It had rained really heavy over night with significant thunder and lightning making us wonder what our day was going to be like?

Fortunately  the rain had all but cleared and Day 2 of our Chitwan Natioanl Park adventure was taken up with a walk in the morning with our host (Sahodar) who did a great job of explaining the local Chitwan culture and history. Chitwan people first settled here after moving north to avoid the ongoing battles with Mongal tribes many centuries ago.

Another interesting fact is that the local Chitwans had become to malaria due to their diet (including drinking rice wine) and coating themselves in an ancient treatment.

The local houses were simple mud brick huts and in more recent times using concrete if you are one of the “well off”. All properties were supplied with electricity and were charged a minimum of 80rp per month which allowed for a simple light to be run.

Later that morning we were given an educational talk on elephants, which included feeding them their specially prepared food they require. Steve and I both took the opportunity to feed these magnificent animals showing them the respect they deserve.  Unfortunately due to lack of funds they still used shackles to restrict the elephants movement which is something we highlighted to the park needs to stop. We later were shown a trial being funded by the WWF organisation that used a simple electric fence to contain the animals in a larger free roaming enclosure. Let’s hope this is a success and is rolled out more broadly.

Later that afternoon we were taken on a canoe ride down the Rapti river in locally produced wooden craft which took in observing crocodiles along the banks. We then Walked through a section of the jungle to a crocodile conservation facility which was set up in the early 1970’s.

On the walk back to the river we were forced to “sneak past” a rhino that was just ahead of us in the elephant grass. We were only about 20m away from this huge creature. This was truly amazing stuff for Steve and I, especially when the guide calmly pointed out tiger foot prints bigger than a grown mans hand in the sand! What was more concerning was that our guides were only armed with a large pole about 2m in length. I made a joke that I only needed to be the second slowest runner should a tiger attack which went down with a reserved laugh (don’t know why).  The guides were taking their jobs very serious and on a couple of occasions we were asked to be quite!

As part of the stuff that goes on behind the scenes when undertaking an adventure such as our Mad Ride, is planning and booking the coming days and weeks ahead for such things as visa’s, sites to see, routes, weather reports, accommodation, finances, bike requirements and not to forget the washing and updating our blog.

Previously we had advised our Myanmar guide (a Myanmar visa requirement) that we were expecting to arrive at the boarder around 7th September, however it was now evident we will make the boarder approx 5 days early. We had been attempting to change the start date of the leg but due to the Myanmar beurocrisy this was now not looking possible causing us to reschedule our coming days.

Steve took on the task of coming up with the change in schedule and I sat down and worked on the blog, as it was the first time we had acceptable Internet connectivity since leaving Turkey.

The day was spent bashing away on my iPad in a local cafe and Steve investigating and booking a wildlife safari tour with a local travel agent. Maybe not the most exciting day but a productive one, none the less.

Tomorrow we are off to Chitwan Natioanal Park.

After arriving yesterday in Kathmandu it was time to get out and explore the sites of the city. Although the capital city of Nepal it was great that the pace was still not as manic as we found in the typical larger Indian cities. It made getting about somewhat less stressful.

After a 2km walk we arrived at the Swayambhunath (aka Monkey Temple) which has the large gold topped temple as the centre piece and various shrines surrounding it. This Buddhist religious temple is ancient, however in recent years has suffered due to a lightning strike and the earthquake earlier this year.

There are 365 stairs on the approach to the temple (one for each day of the year) making getting there a serious task due to being on such a steep hill. The resident goats and monkeys did not seam to mind however.

Next we were off to Durbar Square which many of you may have seen in the news reports following the earth quake. This part of town is full of buildings that are considered UNESCO world heritage sites and it is such a shame to see the damage that occurred on that faithful day on 25 April of this year when the major earthquake hit this area. Hopefully in time and a lot of hard work many of these buildings will be returned to their former beauty.

The final stop off for the day was to visit Shree Pashupatinath Temple which is a Hindu temple and burial place, located along the banks of the Bagmati River in Kathmandu. To see bodies being cremated in open view and the grief families are going through when saying good by to their loved ones was quite confronting. The cremation process takes 4hrs and afterwards the remains are tipped into the river alongside where the process takes place.

After bodies are tipped into the river, children jump into the river and try to retrieve an jewellery the deceased may have been wearing! Odd but true.

We had enjoyed Pokhara and this morning we left to make our way to Kathmandu. Upon leaving Pokhara we got to understand the real size of this city as we we staying at “lake side” which had a very different feel to the commercial side of the city which we found ourselves navigating. The commercial side was exactly that, busy, more people and stuff happening.

The ride was very pleasant except for the pollution from the trucks. At one point we encountered a severe traffic jam as we negotiated a mountain pass which caused problems for the bikes getting very hot due to lack of progress and high ambient temps.

We made it into Kathmandu and the GPS thankfully negotiated the small streets of the city well, taking us to the hotel we had arranged to stay at that night. Steve had unfortunately dropped his bike as we were making our way in traffic as he put his left foot down which went into a hole allowed the heavy bike to tip and go over. Fortunately no injuries or damage, but just a big effort for us both to lift the 280kg BMW upright once more.

The  day finished with a well earned beer and a walk to get accustomed with the area.

Day 2 Enfield Ride was certainly proving to be a great adventure, both in terms of bike riding and the experience of being in these amazing Annapurna Ranges.

Firsty the mechanic who brought the new brake lever had to fit it to my bike, also replacing the front brake pads as they were worn down to the metal and also re attached the exhaust muffler that had fallen off in the latter part of our ride yesterday. This was before we set off for the day! Ha

We headed further north and shortly found our selves at a large waterfall that was blocking the road for anything but large trucks. Our guide enlisted the help of several local lads who carried the bikes down the hillside across a rickety footbridge and back up the other side in order to get around the obstacle. We were back under way.

At around lunch time Steve’s bike decided to stop due to an electrical problem. The fault was eventually diagnosed as a faulty ignition coil which meant our guide had to ride off to the local town and find one, which he did and eventually we were back under way, albeit running behind by now.

We had lunch at a small township Marpha before heading back towards the our stop for the night at a small hotel in a quaint valley.

Steve dropped his bike a couple of times as the conditions were very difficult with deep mud and water crossing with large round rocks to ride accoss.

Before the day’s end, Mahitah  our guide found the rear brake lever that had broken off my bike which was quite amazing considering the deep mud.