Lassi Come Home

Hi All, Yesterday was quite a trip – we went from Hatauda in Nepal, departing at 6am, and finished the day in Gorakphur, about 100 kms south of the India-Nepal border – reaching our hotel by 7.30pm. So it was a very long and exhausting day but we covered over 300kms, and we drove through the Chitiwan National Park which was spectacular. That meant crossing some mountains and also some rain, but ‘Lassi’ did us proud and never threw in the towel once. She did need two check-ups with a mechanic as we kept losing the bolt that kept the muffler in place. Apart from that she ran like a dream which was very pleasing.

The trip so far has been amazing. Mentally and physically gruelling, but at the same time an amazing insight into other parts of the world, and mixed with times of great frustration (usually mechanically), and then some very funny moments/experiences to balance the frustrating times.

Nepal was very different to what we expected. The south eastern part of Nepal was very poor but the people are amazingly friendly and helpful. Whenever we broke down we would have a crowd of people around us helping out. We heard from one team that they could find no hotel so a local village took them in and gave them some where to sleep. The Nepal-India border crossing was also an experience – absolute chaos, people everywhere, incluing touts, money-changers, vendors, bicycle rickshaws, etc etc – and all in what you would normally consider a security zone. It seems people just cross the border with little checking going on – but I am sure there was some order to it. The customs and immigration staff on both sides seemed more interested in what we were doing on an auto-rickshaw rather than the actual formalities.

Some people have posted comments asking various questions. One was why we were pulled over by the police 5 times in Nepal – in most cases it was just to ask us who we were, say hello, shake our hands, and laugh when we told them what we were doing. All very funny!

We are now on the morning of Day 5 and we are going to have a more relaxing day – only around 120 kilometres. We are looking at heading to Faizabad and visit the town of Ayodhya – an ancient city that is the birthplace of the Hindu God, Rama. We were thinking of Lucknow but that would take another full day and we think a shorter day of driving is a good idea.

We are again writing this from an internet cafe as getting access from our notebook has been difficult – so no more photos yet. But hopefully in the next few days that will change.

Sorry for the short note, but we need to press on. And don’t forget to look for our SMS updates on the RR website – we will post regular updates here now that we have mobile phone coverage again.

Andrew & Paul