Slow and Steady (Biking Blog)

Sunday, Dec. 21, 10:37PM
812km

Jungle monkey

Rode our booties off today, 90km. It was our sixth consecutive day on the road. Good news is that I'm finding the point when I'm exercising where I'm pushing ahead steady but not too hard, so I don't get prematurely tapped out of energy. We divided the day up into 4 parts, so we took a short (10min) break every hour and a half (or 22km). That way the large distance didn't seem too endless. I'd say half the day the roads had a long steady slightly uphill grade, which combined with all our weight made it difficult to move fast, and it seemed like we should be going faster but it took a lot of work to keep going. But like I said, I found my threshold and I kept it moving, even though I could only move at 15km/hr for half the day. The other hindrance is that the road's was so textured (paved with small rocks, not asphalt) so even on downhills I was only able to achieve 35-40km/hr instead of the 50 I can do otherwise. Every day has it's ups and downs, literally and figuratively.

In other happy news I found a workaround to finally make Senuti (the iPod 'backup' software) see my iPod (and Cara's, and Jamey's). This means I can clear more room on my iPod to backup photos, and I can also borrow some tunes from my cohorts. Listening to music on the road has been awesome... I'm for once I can really listen to all the lyrics of my favorite music (since I have plenty of time to concentrate, unlike back home when I'm always doing 3 other things while playing tunes.)

Basically I'm becoming a find-tuned cycling machine. That's about it. So it's cycling, cycling, cycling until Christmas, when we'll hopefully be crossing into India, and then we'll cycle a little more until we get picked-up by friends and we'll be on holiday, cruising around in a big Jeep for maybe 2 weeks, visiting some of the sights (like the Taj Mahal in Agra) among others. I'm looking forward to some good old-fashioned tourism! I'll also probably be eating way too much Indian food and sweets... to make up for all this healthy eating! Actually, it's amazing that we all love the national food here so much, even though it's pretty much the same meal over and over and over. I love it because its real home cooking every time, with fresh veggies cut down in the back yard or nearby every time, made fresh with love. Try to find that in the USA! India's gonna be very different, so we're living it up, even though it is very simple (and we have no choice in the matter.)

I've also borrowed Bonnie's Nepali phrase book in an attempt to Wow the locals with my smooth Nepali phrases. So far, so good. They understand our Nepanglish well enough most of the time anyway, but it's fun and I think they appreciate that we're trying.

Ok, up at 6:30 to do another 90km tomorrow. Only 3 days till Christmas Eve! Hope your Holiday parties were awesome and merry. Enjoy the family and Holiday cheer! xoXo, A
 

Rihar, Village of the Year

Saturday, Dec. 20, 8:22PM
Song: P.S. I Love You by the Beatles
723km

Groundhog onlookers as we made breakfast.

Today began like Groundhog Day, only I was the groundhog. I didn't want to leave my tent, as there was a 'school' of children waiting outside already by the time I took off my sleeping mask, watching to see if I'd have a shadow or not. After taking my time packing up everything inside, I emerged, with a glorious long shadow coming from our east-facing river view, the sunniest morning I can remember here. (All of our recent lowland mornings have been foggy, with the heavy cool winter mist finally burning off by around 11AM.)

Tire-changing onlookers.

Somehow our 8AM wake-up became an 11AM departure. Before we hit the roadside, Cara had a flat tire, our collective first of the journey. I, being the only coffee fiend of the group, pedaled 5km ahead the the village of last night's food run, (more accurately named Bhalu Bang), for a coffee and a boiled egg -- a great find. Just as soon as I had my mug of coffee in hand, the group had caught up, but Cara's tire was flat again. As per my paragraph on crowds gathering wherever we go, no less than 30 people gathered around to watch Jamey at work, and I turned the camera on Cara and Bonnie and they had at least 50 crowded arond just observing them be Cara and Bonnie. I told them what I was documenting, and they said if this was India the crowd would be at least as big, only they'd be touching them. For some reason we all lingered and procrastinated, as if we didn't feel like biking, but we were finally on the road again, at the beginning of our day's expedition, at noon.

