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December 20 2004: A Taste Of India
Arriving in Lahore, Pakistan on The 20th of December after a long
flight from Japan we were unprepared for the competitiveness of people
looking to charge us excessive prices for services we didn't require.
Even after we had paid a generous sum to the taxi driver he cried
for more. This wasn't the Pakistan as we knew it. The People of the
Northern areas were more passive. Lahore people seemed to have the
persistence of the Indians, as we had so many times heard about. We
are yet to have our own experience. Our real start of our travel by
bicycle was to be from a town called Abbotabad about 110 km north
of Islamabad. We had to make our way there by public transport. This
was a rare experience for us since we normally didn't have the need
for any transport but our own bicycles to get around. It's better
to be cycling!! After a long 4 year recovery from Cancer Emi begins
to realize her dream.
December 2004 The dream becomes true
A 7 hour journey by bus dropped us in Abbotabad at 10:30 pm. On the
way we had made a new friend a man in his 50's who had spent around
25 years working in Saudi Arabia. He could appreciate the experience
of being far from home and being a devout Muslim believed in hospitality
to fellow humans all being the creation of the one God. Our fears
that the 9/11 event had put Muslims against Christians were dissolved.
On the surface Pakistan hadn't changed. The next morning we had to
leave this kind man and continue on to visit our good friends in the
other part of town. The Family we were to visit were with us and assisted
us through the time we first discovered Emi's Cancer exactly 4 years
before. Being a Christian Family it was important for us to share
Christmas together. We didn't have their address but from memory we
soon found the house. The question "Do you feel the dream has
come true" we were so often asked by the many people just before
we left now had it's answer. We felt our dream had finally come true;
to continue the journey abruptly stopped by cancer 4 years before.
The 4 years in Japan seemed to melt away as we stood together again
with our friends in Abbotabad. No time seemed to have passed..
December 2004 A new beginning
The bikes now reassembled and loaded we parted for Islamabad. It
was an easy ride out of town with several km's of steady downhill.
Saying goodbye to our friends was more difficult. Our first stop was
for a cup of tea at a local primary school. We were invited by our
Abottabad friend who was good friends with the teacher there. The
kids were mostly shy but there curiosity to the visiting foreigners
overcame that. Emi gave them a lesson in Japanese Origami ( Paper
Folding) Everyone had a lot of fun. The road was busy with colorfully
decorated, black diesel blowing trucks who announced their coming
but very loud musical horns. It was their warning to get out of their
way as with the rest of the motor traffic also using the same noisy
method. It can be quite unnerving if feeling tired or unused to the
custom. Often it is just the voice of the drivers greeting us upon
reading our "Around the World" sign on the back of Emi's
bicycle. We got a great response from many people and many offers
of a "chai" (Milk tea). Our final destination for the day
was Taxila where the ruins of an ancient Buddhist civilization had
been discovered. We arrived after dark and checked in to the local
government hotel.
After Emi's 4 year long recovery from Cancer the cycling dream lives
on.
[ Golden Temple Amritsar ] |
January 2005, Amritsar,India
India! Last night we cycled into this the so called "largest
democracy". 1billion people live here and it feels like we have
seen half of them already. The streets are an loose form of chaos.
Pedal powered and motorized rickshaws, motor-bikes, cars, trucks,
bicycles and people trying to weave their way between. It can be quite
intimidating. The roads are more potholed and the air has the fragrance
of rotting rubbish, sewerage and occasional whiffs of sweet sandalwood.
From here in Amritsar we head south into the deserts of Rajistan.
After Emi's 4 year long recovery the cycling dream lives on!
February 22 2005 Jodhpur, Rajistan, India
Greetings from the land of camels and desert sands, Rajasthan. We
haven't yet tasted the India we expected (pushy dishonest people)
but we are starting to understand that the unpredictability of India
is one of the attractions that keeps people coming back. After a week
stuck in a small town in Punjab state with colds and then Emi with
some stomach problem in Bikaner, we have finally made it to Jodhpur.
The fort here towers over the the blue washed city of twisted narrow
streets. This is one of our favourite places so far. The weather is
warming, the sun shing every day. Time is now passing quickly. Next
stop on our way north, Jaiphur.
[ Taj Mahal Agra ] |
March 9 2005 Jaiphur, India
The goal is in sight
only 230 km to go. The desert, camels and 1700 km are almost behind
us now. The weather is heating up. Its time to cycle in T-shirts.
The tally so far is basically 2 weeks off sick with colds and stomach
problems, one broken rear rack and three punctures. Getting around
town is more fun and environmentally sound if we go by bicycle rickshaw.
