|
More info about the
expedition
Diary
Everest off-road expedition 2003
Kathmandu
Everest report: 1 – 2003-08-02
So, now I’m in Kathmandu after a long journey. It’s raining
of course, and it is very humid. I’m glad I brought waterproofs
with me. I met up wit the danish people, they had been out today testing
the bikes. I also had a quick go when we took the bikes to the garage
(a shed with tin roof). There I left all the heavy duty Bridgestone
innertubes, which we will be starting to change tomorrow. Kathmnadu
is a very intens town, narrow streets and many little shops and restaurants.
Many shops sell hiking and mountaineering stuff. Traffic is hectic and
the horn is used all the time, often instead of breaking. Mopeds and
motorcycles are very common, and they are strange makes…
Katkmandu (1320 m)
Everest report: 2 – 2003-08-03
Today we rode 160 km to test the bikes and get the team going. Beautiful
sunny day, but very humid after last nights rain. Got up at 7, the I
got to ride the XL250 with the “Dakar-tank”, 20 liters wich
is the back-up for all the others. The first bit out of Kathmandu was
hysterical, millions of different type vechicles and left hand traffic.
They drive like crazy and I was ready to “ditch” in case of
a frontal crash. Outside Kathmandu we stopped for a nice brakfast at
a hotel clinging on the mountain side. The mountains are absolutely
fantastic, bright green. Snce it has been raining a lot and there has
been landslides, we had to ask the locals if the roads were open. The
tracks were wet and deeply rutted, slippery with red mud. Our Nepalese
guide crashed in a muddy rut and injured his left hand, so now he cant
bilke with us… (I managed to stay on the bike). In a village we
came to a rivercrossing, water came way up to my thighs. I took my bike
and Hennings across (he didn’t want to wet his boots). It was abit
tricky at first before I knew the good line through. We had lunch there
before continuing climbing up and down the winding mountain tracks back
to the main road to Kathmandu. The scariest ride was the trafick back,
now it was hysterical and chaotic. I could meet traffic on any side
of the road now… without the horn I wouldn’t have survived.
Kathmandu
Everest report 3 – 2003-08-04 (38 Celsius)
Now everyone in the expedition team has arrived. That is dansih Henning,
Ajs, Christina and Lisbeth, and Swedish me. Krishna who injured his
hand yesterday, will not ride the bike, instead the mechanic takes his.
Krishna and Karsten (who is a dansih TV-reporter) will be in the jeep.
In the morning I took my bike to the garage so the mechanic. The bikes
are in Nepalese standard, so I focused on the most important things
– front brake and footrest. I also helped Lisbeth taking her bike
to the mechanic, because she got a stomach disease and stayed in bed.
Then we went shopping some equipment, ie sandals wich will come handey
when visiting toilets in Tibet, which can be very filthy…
In the evening we had a pressmeeting with the local press, all the newspapers
and also TV station was here. Henning had invited Shanti Karanjit from
Electric Vehicle Association of Nepal (EVAN), who he is cooperating
with in a project to promote electric vehicles in Nepal. Now there are
more than 600 EVANs in Kathmandu, and they hope to show to the government
that this is an important development. Henning has for many years worked
with an american organisation which puts focus on air pollution (ie.
in Mexico City), and develops electric engines. Thanks to this Nepal
has prohibited the small diesel engines that pollute, and also 2-stroke
engines. Also Nepal is starting to measure exhausts, so the old TATA
trucks will be taken out of traffic further on because they are polluting
too much. And now imported motorbikes must be at EU-standard. So they
have achieveed a lot. The next step is education for the new Nepalese
generation.
Kathmandu
Everest report 4 – 2003-08-05
Last day in Kathmandu. Slept in, then we had a meeting about packing
our equipment (what to bring on the bike and what to go in the jeep).