It was an average day, I was a bit slower than yesterday (with a bad case of weary wobbly legs), and at 4:30 we were looking for a spot to camp. This part of Nepal is much more a forest, and the vilage we stopped-in had a really cute looking inn, all clay with super cute thatched roof, and a misspelled cloth sign advertising their Guest House and Restaurant. As we stopped and debated staying (and maybe showering) vs. camping somewhere down the road, a friendly drunk man was trying to lure us to the restaurant for food, and a group of older teen boys were asking us if we needed help finding a place to stay or if we wanted to camp. They led us to the school across the street and told us we could camp there!

I think half of this friendly village escorted us to the school yard, and as soon as we asked if we could sleep inside they were hoisting a small child up into a gap above and between the wall and the roof of the first building, who opened the door from inside a minute later. This classroom is NICE! So spacious, with a clean floor, and men, women an children were all standing around smiling and helping us inside, moving the desks to the side of the room to clear room for us. This hospitality is Amazing! One guy asked if we had candles, and showed me where he lives in case we need anything. Unlike the other school we stayed in, the kids weren't annoying at all, and as soon as one of the older boys told them to give us privacy, we were left alone in our room. We washed at the nearby water pump with 40 people watching, and I'm so used to it by now that I barely noticed. I actually felt important. as I think we are of more value to the community as entertainment then for the inn-keeper to make 200 rupees, but I also believe the Nepalis have an earnest desire to do good will, and the potential commerce wasn't even an issue. I was wondering if the inn-keeper would be sore that we opted to stay for free in the school instead of his family's Inn, but after we were settled we were brought over there to eat by our unofficial 18 year old host for the evening, and the inn-keeper was the most gracious host! We were sat at the wood-burning fire/clay stove and we watched him cook our meal from scratch for an hour while we warmed-up, actually fulfilling my wish from last night to be snuggled-up by my Dad's fireplace. The food was *amazing*, the chutney out of this world, Jamey declared it his favorite Dal in his two months here, and all for 50 rupees. Even better, at 7am tomorrow he's hooking us up with our energy food, alu paratha, for breakfast. We have 90km to do, to make-up for today's lackluster mileage accrual.

Schoolhouse sleeper onlookers.

I've been on a sweets kick, and after dinner our friend brought us over to a sweet shop next to his family's house, and a second Christmas wish from last night was fulfilled: a sweet so incredibly similar to Dineen's sugar dipped cookies manifested. Mmmmmmm! Merry Christmas to me!

Sweets shop!

Other noteworthy features of Rihar, Village of the Year include: it's clean, quiet, our privacy in the school persists, the sky seems especially huge here -- tonight's heavens are the brightest and clearest since the Adikari farm in the mountains, and Internet is only 140km away! Lol, I guess no place is perfect.
 

Camping Out

Friday, Dec. 19, 11:13PM
Song: Crickets, the river's gentle murmur, a dog barking
671km

Today was such a great day! We woke up in Shithole, Nepal, and it was actually raining slightly and overcast. The feeling was unanimous that we wished to lay in bed, watch a movie, read our books, maybe go spend some time on the internet (when the power came on), and even maybe have a hot shower or go see a movie. Unfortunately we were speaking of luxuries only available in dreams, as none of this was possible, nor did we want to linger unnecessarily in our unsavory guest room. We walked around searching for our power-food, alu paratha (big spicy potato pancake and curry), and we actually found it! Hot damn they were good! (I've probably written about 'em more than we've actually eaten them, today being only my second time in Nepal), so how could it not be a spectacular day!?