Our bikes rest in the hotel room. So far we haven't had many problems
from the locals except a very persistent beggar while we were trying
to take photos in Japiur. There was one young guy in a small town
who thought he could tell us the prices of our meal then charge more
when it came time to pay. Besides types like him we have met mostly
good people. We have heard Agra is the place for problems. We are
preparing ourselves.
March 24th Osaka, Japan
The target has been reached. The Taj Mahal is an impressive sight.
I couldn't have imagined its beauty. We saw it by both sunrise and
sunset. We are fine if not a bit physically exhausted. Emi is checking
with her doctor today. It's a routine blood check to see if there
are any carcinogenic elements active. The last few hundred kilometres
before reaching Agra we had difficulties as we had expected. With
more people the noise rose. Children every where came in numbers asking
for pens or money. We were wondering if India was a nation of beggars.
We would only have to take a photo or just be standing still and someone
would come asking for money. What sometimes would see like a friendly
gesture we would see in any other country in the end was only another
way to ask for money. We had to be on our guard always. At times people
would stare at us like we had come from another planet. By their blank
stares (and I imagined even some dribbling) I thought they had let
all the loonies out of the asylum. No wonder animals in the zoo sometimes
go mad! If anyone could speak a few words of English they would use
them just to bring attention to themselves, not for true two way communication.
This sucked the energy from us. So what is the attraction of India?
Why do we punish ourselves? Everyone that has been to India may give
you a different answer. That is because India is so diverse. There
are so many different people, languages, religions, foods, geographical
regions etc. In India a common man can become in your eyes a god just
by charging you the normal price in his shop after days of being treated
like an endless supply of money as a lot of shopkeepers think. In
the last days as we headed for the New Delhi airport we met some exceptional
people. Two people were just young guys on a motorbike as we had met
often but these guys had imagination, energy of the possibilities
of life. Their energy flowed to us like water on a parched garden.
It was a great way to end our time in India. For me India is a love/hate
relationship. We will be back.....
January 15th 2006 Varanasi, India
Varanasi or some might call it “very nasty” because of the persistence
of the touts, beggars and rickshaw drivers. For us it was the amount
of cow and human faeces on the streets and the general unhygienic
situation of the whole place. It’s particularly challenging when walking
back to the hotel during one of the regular blackouts, it isn’t good
to feel a soft stone underfoot.
This ancient city is on the banks of the Ganges River, sacred to the
Hindus and they ritually bathe in the river every day. One traveller
we met had done that and ended up in hospital with a whole range of
bodily infestations. For the Hindu people this is their “Mecca” the
holy city of Lord Shiva. Daily hundreds of bodies are cremated at
the special Ghats on the river side. The ashes are then thrown to
the river. Some castes in society aren’t cremated; their bodies are
thrown into the river to sink to the bottom. It isn’t unusual to see
a body floating by.
Everyday the sky is full of small kites. They compete to cut the string
of any kite they can. Down by the Ghats sometimes the competition
is fiercer with each kit caught payments of around US$10 which is
a lot of money in these parts.
It’s in the narrow alleyways of the old city we stay at a guest house
full of Japanese backpackers. Many of the Japanese are here to study
music in the case of Flute, sitar, tabla or jambe. Some were studying
Hindi language and some yoga. It is easy to get cheap courses here.
Emi is taking a flute course and I’m busy taking photos for the magazine
and video for the TV documentary.
Somehow the time flies by, probably while we are waiting for our meals
in some of the numerous restaurants. The service is incredibly slow
but we enjoy the variety of food. Another way to spend time is to
watch your washing dry on the roof top of your hotel. If you don’t
watch it the wild monkeys may run off with your underpants for a hat.
We continued our journey from where we left off last year Delhi. It
was a fairly uneventful flat 850km down along the GT road. With our
energy high we didn’t feel too much difficulty with long distance and
the constant attention from the locals. In Agra we once again visited
the Taj Mahal. It was great to return.
January 26th 2006 Pokhara, Nepal
From the town of Butwal 28km north of the Indian/Nepalese border
the mountains loomed up suddenly out of the haze. It had been a long
time and distance since we had cycled in mountains. The last time
was in Northern Pakistan.
Before we could leave Butwal we also saw an example of the unrest
spread across the country. The road was blocked by a student demonstration.
The police were lined up in riot gear and protecting themselves from
being stoned by a mob of angry college students. Teargas was fired
into the mob. Students across the country are protesting against the
king who has taken complete power. The protests happen almost daily.
