Cycling adventure

Today I learned why Nepali's describe distance in 'time to get somewhere' rather than actual physical distance. I headed off on Fiona's bike (which she has kindly let me keep for awhile) for a bike ride before meeting the other ex-pats for lunch. However, I had underestimated how long it would take to go up to the temple I thought I'd go see. Partly because I hadn't accounted for losing (and having to regain) 100m to cross the river, but also because I had planned to do about twice the altitude gain I'd done so far - but it turned out that had been on much worse roads than I had used before. So I ended up pushing my bike up the road for about 400m altitude gain – it was steep enough that riding was really hard, and in a few places I carried my bike up steps. Early on, I kept thinking I would reach the top around the next switchback. By the time I could see my destination, and realized how much further there was, I'd already come far enough to not want to backtrack. So on I continued.

I had a great ride, which in the end took 4 hours instead of the 1.5 I had allowed myself. Still, I think I enjoyed that more than lunch in a western restaurant. I had tea at the house of some lovely women who I stopped to ask directions of. I also chatted with people on the way, and some men at the shop where I tried to call my friends to let them know I was late. My Nepali is pretty basic still, but after 3 weeks of classes I can now answer most of the questions that I get asked in the first few minutes of meeting people. Knowing past tense really helps clarify things. However, I decided I should move on from the tea once we'd exhausted my entire repertoire of Nepali questions and answers :) It was fun to be out using practicing the language in a real setting, and encouraging to see how much I can manage, when pressed.

The ride along the ridge was lovely, although I never did find the temple listed on my map. It was also nice to be off the beaten track a bit, in that there was much less yelling and attention from the children than is the case in town or places where tourists often go. (Hello? Hello? pen? sweets? 50 rupees?) Instead the attention was much more friendly curiosity (what is this crazy foreigner doing up HERE on a bike?) which was a nice change. The downhill was faster and easier, but only somewhat so, as the road was steep and bumpy. I was glad to be back on flat ground by the time I got back to Pokhara!

I've posted some more pictures from my day here. (can you tell the internet connection was good today?)