We wont see the jeep very much during the day, but meet it in the evening
stop. So the essential things we need to put on the bikes. We also got
our Tibet visas, and then signed the bike rental papers. Last minute
shopping in the afternoon, some guys needed sleeping bags. Then packing,
my personal stuff to go on the bike: sleeping bag, rainjacket/pants,
toothbrush/shampoo, t-shirt/pants/underwear, sandals, first aid+medicine.
In the jeep goes spareparts, full first aid kit with portable high altitude
chamber and the rest of our stuff.
Big dinner to fill up the batteries, later on the meals will not be
of this quality.
Bedtime at 10.30, because it is wake up 05.30 tomorrow… the adventure
starts soon!
Nyalam
Everest report 5 - 2003-08-06
Expedition Day 1: Kathmandu\Nepal - Nyalam\Tibet (190 km)
Set off at 07.00 through ligt moring traffic in Kat. One bike had carb
problems (floaters jamming), but was easily fixed. We had an easy first
climb up to where the dirtroad started. Temperature rising to 35-38
Celsius and I rode in t-shirt and chestprotector. The track was varied
and at several points landslides had destryed parts of it, but the bikeas
easily got through. We reached the border on the Nepalese side and handed
in our passports, and waited... Rode a bit further and waited at the
Friendship Bridge (1770 m above sea), the bridge crossing the river
parting Nepal and Tibet. Some mor waiting. Then we had to ride 10 km
throug "no mans land" befor the final border checkponit inti
Chines Tibet. The differnece to Nepal was big, many uniformed men standing
at the border and no-one suddenly understood english. The ride from
here was FANTASTIC. Steep mountainsides coverd in tress and bushes,
sharp cliffs and waterfalls, everything wrapped in a mystic mist. Like
a fairytail. It started raining a little but was still warm so ridng
was still fabulous. Passing about 3000 m the landscape changed and the
mountains mwere more desert like, only rocks.
Temperature fell so I started freezing. We reached Nyalam (3600 m) in
the evening and checked in to a very simple guesthouse. In Nyalam there
isn't much and people are very poor. I wouldnt like to be here in the
winter because already now it was pretty cold at night. Som of the teame
felt the altidude and got headache, I just felt my cold coming back
strongly. We had a very nice dinner, so no complaints there, before
getting to bed in our warm sleepingbags. Somewhere they were playing
music till 3-4 in the morning.
Lhatze
Everest report 6 - 2003-08-07
Expedition day 2: Nyalam-Lhatze (260 km)
Today was a tough day, 260 km across two passes of 5000 m. Some had
headache this morning, but I felt much better from yesterdays. But my
neck was stiff from gettig cold yesterday and the bad riding position.
The bikes are more road type with low seat/handlebars, but I got rid
of the mirrors at least. The first pass was almost 5200 m, and I felt
Ok there. But my neck was getting wors, spreading to a headache. Halfway
the mechanic's bike ceased, and a little later Lisbeth's also stopped.
I towed her to Tingri (4400m)wher we had lunch. I felt worse and we
thought it was altidude illnes, so I got som Oxygen and a headache pill.
I felt better and we continued to the second pass at 5100 m. Hennings
bike almost didn't move, but he managed and from there it was downhill
to Lhatze at 3600 m. I got into my room with a vey bad headache(left
side behind my left eye) typicla migrane. I searched for my medicine,
but oit was in the truch which hadn't arrived yet. I felt sick and tried
to get in to the bathrom, where I found a cracked toilet and bath not
in use, and broken tiles on the floor. I turend around to get the wash
bowl and banged my face. There I passed out, and woke up with nose bleed
and everyone standing around me worried. They pu me in the altitude
chamber because they thought it was this causing my problkem, and I
only wanted my migrane pills. So I was stuck in the chamber for 1 hour
without water and still my headache. When I got out and had medicine,
food/drink I felt pretty OK. But I have cut across my nose. Don't wanna
do this again. Everyone have been vey nice taking care of me, an the
Tibetan guide said a prayer and gave me a lucky charm.