The newspapers daily have pictures of protests with fire brands in
the capital Kathmandu.
It was a 40km climb to Tansen our next stop. On the way we passed
a tree that had been cut down to block the road by the Maoist guerrillas
who are waging a fight against the king too all adding more to the
political chaos. We almost expected to be stopped by a band of guerrillas
on the way.
Coming into Tansen there were police checkpoints. For us they didn’t
look much different from military.. Both the police and soldiers had
big guns and wearing camouflage, the police blue and the soldiers
green camouflage. By 8pm all was dead quiet since there was a curfew.
We were asleep early anyway since we were exhausted after the days
ride.
From Tansen we caught our first glimpses of the Himalayas. The white
glaciated peaks of the Annapurna range. The road undulated through
steep mountains with lush forests dotted with houses and villages.
The steep trekking roads were sometimes passable by 4WD the surface
was very fine dust. Each day was a search to find good food. In Nepal
so far it has been easier. Most important to us is to get fresh cooked
food (often safer) and at least reasonably friendly people running
the establishment. Sometimes we feel that for the restaurant owners
making money is more important than making good food. This goes not
only for Nepal but for everywhere.
Early morning, day three on the road to Pokhara, we came across a
long column of trucks parked by the roadside. There must have been
some hundred trucks in all. At the head we asked what was happening.
We were told there was strike, now lasting three days. No cars, buses
or trucks could pass. The passengers from the buses were walking.
It still was unclear to us what really was going on. Then somebody
told us there were bombs set on the road by the Maoists; 4 bombs to
be exact. There were plenty of people walking so we figured there
was no immediate danger so rode on. We came to a tree across the road
passed it, then passed another. It was under the third tree we saw
a brightly wrapped package looking like a Christmas present with wires
coming out. We had to pass within 2 metres of it. Then under the next
tree we saw the same. There were a lot of people at the end of the
road block waiting as if something would happen soon. I thought to
myself maybe some of those people could be guerrillas. There was a
mystery. Only 5km down the road the police had been stationed in large
numbers and yet the bombs had been blocking the road for 3 days or
more. Why wasn’t anything done? Another mystery. Only 30 minutes after
we passed the road block suddenly the road was opened and the trucks
started rolling. A local villager told us there had been no bombs.
If they were fake bombs how did the villager know and more so who
moved the “bombs” and trees so quickly to let the trucks through? We
don’t believe it was the police since when we woke in the morning there
was no sight of them.
The rest of the day was spent cycling up and down through beautiful
mountain scenery. On the last pass Pokhara lay on a wide plain before
us. We imagined the variety of food that lay before us. Our stomachs
led the way.
January 31st 2006 (Still In) Pokhara, Nepal
Everyday we look out of our guest house to see the view of the Himalayas
before us. After India we find the Nepalese people are more humble.
The Nepalese often greet you first without wanting anything and they
smile more. Also, they are not so persistent.
In a week from now there will elections but from the 5th to the 11th
of February there will be a nation wide strike and the Maoist guerrillas
have planned some extra activities to make sure the elections don’t
take place. We will be staying put here. There are few tourists here
now. Most tourists are keeping away because of the political unrest.
Have to admit that on the night we arrived we heard 2 bombs going
off about 2 km away. I asked a local about the location of the bomb
blasts but he told me he didn’t know because people didn’t like to talk
about such things. Some people we had met also were to afraid to mention
the Maoists or spoke in low voices when speaking of them. There were
many who were afraid of being conscripted forcibly or asked for money
from the Maoist guerrilla group. The Maoists appreciate the value
of the tourist so till now don’t target the tourist areas. If you should
meet some I’ve heard they may ask for a donation though. The main inconvenience
seems to be if you have to use public transport because when the road
is blocked you can’t get through.
The local businesses are having a difficult time. It is easy to bargain
for hotel rooms since most rooms in 385 hotels here are empty.
Despite the visible presence of heavily armed police patrolling the
streets here it is very calm. The mountains are beautiful and the
lake reflects the blue sky.
3rd March 2006
Kathmandu
Whoever said that the
road from Pokhara to Kathmandu was flat must have either traveling
at night in a bus or traveling while sleeping, the road was rarely
flat if at all? We left Pokhara after a very enjoyable 4 weeks. We
managed to be in the newspapers a couple of times and appear on Nepal
TV. Our news of our journey made something a bit lighter than the
usual news about how bad the political situation is in Nepal. We counted
9 bombs that had gone off during our stay. On the day we left there
was a bomb placed in a busy market area where we had cycled by that
morning. Despite the situation we felt quite safe as long as we didn’t
hang around government buildings. The strike days (called by the Maoists)
were great. The roads being free of traffic provided everyone a place
to play. Some people played badminton, some played cricket and many
rode their bicycles. The later also being the only transport available.
