Tansen to India

Once we had paid the full amount, and explored Pokhara a little more the time had come to start the adventure for real. At 6am Steph and I set off up the steep unforgiving terrain of the mountains of Nepal carving our own tread pattern in the subcontinents already swollen carbon footprint. The views from the mountain road joining Pokhara and the little town of Tansen are breathtaking, if it wasnt for the very loud chugging of the diesel engine, all I would have heard is steph's camera click. We encountered our first real problem when we were approaching Tansen. The Tuk had been making odd noises along the journey, something we attributed to the undulating terrain. When faced by the brutal climb into Tansen the Tuk decided that gears were no longer and option and gave up on us. It took a combined effort of the village passers by and Steph and I and 30 minutes worth of pushing up a 1:3 incline to get the rickshaw on to some flat(ish) ground. A further two hours and much head shaking and Nepalese cursing ensued. We stood by hopelessly as the towns mystri (mechanics) set to work. Finally there was a flurry of movement from the tiny man now inside our engine, and he told us to start her up and test his work.. result, the remaining hilly climb to our hotel was made easy by the Tuk and we arrived in time for a cold shower, some tea and a poor nights sleep.

The next morning we woke to the sound of horns (a now regular occurrence) and possibly the greatest view either of us have ever seen. A hasty breakfast and then we hit the road heading for the boarder town of Sonauli. After a brief stop at a Hindu temple for a blessing for our journey and some red dots smeared on our sweating brows we could see the boarder. One would think that in Nepal and India crossing the boarder would at least have some formality to it, but we literally drove straight through at about 50KM P/H and we greeted by the smell of shit and curry on the other side. Words cannot describe the change in scenery literally yards from the crossing point, squalid is an understatement. Not deterred we carried on in the searing heat through forests, paddies and through crowded bizaars to finally reach the Indian City of Gorakpur. Once there we battled through the traffic, horns blazing to find a suitable looking hotel that promised a room for Rs1000 (approx 12 quid) with aircon and a double bed... It was full, so too were every other reasonable looking hotel in the whole of the city. After 2 hours in the now stifling midday heat and with much swearing at confused desk clerks we settled for Hotel Sunrise, opposite the railway station and right next to where everyone tests their horns.. at least it has aircon. Next stop Lucknow..