Shigatze (4000 m)
Everest report 7 - 2003-08-08
Expedition day 3: Lhatze-Shigaze (150 km)
Everybody was quite tired today, and especially wooried about me. But
I felt OK, still slightly stiff neck and also a little pain across my
nose where I have the cut. We decided to skip the Shakya Monastery,
and drive directly 150 km to Shigatze. The gravel road was ok, butr
extremely dusty. When meeting a truck I had to stop and wait til dthe
dust cleared. Sometimes it was wide and washboard type, which means
everything rattles. Normally you spped up to avoid the ratteling, but
my bike only does 85-90 on gravel, so I rattled with the bike. After
a while the chain jumped off. I put it back, and saw it was too slack.
The mechanic fixed it and also checked the others. Soon the chain came
off again, and I put it back with a stone. The third time it came off
I saw the sprocket was bad, so we had to overtighten the chain to make
it stay on to Shigatze. Later we drove across a pass of 4950 m, and
now I couldn't feel the altitude at all. Shigatze (at 4000 m) is a quite
big town with monastery and everything, and we checked in to a nice
hotel with a bath and TV. So now I could shower for the first time in
3 days. That's luxury. And watch all Chinese TV. (Do you know they have
a custom bike called KTM here?) In the afternoon I had a briefing with
Krishna, Henning and the mechanic about what to do on the bikes every
dan and HoOW to do it.
Gyantse (3950 möh)
Everest report 8: 2003-08-09
Expedition day 4: Shigatze-Gyantse (90 km)
Today we had a sleep in, because the ride was short. We also met austrian
Josef Pichler (www.josef-pichler.at)
who was out on a 7 week long motorbike tour through Tibet with his wife.
He had some good tips to share...
Before lunch Henning and I had a briefing with the mechanic how to and
what to do when servicing the bikes. The poor Nepalese mechaninc has
never been working in these conditions, and didn't know the importancy
of checking airfilters, chain slack, bolts etc (one subframe came loose
the other day). We made a checklist for him which was translated into
Nepalese. At 1 pm we left Shigatze for the easy 90 km on paved road
to Gyantse. My bike got up to 100 km/hour now. The hotel in Gyantse
(at 3950 m) was also nice, and beside it was a resturant with continental
menu. We instantly ordered pizza. In the afternoon we did the tourist
tour visitng the Kumbum Monastery, built 1418. It's one of the biggest
in Tibet, and there wer countless of Buddha statues. I bought a blessed
lucky charm there to give to our TIbetan guide, who had given his to
me when I was sick. Now I thought he needed one of his own.
In the everning I had Tibetan special Yak-burger for dinner, thet is
Yak-meat between two toastbread. Really nice.
Lhasa
Everest report 9: 2003-08-10
Expedition day 5: Gyantze – Lhasa (280 km)
Start at dawn because of the long ride to Lhasa, the capital of Tibet..After
riding on the washboard grave a while the bolt on my gearshifter broke.
It was easily fixed, but I can tell you washboard roads vibrates everything
to pieces. Already at 11 we had lunch beside a beautiful lake, and got
accompanied by grazing cows. I fed one cow a bit of my lunch and it
ended up being so friendly it dived into my backpack. Ajs and I decide
to try some real offroad, and take our bikes up the grass hill where
the cows are grazing. It looked easy from below, but half way up it
got much steeper. I had to zig-zag my way and finally it was so steep
my foot peg got caught when traversing. That was as steep as I could
go so I had to turn back again. It was hard but I didn’t loose
my breath completely. Good practice for the Everest climb. After lunch
we continued along the lake, climbing on serpentine track up the mountain
to a pass of 4950 m. Beautiful scenery! Then it was downhill again,
but tricky with rolling gravel. Henning felt it close when loosing the
bike in a corner. Approx 100 km out of Lhasa we got onto tarmac. And
just there beside the road I saw some sand dunes! I couldn’t resist,
turned off the road and into the dunes. Ajs followed me and we span
around for a while.I had full throttle and 1:st gear, and hardly moved,
sometimes I got into 2:nd but my bike was too tired. Ajs bike was much
stronger and he even could ride a little uphill. Notice that at 4000
m the engine looses half of its power. Say my bike had 24 hp when new,
it only has 12 now – and I doubt it even has 10 since these bikes
are not very well maintained. This is a worry concidering the record
attempt.
