Dear All,
As was expected we have reached the beach and neglected the blog! We have actually been quite busy, preparing for the imminent arrival of our family and setting up camp. We left Pokhara behind on 19 October and the kilometres clocked so far stood at 25, 260. We saw our last view of the Fishtail mountain and some others in the Himalayan range and set off. Since Sarah and Ed had returned our laptop to us we had reloaded the Ipod with 2,500 new tunes and were looking forward to a new musical soundtrack to our journey.
Highway 28c took us towards the border post at Nepalgunj and we stopped our first night just past Butwal near a school in a forest. We kept the kids entertained with badminton raquets and a football and had some dinner before heading to bed.
The next day we arrived into Nepalgunj early afternoon, but knowing that the road after the border was one of the worst on the journey and had nowhere to stop and sleep, we stopped in the border town and planned to cross first thing in the morning. Border towns are always busy places, so earplugs at the ready we managed a good night's sleep.
We arrived at the border the next day only to be told by the Nepalis that it was closed on the Indian side for two days due to elections happening in Uttar Pradhesh. People were being allowed through on foot but no vehicles were allowed to cross. The customs man didn't want to sign our paper work to exit as we'd have been caught in no-man's land in between the two countries for two days. We decided to approach the Indian border control and ask if we could cross. We didn't believe that a British car crossing the border could have any impact on the elections. The man from the border post said 'yes', so we walked back to Nepal and got our paper work signed and our exit stamp in our passports.
There's about 1km between the two border posts and its full of little shacks, hundreds of people on bicycle, horse and carts, rickshaws, trucks and at this point in time a rather strange looking green and grey van carrying yours truly towards India. The barriers were raised, people were moved aside and we were waved through. After our passports were stamped, our Carnet de Passage filled in and stamped (customs paperwork) we entered India for our third time in twelve months.
The first stretch of road is so pot-holed, it is tiring to drive. We did our usual pattern, which is two hour driving shifts each, and we were happy to reach the capital of Uttar Pradhesh that evening. Lucknow at night time is actually a treat. Everyone was out as the elections were on and so the streets were busy. The lights illuminating cafes, shops and restaurants, the sweet smells of boiling milk fragranced with cardamon, the savoury smells of samosas being deep fried mixed with the sour smells of rubbish and the polluted river all added to the experience.
We stopped just passed Kanpur that evening and the next day passed through Agra to stop 150km west of Jaipur, the capital of Rajasthan. The next morning we were on the road by 6 and were driving past the familiar rocky hills of the Rajasthani desert landscape. If you want to see some of the proudest handlebar moustaches and beautifully coloured turbans in the world, this is your place!
We were putting in the hours. The lure of the beach and friends was too much plus the fact that we had developed a problem with the starter motor. We now stopped each evening near a hill so that we could push start the next day. The only problem with this was that once started, we couldn't stop the engine until the end of the day! When we stopped for breakfast one of us stayed in the car as the other jumped out and ran and got chai, samosas, pakora, biscuits, bananas and the like.
We have in fact become experts on samosas! Those little golden triangles of delight are very different to the greasy flat offerings at home. They are more a pyramid of short crust pastry filled to bursting with spicy potatoes and vegetables. They flavour and spice them differently at each stall you arrive at - so you never know what to expect. We probably looked like samosa by the time we arrived at Agonda! It took us around 5 days - can you believe it?!
Mandy and Steffen were actually asleep when we arrived at 1am, but not for long! After a couple of hours chatting and a few beers later, we were asleep. The next morning was everything we wanted. We woke to the sound of the waves lapping on the shore and the sea breeze coming in through the windows. As we opened the door and looked through its frame we had the beautiful deep blue of the Arabian Sea with the newly risen sun sparkling on its surface. The palm trees, the volcanic rocks, the green hills and jungle bring a rugged beauty to this beach. We made coffee and sat on the beach just taking it all in.
We enjoyed a great 5 days with Mandy and Steffen before heading to Assagao in northern Goa to see Amelie and Til and celebrate Til's birthday. A few days here; dinner on the clifftops at Little Vagator with a stunning sunset, great juices at the juice bar in Chapora, meeting new friends and old in their gracious old Portugese villa and just hanging out. We returned to Agonda; this time we were alone, for a month until the next Overlanders joined us.
In the next blog update I'll give you the low-down on our 4 months in Agonda, but for now, that's all folks!!