Hills to brighten my day

I had a surprising amount energy today. I lead the pack, cruising up our mountains with sheer conquest pumping through my legs, and it was the most beautiful scenery we've had in 2 weeks. Sun dissolved the clouds, and I was actually Happy to have big hills, because that means big beautiful mountain scenery. Unlike the mountains I know back home, which are big, gradually rising grey giants, the Himilayas are the product of post-Pangea India crashing into the Asian continent, causing countless rippling hills, closely packed together as far as the eye can see. Anyway as long as they're not too steep, it's a pleasure to see and worth the upward effort (and downward reward.) At one pass Jamey and I got ambushed by about 20 students and we spent 30 minutes taking pictures and hanging out. Everyone wanted pics with us, wearing our helmets and posing on our bikes. I wanted one of their email addresses so I could send them the pics, but unbelievably None of them had one! I especially like the little baby sitting on my back rack for a shot.

Nepali teens, no emails.

Not far out of the mountains we saw a neat-looking clearing (that didn't look like anyone's farm land) which we thought might be campable, but I insisted we bike along the footpath leading into the woods to see if we could get nearer to the river, and we found the sweetest place to camp right on a cliff overlooking the valley. This place is incredibly sweet! So tonight we pitched our tents, washed up in the river, boiled water to drink and for tea, and now we're sleeping in a peaceful quiet spot under the stars.

Sunset food run

When we're not staying on a farm, in a guesthouse, or at hotel, (ie. in a school or in the woods), two of us will bike to the nearest town to pick up some food for dinner and some fresh fruit for breakfast. It was Bonnie's & my turn, so we biked 5km in a spectacular sunset to a town that sounds like BallBang. We did well, scoring chowmein, samosas, and veg. fritters for dinner, and tomatoes, cabbage, garlic, green beans, cilantro, oranges, bananas (and salt) for a fresh fruit & veg breakfast salad tomorrow. We made this once before, trying to re-create a tiny salad we were served at the best little hole-in-the-wall in Demauli, plus one important lemon -- I had a little English-speaking guardian angel taking me all around town asking for one! -- but no lemons in town. What fun it was! The town was dark except for a dozen fires here and there... it was so surreal, all the fires in the street. We went down a dark side street to find take-away soda (most soda is in glass bottles which you drink there at the store or restaurant), and the boy took me to 8 different stores and hotels. I never in a million years thought I'd feel so perfectly at home walking down a street lit by firelight in a foreign country, holding a 4th grader's hand, shopping for dinner, and here I am. We always create a stir wherever we go, but now I'm totally used to it, and it's pretty fun. When I came back from my hunt with the boy to find Bonnie waiting for our hot food, she had no less than 20 kids crowded around her. Each of them took turns shaking her hand and practicing their English on her. Soon we were on our way with a massive amount of food for $4 (incl. 4 kilos of fruits & veg!) and we enjoyed our nighttime ride home lit by our bike lights. We stand out so much from the other on the road as we're the only ones with lights! (One girl on the road the other day said 'Goodbye tourists!") Save for some rough pavement, it's pretty safe!

Camping spot by the river

It's SO nice to be camping out. I love the farms and the country, and love a little time in the cities (to get my fixes), but I really can do without the in-between towns that are basically crappy urban centers, devoid of the riches of agro-Nepali country goodness. You're paying to stay in dirty dingy guest houses, and despite the people's consistent friendliness it's like purgatory, and you can't wait to get out. A few kilometers out you let out a sigh of relief at the green fields, goats jumping (well there are goats everywhere but city goats are all shabby), clay homes with thatch roofs, clean streams... Anyway camping is the best, and this spot is glorious. Plus, there's nobody peering in our window (like in the school house). Actually, there's nobody, except for some apparently beautiful girl passing through that Jamey and Cara went down to the river with to fetch some water, whom they shared a long silent moment just sitting and enjoying the peace.

At first I used to think it was weird, but Nepalis just come and chill with you, whatever you're doing, often times without saying a word. It's not like they're just staring and being weird, either. And it happens everywhere: on the side of the road a whole family or two will just come and stay with you while you do your thing; at a store; in the hotel... today the 18yr (newlywed) girl just came into our guest room (for the 5th time, unannounced) and just hung out while we were carrying on, goofing and cracking jokes. It's funniest in the restaurants -- the server will sit at the table; or the whole family, with friends and neighbors, will just sit and watch you eat. This may all sound rude or invasive, but really it's not, because the vibe is so much less formal and impersonal like in most businesses we know -- it's we who are the guests, and we have stepped into the lives of these families. A server isn't really a server, but the inn-keeper's son or cousin. The cook isn't a cook, he's the owner of the guesthouse or kitchen you happened upon. On the street when we ask someone for help, everyone around is interested, because they all want to know (innocently enough) what's happening in their town, eager to help with no motives or $trings attached.