After the sandriding, we head for the nice hotel in Lhasa at 3600 m.
Lhasa
Everest report 10: 2003-08-11
Expedition day: 6 (rest day Lhasa)
Because I still got my cold, I went to the “Peoples Hospital”
in Lhasa, and people were sittin in long rows in the corridirs. I thought
of all the diseases I could catch just by sitting ther waiting. The
doctor checked me with a stetoscope and decided I needed to see a specilist
– the “Iris analysist” who controlled my eyes. She used
a strong light and looked intensly, and was worried. I was sent back
to the first doctor who told me I was seriously ill, and high altitudes
are dangerous for me. I need to stay in hospital for one week for observation.
I have an unbalance in my body caused by a disease I had 3 years ago
(!). This sounds like a death penalty. I cant saty here, after this
short check up. No, I’m out of here, and I have to sign the doctor’s
paper I’m leaving at my own risk. Then we have lunch and decide
I need a second opinon, so we go to the “Municipal hospital”,
which is of a different class. There I’m checked by stetoscope
again, then sent to X-ray of my lungs. The X-ray shows nothing wrong
with my lungs – yippee!. Then the do a blood test which shows nothing
strange. The doctor prescribes a strong penicillin cure, injected in
my arm together with glucose solution. Also I have to take penicllin
for 5 days. After getting back from hospital I went straight to bed
totally exhausted. Later I get high fever so I guess the medicin started
to kick in.
Lhasa
Everest report 11: 2003-08-12
Expedition day: 7 (rest day in Lhasa)
Stayed in bed most of the day, fellt better in the evening and had a
real dinner. But my stomach isn’t very happy with the strong medicine…
Someone has backed a car into my bike so the subframe is bent downwards,
needs to be fixed. Also the jet needle is lowered a little.
Shigatze
Everest report 12: 2003-08-13
Expedition day 8: Lhasa-Shigatze (280 km)
Today I made a really tactical decision, the ride was 280 km mostly
tarmac + boring, so I chose to go in the jeep and have an extra day
of recovery. It really isn't my style, I usuall want to "do it
all" but this is not a race, and my main goal is Mt Everest. So
the decision ws quite easy. Also saving my bike which has new sprockets
and chain. It prooved to be a good decision, 1 hours drive out of Lhasa
Ajs bike had stopped, the front sprocket came off. It was welded (Nepalese
style because they dont have the right spare parts) and the welding
broke. So his bike joined mine on the truck and he continued on the
spare one. I was happy I went in the jeep. there I could enjoy the tibetan
scenery
and by lunchtime I was really hungry. We stopped at a foodplace beside
the road and had chinese/tibetan disches with rice, to be eaten with
chopsticks. I have studied the chopstic-technique and was very proud
I could handle them with almost local precision. The last bit into Shigaze
was very dusty, bumpy and hot as we arrived about 3 pm. In the afternoon
I walked around town feeling the athmpshere, looking into strange little
shops etc, as I missed out on that in Lhasa... Tonight I'll go to bed
early becaus tomorrow we drive all the way to the crossroad leading
up to Base Camp!!
And I feel much better now.
Tingri
Everest report: 13 2003-08-14
Expedition day 9: Shigatze-Tingri
Yesterday the carb was changed on my bike to work in thinner air and
it was shooting and spitting when we set off. The firts kms out of town
were very bad due to roadworrks. After a while Christina and I swapped
bikes. Her XL250 had much better suspension and was lighter, but max
speed was only 70km/h. It was also easier to stand on it bacaus the
chassi was more ”offroad”. Then I swapped with Lisbeth, her
XL250 had both much better suspension and more power, but the handle
bar was bent. Finally I tried Ajs bike, it was the newest and best,
had most power and best suspension of them all. It was fun to test the
other bikes. After lunch I had my bike back, but it wasn’t woking
very well. We had to stop and clean the airfilter so I could cross the
high pass into Qomolongma National Park (Qomolongma is Mt Everest in
Chinese). When we arrived to Tingri we were only 100 km from the BC.
