In Pokhara

12/3/13

   Headed out early to beat the traffic. Was an easy day until I got near Patna. I'm guessing that they don't speak Hindi much here in Bihar and they seem to have trouble with things like Lodge and guest house. I must have ask at least 20 Rickshaw drivers (both auto and cycle) for lodge and found one who under stood. Unfortunately the lodge he sent me to started at INR 2,000 ($40US). So I started heading out of town and finally found one myself.

13/3/13

   Headed out a bit late as I woke too late to miss rush hour. Terrible traffic and roads until I found the bypass. Once I got to Marachii headed over the river and followed the NH31. In a really bad way although they are building the new Dual carriage way. Tried to find a guest house from Mahesh Khunt (that is pronounced Koot, so no silent h lol. A Police man at the intersection said there was a Lodge/Guest house over there. So I went there and got told no so tried down the side road and got told back at the corner. The police man spotted me again so came over and took me to the place. He then got told no lodge there any more, or they where not willing to have a westerner for the night. Heaps of people come over but still having trouble with language here. I'm not sure where I ended up staying the night somewhere around Kharik.

14/3/13

   Nice early start and new road most of the way to Siliguri. Took a long time to get the last 77km though as the bike still needs some work on the valves I think? So she is lacking in power and getting hot quick. On a diversion because of closures I even stalled at the top of a very steep piece and had to push her up the last 20ft. Lucky a young guy saw what was happening and come and helped or I would have had difficulty. Finally made it into Darjeeling before dark.

15/3/13

   Nice late start because it is bloody cold here lol. Found a bike place and he could do a minor fix but was going to be unable to machine the valves if they needed it so asked where... so back down the hill to Shiliguri tomorrow. After a lot of riding around I finally found a guy to weld the rack system. The Varanasi job was not up to scratch and broke on the way here. The man even did it for free.

16/3/13

   Headed out late ish as only 77km down the hill to Shiliguri. On the way out of town I spotted a couple of guys on Enfields so on the off chance I asked if they knew a good Mechanic in Darjeeling who could get the job done. They said no best to go down the hill to a guy they used some times down there. So I headed out and saw them pass while I was getting petrol. I court up to them again not too much later and we ended up heading the rest of the way down together and they showed me to the place I wanted.

  Once at the shop they help translate for me and so the head was off and found one push rod was stuffed and one valve was also stuffed (just the way I thought it must be). Turns out the sleeve the spark plug screws into had slipped in a little and the valve was just touching it in it's movement so had worn out one edge.
  The guys stayed (partly because one of their bikes needed a small amount of work) until all was organised for the bike to be finished tomorrow. They are also going for a group ride for a few days into Sikkam on the 29^th so I am planning on making it back from Assam in time to join them for a few days ride up north.

On the way down from Darjeerling with the bullet guys.

Stuffed valve

Clean and ready to go.

17/3/13

   Just to help things along today turned out to be....Sunday lol banks close and I have no money. Luckily the hotel has a restaurant so food goes on the bill and had enough for the parts for the bike, but not the labour.... It did take all day though even had to get a guy in to re thread 2 bolt holes in the casing.

18/3/13

   Up late ish as well the bank does not open until 09:00. So I got some money out paid my bills at the bike shop and hotel then hit the road. Was a nice bit of road up past sevoke and on to Birpara where I missed my turn off and ended up on a really shit road that joined onto the road to Bhutan (mmm wish I could go that way...). From here I do not actually know where I went exactly... they are building a dual carriage way and so I knew I was on the road to Guwahati but it did not seem to follow the lines my map did.

  It started getting close to dark and I still had not even seen much of a town when I spotted a big Shiva (I thought) statue and so I asked at the corner and there was suppose to be a hotel just up a bit. Turns out it was a resort which was a bit much but still got a room for INR500. Once I checked in I walked down for a feed and found it was not a Shiva statue but a Kali holding three quarters of a persons which a pig was eating in one hand and a couple of cut women next to him and (maybe an Indian follow could clarify this) standing on what looked like reclining Buddha??

19/3/13

   Headed out to Bongaigaon and then down to North Salmara with the intention of going over the bridge to Goalpara. Unfortunately I got stopped by a police men next to the bridge. He was not being very clear so I just rode on and got maybe 20m before 3 military stepped out and someone who spoke English said Strike no going over the bridge. Lol yes not every time the police stop you are they after bribes. In fact I have been stopped a reasonable number of time on this trip and only had to pay once actually and only asked for money twice. They said I should stay in the village there for 2 nights then it would be open....

