Beachy's Nepal by Bike

  We were warned it would be tough going today and it didn't disappoint. It was only 304 kms from the hotel to our stop for the night but the roads and traffic made for an interesting day. Yesterday and today we rode through a few police checkpoints and were not stopped....... until this morning. We were stopped and asked to produce our licenses. We do have our international licenses. but they were in our bags on the support vehicle. Prabin, our guide somehow managed to get us through without providing our licenses which was a relief. The young policeman asked both of our lady riders how old they were and was surprised with their response. Once we got the all clear we were waved through and on our way again.  Ann did mention how cute he was but I didn't notice surprisingly enough. A few hours in and we were making our way up the hills again and through more roadworks. Suddenly traffic came to a standstill because 2 busses tried to navigate the same small pass at the same time ...

  Today was day 1 of our trek and our introduction to  the bikes and the Nepal traffic. We said our goodbyes to Sanjay and his staff at the Heritage hotel  and made our way to Hears and Tears to get our bikes and farewell Matt. Before long we were on our way and navigating the Nepali traffic. Tip no 6 Indicators are not for indicating your intention to turn, They are to inform the person behind you it is safe to overtake. Tip no 7 Beefing the horn is not a form of abuse here, It is letting the vehicle know in front of you that they are coming past. Tip no 8   Flashing headlights means "I am bigger than you and I am not stopping so get out of the road. Once we had all of that sorted navigating the traffic was relatively easy. Before long we were winding our way up the hills  and through some awesome twisties. We stopped about an hour in for a toilet stop and leg stretch and drink if anyone wanted one and then head off again. the road here is difficult to go...

  Our ride group from Left to Right, Michael, Adrian, Peter, Zelda, Prabin (Tour Guide) and Ann. Finally we all got to sit down and enjoy everyone's company after a massage to ease our tired muscles. We decided to have dinner at the hotel instead of going out. For a good two hours we reminisced about our experience in Kyrgyzstan and joked about. I don't know if Michael was prepared for this but he fits in well to the group. We even started talking about our next adventure and started throwing ideas around. I named us all the A Team, primarily because we are all from countries starting with A. We have 2 Australians, 2 Americans and one African (South African to be exact), but also a part time Americian 😎. To mark the occasion we had some custom patches made by a local vendor. We had no special plans for today so we started off with a wander down the main street to the trekking office, planning to be there by 11.00AM. It was amazing to find out the price variations for the same ...

 It didn't take us long to fall asleep after dinner last night. The bed is very comfortable  and our bodies appreciated the luxury. I was a bit concerned about the music coming from a nearby club keeping us awake but that wasn't to be the case. Around 230 AM someone decided to rev up their motorcycle and that woke us both. We then found it hard to get back to sleep with the noise coming from the club.We realised we had left the windows open so closed them and went back to sleep. The Heritage hotel and Suites is a beautiful old world  Nepalese Hotel. Ornate carvings are everywhere you look, and our room is a deluxe suite which has a balcony overlooking the pool and patio area. Ironically the hotel is only around 5 years old according to one of the people who work here, but the look and feel is definitely old world which adds to its character. We had our breakfast with Peter around 9AM  and it was a meal on par with everything else we have had so far. After Breakfast ...

We lay awake for hours, our bodies still totally spent from yesterdays travel. We had an alarm  set for 530 AM but that wasn't really needed. The staff here at the Hotel Moonlight in Kathmandu are really friendly and helpful. We explained we were heading out early the night before to the tourist bus and they had a breakfast box prepared for us and organised the transfer to the bus stop. The even went out of their way to exchange some larger denomination notes for small ones, with the limited cash on hand they have these days. A quick splash of coffee to awaken the senses and we were packed into the bus and on our way to the tourist bus park. I had organised our bus ride online with New Road Travels and Tours, communicating through WhatsApp. We got our seats reserved and all we had to do was pay on the day.Very trusting but the constant communication reassured them we will be travelling. We didn't get the luxury coach we were hoping for but the one we are on seems well appointe...

Getting up at 5AM is always hard for us since we changed direction and took on a life of leisure. Well maybe not so much leisure but semi retirement. Knowing we had to be up early neither of us really slept much through the night. Wide awake at 4 AM we decided we may as well get up and start our long day. Everything was already packed and repacked so all that was left was to shower and head off. Once the car was packed we said our goodbyes to the dogs and horses and headed to the airport. We are leaving the car in long term parking because it was heaps cheaper than an uber or taxi from our place. About 4 km from the airport, the low fuel light came on so a quick 20 splash in the tank would make sure we got there. No point in leaving a car full of fuel sitting for 2 weeks.At the car park, the entry was  quite easy with a QR code scanned for the pre-paid parking fee. Tip no 1 . Ann found that paying online saved us 30% on the regular fees.  A brief walk later and we were at the ...