9/21
Woke up at 8, hung over, no breakfast, standing in line to cross the border. Wehad to cross by foot and the truck was checked in later. The waiting took 2 hours, the crossing another hour and then waiting for the truck for 3 more hours. Meanwhile we ate some at a little, cheap nepalese restaurant. I did remember the taste of the food from 12 yaers ago, when in was in Nepal too.
Now on the narrow mountain road to the first Nepalese bush camp. Laterz.
The bush camp is actually a camping lot. So, luxury. We stay here for 2 nights. The others go Bungy jumping and so on. Not me though. Brr. The drive up here was stunning again.
And now, we're in the tropical heath again. No more cold nights for a long while, if all goes according to plan.
And then.... it started to rain, and rain, and rain..... Laterz.
Marians and Greg's diner was delicious. An expensive beer (4 US$) and 10 hours of sleep later.... it was
9/22
Half the trip is done (not taken into consideration, that i have 4 more months after Bali/Sydney).
Breakfast was an omelet. The bravest of us are going to bungyjump (the sensible of us aren't ;-) ). Waiting for that now.
We viewed hte bumgyjumpers from a nice balcony of a near restaurant over cokes. Brave people. Took about 200 pictures of all my jumping collegues with Matts camera. Big distance though, so... quality is not that good.
After the jumping Dave and I crossed the bridge to have a beer with the jumpers. Tempting to have another i went back to the truck. then i remebered that i forgot to get my raincoat, so... went back and... had another beer.
The walk back was fantastic: the bridge, the view from the bridge...
<Davids pic of me on the bridge>
.. the scenery , but took a lot longer than the way up.
Arrived here at the camping lot, took a great (open air) shower, napped for 30 mins, dinner and drinks and a long night sleep again.
9/23
Rose at 7.40, breakfast, and... waiting for a jeep to arrive, to guide us to Katmandu. I wonder if we are going to make it today. We'll see. Laterz.
(Oh yeah, two times bitten by leeches, saw giant praying mantras, huge slugs, no snakes though... so far, brrr.)
PS. We stay here (at the camping lot) in bungalow sized tents. This summer some landslides took place here. A piece of rock came down and hit tent nr. 2. To get an impression of the size of the rocks, sliding down.... here's the rock, that now covers tent nr. 2. Tents are bungalow sized!
Then the waiting for Will, his investigation of the road and the jeep started, and went on and on and on...
And that turned out to be only the beginning of the problem.
Here's the story:
13.00 or so will returned. We went to the emergency road, to find out that we had to wait until it was our turn to pass by. Only one direction at the time. The road seemed hard, but with digging and the help of a bulldozer we might be able to make it. Waiting for our turn...
18.30. After having inspected the most difficult parts of the road we got the sign: GO!. So we did... for a few 100 meters. Then there were still trucks coming from the other direction and so... we slept on the truck just a few 100 meters on the emergency road to Katmandu.
9/24
Woke up at 5.30 (first daylight). Greg and I inspected the upcoming road and indeed, no trucks from the other side... because this direction got stuck. Damn!
Well, we had to pass a sherp and steep bending first, so the was the first problem. Everybody digged, put sand mats under the wheels, pushed and slowly... no, impossible. After having tried for 2 hours (with help of some locals), we managed to do the bending, with the help of a bulldozer, that pulled us upwards.
9:00 Waiting till we could go further. Big parts of the raod had to be repaired, due to heavy rainfall last night. Afer about 6 hours we reached the other end...
All ends well you may think. NOT.
First of all: truck drivers can (and do) park their vehicles along the emergency road (so you can use only half the road. That is ridiculous and incredibly stupid, but no police regulations are applicable apperently. Police themselves? To afraid to get their uniforms dirty, so they (literally) do nothing. No authority at all.
Consequence: trucks had to beremoved, before our side could pass and that took ages. Then finally when we arrived at the other end... a bus driver just refused to go back and let us pass. I went up to a policeman, hoping to convince him that he should explain to the busdriver to get his ass out of there, but... "Yes, sir, no problem" and do nothing again. In the end (that's after an hour) Alli, Greg and I shouted at the busdriver to go back. He finally got the idea, that it was the only sensible thing to do.
Now, 14.00 we finally are moving on the right way towards Katmandu. I thank God.
And i hereby officially declare all Nepalese truck- and bus drivers, as wel as all Nepalese policemen complete idiots. Period. I want a hot shower, a comfortable bed and a cold beer at Sams bar tonight.
18.30 Arrived in Katmandu, Tired to the bone, but... still did a good steak and a nice "Brain Crusher" In Sams bar. Slept like a log, as u can imagine.
9/25
Woke up at 7 (i think). Got a bit of a cold/caugh. Lots of polution here.
Anyhow, did a "good old" breakfast in the garden of Delima Cafe (as i did with my fellow travellers in 2003, every day). Brought back good memories. Then, updating, money transfers (that didn't work out), hair cut, chat with friends abroad, and now... another cafe garden and finally update my blog (over a chicken burger, a coffee and a large beer).
Did so, napped for half an hour, shopped, went to Sam's bar, had a beer with Will, episode of start trek to finish the day.
9/26
Slept, snoozed, internetted until almost 10! Bought a new shirt, ATM, breakfast. Internet cafe to do some financial transactions (tried anyway, Western Union sucks!). The to the Durban square (one big memory flash). Like the place a lot. Think i could live in Katmandu.
Bought a new pair of very comfy pants and new slippers. Updated blog again (week 12 and 13) in chill cafe (Electric Pagoda).
Gonna nap again and repeat last night. Laterz.
Had a very bad pizza and a beer at Sam's.
Will, James and Alli were there too, but the music was too loud for a good conversation.
Sleep... zzzz.
9/27
Rose at 8, but interneted till 10. 3rd breakfast in a row in Delima Garden, just like 12 years ago with Eric Baxter and Arnoud Schutte. Coffee with Corine, slow stroll to Durban square, napped, got my laundry and thought of an excuse to go to the chill garden again and zip a beer.... That's it!, week 14 is almost over, so i can update my blog there. Anything that happens between now and 12 PM i will add later....
So here i am.... Yeah, guess where.
And this is what happened:
Got home, napped, ate with Dave, Corine, Dennis and Marianne, beers at Sams and 1 more here at the hotel. Bad, short sighted discussion about poverty and what caused it, sleep. Still did a star trek episode...
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