Kathmandu Valley on Two Wheels

I decided to stay in Nepal an extra five days to see my friend Anne briefly on her unexpected business trip so I needed to entertain myself until she arrived. Lingering in Kathmandu eating pastries and apple pies was not an acceptable option. The Kathmandu Valley covers a huge circumference around the city and contains a wealth of cultural sites and interesting cities. The problem is, it’s hard to visit many places on a budget. It seems either you need to rent a taxi for the day or join an annoying cattle herding tour group… or buy a map and get creative. 

So I decided to rent a mountain bike and do a bit of pre-Cambodia bike tour training through the Kathmandu Valley. To be honest, this is not a cheap option either. The bikes are expensive but decent quality and I paid a bit extra for the advice and reliability of an established mountain bike rental company.

Kathmandu has a way of sucking you in and seducing you to linger with its comfortable collection of cyber cafes, multi-cuisine restaurants, cheap hotels, readily available laundry services and laid back bars and atmosphere. It’s a backpacker’s paradise. A place to escape while forgetting about escape plans and to start letting your hair form dreadlocks. You can even have a salon help if your patience and degree of dirt tolerance is insufficient. After some time, just like the thought of matted hair, it made me itch. 

However being a procrastinator, I naturally organized this at the last minute… well actually, 20 minutes before the shops closed the day before I wanted to leave. I ran through town (literally) trying to quickly negotiate an acceptable pair of biking shoes at the local markets. At 6:30, as the large metal garage doors of store fronts started to grind to a close I had new kicks (for 600 Rs, $10, a big success), a mountain bike and a bag of gear and accessories.

Despite my big ideas about seeing sunrise from the road, I left town the next day around 11:30. The city still had its grip on me, wasting my time with offerings of a leisurely breakfast, internet and “food for the road” shopping. With my map in one pocket, my oversized helmet strapped and my reasonable concerns of death by head-on-collision tossed aside, I raced through town eager for freedom and escape.

But I’m a dingbat. It’s for sure. After navigating the excruciating and maddening streets of Kathmandu, taking one wrong turn after the next but finally finding my way, I took a break at the top of a hill near the airport, an hour to the outskirts of town. Free from the smog and petrol fumes and looking down at the sprawling city below, I grabbed my camera to photograph the moment. “What?! Why won’t this thing work?” I look down. No Card. My heart drops. So I was en route to possibly my one and only sighting of Mount Everest and other glorious scenes with a huge DSLR camera and no memory card. What is one to do?! I could only see one option: suck it up and go back to get it! 

Two hours later, I took the picture and continued on my way. 

I planned to ride for 4 days. However, on my last day I finally received an email from Anne confirming her itinerary and realized I could extend my trip an additional day. My route, though completely enjoyed and appreciated, was naturally just as spontaneous and scatterbrained as the planning. To explain: if you place a clock face on the Kathmandu valley - putting Kathmandu at 9 o’clock - this is a short outline of my trip:

Day 1:  21-November, rode to the center of the clock. Bhaktapur, a beautiful idyllic city with all the glory of the capitol but enjoyed at a slower more tranquil pace. If you are visiting Kathmandu and have the money to spend on transportation, I strongly suggest basing yourself here and day tripping it to the city. It’s that nice. A Nepali Communist Party rally was in full swing upon my arrival. The red flags and golden hammers and sickles flutter in the setting sun. In the corner of the main square a young boy reaches deep through the gates of a temple shrine in search of coins. The red-dressed crowd squeezes into the main square and drape themselves over the steps and statues of the large ornate 5-tier pagoda. Wow, even Maoists look beautiful in the magical glow of evening light.

Day 2:  Up steel hills towards 12 o’clock (but only to the end of the short hand). Changu Narayan, home of the most important Nepalese Hindu temples. The steep stairs led to a courtyard of shrines and temples that was pretty much empty except for four playful local kids and a school boy. Look, see, done.

Upon departure, I failed to find a local who could show me the off road route to Nargakot (located at the end of the very long hand at 2 o’clock). The trail exists but there was a confident belief that it was “much too difficult” for a girl on a bike. To save me, no one would point the way. Right, okay. So back on the bike and back to the center (Bhaktapur) followed by a long slow switchback climb to 2 o’clock. Arrived at sunset, barely!

Day 3:  Up at 5 a.m. for the sunrise spectacle - the main attraction of Nargakot. I see the tiniest peak in the distance and learn that it’s the biggest peak in the world, Mount Everest. The view from a Buddhist flag covered watch tower is stupendous and the sunrise peaceful. Photo taken, check.

I learn that it’s the full moon festival day and ask around about the best place to spend it. The majority vote was Bhaktapur. But this time (and because I’m descending today), I find the route I missed yesterday to Changu Narayan to see if those locals had misjudged my hard core nature. Nope, they didn’t. It would have kicked my stubborn ass. No doubt. But downhill… ahhh ha haha, what a wild ride! The road was rough! I felt like a wicked racer flying to the finish… sometimes terrified, sometimes ever-so-slightly out of control, sometimes with the age-induced realization that “this could be really dangerous, Keisha” and sometimes like I was queen of mean! “Grrr, that’s all you got? I eat boulders bigger than you in my mueslix for breakfast!”

