When Friends Come To Visit!

A Maoist protest in Pokhara.

The four of us together again!

Krishna firing some silver. In the factory across the street kids from India ranging in age from 10 to 20 work making knock-off designer bags. Every day they would ask us for a little bit, gesturing with their friends. A little bit of what we wondered?? We soon discovered it was chocolate they were after!

The cycle rickshaw race! FYI - that's not rain you see. They're dust particles that the camera's picked up. Kathmandu's a pretty polluted place and a lot of people walk around with masks on.

I just want to start this post by saying thank you Dani, Tania and Krista. You guys managed to make Nepal an even more magical place for me and I didn’t think that was possible : - )

In case you haven’t already guessed, Kim and I were lucky enough to have three friends visit from home and the weeks spent with them in Pokhara and Kathmandu went by far too quickly for my liking. Can you guys come back please?!

Tania was the first to arrive and she did so in fine fashion, arriving during a bandh imposed by the Maoists. A bandh is a country wide strike where the roads are blocked and vehicles aren’t allowed to drive and all shops, schools and offices are closed as well. This particular bandh lasted for over one week and Tania was lucky enough to arrive smack dab in the middle of it, an interesting introduction to the country to say the least. She flew into Kathmandu at 10pm and I had been assured by her hotel that there would be a government bus with police escort there to greet her and other travelers to ensure they made it safely to their hotels and guesthouses. Kim and I were in Pokhara, a town 7 hours drive away or we would have been there to collect her ourselves. As it was I was only able to reach her briefly on her mobile while she was in the airport in Hong Kong to warn her about the situation otherwise she would have been none the wiser as no report of what was happening here in Nepal seemed to be making headlines elsewhere in the world.

In any case, the government bus wasn’t there to greet her as promised so she and another girl she met in the airport decided to take a chance and get a “taxi” to take them to Thamel where she had a room booked for the night. As she relayed to us later on the taxi driver drove with his headlights off through the winding streets and at one point saw a group of people up ahead and said something along the lines of “uh oh – this could be bad.” I’ve since been reading about bandhs in the Lonely Planet and this is what they have to say – “Don’t travel during bandhs or blockades and get very nervous if you notice that you are the only car on the streets of Kathmandu!” I’m pretty sure that they were the only car on the street at that time and I’m also pretty sure they were nervous as hell and rightfully so! What a crazy welcome to one of the most incredible countries in the world. Thankfully everything worked out and now Tania has a great story to tell. Thanks for letting me share it here!

Tania was supposed to travel the next day by bus to meet Kim and I in Pokhara but because the roads were blocked she took a flight instead which meant I got to see her even sooner which suited me fine! I should clarify here that the roads were closed, yes but that somehow didn’t apply to tourists travelling on Enzo the super Enfield. I think it would look bad if the Maoists attacked tourists (lucky for us) so tourists are given special leniency and because we have our own wheels we were still able to get around which was good because Kim and I were taking a 4 day whitewater kayaking course that started the same day the bandha was imposed and we were stuck half way between Kathmandu and Pokhara. We didn’t really want to have to drive the 5 hours back to Pokhara through mobs of angry Maoists wielding sticks but given that Tania was coming and there was no way to communicate with her from the river camp we decided to risk it and off we went armed with a sign written in Nepali that said – We are tourists and we need to make it to the Indian border as our visa is expiring so please let us through. As it turned out we didn’t have to use the sign but we did drive through two or three big groups who were happy enough to part and let us through once they saw our white faces.

Our time in Pokhara was spent mostly relaxing in our guesthouse garden drinking beers and catching up as the shops and restaurants were only open for two hours each evening between 6pm and 8pm. It was definitely a strange time to be in Nepal but we kept reminding ourselves how lucky we were that we didn’t live here and therefore had to deal with an unstable political situation time and time again. Nepal has a lot going for it; friendly people, massive mountains, beautiful rivers and ancient cities but the one thing that holds it back and causes unnecessary suffering to its people is the political instability. Their constitution was meant to be signed on May 28th of this year but with none of the parties able to reach an agreement they’ve deferred it for one more year. It’ll be interesting to see what happens and what this next year brings for the people of Nepal.