  Yeah right. So I headed back up to the main road and decide I would try for Hajo. I got there just before dark and took a while to find the only lodge in town, apparently. Unfortunately it was INR800 for a huge room with a fan on the oppersite side to the little bed and I was thinking 200 maybe. No 800, government run shit that will not change their prices. I thought on the way into town it is probably because each room is probably taken by one bus load of pilgrams who have come for the temples making it much cheaper per person lol.
   Anyway I hate driving at night but had no real choice so headed on the 25km to Guwahati. Once over the river I stopped to ask about lodge and spotted a sign. Turned out to be an ok price with very helpful staff. I'm guessing here but I don't think they have ever had a westerner in the hotel as one of the staff came down to make sure the fruit guy didn't rip me off lol. Once back in the hotel I got invited to the owners room for a chat and photos.

 

20/3/13

   Left early to beat the morning traffic which I acheived nicely. Nice ride up through the mountains to Shillong where I was starting to get a bit cold so the thermal lineing for my jacket came out. Then it started spitting so the covers went on the bags, riding in the rain has not happened since UK. Lovely ride along the cliff edge for the last few kilometers into Cherrapunji. I got there early enough and was a bit worried by the prices I was hearing so keep riding down into the valley to see how close to the living bridges you can get now, 3km according to the sign. Could not actually find the probably really expensive resorts that are advertised all the way down, obviously was not meant to stay at one. So headed back up the hill and found a place which had single rooms but they where a bit high. After a bit of “come on I don't want to stay in a share room” I got the price down to what I often have to pay when on the road. Nice friendly place as well, ended up chatting to the owner for a few hours lol.

   When I walked up the road to use the internet I realised just how bad this cough/chest thing really was. I had been coughing up green for a while, probably since Darjeerling, and it meant the 150m walk up a sligh hill was actually a bit hard.....wonder if I can make it down to the bridges and back???? So I asked for extra extra garlic in everything (which I had done in Siliguri as well) in the hope it would boost healling and maybe after a rest day I would be able to make it down... if I took twice the time lol

Wet weather covers on and Cherapunji valley in the back ground

21/3/13

   Woke up still feeling a bit shit and noticed that my hernia was about 5 times the size it use to be and was now hard...mmm. I have had it get bigger a couple of time but with a bit of extra pressure and pain have always been able to push it back in and get it back to normal size. This time how ever I couldn't get it back in which got me a bit worried. Interestingly it got the hotel people more worried than it got me lol. So after a call to a doctor sister in law I was given the number of a doctor in Shillong and told if I headed to Woodland hospital he would have a look and see what could be done.

 

22/3/13

   Had trouble sleeping as my stomach was hurting all night and keeped waking up to have a cough. This lead to me leaving at around 05:40 for Shillong and the hospital I had been told about. Was a lovely ride with very little traffic. Got to Woodland hospital around 07:30 and waited for about an hour and a half before texting the doctor I had been told about. After a while he called and asked if I had already seen the emergancy doctor, which I had not. So I went in to see the on duty doctor while waiting for the main guy to get to work at around 10:00 (lol they have good hours in the private hospital here in India if any doctor friends are wondering). Once the main guy got to work he had a bit of a look and we discussed what was going on and he said they would do the scans and test and he would local the area in the afternoon and try to push it back through the hole again and if that didn't work they would operate tomorrow. Then I got sent to the waiting room, then X ray, then waiting, then Sonar gram, then waiting …. this carried on until about 16:00 when I was told they had a room ready for me.

  I took that to mean the doctor had checked the scans and decided no point trying to push it though again and they would operate tomorrow. Once I had everything in the room they did the thing in the hand and took a few blood sample for testing. After that the nurses started preping some shots to which I asked what are they for. The nurses where “it's written here” to which I said that was written before any test and without asking me about my history. This ended with the head nurse coming in and me saying “NO not until I see the doctor”. A while later the doctor came by and was very vag but I ended up not getting the shots. The two other guys in my room liked watching 7 years in Tibet even if we couldn't have the volume up enough to hear it properly. Saying that their english was not that good anyway lol.

 

23/3/13

  The head nurse was trying to get me to eat which I though was strange if I was suppose to be operated on that day. So every time she came in I mention that this wasn't a good idea if they are cutting me soon. Although I did have some hot milk and bread that she bought in for me. I made a call to Bro to let him know what was going on and also Sandy.

