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paginabezoeken sinds December 2002 | |
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End of June, from Pokhara to Manali (India)
Geplaatst op Saturday 30 August @ 06:50:00 GMT+1
Onderwerp: Around the world in 8 years
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 In late June, I rode from the strike ridden country of Nepal to the mountain town of Manali in India. That was not without difficulty, Nepal was very problematic. There was no drop of diesel available. Through strikes, road congestion and hard rains arrived in Manali
This story is almost automatically translated by google, so some grammaticals strange parts might be there...
It was the third day of the strike, apparently one of indefinite duration. On day one of the strike only there are no buses, on day two and three rode nothing. No bus, no taxis, no car. Everything with more than two wheels stood on the side. I had already experienced this before in Nepal. The population accepts it, but I thought it was not fun. I had already read in the newspaper that the students beginning next week also went on strike and block every road, so chose the option to leave on Tuesday the 24th, strike or not.
From Pokhara to Leh
Had tried the day before to get some fresh vegetables but the market had nothing special anymore. They too were affected by the strike. The strike, moreover, called by the transport union , because they wanted to have their rates by more than the agreed 25% increase. Can imagine that the government could not accept, because even with an increase of 25% threatens much misery.
Tuesday morning it rained, and no movement could be heard, there was still striking (in other words, I heard no traffic). Started at 7 am, and indeed, the streets are empty. I expected every time a blockade on the street but probably are not on strike as early. Drove quietly towards Butwal, no idea how far I would get. I might be stopped somewhere and I had a week long stay. With lead in the shoes I rode so on. I was quite alone on the road, was really only here and there some mopeds and in every village, I was viewed at whether I was crazy. The people Sitting all day along the side of the road from the nose to eat. There was no school (no school bus) and many shops were also closed because of lack of staff (who could not come) or lack of goods. Thus being stared at I drove by, and behind every bend I expected the worst. It remained good. Until Tansen, at about 1 pm. There was a barrier on the road. Shit. I open my window and a very unpleasant man says with a sour face that I must pay 350 rupees a toll (3.5 euros). In the first instance I act as if I understood nothing, because I had also known he was trying to cheat me. Except that I never have to pay anything here, to pay toll is 350 rupees a scandalous amount. He showed me a receipt in hand, which only in the Nepali everything was. Saw amounts, of 100, 150 and 350, but yes. Get out, walk to another guy who seemed nicer, and continued, after some negotiation on an agreement. 150 rupees and no coupon. So I could go. It was not a strike but a vulgar toll.
Further on everything was going well despite that there are more and more people with hand signals warned me that I could not continue. Just before Butwal, at exactly the same point as where I on the first leg also stopped, was the blockade. On each side of the bridge trucks, blocked the road. I already had a plan, and parked my car in the sight of all strikers, right in front of the barricade. I get off, smiling broadly and quietly began to ask who's strike leader.
The road blocked
When I found him he only shook his head. Shit, that was not good. Found another guy who looked a little more understanding. I told him that I could go along that blocked trucks could slip if he gave me permission. At first he shook his head but when he saw my car he agreed. Al this took an half hour. In the town of Butwal, at the intersection I turned left, and another 300 metres further another blockade. A bus and a truck were positioned so that only mopeds, rickshaws and bicycles by could. But if that's Rickshaw carried goods, there were refused.. It was a transporters strike. Once again, parked the car right in front of the blockade erected and broad smile on the organizers. Once again zero on request, but after consultation with an police officer, went this help meet the real boss strike, and after 20 minutes I could also drive by here again. After an hour to the west drive it was blocked again, but here it took only 5 minutes, and that was also the last of that day. Parked for the night in a place where I have previously had been a year ago. Somewhere in the middle of the bush bush.
Somewhere there must have been a village in the vicinity and soon proved again that I am in the vicinity of India came. There were hordes of people staring at me. After all these have eliminated a very bad sleep. In the first place the frogs were very loud. But they had that lag, they were all at the same time stop. And then they all started a few minutes later at the same time. It was keeping me from sleep, so loud. However beautiful the fire-flies were all sat in a tree, then she created a Christmas tree. The timing was wrong, but I had missed the previous two Christmas’s, so it was most beautiful.