After spending almost a week chilling in Pokhara the bandha was lifted and we headed to Kathmandu to meet up with Dani and Krista who had been travelling in India. I met them at the airport because, after Tania’s crazy arrival, I thought it would be nice for them to see a friendly face waiting for them.

After catching up and a couple of nights of fun it was down to business, business being learning the tricks of the silversmith trade from Krishna at Golden Hands Designs. Tania and Dani own a jewelry business in Vancouver called byDania and they’d come to Nepal to hone their skills and make connections with people in the business overseas. Kim and I tagged along and the four of us spent almost two weeks together working every day at the factory designing and making pieces under the expert instruction of Krishna and his workers. I think I can speak for everyone when I say we had a lot of fun at the factory.

The factory is small, just big enough to accommodate Krishna, his two workers and the four of us. It’s located in an area not far from where we stay in Thamel and every day we’d walk and/or ride Enzo down, spend the day working, usually from 10am – 7, 8 or even 9pm and then we’d come back, meet up with Krista, have a drink in the garden and head out somewhere for dinner. This was always a bit of an effort as everything in Nepal shuts down early and by 10pm your options for eating are extremely limited. But, we never went hungry and we ended up having a few nice meals out, one that ended in a random encounter with Russians resulting in drinking cheap bottles of vodka until the wee hours. It should be noted that the wee hours here in Nepal means 1am!!

We did have one day off from the factory and we used that time to soak up the sights of Kathmandu. Our day started off with the scariest ever cab ride. Seriously, I feared for my life! This guy was a maniac and the fact that we were all nervously laughing our heads off only made him drive faster. We survived though and spent a few hours at Swayambhunath or the Monkey Temple which is a beautiful Buddhist stupa located on a hill overlooking the Kathmandu Valley. After that we went to Durbar Square which is in the centre of Kathmandu and is over 200 years old. It’s an incredible place with a very medieval feel to it. Then, to top it off, we took a cycle rickshaw ride back to our guesthouse. Dani and Tania paid their guy extra to get there the fastest so they won. Sneaky buggers!

There are so many memories that Kim and I will take with us from Nepal but our time spent with the girls tops the charts. Thanks ladies!

The Annapurna Circuit - 25 Days Trekking In The Mountains Of Nepal!

All along the trail it was not uncommon to see porters such as this man carrying heavy loads of 50 kgs or more. And, as if that's not incredible enough, they're usually wearing flip-flops or tennis shoes!

These are Tibetan prayer wheels. They were placed at the beginning and end of most of the villages we walked through. Prayer wheels are used by Tibetans and Buddhists alike to send out blessings and positive thoughts so every time we would enter or leave a village we would walk with the wheels to our right and spin them as we went by in order to ensure a safe journey.

Along with the prayer wheels there would sometimes be rows of stones such as these engraved with Buddhist mantras.

A glacier at 5,400 metres.

Looking down the valley towards Manang.

This is a picture of Ganggapurna Peak taken from Gunsang which was one of our favorite places on the trek. How could it not be with views like this?!

This picture gives you an idea of the kind of mega terrain we walked through. As a Geologist Kim was in constant awe as he'd never before been anywhere like this.

This is high camp where we spent the night before crossing the pass. It was a cold sleep up there at 4,925 metres!

This picture was taken from the ridge above high camp. It was super windy up there. I was scared i was going to be blown off!

After an early start and a climb of 500 metres we reached Thorong-La Pass wich is said to be one of the highest mountain passes in the world at 5,416 metres. The air up there is definitely a lot thinner and each step must be taken slowly or you find yourself out of breathe and gasping for air. This day was a long one because after reaching the pass we had to descend 1,600 metres to the nearest village with accomodation.

A wooly mountain yak!

A mountain woman spinning yarn from yak.

The cutest little girl ever!

Southern India - A Montage

Kim and his young friends showing off their tatts on the beach in Varkala. Who tattoos a 10 year old?

Riding through the tea plantations of Munnar in the state of Kerala was the most scenic drive we did in Southern India.

