Day 55: Pokhara

Surprisingly, we got off to the day with an early start; we wanted to have a sunrise ride on our way to Pokhara. The drive actually ended up being much shorter than expected and we were able to get into the town by brunch time. The drive in was amazing. Descending into the valley through the fog was unbelievable with some of the mountain tops still above the fog. The fog was so bad, multiple times I had to pull over to wipe off my glasses from the water residue. Small villages and sprawling rice fields followed us the whole way into town.

Pokhara is seen as like the gateway to trekking west of Kathmandu. There isn't much to do here except paragliding and amateur trekking. Nothing that fancied our tastebuds. We were able to find a local biker bar that is run by a British lady to gather some good advice as to what to do next. We learned that the road ahead is one of the toughest roads in the world and is going to provide us with a slow but beautiful ride worth dying for. I question that statement, but only time will tell.

In Nepal there is currently a gas shortage, so lines at the gas station were as long as 4 hours. We waited for about 45 minutes only to have the station run out of fuel. Among our litany of supplies, we acquired two 10 liter fuel cartons in case we are running low in the middle of no where.

Heavy rain in the afternoon kept us in the bar chatting it up with locals, complaining about gas shortages and contemplating on alternates routes if our motorcycles can't make the journey.

Learning how to drive a motorcycle in Nepal has been a serious crash course into driving. Not only are we on the left hand side of the road, but the roads are just as crazy as other place I have been. Once out of the city, we were confronted with windy roads and big trucks to pass. When we get closer to a town or village we are squeezing past other motorcycles/cars and oncoming traffic. Gets the heart racing, but just shows that there is a hierarchy on the road and motorcycles/mopeds are near the top; everyone is trying to get out of our way. When I get back to the states and if I apply for a motorcycle lesson, I could probably teach my instructor a thing or two, yet we still can't figure out how to properly shift into neutral. Not as easy as you would think.

From what we have learned, the roads ahead are about to be rough and long. Should be about 4-6 days until we make it back to Pokhara and we will be staying in villages along the way; we may not even be able to make it to our destination, but then again, it's not about the destination but the journey along the way. What will Nepal throw at us?

Only time will tell and anything is possible.