I went down to the river after dinner to wash up, and walked around with my headlamp off (ie. in total darkness save for the moon and it's reflection on the water) and I realized, as I've done repeatedly, that I'm in Nepal! Orion is looking down at me from above, just like at home, but instead of being surrounded by millions in an orange cloud I'm in dark, in the quiet, alone. Ahhhhhhhhh. I see a headlamp across the way and hear a Nepali voice. I'm in Nepal!!!! It's my extreme privilege to spend time in this alternate universe on Earth. I can't believe it's true, that I can just hop on a plane and be in a place like this. This is the miracle of our day, of our good fortune, of our good planet that we can do this. It is everything I've wished for. And I'm going to do it, again and again and again. The only thing that would make it more perfect here is You.

We came up with a Christmas plan tonight. Just before the border there is another National Park. Hopefully, we can camp in it and enjoy the peace of Nepal for one last night.

I can't believe we're going to step into another world yet again, so soon. But for now it's time for me to sneak behind my eyelids. I imagine being curled up on the comfy couch, my belly full on eggnog and the white glazed Christmas cookies, glowing embers in the fireplace, the Christmas tree and manger still yet alive in frozen timeless time. It's time for bed! Goodnight, my beloveds!

Holidays (and the Border) fast approaching, Santa M.I.A.

Thursday, Dec. 18, 10:18PM
A Shithole, Nepal
636km

How do four Americans in Nepal celebrate the holiday season, you ask? This morning over breakfast we listened to Christmas carols on Jamey's mini iPod speakers. And we've watched Babe's la la la, la la la, la la la, la laaaah scene like 10 times this month. ("Chrismas means carnage!!!") I saw a Charlie Brown Christmas tree today, well actually it was just a branch sticking up on top of a freight truck, but it was close enough to make me happy. Besides that, our Navidad is not so Feliz.

Babe

We're trucking along well, and it looks like we'll be crossing the border around Christmas Eve, give or take a day or two. NOT exactly our ideal way to spend Christmas, but what can you do in a place where your holiday doesn't exist? The extent of international cuisine outside the major tourist cities is Chow Mein and Indian food. Jamey told us over Dal Bhat tonight that his Christmas Meal so far consists of a bag of Classic Lays potato chips (all the salty snacks here are flavored with masala), Root beer, Soy jerky (from his personal US stash), and orange slice Gummy candy. As completely ridiculous as that sounds, it's no joke!

Life on the road is swell, and we're racking up the kilometers. Today was a great day of cruising on flat road, and it really flew by for me, for the first time. We were Drafting again today (riding tight like a flock) and I really like it... It's nice to work as a team, and it's less physically and mentally taxing as you're not racing yourself or trying to catch-up (if you're trailing your friends), rather you're just keeping up with the pack, and you get to coast. A great development! Today I realized that, in addition to Traveling(TM), which has been obvious from the outset, I am also Exercising regularly. I never looked at it that way before, but this is the stuff that people do to achieve goals, like losing weight or maintaining good health. And I was thinking of it all along as mere transportation!

Posters like these Indian beauties decorate many roadside lunch-spots.

Today we passed a caravan of buffalo walking down the street, and at one point (when we had just overtaken the herd) I noticed about 30 of them in front stampeding after us! It was a hot minute or two of screaming, laughing, and heavy peddling! Those beasts were BIG and running full force on our tails... it was awesome. Cara, listening to music on her headphones, was the last to notice. Awww, (poor girl!)

Nepali wiring job on our ceiling fan.