And this was the last night in a hotel with shower on the tour.
Base Camp (5150 m)
Everest report 14: 2003-08-15
Expedition day 10: Tingri – Base Camp
It was unbelievable to se the road sign at the turnoff to Mt Everest.
After a couple of km there was a checkpint where we had to wait to show
our permits to the guards. Then we continued up a winding gravel road
and across another pass. At the top of the pass we could see the Mt
Everest top for the first time. The road continued down to a little
village, then along the river in the valley, slowly climbing up to Base
Camp. The road was in good condition and many locals were working on
it, the chinese governement are paying them. At 3 pm we arrived to BC
and we could see Mt Everest clearly in the sunny weather. Just imagine
that from BC at 5150 m it is still another 3700m to the summit... I
had to just sit quietly and admire the view. Simply talking at this
altitude makes you loose your breath.
The BC consisted of 15 tents, and not at all that polluted I had expected.
Outside the tents that were guesthouses I could see small rubbish piles,
put not just flying around - that was nice. We put our equipment in
a shed, and on the walls I could read ”hour-plans” from previous
expeditions. This reminded me what we were up to…
We had dinner in one of the guesthouse-tents, and the choise was pancake
or noodles. After I just relaxed in the sun.
Later we got permission to go out and check the terrain a bit. There
was a river a couple of hundred m further, and I wanted to cross it
and see how we could get up on the rocky bank on the other side. At
this hour the river was quite rapid due to melting snow up on the mountain.
I found a more shallow spot and plunged in on my bike. I got across
the first bit but there were more little river crossings and I waited
for Ajs. But he was shouting that we shouldn’t go across now, only
look. So I had to turn back. At 8 pm we were back in the BC and I felt
very exhausted and tired. Henning was not feeling well, so he, Krishna
and I went down 200m to the Rongbuk Monastery to sleep.
Base Camp (5150 m)
Everest report 15: 2003-08-16
Expedition day 11: BC
Again beautiful sunshine over the Mt E and I could see where the Rongbuk
Glaciere ended in the distance. There was some problems with our permits,
we had paid for our permits for everyone, but now they wanted 400 USD
more per person and day. With a package cigarettes we could get 2 bikes
pass today. It was a bit frustrating not all of us could go. It was
decided Lisbeth and Ajs went, because Lisbeth wanted to try the rivercrossing
which worried her. The river was calm this early of the day and there
was no problem. They were gone for a couple of hours, but they stopped
when the rocky bit started. When they came back we studied the map and
a tibetan guide helped us plotting the track. He told us there was only
one possible way, and we were not going to be able to cross the river
at approx 4 km further. I was very disappointed when I realized we would
not be able to reach much higher than 5500 m, and only had one day to
do it. Then Krishna showed us ho the oxygen worked. In the evening Henning,
Christina and I went down to village below Rongbuk Monastery to sleep,
to give our bodies a good nights recovery. Later a thunderstorm came,
with rain. We realized it would be snowing up in the mountain, worst
possible condition for our expedition.
