea or excellent photo op. It was great fun however and after spending the night in Narayanghat (an incredibly long name for a dust covered nothing town but that is what one finds all over India and Nepal) we split up (after a great photo op) with them heading for India, despite my please for them to join me and me heading

for Chitwan alone.



On the way to Chitwan I met Amichai and Adi and spent time with them when I was not chasing animals. In chitwan I had a ball if though it is not quite up to the standard of the Kruger it is much better than Thekkkadi (sorry, Paula). I arrived at about 3pm and immediately after checking into my not outstanding but adequate guest house - if you are going to Chitwan go to the Parkside , it is exquisite, not like the Eden where I was - I took a guide and went of to the area called 20000 lakes (I saw one) and driving along on my bike I saw several spotted deer and a huge fucking rhino grazing happily 20 meters away - fortunately there was a river between us.



The next morning I drove out to the Elephant Breeding Center which was an amazing experience, you get to interact with the babies (baby bulldozers) without a fence between you and them. I fed them special elephant biscuits and got pushed lightly - for a baby elephant - when they wanted more - it was great fun and I came away with a really good feeling, From there I wandered down to the river bank and there were elephants and people frolicking in the river together. I determined to do that but didnt have time before my jeep safari on which I saw another rhino, a baby, he was quite far away and all we saw was the top of his back but it was great fun and I was not disappointed (as I was in Thekkadi but overcame). I booked an elephant safari for the next morning and while riding on their backs is not very comfortable (not at all like the pictures you see of people on elephant back during the time of the Raj, I did see another 4 rhinos very, very close up and my needs were satisfied. During the safari we stopped somewhere and the mahout (elephant driver) got off, the elephant then picked up a stick and used it to scratch her head - I was amazed because I've never heard of elephants, or any other animals besides primates, using tools.



After the safari I went down to the river and bathed with the elephant and it was fun! To get onto her back I first had to climb onto her head and she didn't flinch despite my nearly 90 kgs. First she gave me a shower as I was sitting on her back and then she got down on her knees and rolled over into the water spilling me off. I then helped the mahout wash her and had as much fun as any 7 year old. It made up for what I had missed when I didnt take the opportunity to bathe with an elephant which I'd missed on my way back from Kunyakumari in January (I may or may not have written about it).



At about 1pm I left Chitwan with Adi on the pillion and I lost something off the bike for the first time - just a little backpack (Jason's, actually, which I had taken from Paula but there was nothing important in it so no worries mate!). I have been in Pokhara now for 5 nights and eaten about 7 steaks and it is time to leave - I am NOT trekking - and tomorrow I am heading off for India again - a place called Kasar devi about 800 kms from here. Pokhara has been lovely, great weather, great food, great company and great scenery even though the clouds have not bothered to move since I got here and I can't see the snow-covered Annapurna range.



My next letter will be from India again.

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