A typical scene on an Indian mountain road. Don't worry, in places like this we ride super slow and use our horn a lot! The buses honk continuously too so you know they're coming well before you see them.

These are the picturesque Chinese fishing nets found in Fort Cochin. We really enjoyed our two days spent here. We wandered the streets, had a fancy dinner in a hotel that was built in 1788 and Kim convinced a rickshaw driver to let him have a go at driving. Good times!

When we were in Mysore we found this guy on the street making stickers and decals so we decided to get one made for Enzo. We put it on his headlight and now everyone knows his name!

This shows a market in the colorful city of Mysore. A bit different from going to Woolworths or Safeway to buy your produce!

Out for a walk amongst the boulders of Hampi. This place was incredible. Rocks of all shapes and sizes balanced precariously on top of one another for as far as the eye could see!

Just sitting contemplating the wonders of the world. Hampi was one of our favorite places in Southern India.

This shows Enzo's trip across the river in a coracle. We explain more about this in the post below titled Enzo's Adventure.

Kim took this shot as the sun was setting one day in Hampi.

This is Kudle Beach in Gokarna. We spent five weeks here practising Tai Chi and chilling out.

Enzo's Adventure!

Namaste everyone, it’s been a while!

Since our return from Canada we’ve covered a lot of ground, seen a lot of things and had more than our fair share of adventures. We’ve zigzagged our way through the southern states of Kerala, Karnataka and Goa, riding more than 4,000 kms. Enzo’s taken us through small coastal villages, large chaotic cities, tea plantations and cool mountain towns. He’s gone from elevations of 4 meters below sea level to 2,000 meters above sea level. He’s taken his first boat trip. And, more recently, he’s gone on his first train trip.

His boat trip was in a small round boat called a coracle. A coracle is a boat made of bamboo and wicker sealed with a tarred bottom to make it waterproof. As Kim says, it looks like a giant soup bowl! They’re used in Hampi - one of our favorite places in India so far - to cross a small river. It’s either that or you have to ride 45kms down river to the nearest bridge in order to make the crossing. At first Kim and I were hesitant but after we watched a coracle carrying two smaller motorcycles and six people cross successfully we thought we’d give it a go. It was a nerve racking experience, wondering if the boat would hold the weight while watching water slowly enter through a leak, but it’s one that we’ll remember for years to come!

His train journey is also something that we’re bound to remember for a long time. It was, without a doubt, his biggest adventure to date and, again, a nerve racking experience! Our Indian visa expired today, March 17th, so we needed to leave the country. We decided some time ago that we would do this by going to Nepal with Enzo to ride through some of the most spectacular mountain scenery in the world. Seeing as how we were in Goa which is in the south and we had to get ourselves more than 2,000 kms to Varanasi which is in the north we decided to put ourselves and Enzo on a train and make the journey that way. This is something that people do every day in India without incident so we had no reason to assume why it would be any different for us. Little did we know…

There’s only one train a week that makes the 36 hour journey from Goa to Varanasi and, even though we purchased our tickets 4 weeks in advance, we got two of the last available tickets and had to make the journey in general class which is a bit of a free for all on an Indian train and another blog entry all together! The good thing about having to travel general class, however, is that the tickets are cheap, cheap, cheap. We paid 540 rupees per ticket or $13.50. Enzo’s ticket for the journey came to a bit more at 2,030 rupees or $50.75. We were ok with it though as he’s precious cargo!

To get him ready for the journey we took off his mirrors and had him wrapped in cardboard and hessian for protection. We filled out all the appropriate paperwork, put a big tag on him clearly indicating the name of the station he was to be unloaded at and were assured that he’d be taken off and waiting for us on the platform when we disembarked. We were a bit paranoid and for good reason it turns out.

When we finally reached Varanasi after 36 hours of travel we got off and went directly to the parcel office where Enzo was supposed to be waiting. But guess what? You got it, he wasn’t there! So, where was he? Continuing on down the line without us because the workers at the parcel office failed to do their job and unload him. They fed us some bullshit excuse about too much cargo and not enough time to get him off. But they didn’t even look, plain and simple. They told us they’d phone ahead to the end of the line and have Enzo put on a train coming back to Varanasi that night. “Relax. Go and enjoy yourselves and come back tomorrow morning at 9am to collect him” they said. So, given no other choice, that’s what we did. We took in some sights and went back the next morning as planned. I’d like to say we were surprised when, yet again, we didn’t see him sitting there on the platform, but we weren’t!