  Finally 3 doctors showed up so I asked what time was the op so I could tell people. They said but you have no one here how can we operate. I laughted and said there is only me. My Mum, dad, and Sis are trekking in Chile. My Bro is in NZ looking after his kids who is suppose to be here with me? And for that matter what for? This lead to a them asking about my plans after the op to which I said 2 days here as agreed yesterday then i'll check into a hotel in town for 2-5 days until i'm happy the sticking has healed enough then I will slowly ride to the border and head into Nepal. Obviously I will not be doing Sikkim on the way or Everest. They talked and said no I would have to stay there until 10^th april. To which I laught and said no I have to leave the country on 6^th latest. They said so where are you flying to. Again I laught and pointed at the bike boots/ Jacket/ Bags etc sitting on the floor and said that I would be riding to Nepal and would head to Pokhara where I would rest until happy with healing. This lead to a no we will not operate on you.
  So I packed my bags wrote on the survey that the nurses where great but the doctors where slack in admitting me to hospital with no intention of fixing me. After getting all my scans and stuff, paying around INR6,500 ( $130US) I went looking for a hotel.
  Well looking I decided it wasn't that far to Dispur and I had seen a hotel at the edge of town on the road out for the next day. I also thought this would be a good test of how the Hernia was after all the poking around they had done. The ride was easy and no issues with pain. The hotel I was thinking of checking turned out to be a rip so I carried on to the place I stayed on the way out. Was still worried about poo so had a fruit dinner to keep it a bit liquidy hehe.

 

24/3/13

   Headed out early for a gentle day. Interestingly I had got to Goalpara by 09:00 and headed over the bridge to North Salamara thinking “It took Half a bloody day to go the top side on the way out...”. It also meant I was probably going to make it past Balajan. Which I did. In fact the doctors at Shillong may have been right to say no. My taking it easy day was well over 300km and almost 12 hours on the road. The last 100 km was on bad roads. I was hoping to stay in Cooch Bear but every hotel I stopped at was full except the last one which was trying to charge INR450 for possible the smallest room I've been shown in India. So I carried on and ended up in Falakata on dark.

  Once checked into the room I had a good dump for the first time since I notice the hernia problem. But still had a fruit dinner this time with curd....mmmm farting too lol.

25/3/13

   Headed out resonably early as I was unsure what the go was with the ferry crossing. I notice a lot of buses and trucks on the road which got me wondering if the bit marked as a ferry crossing on the map was actually a bridge..... which it turns out there is. But I have to say the drivers on this bit of road would be up there with Varanasi drivers as the worst i've come across in India.

  Made it to town early enough and started asking for the Enfield shop as I knew the hotel and Mechanic where not far away. This was not the best thing to ask (in India keep it simple with 1 option and you have a chance). I ended up driving all over the place getting sent to Enfield mechanics instead of the shop. Finally I got sick of it and stopped for a drink, then realised I was asking to much of a question “Where is Royal Enfield showroom?” so I changed the question to “Sevoke?”
and immediately got sent the wrong way lol. But I stopped within 100m as the sun was in the wrong place and asked again. Heading the oppersite direction I found the turn I wanted within 3km.
  Checked into the place I stayed last time and headed down to the Mechanic who did the valves, for a full service and a couple of other little things. A bolt that had fallen off in the ruff border, and a rear tail light that had done the same. I thought at first that West Bengal was a bit bloody slack on their road repairs. Until I remember that Assam has only very recently stopped being a permit entry place (the trucks still get heavierly checked even now) and so maybe the government may have decided if they let the roads turn to shit for 50-100km of West Bengal till Assam then less people would be willing to use them.
  Anyway service went well, except the usuall extras. Needed new front brake pads (I knew they where low ish) and new front bearings. Also a bolt on the rear brake system was stripped. So INR2,500 ($50US) and 7-8hours later all is ready.

 

26/3/13

Woke early went to the loo then fell asleep on my stomach... wow I do not normally sleep on my stomach. Anyway headed out a bit later than expected for Darjeeling to have lunch with the bikers there. I decided to go a more back way as I had been up and down the front way. Unfortunately the back way has loads of ruff on the flat. Once heading up the hill Faith was not doing the best so gave her a couple of breaks on the way up. It didn't make any difference though about 20km from Ghoom there was a very bad noise and not so much movement. I called the Darjeerling guys and we realised going down was easiest. So rolled down the hill till the main road at the bottom and got a chi at the bridge.

  After waiting a while the right sort of truck/Ute come by and I waved my hand the way the loccals do making him stop. He didn't speak english so I indicated for him to wait and called the guys again who told him what I was after. After a couple of hours we made it back to the bike shop and got the bike off, I paid INR500 for the ride. The mechanic took Faith for a spin and said the gear box was gone but he was too busy until tomorrow to fix it. I was a bit confused though as I could not get much movement....going up hill. So I rode her the 100m to the hotel and found it is only 1^st gear... bugger I could have riden her back from the flat not needing the truck at all.

mmm That is the gear box....