Having finished in one piece, it was an absolute blast. Even the pesky bits like when I was totally lost and a local pointed to a large farmland pasture with narrow meandering one foot trails and assured me it was the only way to Changu Naryan. This part ended at a wall of stone steps and then ascended steeply through thick grass for another hour. But I made friends with a 9 year old boy, and for a few short bursts of riding on my bike, he helped me carry and push the thing all the way to the top.

I made the effort to get back to the temple today because there were enormous crowds expected for the festival. It was cool to see the contrast between days: empty yesterday and packed with busy devotees performing interesting pujas today.

Then it was a quick ride along the same familiar route to Bhaktapur, for my third approach to this beautiful golden storybook town. It turned out that the majority voters made a great decision. The town was hosting a huge organized festival “Bhaktapur Nights” which included cultural dance performances set on the stage of an ancient temple and loads of delicious small sampler plates of Newari cuisine - my latest and greatest fave!

Day 4:   Headed east along small roads to Dhulikhel (way beyond the long hand at 4 o’clock). Another hill station, so another long climb but nothing compared to Nargakot. Still, the uphills are an exhausting challenge.

The old city was an entrancing maze of golden stone streets with light filtering through the buildings and kids playing hide and seek. The intricately carved windows of the ornate street facades hid smiling faces. Thinking back on it now, I have a surprisingly similar image of a small Tuscan village dancing in the evening sun. If I weren’t meeting someone back in Kathmandu, I’d have easily stayed a few more days! 

Another wonderful charm of Dhulikhel was the sociable guesthouse where I stayed and the owner Mr. Purna - the most warm, friendly, funny, sincere character I met in all of Nepal. If you visit this town, you must stay at Nawaranga Guest House. Order the french toast, drink loads of honey ginger tea and chat it up with Mr. Purna. Trust me, you won’t regret it.

(Sadly, and I mean very sadly, these photos, along with most of those I take on day 5 represent the only set that I’ve completely lost. I can remember some of the frames vividly. But soon that memory will be gone too. Somehow they didn’t make it to the DVD that was burned in Kathmandu. Oh, the terrible pain of it!)

Day 5: Back to Kathmandu (via my familiar town of Bandipur). It was an awful decision whether to take the long and grueling, yet spectacularly scenic route on small rough mountain roads through Lubhu all the way back to the capitol (a favorite tough challenge in the mountain bike crowd) or to fold under the stress and grudgingly admit that perhaps 5 days on a mountain bike might not have prepared me for such a challenge and catch a bus back. A large issue was being back in town before my friend arrived but regardless I just didn’t feel like climbing another single meter uphill, much less 1000.

I made myself a compromise and pushed through the tough mountain climb to the sacred Buddhist pilgrimage site, Namo Buddha, and then tossed the idea of torturing myself all the way back to Kathmandu. The ride to Namo Buddha was the most difficult and unclear. I could see the magical monastery floating on a green ridge in the distance but the path to get there fooled me several times, leading me downhill only to have to push my bike back up! Ugh, the worst! But I made it, and it was fabulous - a huge busy complex that carried me away in the tranquility for longer than I expected. Perched high above the surrounding valleys, the crisp colors of prayer flags, monasteries, temples and brilliant orange monk robes set against the blue skies and green undulating slopes evoked an otherworldly feeling. Even amongst the young monks skate boarding and playing soccer, the serenity was intense and palpable.  

Then the downhill ride to Panauti, another small idyllic village on the way, was so much fun! Over squeaky wet grass trails, past wide open pastures, down rough rocky trails and through small communities. To no surprise, the riding and visiting all took too long. There was no way to make it over another mountain pass even if I convinced myself I had wanted to before dark. From the main highway, I caught a bus, threw my bike on top and woke up two hours later in the capitol. The defeat of my long day challenge turned out to be an easy pill to swallow.

I’ll be honest, I was pretty pleased by the success of my solo adventure and by how much I actually enjoyed biking. It was a true relief to know that my future Cambodia ride would be an enjoyable form of transportation, regardless how hard the days might be. Cycling proved to be the perfect solution to seeing the Kathmandu valley and to combating the outcome of my recent addiction to Thamel-district german bakeries. It was a pure joy. I felt completely free, energized and alive!

Great. Now a quick shower, change of stinky (and I mean really stinky) clothes and off to a nice dinner and mad shopping spree with Anne…

To see the bike tour in pictures, checkout my Nepal, Kathmandu Valley slideshow.

Also, I learned a new trick… a map!

View Larger Map

As well, I’ve loaded photos from the capitol in Nepal, Kathmandu slideshow.

And going further back, I also posted some more photos…
Nepal, Gorkha - a lovely hill station between Kathmandu and Pokhara.
Nepal, Other Places - has photos of two other stops: Bandipur, a beautiful flowery hill village and Manakamana, a Hindu pilgrimage site.

Posted in Nepal