In other exciting news, our luxury digs tonight include private WC and a mirror! In all fairness we've been renting the 200 rupee ($2) rooms, but honestly I can't imagine what the more expensive rooms would do differently, based on what I've seen. I snuck into one of the fancy rooms in our hotel in Damauli to use the western shower, (as the shared one for the floor had no running water), and the difference was basically a blue carpet, a private toilet, a tv and arm chair, but it too lacked running water, there was an empty rum bottle on the bed, and the toilet had two condoms floating in it. I'm not trying to bust on Nepal, but I guess the condom box we just found in our room (with explicit sex scene pictured -- why do they have to portray sex so nasty?!) made me think of it. At another hotel in that town we were offered a room for a whopping 1500 rupees, and we just laughed and then they put us in a room for 200. But now I want to at least see what they would have offered us for $20, so my opinions can be more informed.

That's all I've got for tonight. Actually, speaking of tonight we are sharing a room with two beds pushed together, and we're all sleeping head-to-toe, Charlie and the Choc. Factory style. As usual I'm the last one awake, and it might take a while to sleep (we've got a snorer!) So I'm out. As always, New York, (and yes, NJ too!), and you All are in my thoughts. I'm really getting excited for India... more adventure awaits! And you can bet your correspondent will be reporting. Namascar. A

I Miss You, Hello Pain

Tuesday, Dec. 16, 9:26PM
Butwal, Nepal
Song: Deep in Velvet (Turnips Mix) by Aphex Twin
565km

We were on the road by 8:30am, and biked until sunset, 90km! For me, though, arriving in Butwal, out far far away goal, was against all odds, as I started this leg of the bike trip in supremely sore shape from our last day's hard work on the farm, we crossed the steepest mountain pass yet (5km/hr all the way up for 90min - I wanted to die), and then after 30km on flat road my quads felt like they were gonna explode, and sitting in a gazebo playing with baby goats I tried to convince peeps to quit, still having 28km to go! After stretching, eating Advil, and massaging the crunchy bits out of my legs (which I didn't even know could get that way) we pushed on, practicing for our 1st time on this trip a group riding style called Drafting in which you ride on each other's tails, the leader up front setting the pace and taking all the wind resistance, making it probably 25% easier for the riders behind.

Yesterday's ride was pretty damn ugly, basically because we were traveling through the surrounding 'burbs of that dump Narayanaghad, and even the guest house we stayed at, though charming in some aspects, like the dining room we which felt like a tiny local pub in Prague -- the one in Vinorhady that serves Kozel (goat) beer -- the town was so dingy and so was the stinky green petri-dish mutant cesspool behind the outhouse... I was worried that it'd be 500+km of dumpy lowlands. I'm speaking mainly of aesthetic appeal, as Nepalis are Nepalis wherever you go (good), but today the sights got kickass again, with sprawling farmland, tall forests, cute villages decorated for weddings, goats when you need 'em (for smiles and their cute voices), and increasing numbers of Buddhist temples and, for me, more interesting Hindu temples (which I haven't seen so many of) with crazy big colorful 3D statues of gods and goddesses.

Butwal, Nepal

Butwal, where we are tonight, is a big crazy city, much bigger than Pokhara, and more like Kathmandu. There are stores with everything, from tech and fashion goods (which I haven't seen in a month ago in Kat - seems so long ago!), internet, hips kids, hustlers, rickshaws, the works. The scene at night was mayhem -- Kathmandu never got this crazy! This town is also close to the birthplace of the Buddha, so it draws many visitors, hence the booming industry. I ate SO much food and a startling variety for dinner and didn't even feel overstuffed (cuz it's all more or less fresh and healthy). It's nice to alternate between city and rural life! Our hotel room (and potty) is so clean and modern compared to any we've been in, same cheap price, although we had a conversation about how even this 'nice' Nepali room would Never pass back home... our standards have just adjusted so much, and I couldn't be more happy about it. We have TWO outlets, and TWO light bulbs, and a clean enough floor to stretch on, and a ceiling fan! [[Family: skip the rest of this paragraph]] >>> Cara and I went up to the roof after we brushed teeth to check out the view. I noticed a temple atop of the neighboring building and we were gonna try and sneak up there to see, and walking back the way we came through the darkness I tripped on a brick and my reflex was to grab the nearby wall. Ow! It was covered with the Rustiest nails all along the top, and my middle finger had a nice hole poked in it. Add that to my two head bangings today and it was just another day on the road. (My body's never sustained so many cuts, bruises, bites, band-aids, scabs, and bumps before. I'm using this vessel!) Thank gods for preemptive tetanus shots.

