OK....the border to Kathmandu!

We almost rode by the Nepal immigration office - we were amazed at being all so suddenly back in the third world, that we were definitely not in China anymore! - but they waved us over and we flashed our visas and were on our way. The climate was tropical and the buildings were simple structures, small children and dogs were everywhere. We also realized that it wasn't as late as we thought - Nepal is over 2 hours different in time zones.

We had targeted Tatopani hot springs as a stopping point, but it came too soon and we were not ready to stop. We had been riding all day, but most of it had been down hill and we were exited, so we decided to push on. A few kms down the road we saw a sign for The Last Resort, one that also included the word ESPRESSO...you know what A's vote was going to be on that count :) I remembered the Last Resort when I had been reading about whitewater rafting in Nepal, it sounded like a good place to try.

As we neared the Last Resort the road all the sudden started to go up (I know, how can that be? It's all down hill to Kathmandu, isn't it??? :) and the legs were talking to us and reminding us that it had been a bit of a long day since we left the cave. We spotted the bridge over the gorge (did I mention they also do bungee jumping???? :) and we pulled over and I drew the short straw and walked over the bridge - 250m about the raging river below :) - and asked about a room for the night for 2 very tired cyclists just arrived from Tibet. The price they quoted us was not at all cheap, but food was included and before I could get a word out the Legs of Steel (those would be my legs, A's are made of Ti :) had already said YES!!! (the gall! they didn't even have the courtesy to check with A waiting on the other side of the bridge :)

I walked back over the bridge told A the good news and somehow we found the strength to wheel the loaded bikes up the stairs, across the bridge and down the stairs to our tent. They immediately directed us to the showers and said we could do paperwork later (we must have looked a sight! :). So we unpacked and hit the showers and I headed to the bar for a beer...where I ran into Zach and Imo, the couple that we went to Nam Tso with! They had spent the day rafting the river and were tired. We chatted for awhile and I brought our first bottle of Everest beer back to the tent - it was cold and delicious and we toasted our best day on the bikes! After dinner (an all you can eat buffet! perfect for hungry cyclists :) we gladly fell into our beds and slept the sleep of the very tired.

The next day it was wet and we were not ready to move on - we were not ready for a city after all the rural scenery of Tibet...and we were missing Tibet something wicked (not that Nepal isn't nice or anything :). We watched the bungee jumpers (not for me - the excitement of our recent days riding was so much more exciting than a few seconds of free fall could ever be), ate good food, read....relaxed. It was nice. That night it really shelled it down with rain and I was thinking that we were going to have a wet ride into Kathmandu, but when we woke up it was lovely and sunny!

As we left the road was going down and we were thinking that we might make it all the way to Kathmandu...but then the road went up and then down and up again...and it was getting hot. We had just had a fabulous descent (after a hard climb) into a small town where we crossed the river. From there is was false flat up the next canyon - it looked flat, but if you turned around a looked you were going up hill. Then the heat started to get to me, I am not good in the heat, and I had to stop and put my head under one of the water spring pipes on the side of the road. We were drinking lots of water, too (bottled, not from the spring :). We finally spotted a cafe and we stopped for some cold drinks - perfect! Just what I needed.

We knew from the map that we had a bit of uphill to come but we still thought we might make it it all the way, if not, we would stop at Dhulikhel. Well...it was a whole lot more up than I expected and our altitude experience wasn't helping as much as I thought it would (the legs never got stressed in Tibet because the lungs always gave out first :) I bonked on the last climb and we barely made it up to the top of the mountain - yes, mountain! Dhulikhel is a hill station with beautiful Himalayan views (not visible due to clouds) and it is a beast of a climb that just goes on and on while your legs just won't stop complaining.

A was the star of the day - after the heat got me in the morning and the bonk in the afternoon, I was toast! Pushing the pedals took all my reserves and A led the way into town, found us a great place to stay and even carried her heavy bags up the stairs to the room - she was just as tired as I was, she just had a better attitude :) We sat on the bed for almost a half hour, too tired to shower, but A moved first and soon we were both clean and ready to clean out their kitchen :) We chose the Nepali thalis from the menu and we were soon feasting...it only got better when the guy loaded my plate for a second time with rice and all the trimmings :) Now we felt better!

The next day we decided on a easy start to our day - it's only 30kms to Kathmandu and we were told it was an easy ride, nearly all downhill (it's no lie, either :). We headed out more recovered that I thought I would be and the weather was lovely. As we neared the city things got a lot busier! Soon we were pedaling past the airport and into town where we had an interesting time through the narrow and muddy streets finding Thamel and then the hotel - we had arrived!!!!!

We stored the bikes in the luggage room and headed into town. Hmmmm. Kathmandu is....very western. For all of the exotica we have seen over the last few months this was not what we were looking for. It's not to say we didn't like it, but we would only spend as much time as necessary there. When we turned up the next morning (Tuesday) at the Indian Embassy it was clear we would be in town until Friday - visas take 72 hours to process. That was cool, we needed to rest, sort our stuff...decide what we were going to do next :)

That is about the extent of the story on the bikes...A has a lot more to say, I am sure :). We are heading back to Delhi in a few hours and we are pretty excited to be seeing the old Pulsars tomorrow for our happy reunion :) And it's hot here, but the heat is not killing me, which is also a good thing - it's 35C/95F in the room at night even with the fan going full blast! A just told me it's 39 in Delhi now and it's supposed to rain rain rain tomorrow....no problem, the bikes probably need a bit of a wash :) It rained on us in Delhi when we left, no surprise we are going to get wet now that we are back :)

Later!