 

27/3/13

   Took the bike to the shop and once the gear box was in bit it turned out to be just a sleeve the gear rod(?) sat it lowering it enough that first didn't work. Luckly there was no damage to the gears. So was all go by the end of the day.

 

28/3/13

   Up early to head for Darjeerling, again, so I could get my ATM card and have lunch with the guys. But faith was still not right and I turned back before I got to the real hills as I knew she would not make it. Of course I was getting a bit pissed off by now so decided to head back to the ICICI in Siliguri and get more money out. Was even lucky enough to have an Indian who had just come in from Singapore there who wanted to change some US dollars so I bought them off him for the border crossing.

  I knew the bike shop was closed so I do not actually know why I went passed it but the guy was sitting with the shop close waiting for someone so I stopped and said no power. He had a play with the valve rods and got her going a bit better and I decide I was going to Nepal anyway.
  No issues with Indian side although faith gave me trouble starting. The Nepal side I went to Immergration and got the visa then very slowly rode passed the guards hopeing they would not stop me and tell me to go to customs. Yes I was suppose to pay some tax thing for the bike but I knew from last time that as I am spending two months in Nepal it is pointless. You can only get one months worth of tax and so I would have to sneek the bike out the other side when I go back to India anyway. But they did not stop me so I paid nothing. If a Nepalese offical reads this (very unlikely) fix your system so that people can get the amount of tax for there visa then I would have paid it, and you would actually get one month more than I am in the country for....
  I made it about 200km into Nepal and found it funny to recognise bits of the road I am riding on, done some of it twice already. Not sure what this town is called and do not have a map of Nepal. But I do know where I'm heading and will be in Pokhara tomorrow. Lol Bloody lucky there, well bringing Faith into the hotel the front brake cable just snapped. Lucky it was not an emergancy braking sintuation.

29/3/13

   Headed out very early as I knew I had a long way to go. I also knew the road was pretty easy until just before Hatoudi but even there not too up hill for 80km. I stopped at a chi shop a couple of hours along the road and asked for a chi. The one other customer said english was ok and we ended up talking for a bit. He is a Nepalese doctor so gave me the name of a place in Pokhara where I could get my Hernia done and a contact number if I had any trouble. The universe provideds again.

  Rest of the day was easy. While heading through the beautiful gorge road up to the Pokhara turn I realised I was not saying slow down to myself as much as when doing it on the Karizma. Well actually I was not saying that at all I was saying I wish I had a bit more power lol... Saw a couple by an Enfield and decided to stop for a chat. It turned out to be the guy from the Bullet bar in Pokhara who I had meet last year lol. He did say there where riots in a town ahead but I knew no way around so just carried on towards it.
  Once I had got past the massive que of vehicles waiting to go through town for Pokhara (some had said they had been waiting for 6 hours) I got to the first police line and he waved me through mmmm. At the next line the police said go go as if I should get through quick. There road was covered in broken rocks and fires, also some glass but not much. There had obviously been a major riot going on a little while before. Once out of the village the people heading to Kathmandu where all sitting there and had been for hours so I had to stop and laugh a bit as I had just riden straight through. Next time go by bike not bus lol.  Made it to Pokhara not too late and checked into a room Barray had organised.

30/3/13

  Saturday so they only deal with emergancys at the hospital today. Didn't do much just made the rounds of the places I had hung out last year and said hi to everyone again. This invovled a lot of Lemon ginger honey as everyone offfered a drink when I first got there lol.

 

31/3/13

  Went to go find the Hospital with the hotel owner from where I stayed last year. On the way there we stopped at a clinic mainly for Foreigners and got told the place we where heading may not be able to do the operation that I was after but he did give us 2 private hospitals that could. So we went to the one he said was the best and asked to see the doctor but he didn't start shift till 16:30 so headed back to the hotel for a while.

  In the afternoon I went to see the doctor and he said that he could do the operation in the next 2 week then he was heading to Kathmandu for a bit. So I have decided to wait until Mum is home from trekking in the Andies in Chile and I have told her what is going on. This will mean sitting around for a couple of days and getting the op in about 5 days.

1/4/13 to 7/4/13

   Spent my time looking for a better room to recover in which I found. Also got a nice feeling about doing washing etc....until of course I relised I had put the phone in the second bucket full. Lucky it still goes but does show on the screen that water has been involved. Heading down soon to see doctor so should get the op in the next day or two.

Have organised the op for tomorrow so probably will not be much to post for a while. sorry for the delay in this post but i had to chat to mum before posting here lol.

Enjoy your life