The next morning I was awakened at 4 o'clock by voices. The footsteps went by, so I snoozed of again, but a quarter past four, again the same. Half past four and five o’clock again blah blah next to my car. I could sleep no longer. In retrospect it turned out to be school girls. Because there was a transport strike they had to walk for four hours going from home to school on time. For a quarter past five there remained a number of boys are talking loudly next to my car. At my request for somewhere else to go, was not responded. I had enough. Decided not even to take breakfast but to leave and to India to drive. I knew that in a day driving this would be possible but at lunch I stopped at a very beautiful lawn in the Bardia National Park and stayed there for the night. Here inconvenience of youth’s disturbing me I had quickly under control and after a beer with the owner of the guesthouse where I two years ago a week of what had been started to rain and it was delicious silent on my spot.
.
Here in Bardia is the insect life so big that it is annoying. If you have a light on, it is as if you have a super magnet insects to move. So I wanted to go outside and showering. In the dark you can of course clean not all places washing. With a very small 12-volt light on, in a flash of time so many super flying insects told me to hurry and go back inside. It was so bad that even an eye to me flew, and I quickly went back in again. But there was no relieve, because even though I only had a candle burning, the light of my laptop screen made enough light to make all insects go crazy in trying to get inside.
After Bardia was only half a day drive to the border with India. No problems here, except that I tried as a precautionary measure diesel to get anywhere but the answer was no. Was I glad that I've thrown full when I was still in India 2 months ago. And with 500 liters you'll have a long way.
The border crossing was without problems and I parked on the lawn just on the other side of the water. Had now left Nepal for good and there was on one side sad about. It is a wonderful country with wonderful people but there are to many problems. All strikes and disagreements make the country so troubled that in recent years only to go downhill. And I do not get the idea that rapid change is coming…. We'll see.
India and Nepal are separated by a river, and on the other hand it is very different. Silly hey, it is only 100 meters or so, but who hundred meters make the difference between a good river to park (Nepal), or park in the middle of the shit and piss air (India ).
Now I am on the subject of shit, I wanted to say that I do not understand the shit behavior of the Indian woman. Sure, since you can make a study of it. Look, those women sitting along the side of the road to shit, but if there is someone coming, they stand up. That seems to me very annoying. Are you just too pressing, you must get up. Looks like a long business, especially if it is a busy street. Strange people those Indians.
Now as I write this, I suddenly understand where all these people come from if you think to park in a quiet field. In fields or roads nobody to see, but if you've switch off the engine there are already 10 people around you. These people must have been shitting in the field you just parked on……
After two months have been away from India's its getting used to the strange behavior road here. Not only that the much busier and that everyone and everything is driving for themselves much, but just the dumb and stupid behavior. Stopping in the middle of the road to clean your windows, stop the middle of a narrow bridge, so that people can look down (while there are 10 metres away for a parking space there is), things like that. Well, I did it all have previously described so let me just say, I occasionally bite my tongue again.
From the border onwards the road to the north-west goes through one of the most fertile areas of India. Fields with rice, sugarcane, potatoes, everything grows exuberant. I believe that here they have three harvest per year. It is therefore very busy with farmers movement, which is sometimes even annoying driving, many of them driving tractors at 20 or 25 km p / h and I would like to go a little faster. Many farm workers with bicycles on the road.
Fortunately (for me) it started to rain quite hard. Then everyone shelters and the roads are a lot less busy. Despite the hard rain can I get a lot faster headway. Yet it was Rampura village (now called Rudrapur I believe) a super busy rural town where there is a lot of farmers blocking the roads with their tractors, this village costed me half an hour.
Reached the place Karnal, again made a record distance.
From Karnal I departed the next morning toward Manali. Was in Chandigar half hours stuck in traffic. Since they had a very stupid construction. You could at some point not go straight, had to turn left. They made after a few hundred meters a u-turn to drive back and then turn left over to same road you where on as if you had just gone straight. But that U turn goes on his Indian way, huge traffic jams, pushing honking, yelling, cutting. Fortunately, the rest of the road was better, and via a stopover in my favo supermarket, my favo petrol station and my favo beer-shop, steamed northwards. That went like a spear. Did not make the mistake I made a few times already, and that is to follow the signs toward Manali. Then you come to a dead end road.