Before leaving Pokhara I decided to get my foot X-rayed. In Varanasi
during a blackout I slipped on a stair and twisted my ankle. With
2 days rest we left to cycle the 500km into the mountains to Pokhara.
The X-ray showed a cracked bone. Now that explained the constant pain.
So we were on the hills rolling on and on but the scenery was very
nice. The last 100km before Kathmandu the road intersected with the
main road south to India. This meant that the traffic now was very
heavy with trucks spewing out black carbon monoxide. This took away
most of the pleasure of cycling. I felt that if we were able to see
inside our lungs they would be black.
The Himalayas to our left made brief appearances through the haze,
the temperature climbed into the 30’s. The last kilometers into the
Kathmandu valley were all uphill if we hadn’t had enough. We had to
play the old game of guess the distance where you look up the road
to a recognizable landmark (in this case a bend of the road somewhere
ridiculously high above us) and guess how many kilometers to that
point. We used our “Cateye” bicycle computers to know the distance.
It helps take our mind off the struggle.
Finally at the pass we came to another military checkpoint and after
we had taken some pictures of their nice new heavily armed military
transport we were told we couldn’t take any pictures. This says how
much they really take notice of foreigners. We had a fairly free run
in Nepal. On our bicycles we didn’t need to stop at checkpoints.
The first view we got of the haze covered Kathmandu Valley was of
brick factories belching out smoke that adds to the pollution that
gives the city the distinction of being one of the top polluted cities
in the world. The city sprawls out over a large area and some people
wear masks to protect themselves from the motor exhaust fumes.
Settled in at a hotel in the tourist area in this oasis that was removed
from the real Nepal; we enjoyed the wide variety of food available.
We could relax for a short while.
10 March
2006 Kathmandu
Our stay in Kathmandu was to
be only 2 days but I got sick. Overnight I emptied my stomach of its
contents. I felt like my body was being turned inside out. A day of
drinking warm water with ORS (salt and glucose replacement) I felt
fine again. The last thing to put things back in balance was the following
day when I had some yogurt to get the good bacteria back.
The 2 days rest was good for everyone; everyone meaning the driver,
the translator and our Japanese documentary’s director/cameraman who
all were with us for 10 days to film us.
With only 10 days to film, time therefore was also important. The
only real difference to our trip with the 3 people following was that
our time was more restricted. In this case we had to get to our goal
before the Japanese 1 man documentary crew had to return home. In
between it was up to me to do all the filming.
While in Kathmandu we were invited for a meeting at the Cancer Relief
Society. Emi, now a “survivor” of cancer was requested to speak to
the doctors, other survivors and the press about her experience.
We set off for our goal the border of Tibet. It was only 110km but
it seemed a long way. We had to climb into the Himalayas and we imagined
a lot of difficult road. There were a lot of climbs but all went well
the first day we made most the distance. The last 2 days were on dirt
road but not just dirt but a very fine dust that penetrated everywhere
whenever a vehicle would pass. It was also mostly uphill and rough
surface. The going was slow. It would have been less a problem if
we didn’t have any time limits, the scenery was fantastic. The road
ran up through steep sided narrow valleys terraced for planting crops.
People’s homes clung to the steep mountain sides and cable foot bridges
hung high over the raging river below.
With only 4 km to go, light was fading and we had to stop in the small
village of Tatopani where conveniently there was a hot spring to bathe
in. The next morning Emi was sick. It seemed we would never make it.
It was all dirt and uphill the last 4 km. It was a slow ride but we
finally made it to the border. The border, a bridge so called the
Friendship Bridge in the center of which was a red line marking the
official border of China and Nepal. We managed to get literally a
foot into Tibet. After talking several photos of the Chinese border
a young Chinese guard came to tell us “no taking pictures”. Who was
he kidding we were in Nepal and he had no authority. Even the Nepalese
border guard had to laugh at the overly serious Chinese guard.
It was all a bit of an anticlimax; there we were with one of the world’s
most interesting countries in front of us and we couldn’t go forward.
We had to return to Kathmandu to then return to Japan for Emi’s doctor’s
appointment. Standing there on the edge of Tibet we just wanted to
keep going all the way to Japan by bicycle. It was only one border
to cross before Japan. We’ll be back next year to cross Tibet then……
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