Base Camp (5150 m)
Everest report 16: 2003-08-17
Expedition day 12: BC- Record attempt
We woke up very early to get to BC at dawn so we had as much daylight
during the offroad climb. It was still shit weather, snow, fog, rain
and really cold. Really terrible.. Christina didn’t feel well when
we came up to BC again, but I felt quite OK. We had lost valuable time
on the way up, because the back-up jeep had fuel problems and we were
stuck for a while. I felt a bit worried about loosing time. At BC we
discussed about the conditions for our climb attempt and it almost felt
like some in the team didn’t feel very tempted. But I had deciced
to go, no matter what weather. I just had to put on more clothes and
waterproofs, and go for it. Today was our only chance to do it, no way
I was going to sit there not even trying. So there was 4 of us leaving
Bc at 10am, Christina and Henning who both felt better, Ajs and I. Krishna
and the two Tibetan guides walked along with us. The water level in
the river was low so everyone crossed without getting wet. We rode along
the rocky slopes until it started to get tricky and we had our first
stop. Then Henning took the lead on the narrow trail, that was very
rocky in some parts. Then we reached a steeper climb with gravel, and
my bike could not get up it even if I had full throttle, the bike was
too heavy and too tired. I slid backwards and stopped below. I realised
that if the bike would not make this fairly easy climb, my day would
end here. Really I should need an ultra light trials bike, specially
prepped for this, instead of a 21-year old, too heavy and too weak and
poorly mainatined one. But this was not an option here. I concidered
taking one of the spare bikes instead but the mechanic thought my bike
still was better than the others, so instead we removed the airfilter
on mine so it would get more air. It worked a little better and made
the climb. There I stopped and rested, it is really exhausting at this
altitudes… 5170 m. We had only climbed 20 m above BC. Now it got
rockier and harder, and more boulders. I wonderes what kind of environmental
devastation us 4 could possiblly make here - not even a mega sized bulldozer
would manage ruining anything… The terrain was difficult and I
could only ride whilst paddeling for 50-100 m before having to stop,
rest and drink. We reached 5264 after approx 2 hours, and this was a
new ”group record” with motorcycle on the Mt Everest north
side!! The bad weather got worse and the rain and wind increased, so
Henning decided to go back because he didn’t enjoy it anymore.
Ajs thought both Christina and I should go with him because he thought
we were too tired to continue, but we wanted to go on. Slowly we continued,
sometimes walking ahead to check out the easiest way moving some rocks,
and then going back to get the bike. At one point we had to get over
a big rock and the tiberatn guides had to help us push the bikes. Then
we rached a more open plateau where we stopped to rest and look for
the best way to continue. The problem now was that the only narrow trail
consited of big rocks, where it looked almost impossible to drive our
tired bikes through because we would get stuck all the time. After this
there was a fairly steep gravel climb also with some big rocks. I estimated
that if we could reach the top of the gravel climb it would be 5300
m, which I felt I wanted to reach instead of having to turn back from
here at 5290 m. Those 10 m were very important… The long stop here
made me get cold and we were running out of time. But the Ajs continued
with the tibetan guides helping to push through the hardest rocky bits.
Christina and I walked along to move rocks and look for the easiest
way. I thougt I could make it, but Christina was too tired, so I had
to go back alone to get my bike. Because the tibetans were ahead of
me I had to get through the rocky bit on my own. I was almost through
it when my bike gut stuck between two big rocks, so I had to signal
my horn so the tibetan guides would come and help me lift the bike –
damn it was heavy! So now I was at the last climb up to 5300 m, but
Ajs came to tell me I was stupid trying to get up there and that he
was a competitive person who would go as far he could to beat me…
as if this would stop me(?). With pure anger I drove up the climb with
no problem and saw the altitude meter: 5305 m. Now I am the girl who
has reached the highest on Mt Everest north side on a motorcycle –
YIPPEEE! I took photos of me, the altitudemeter and the bike. Unfortunately
I could not see Mt Everest because of the clouds, but I saw the glacier
only a couple of hundred meters further on, where I think the East Rongbuk
river runs.
There was no chance of going further, we had to go back to BC before
it got dark and we only had the one day climb permit. Now I had to go
all the way back…
It was easier to go back, but I started to get headache of all the starin
in the thin air. On the way back a Yak-caravan and hikers overtook me.
They had been up to Camp3. The yaks managed the terrain perfectly and
easily – they are simply the ultimate mountain climb vehicles!