Followed now my GPS track last time and that I was perfect until an hour or two in the mountains rode. Bang, jam, everything. Still tried to pass the jam to drive (on his Indian) but soon became stuck in blocked traffic. There was a truck blocking the road somewhere. Waiting is the only motto but because everyone should do, it is a very busy with curious people. Everyone was bored and to open the door of my motorhome is not a good idea. People are all friendliest but yes it is India here. When I got a newspaper and a chair just to read there are 30 men stood around me, staring me in how I read the newspaper. Getting upset has no usefulness, especially if you are a position where you cannot get away hehe.
It took two hours to get it off the road
After an hour traffic began moving again slowly but it took another hour before I cleared the jam with the trucks. Despite this delay reached me that evening to Sundernagar, where the parking is good on the lake for the night (apart from this time that drunken stones thrower had other thoughts). Delicious quiet sleep and I was at 6 o'clock in the morning trip awake by the feet of birds on my roof, with a temperature of 22 degrees… So enjoyable.
Just after Mandi the next day you get a mega hyrda-electricity project. It has huge tunnels drilled into the mountain and water thunders through these tunnels. In itself a very clever piece of engineering. The last time I rode there it was always the mess. Roads broken up, that water once flowed on the road and such. Now everything was fine, we salute the Indian engineers. It takes long, but you’ve got something. The only thing is not so neatly kilometers long is the tunnel that they traffic through the mountain have drilled. This is a clever piece of work. However, they forget to regulate air extraction, they have not made places in case you breakdown creates a mega jam and the lighting is so bad that driving 20 or 30 km p/h is max. Did this time even in the dark and full of exhaust gases-misty tunnels suddenly for a herd of cows on the middle off the road ran. Almost created my own steak that days. This is India ..
India has changed very much. The roads are very slowly getting better, modern stores, the assortment more varied. However, it remains India. You can put a dung fly on a cake. It remains a dung fly. Also, I believe that India should not be too much change, but a few things are essential, especially in the field of toilets habits and waste. It will take a generation or two before these things at an acceptable level.
The company Tata is doing well. Tata is a family business that I believe has immense proportions. Except that she almost 100% of all trucks and buses in India, Nepal, Bangladesh and Pakistan (and there are millions off these), they also make people cars, they have a telecom company, they grow tea, making food products and a huge row of other things. The people cars that they now make start to look nice, after long years all European models have shamelessly copied (and nobody said anything). Tata is the company what the cheapest car in the world to produce. For $ 2500 you get a nice-looking cocky can, something that has achieved world news and perhaps it will a total picture of India's changing (and not in a positive sense).
Diesel in India remains affordable. (compared to Europe) Value of between 33 and 37 rupees per liter. When you convert that… but between 60 and 65 cents.
If you put a rural Indian, loose in the Netherlands, he would without hesitation, during rush hour, cross Ouderijn running the A2 crossing (one of the busiest motorways), probably a Buffalo or goat with him . And when no one would honk he would really think that there is absolutely no traffic.
At one time I rode behind a military car, bit the same type as that of mine, and he drove slowly. There was a bus that was trying to passing him but could not because the military a little too much to the right drove. The bus, gave full throttle, drove on the shoulder (read sandpatch), pushed / rammed military car to the right so that he could pass and took off. All this 30 metres before my eyes. The bus was of the same society as the bus that did the same joke with me 2 years ago. The bus had to stop for a traffic light and the military guy jumped from his car sprinted to the bus to give the driver a few blows. That I liked, but the bus driver had fear and sped away through the intersection and red light. That is India.
It is Mango season, and it shows. The delicious sweet mango's really at no cost (20 to 30 cents per kilo!) And are really everywhere for sale. On every corner, every shop, every stand sells mountains with mangoes. Yet there are many who can not (or unwilling) to pay even this low amount and they try anything to clear a free mangoes to obtain. Along many of the roads they have previously mango trees planted. They are now very large and contribute thousands of mangoes each. Many (even older) youth goes with a bunch on to a tree to plunder. They climb in, shake it, make very long bamboo sticks with knives on the end, climbing on each other's shoulders, throwing stones or sticks, everything to make a delicious piece of fruit to get.
My car, under the mud and sand, looked very dirty. I discovered however, that the knocking on the car, touching the walls and touching every part by the Indians was a lot less. That is something I certainly try to stay out because that would be a lot less 'tension' .
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