At this point we were starting to get a bit concerned as it was now the 13th and we had to have Enzo fitted with new shocks and still make the two day ride to the border before the 17th. Time was of the essence as they say and we were quickly losing faith in the ability of the Indian railway system to do its job. And their excessive head wobbling and inability to even tell us where Enzo was was doing nothing to instill confidence!

To make a long story short, it turns out Enzo was still on the same train we’d gotten off of the day before and it was due to make the return journey back down to Goa that very night. So, once again they told us to come back and assured us that he’d be there on the 5:40pm train. Having no faith whatsoever in the parcel office or its porters we went back an hour early to supervise and make sure that Enzo didn’t end up going all the way back down to Goa. As luck would have it the train was 2 hours late but he was on it and we did get him unloaded and all was well in our world again : - )

I’d like to say that Enzo’s troubles ended there but they didn’t. We had to have him fitted with new shocks as we’d started bottoming out on the smallest bumps all of a sudden and we knew we had some rough roads ahead of us. We also wanted to have an ongoing problem with the oil return fixed once and for all and, seeing as how we were in a large city that had an Enfield dealer we decided to take him there and have him sorted out. We had to wait until the 15th to get the work done though as the 14th was a Sunday and the dealership was closed. This meant that we only had a day and a half to reach the border so, in an effort to maximize our time we took all our gear with us so we could begin the long journey ahead of us as soon as possible.

After spending 5 hours at the mechanics we were finally on our way. Enzo was all fixed up and riding smooth until about 30 kms out of town when I felt a sudden warmth on my leg and asked Kim to pull over. Imagine our surprise when we saw oil everywhere. It turns out the Enfield mechanic hadn’t connected a hose properly. Luckily we found a roadside mechanic 2 kms up the road and he was able to give us a quick fix. We’re back where we started though and after all that time spent waiting at the mechanics we still have a problem with the oil return. Poor Enzo, he’s had a rough couple of days! The important thing is that we made our deadline and, after a 10 hour day on the bike, ended up crossing into Nepal yesterday with a day to spare.

We’ve come from Varanasi in India which is where Hindus go to die to Lumbini in Nepal which is where the Buddha was born. These two places couldn’t be more different. You could almost hear the collective sigh of relief Kim and I breathed this morning when we woke up surrounded by peace and tranquility as opposed to the usual honking of horns, blaring of Hindi music and loud talkers as we call them! Tomorrow we’re heading to the spectacular town of Pokhara via the Siddhartha Highway which the Lonely Planet says is “regarded as one of the finest and most scenic motorcycle journeys in Nepal”. We’re looking forward to it!

Home For The Holidays!

Santa in Varkala, South India.

Beach Kim!

Mountain Kim!

Blackcomb on New Years Day.

What we thought was going to be a Christmas spent on a tropical beach in Southern India with just the two of us ended up being a Christmas in cold Canada with lots of family and friends! It just goes to show, you never can tell what's going to happen. Going home was a bit of a last minute decision and it was due in large part to the fact that my Dad was getting re-married. We really wanted to be there for the wedding and witness their big day and because the wedding took place only four days before Christmas it fit in perfectly with going home for the holidays and giving everyone a Christmas present they'll never forget. Us!

We didn't tell anyone about our plans and except for my Dad and his, now wife, Henrietta, no one knew we were coming. The only reason my Dad knew, and we have to give a BIG thank you to him for this, is because he paid for one of our flights and that turned, what was otherwise only wishful thinking into a reality! The wedding took place at their home in Maple Bay which is on Vancouver Island and it was a wonderful day. Everyone was in a festive mood so it set the tone for a great afternoon and evening. All in all we spent four enjoyable days with them catching up and enjoying the slow pace of island life!