Talked a little to the hikers and they said it would have been impossible
for us to cross the East Rongbuk river with motorcycles. This was a
little comfort, because now I realized that even if I had had a newer,
stronger and lighter bike, I wouldn’t have reached very much higher
than what I did now. Below I could now see the BC and I felt relieved,
soon the mission was accomplished. There is a big difference in the
feeling when crossing the finishline in a race, because then you gan
give it all you have to the finishline. Here when reaching 5305 m, I
had to consider having strengt to go back to BC again. In the evening
Henning fried egges and potatoes to celebrate. First day without rice
or noodles on this trip!
Nyalam
Everest report 17: 2003-08-18
Expedition day 13: Rongbuk-Nyalam
Today we took the back road from Everest to Tingri, and the further
on to Nyalam close to the border. This was the best biking of the tour,
the road was very bad and sometimes hardly visible, also many river
crossings. I had to stop and ask local people sometimes to find the
way, also some kids had a ride on the back of my bike. 10 km outside
Tingri we turned off the main track to find a very small track up to
a mountain pass, which we had seen on the map. We hoped it would be
approx 5700 m but it turned out be much lower. On the way up Christina’s
bike ceased and had to be towed down to the truck. The gravel road from
Tingri to Nyalam was quite boring now after the fun biking in the morning.
There was a strong head wind and also raining again and quite cold.
When coming down a high pass I saw some shortcuts going straight down
the mountain side instead of winding along it. I remebered these from
when coming to Tingri. I decided to turn of the main track and just
follow my own ”inbuilt-compass”, and hope I would catch the
main road again. It was quite steep and my front brake was really bad
all lubricated from leeking fork oil, what a thrill… I almost thought
I was lost when getting onto the road again, because I had to wait for
the others a while. From here it was downhill almost all the way to
Nyalam. When arriving everyone was very cold except me, my gore-tex
kit worked perfectly. In the evening my front brake pads had to be changed.
Kathmandu
Everest report 18: 2003-08-19
Expedition day 14: Nyalam-Kathmandu
Still rainig in the morning. I just started riding when I realized I
had no front brake at all – the mechanic had forgot to connect
the cable… scary since we had a steep and winding descent down
to the border. But when this was fixed the ride was really fun. Then
the throttle jammed on full, but I decided to continue down to the border
and have it fixed ther instead of standing out here in the rain. I mean
the bike is so slow, that full throttle really isn’t ”full
throttle”. Anyway I raced down for while until I realized my subframe
had cracked and was coming off. Now I had to stop in the rain and wait
for the mechanic. It was only a couple of km to the border and we got
reports from the locals that the road was gone in a huge landslide.
And indeed it was a big landslide, big rocks, boulders and trees had
fallen across the road. It was inpossible to go past so we had to rope
the bikes one by one down to where the road continued below. Our luggage
was also carried from the jeep. Henning came off the bike when he hit
a section of the road that had sunken a bit. When the front wheel hit
the soft bit, the road gave way and he flew over the handlebars. He
hurt his foot but could continue.At the border we heard of more landslides
in Nepal, but we could get past them without too much problems. Then
we only had 70 km to Kathmandu and Ajs decided to go ahead, and Lisbeth
followed him. Christina and I stayed with Henning. Just before arriving
to Kathmandu we cought up with Lisbeth who didn’t find her way
into town. I took the lead but already in the first junction noticed
noone was following. I turned back and saw a big crowd on the road and
Lisbeth’s bike was lying on the ground. A woman had crossed the
road and her long dress cought lisbeth’s front wheel and they both
fell. Typical that this should happen on the very last day – and
it felt like all shit happened today. The police took the bike, the
woman was sent to hospital and Christina gave lisbeth a ride to the
hotel. We parked the bikes and I was happy my 21-year old Honda XL250
had made it all the way 200 km, and set a record – that is bullet
proof to me! (Even if it started to fall to pieces today.)
In the evening we feasted on steak and french fries, which tasted fantastic
after our rice and noodles diet for 2 weeks. Now the expedition was
finished!
|
'