Next day, I ended up using the rusty nails for the forces of Good -- to dry my laundry -- as does the hotel.

We're sleeping-in tomorrow - 8am, yay!, then getting some yummy city alu paratha (fav. (Indian) breakfast food), hitting a book shop (burning to finish that Dalai Lama book I started on the farm), and getting our weekly internet fix! We'll be on the road by noon for a short 50km day... it's already 12:45 (yikes!) so I need to regulate. Aww, and I was going to write about all the things I've been missing... ok, quick:

(New song: Late In the Day by Supergrass)

I MISS: * Christmas! Wish I had some Yule-tide cheer in my stocking. * my girl, Amy. got the sweetest email from her last week and I've been running it over in my mind every day... * By day I daydream Burning Man, and at night I dream in Black Rock City. I look forward to it more every day. Only 250 more days and I'll be on my way back! So happy I'll get to start preparing as soon as I'm home! If you want to come this year (Helen Jen, Jasandra, GC) the BM family always has room for You! Let me know so we can start to conspire by email :) * My dear family! Mom, Dad, Dineen, Cristina, Robbie, Dave, Grandma, Tommy, Devon and Dylan... it's burned into my soul to be spending this time of year with you, and instead of having outings and feasting I'm taking you along in my head on this adventure. * My cozy and comforting Brooklyn home. Axl Rose - my red-hot son, and the best neighbors and roommates... * My NY family... Mis Amigos! Where art thou now? (Drop me a line yo!) * Obama! Wish I could see the news more often so I know what's up with my Prez-elect. * Okay, enough schmaltz for tonight.

Sweet siamese daydreams, A
 

Leaving Nepal, 520km to go

Monday, Dec. 15, 9:26PM
30km West of Narayanaghad, Nepal
Song: Peacock tail, Boards of Canada
475km


Today I've officially been in Nepal for a month! And I can't believe we're already leaving, although we have 2 weeks left on our tourist visas and it'll take much of that to get out, the way we're going. Nepal is a relatively teeeny country, and we visited its three largest cities and countless villages in between. Now we're heading due west, traversing what would be a big ol' stretch of NE India, but opting to cover the distance on the Nepali side of the border, bound to meet up with friends that the group made on a farm outside New Delhi in the month before I got here. All I can really know about them is that one is the son of a well-to-do organic Indian farmer, who thinks Cara is his girlfriend. More on that in 2 weeks.

Hay Muffin (the goal)

I'm happy to report that yesterday we spent our last day on the Bhattarai family farm actually doing some labor! It may be hard to grasp, but we woke up early and busted our hump all day moving a huge pile of hay. I'll skip my essay on the significance of hay on a farm, but everyone with buffalo needs it, and it takes a lot of work to make those picture-perfect straw muffins you see everywhere! I'm sore as heck, more than any day of biking so far, so we done good! What's funny is that we spent all day 'processing' the hay (shaking the leftover rice out of it), finally got the whole pile moved into a nice muffin in the back yard just before sunset, cleaned up the loose mess, swept the yard, until all that was left was a modest 4 foot mound of salvaged rice. Exhausted, we were so happy to be done, and hungry! Imagine it pitch black, no lights anywhere, and all of a sudden you hear this ominous noisy tractor coming down the street. Balarm borrowed my headlamp and rushed out into the street, and I see a silhouette of the biggest, most oversized (3x the width and height of the tractor) Mountain of new hay I've ever seen, and they dumped it into the middle of the yard, right on top of our little pile we worked so hard for! It looked like an avalanche, many times bigger than the hay we started with, and all we could do was jump into it. And that's where we made a cozy nest to eat dinner. So fun!

