2 December 2022, 90miles
Today I am heading to Bandipur, a journey of 90 miles, I am told this journey will take me 8 or 9 hours, including coffee and lunch stop. Despite my scepticism the journey takes all of that time, I only saw top gear a couple of times and I was exhausted when arrived.
The road out of Kathmandu was as busy as I expected, its amazing how quickly I tuned into the mayhem and it just seemed normal. Happily weaving with and through the traffic, no drama, no aggressive use of the horn, people just going about their daily lives.
I must be a getting old, I am being overtaken my a ladder. Out of the corner of my right eye appeared an aluminium extending ladder, the passenger on the scooter was carrying the double ladder and the rider was using his phone, they passed me and the bus in front and disappeared into the distance. Can you image the carnage if the wind or another vehicle had caught the end of the ladder.
This was the strangest thing I saw being carried on a scooter, 3 goats, lots of bags, carrying who knows what draped over the rear seats and entire families are common. The law here requires the rider to wear a crash helmet, but it doesn’t require the same of the passengers. It’s really scary to see father wearing a helmet with mother and 2 kids not wearing one. The most precious thing in world sandwiched between mum and dad with no head protection at all.
The hotel and Bandipur was like something from the film set of The Lord of the Rings. Timber beams and small doors that you step into like you would a window, crouching and stepping over a 300mm high threshold at the same time.
As we left Kathmandu the traffic jams started and we crawled along twisty mountain roads in queues of lorries and buses with thick black smoke belching out to there exhausts. I was told that at this time of year there are a lot of weddings in Nepal and Saturday is the day to get married. At a tea stop along the journey there were lots of buses with all the wedding guest getting refreshments along the way.
Bandipur doesn’t allow traffic in the Main Street, sitting out and having a beer before dinner was a good way to relax after such a tiring journey.