We arrived in Vancouver on the 18th so before we went to the island there was one person we absolutely had to see. Last Christmas was the first Christmas that i'd spent away from my family in 34 years and we knew that my Mom was super sad at the thought of not having us there for a second Christmas in a row. Because of this she was definitely the person we were most excited about surprising. And surprise her we did! We were a bit concerned that she may faint or have a heart attack when she saw us, but when she walked through her door and saw us standing there she did neither. Thank god for that! She did, however, shed lots of tears, shake her head continuously in disbelief and hug us so tightly we thought we'd break. I think it's fair to say she was happy to see us : - ) Attending the wedding, seeing my Mom and watching the look of surprise on other family members and friends faces definitely made the trip home worth it! It wasn't cheap and it certainly wasn't just a matter of a short flight but some things are priceless, just like those visa commercials are constantly telling us! That being said, it was a whirlwind tour and 16 days wasn't nearly long enough to see all the people we wanted to see, spend all the time with people we wanted to spend, have all the conversations we wanted to have, ask all the questions we wanted to ask or share all the stories we wanted to share. But, you make due with what you have and we're thankful for every moment of every day that we got spend with the people we care about. Thanks to everyone who made such an effort to come and see us and spend time with us on such short notice. I know we could have given you more warning and we probably would have seen even more of you but, if we'd done that we wouldn't have had the pleasure of seeing the looks of surprise on your faces and that, for us, was the best Christmas gift we could have had.

Once Christmas was over and New Years was upon us Kim and i made our way to Whistler. We wanted to start the new year off right and we couldn't think of a better way to spend January 1st than by riding powder while the snow fell from top to bottom all day long. Talk about lucky! Whistler is Kim's Canadian home away from home and the mountains of BC are his happy place. So, for him, getting to see his friends and spend time with them in said mountains was a highlight for sure. After New Years it was time to go and, although it was sad to have to say goodbye yet again, we left with happy hearts. Our hearts were happy because every moment of every day that we had in Canada was a gift and it's one that we'll treasure for a long, long time. Watch out Australia, you never know when we might pop up!

Meet Enzo!

This is Enzo. Enzo the Enfield! Enzo is a 2007 Royal Enfield, Limited Edition, Bullet Machismo 500cc. We found him in Chennai after 5 days of searching. As soon as we saw him we knew he was the one for us!

The Enfield is the quintessential bike to travel India on. They're still manufactured to the original 1950's specifications and each bike is hand made and comes direct from the factory. Because of its 1950's construction the bike is very simple and any bush mechanic knows how to fix it, including me!

We purchsed Enzo for 70,000 rupees ($1,600). This is a good price considering a brand new 2010 Enfield costs $115,000 rupees ($2,000). In the end a second hand bike was the only option for us because, as a foreigner, you can't register a bike in your name. When you buy a second hand bike though you leave everything in the previous owners name. It may sound risky but it's not. It's just how it's done here.

Before we were ready to head off we had to get some minor modifications done. We had luggage racks put on, a back rest for Chelle, two new tires and a full service. We also had to perform some modifications to our backpacks. This involved purging excess stuff that we've been carrying around for the past 11 months in order to reduce the weight and bulk on the bike for traveling!

We set off from Chennai two weeks ago and so far we've traveled 1,005 kms and that's brought us all the way to the southern most tip of India. On an average day we might ride for 4 - 5 hours, traveling at speeds of only 30 - 50kms/hr! It's extremely slow going because the roads are bad and there's cows, people, buses, trucks and anything and everything else you can imagine littering the road. Enzo's got a super loud horn though and, in keeping with Indian road etiquette, we use it all the time. If we used the horn like this in Sydney or Vancouver we'd be getting the finger a lot! Over the past two weeks we've traveled the entire length of Tamil Nadu from north to south. It's been a great start to our grand adventure but today we say goodbye and cross into the state of Kerala where better food hopefully awaits us!

Random Facts!

1. We haven't had a hot shower in 3 months.

2. We haven't used a washing machine in 9 months.

3. Kim hasn't eaten meat in 10 months.

4. We've traveled to 4 different continents, 2 of them twice!

5. We haven't cooked a meal in 10 months.

6. We've taken over 10,000 photos.

7. We've spent 297 nights sleeping in beds that aren't ours.