Hay mountain, us in it

It's too late to write about today! We're getting up at 6 to bike 70-100km (big day!) Just in case you weren't sure, Nepal still kicks supreme booty! Today we started our long journey on the right foot, and now we're savoring our long country road exit route. This evening we're in a simple guest house with most gracious hosts, and our candle-lit dinner and stimulating, hilarious conversation about Nepali economics and culture couldn't have been more enjoyable. Love and humility, A
 

Chitwan, Shitwan... (updated Video links)

Chitwan, Nepal
448km
Song: The L Train is a Swell Train and I Don't Want to Hear You Indies Complain by Out Hud

...I muttered at least a few times during the last 2 days off-roading in pursuit of the wonders of Chitwan National Park. Disregard any previous references to Royal Chitwan, as the royal family no longer has much pull or influence over things in Nepal, nor are they in the public's favor. 25km-in today, (25 too far on these roads, in my opinion), I wanted to give-up and go home. I imagined skipping out on the Elephant Safari we were booking it to, late for our 3pm appointment, going home and laying in the hay pile and reading the Dalai Lama book I started yesterday, sipping on lots of warm tea, and blogging about how I hate biking these Nepali back roads. It was too late, we were too close, I had to push-on. I lucked-out actually, because the safari was much better than I expected, and I had a minor epiphany about these crap roads. I'm more tired than ever, and typing (and my English) is difficult tonight, but Let's take it from the top:

Yesterday, Balarm the farmer graciously led us on bike to Chitwan National Park to hopefully go on safari, but it was a wickedly ass-kicking ride (in a bad way) 10km down some main thoroughfares, which for some reason around here are all covered with baseball to football-sized rocks. (The same roads we've suffered through before between here and Narayanaghad on bike and gypsy bus.) Unfortunately for us there was no safari yesterday, because unfortunately for some other humans and cattle in another area of the park, a dastardly tiger has been out terrorizing, and the elephants were called to duty to scare it away. (Tigers are scared of elephants.) We went out for a nice leisurely lunch at the nearby Rhino Resort, and had a much more pleasant ride back home on mostly nice smooth dirt paths that cut through the endless back fields of yellow, purple and pink flowers, which it was quite fun and picturesque. Why can't they all be of smooth dirt? I don't know why the main roads are all so rocky, when the land is obviously not -- they must have been added deliberately by some misguided city planners, cuz they suck! (Sorry, just had to get that out. I disclaim, my Rant may not be fully exorcised yet.)

Today we biked 10km in the Other direction to another part of Chitwan Park (hopefully not That other part of the park with the bad tiger), with Pradeep, the farmer's son, to hopefully see the purportedly kick-butt museum. The roads to get there, you guessed-it, Sucked! Then we paid the 500 rupees 'tourist admission' to military guards with machine guns -- a handsome sum of money which we could live off for 3 days on the road, and get this, admission for Nepalis is only 20 rupees! With the theme of Jurassic Park going through my head we pass through the barbed-wire entrance, bike across a long bridge an get our admission 'Permits' looked over by another set of guards, then go down a short hill where some more guards try to make us leave our bikes with them, but Pradeep somehow gets us permission, thanking them Formally (Namascar!) before we follow the path towards the museum, which is Closed today. We went over to a nearby Alligator refuge, paid another 100 rupees each (gratis for Nepalis), and saw a bunch of alligators. There were a bunch of big turtle areas, but No turtles. The best thing we saw -- no special fee required -- was the Orphan Tiger. We walk through the woods and find a big wooden cage, as tall as it is wide and deep. I climb a ladder and look-in at the huge gorgeous Bengali Tiger, whose mother was a man-eater, which in this case runs in the family! I can comment on how much you're all on your own regarding safety here, from the sketchy ladder that takes you up 20 feet, how easily I could have fallen (in or off), to the fact that I was taking video of the stunning beast through 1/2 inch of termite-chewed wood, and yes you can stick your fingers right in and touch her if you dared. Amazing!

