Nepal proved to be a welcome retreat from the mayhem of life on the road in India with the Nepalese people proving to be a lot more laid back and aware of the ways of westerners. We entered Nepal at Mahendranegar in the far west and spent four enjoyable days riding along the Terai plain in the shadow of the The Himalayas. The countryside is fairly unpopulated and we were spoilt for choice as far as good campsites went. As most tourists fly into Nepal the roads aren't great and there's about half a dozen decent size rivers to cross that would make this route impassable after heavy rains. Once we arrived in Pokhara it was time to park the bikes up for a couple of weeks and get closer to some of those great snow capped peaks we'd been admiring from afar. For me trekking in the Himalayas was not just one of the highlights of the trip but my entire life, and sort of felt like a holiday from my journey. Definitely a must do. In Katmandu there's a motorcycle shop that has a good selection of accessories and can get large capacity Japanese and European bike parts and tyres to order. I was finally able to get some chain lubricating spray here after not seeing any for sale since Istanbul. If you don't want to be waiting around for parts not readily available you can do what my friend did, carrying a spare 17" rear tyre for his bike all the way from England to India without too much difficulty. If you plan to enter or exit Nepal at Rauxal, south of Katmandu, then you will have to ride through the Indian state of Bihar which is one of the poorest in India and has roads to match. At it's worst you will find yourself faced with a sea of potholes deep enough to swallow your bike that you must find a path through, reducing your speed to 30 kph and leaving both you and the bike feeling shaken to near death. The day we rode through Bihar we were battling with stomach problems and a few indecisions on what direction the trip should take. The roads nearly finished us off and it was probably the only time on the whole journey that I felt I didn't want to be there doing what I was doing. You have been warned.
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