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| Pokhara, Nepal |
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Week 132 October 3rd 2013 |
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There's Kathmandu, and there's Pokhara.
We need Kathmandu to apply for India Visas, which will take a week.
We need Pokhara for a rest, which we think should take forever.
We'll head for Pokhara, and come back to Kathmandu.
In the meantime we have narrow twisty roads and lots of villages and towns.
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A reminder of how goods are moved in Nepal. |
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We are getting closer to Kathmandu.
There's a ring road somewhere.
Our map is a copy of googlemaps organised for Oziexplorer.
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We are on the ring road. |
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Then eventually the road to Pokhara.
We missed the signpost.
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Nepali trucks aren't like Chinese trucks.
Indian made Tata.
And decorated. |
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The police are the sort of police where its ok to simply stop next to them and
ask directions.
Just one of a plethora of cultural differences.
It took an hour or so to pass the stricken truck.
Our average speed is less than 30 km/hr.
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The rafters overtook us. |
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The valley opens out as we approach Pokhara. |
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A brief stop at an ATM and onward to the camping ground at
the head of the lake. |
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Past the hang glider landing ground. |
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Around the edge of the lake.
50 Nrps "road tax". |
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What have I told you about driving while tired?
Simply lost concentration while a vehicle came the other way. A strange
feeling of discomfort as the angle of the truck increased before coming to
a stop.
There's a soggy looking rice paddy below the truck.
Scary images of how to pull Ali out of the water if we rolled all the
way.
We fell off in daylight, it just took a couple of hours before the
truck was stable enough to retrieve the camera and a few other essentials.
A lot of support from the diffs on the lip of the road probably stopped
us falling over. |
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Slowly, slowly.
Dug grooves in the road for the high side wheels. Placed large stones
on the bank under the low side wheels. A bit like putting a de-railed loco
back on the rails (yup, I've done that too!).
As we hand winched the front the rear was tending to slide down the
bank. The grooves in the road aren't quite sufficient and the bank is very
soft.
Second winch required. Taxi back to town, workers went for lunch.
We would have had a similar problem pulling out backwards. There wasn't
sufficient traction to steer.
Winches were attached to 1.5m long 50mm bars hammered into the road.
Somehow the torch lent by the farmer became the property of the
policeman and my financial responsibility! |
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Then slowly and steadily, a centimetre at a time (yes Ali,
its moving), it became more upright.
The rain is relatively light. |
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And then I could drive the last couple of meters.
About nine hours from start to finish.
One of those situations where it may have been useful to have our own
winch, but it wouldn't have been sufficient.
One of those minor incidents that could so easily have been major. |
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Erich and his brother in law from the Overlander Camp had
stayed with us the whole time, translated and helped.
Very useful when one of the chains was wrapped around the back axle and
brake pipe.
We reached our oasis about 2am.
Now we can rest .... hopefully go for a walk, and attend to the longish
maintenance list.
Accompanied by '70's rock music to complete the picture of a hippie
paradise. We'll find out later if its been lost! |
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| Pokhara, Nepal |
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Week 132 - 136 October 4th - November 3rd 2013 |
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| Comments | | Home |
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| Lorraine | | Fri, 04 Oct 13 09:05:41 +1000 |
| Gee - glad you are OK after that. Your campsite looks nice though - should be ideal to regather. Lorraine |
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| Rob | | Fri, 04 Oct 13 10:37:06 +1000 |
| Yikes, that looked a bit hairy. Interesting that you used DIY "ground anchors" |
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| Jean Jacques et Babette | | Fri, 04 Oct 13 18:36:19 +1000 |
Bonjour, nous sommes très content de vous retrouver,il faut prendre du repos la route est longue.
Amicalement
J J et Babette |
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| Ian & Jan | | Sun, 06 Oct 13 05:23:37 +1100 |
WOW! OMG!! Glad you gave us the last couple of pictures as it could have been much worse than watching some of those awful soap operas here in the UK when they 'Cut' at the wrong moment!
However very very glad to see you are both OK and Ali did not end up going for an early 'bath'!
We don't think that particular episode will be forgotten very soon.
Best wishes and really enjoy the rest & recuperation.
Ian & Jan xx |
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| Doug | | Sun, 06 Oct 13 18:34:37 +1100 |
| Fascinating reading and photo viewing, in fact gripping is the word. Pleased to hear that you are both OK. Looks like you had plenty of helpers in the recovery process.. Looking at the camber on the road I imagine it has happened to others also. |
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| jon | | Mon, 07 Oct 13 21:50:13 +1100 |
| glad you two are ok.... must have been scary. was here! |
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| Lamby4 | | Mon, 14 Oct 13 02:34:45 +1100 |
| Stay safe guys and see you when we all arrive back in Brisbane. |
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| Barry & Robyn Smith | | Mon, 14 Oct 13 05:33:38 +1100 |
| Phew! bit of a nail bighter there! Don't fall off the road in India, there will be 27 million people milling around wanting to help, at least with that many people they could probably pull you out, but they all tend to pull in 27 million different directions. I do not know what you guys are going to do when you get back to Auzzy, life is going to be dull, boreing, mundane. You might have to try to plan a trip to the Macquarrie islands in the Tardis, not much road there but what a journey |
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