As was expected we have reached the beach and neglected the blog! We have actually been quite busy, preparing for the imminent arrival of our family and setting up camp. We left Pokhara behind on 19 October and the kilometres clocked so far stood at 25, 260. We saw our last view of the Fishtail mountain and some others in the Himalayan range and set off. Since Sarah and Ed had returned our laptop to us we had reloaded the Ipod with 2,500 new tunes and were looking forward to a new musical soundtrack to our journey.
Highway 28c took us towards the border post at Nepalgunj and we stopped our first night just past Butwal near a school in a forest. We kept the kids entertained with badminton raquets and a football and had some dinner before heading to bed.
The next day we arrived into Nepalgunj early afternoon, but knowing that the road after the border was one of the worst on the journey and had nowhere to stop and sleep, we stopped in the border town and planned to cross first thing in the morning. Border towns are always busy places, so earplugs at the ready we managed a good night's sleep.
We arrived at the border the next day only to be told by the Nepalis that it was closed on the Indian side for two days due to elections happening in Uttar Pradhesh. People were being allowed through on foot but no vehicles were allowed to cross. The customs man didn't want to sign our paper work to exit as we'd have been caught in no-man's land in between the two countries for two days. We decided to approach the Indian border control and ask if we could cross. We didn't believe that a British car crossing the border could have any impact on the elections. The man from the border post said 'yes', so we walked back to Nepal and got our paper work signed and our exit stamp in our passports.
There's about 1km between the two border posts and its full of little shacks, hundreds of people on bicycle, horse and carts, rickshaws, trucks and at this point in time a rather strange looking green and grey van carrying yours truly towards India. The barriers were raised, people were moved aside and we were waved through. After our passports were stamped, our Carnet de Passage filled in and stamped (customs paperwork) we entered India for our third time in twelve months.
The first stretch of road is so pot-holed, it is tiring to drive. We did our usual pattern, which is two hour driving shifts each, and we were happy to reach the capital of Uttar Pradhesh that evening. Lucknow at night time is actually a treat. Everyone was out as the elections were on and so the streets were busy. The lights illuminating cafes, shops and restaurants, the sweet smells of boiling milk fragranced with cardamon, the savoury smells of samosas being deep fried mixed with the sour smells of rubbish and the polluted river all added to the experience.
We stopped just passed Kanpur that evening and the next day passed through Agra to stop 150km west of Jaipur, the capital of Rajasthan. The next morning we were on the road by 6 and were driving past the familiar rocky hills of the Rajasthani desert landscape. If you want to see some of the proudest handlebar moustaches and beautifully coloured turbans in the world, this is your place!
We were putting in the hours. The lure of the beach and friends was too much plus the fact that we had developed a problem with the starter motor. We now stopped each evening near a hill so that we could push start the next day. The only problem with this was that once started, we couldn't stop the engine until the end of the day! When we stopped for breakfast one of us stayed in the car as the other jumped out and ran and got chai, samosas, pakora, biscuits, bananas and the like.
We have in fact become experts on samosas! Those little golden triangles of delight are very different to the greasy flat offerings at home. They are more a pyramid of short crust pastry filled to bursting with spicy potatoes and vegetables. They flavour and spice them differently at each stall you arrive at - so you never know what to expect. We probably looked like samosa by the time we arrived at Agonda! It took us around 5 days - can you believe it?!
Mandy and Steffen were actually asleep when we arrived at 1am, but not for long! After a couple of hours chatting and a few beers later, we were asleep. The next morning was everything we wanted. We woke to the sound of the waves lapping on the shore and the sea breeze coming in through the windows. As we opened the door and looked through its frame we had the beautiful deep blue of the Arabian Sea with the newly risen sun sparkling on its surface. The palm trees, the volcanic rocks, the green hills and jungle bring a rugged beauty to this beach. We made coffee and sat on the beach just taking it all in.
We enjoyed a great 5 days with Mandy and Steffen before heading to Assagao in northern Goa to see Amelie and Til and celebrate Til's birthday. A few days here; dinner on the clifftops at Little Vagator with a stunning sunset, great juices at the juice bar in Chapora, meeting new friends and old in their gracious old Portugese villa and just hanging out. We returned to Agonda; this time we were alone, for a month until the next Overlanders joined us.
In the next blog update I'll give you the low-down on our 4 months in Agonda, but for now, that's all folks!!