The Orphan Tiger (videos on Flickr: one / two)

Suddenly it was half past two and we had to beat it 15-20km to make our last-reservation-of-the-day Elephant Safari! Man, I knew it when we started off in the opposite direction that this would be the case! At 4pm we made it (an hour late), and somehow Pradeep convinced them to still take us on our wild journey. Another 4,200 rupees later (1,000 each for us, 200 for Pradeep) and with the Jurassic Park theme still playing we were crossing through multiple tall barbed-wire electric fences into the Elephant Sanctuary, which was indeed wild, sprawling, and beautiful. This is where everything changed to Amazing.

Armored [Rhino] Butt

I was worried that this whole elephant business might be a sad, exploitative affair. Ironically, my Vegan amigos were all gung-ho and despite my being grumpy on the ride over and trying to get out of it, here I was. As soon as I saw our two big elephants waiting for us, eating bundles of greens, I got excited. They looks SO adorable, lively, fit, and I'll be damned if they weren't happy to see us and Smiling. I've seen a bunch of elephants, a bunch of them heartbreaking, but also some happy ones, indeed, but these two 40 year old babes seemed to be doing all right. In a minute we were all petting them, holding their warm thick trunks in our arms, climbing on top. And off we went! Apparently we were very lucky to come across a couple of Rhinos only minutes into our jungle tour, a momma and baby. Single-horned Rhinos, native only to Nepal I believe, are SO cool-looking! Super thick, steel grey, with leathery armored bodies. Their butts look so funny! (Video to come on my Flickr, eventually.) The land was thick forest, with prehistoric-looking growth everywhere, no paths; we just forged through the brush atop our giant elephant kings of Chitwan like timeless kings or aboriginals ourselves.

Elephant Butt

Man I'm tired now, as you probably are of reading, but an hour later and many snuggles with our purring beastly friends (or were they growling? I can't be sure), we were on our bikes again. It was suddenly dark, and we had a decent distance ahead of us to get home. And now for my epiphany, revisited...

This summer at Burning Man, the desert's dry cracked surface was mostly soft and far more difficult to bike on than in previous years, due to some late rains in the season. Many people refused to even attempt traversing the playa on bike after their first day out, as the quicksand dunes could be seen everywhere -- it just wasn't as fun. One night after running our bar for a couple hours I borrowed someone's cruiser and took-off into the night, biking like the wind, inebriated, uninhibited, and unfazed by the unfavorable playa conditions. It was then I realized that, regarding the sand dunes, what you can't see can't hold you back. So for the rest of the week I just didn't pay them any mind, and I was free.

I had an idea that this might be the case, too, on these hell roads. In the fleeting light the road looked more smooth. Darkness descended, and we could barely make out the street or its countless rocks, road-apples and ditches, but we didn't stop. Rocks went flying, we got slowed-down soft dirt, we bounced and jolted and surely had some close calls, but none more than during the daylight, and it was a lot less stressful. Miraculously we followed the strip of not-black home, and none of us busted our asses! I even think, opposed to our daytime weave to the clearest-looking patches of road, our blissfully ignorant direct path was smoother, and it went by a lot quicker.

With my eyes Off the road, I got to take-in the sights. As usual, electricity was out for miles, and I noticed all the dark homes with families within, an the rest with only a single candle (or two at the most). Oh, what a sight! Since we never bike at night, I've never yet had the pleasure to drive through towns in this minimal light. To glimpse into earthen homes lit by a single wick of fire is incredibly transcendent, just raw beautiful. All day today I've been noticing the beautiful architectural and aesthetic simplicity of the country homes, and by night they are ever more vivid. When we got back to our lightless home, I ditched my bike and lay in the hay pile. Balarm sat and spoke to me, and I could barley move, but eventually rolled over to show him video of the tiger and our jungle trip. It was all worth it. Pradeep went right to sleep (without dinner, I think!), we washed up, ate, and retired to our beds. Speaking of books, are you still reading? Sweet safari dreams!