After being in India and Nepal for the last month its great to be home.Heaps of small cc bikes over there, 150cc 180cc Indian and Chinese makes with up to 4 people riding them. Saw a few Royal Enfields mainly 350cc models and only 1 500cc machine up in the mountians of Sikkim north India. 50kph was the speed limit for cars and bikes and 40kph for trucks and buses.The mountain roads were so narrow and twisty that a 100km trip took 5 hours. Great bike roads but not fast due to the road conditions, no road work signs anywhere only a red flag when there were people present.
I saw sights that one should not see in this day and age in villages and cities. How small projects in villages like providing clean wells and latrines can make a huge difference in the everyday lives of the people. Community health care even very basic care and education is still much needed.
India is one place that once is never enough, to return again is something I hope to do. My personal preference is in the mountains, awesome people and awesome views when the clouds lift. Darjeeling was 4.8degC during the day while in Nepal it was 28degc during the day in the lowlands. We could not make it to Kathmandu due to the rolling strikes around the different districts. We got caught in a strike and had to wait 3 days for it to be over. The Maoists force everything to close during the strikes and burn vechicles that try to drive during the strike. The week before we entered Nepal 24 trucks and buses were burnt when they tried to run the road block. I met one guy who has been waiting for 2 weeks to get to Kathmandu but cannot due to these strikes. We got as far as Dhuran in Nepal but as another strike was about to start the only road open was back to the border. We got out OK but my thoughts are with those who face this every day. There was no LPG anywhere so the hotels had to cook over sawdust fires to prepare our food. One place ran out of water as trucks did not want to be on the roads even after a strike. We paid one truck 20,000rupees to deliver water for us and that was only 2000ltrs. The strike that is on now has been rumoured to be a 6 month long strike designed to cripple the country and bring down the government.People are killed every day on both sides but at least the civil war of the last 10 years has stopped for a time.
I could not purchase a Nepal Flag anywhere nor were any seen as the people did not want trouble with the Maoists. I had to buy one back here in NZ off TradeMe.
For the travel pix visit
http://s45.photobucket.com/albums/f7...007/?start=all
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... awesome... !!
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