week 13 logs

Day 85 jul 17 fri
Raxaul – Birganj – Hetauda – Bhainse – Kulekhani – Katmandu
154 km - 9326 kms
Wake up by 7.30, the earliest in a long time. Pack and head out to the border. Indian side they just ask whether the stuff we have is for selling or personal. At the Nepali border, they ask nationality, see passports and tell us to go ahead to get bike entered. No Nepali stamp on passport L. At vehicle place, do paperwork. They ask how many days; after brief random thought, we decide on 2 weeks - must get a Lonely Planet. From brief internet research so far, the only places I know of Katmandu, Patan, Bhaktapur, and asia’s highest bunjee jump near Tibet border. Its 100 INR per day, so shell out 1600 for it. The guys at the counter, all dressed in casuals, enquire where from etc. When we asks for routes to Katmandu, they give 2 choices – a. the niche wala road via Narayanghat, which I had already decided against, and b. the route I had shortlisted, via Daman, which is hilly so less frequented. On further asking, a third route is put forth, via kulekhani, the danger route. One guy says take it if u want, but be careful. Other guy says don’t take, the roads are bad and the inclines are – in hand movements – 60 degrees. I decide to decide at Hetauda where the branch-off is.

We leave the border and find a petrol pump. The 9000 km long game of only putting petrol at HP pumps (except at 2 places; when the bike is on reserve, the game has to stop, esp. when you haven’t the faintest when the next petrol pump is) will have to end. Find a unnamed petrol pump, but think it’s Indian Oil (small board of servo). Petrol is 56 bucks! Fuck, I should have filled up on the Indian side. Bill comes to 950 for 12.5 l. We don’t know the conversion rate and give 1000 INR to get back 650 Nepali or NC as it is called here (nepali currency). Saurabh does some calculation and says its 1 INR to 14 NC. We are a bit overjoyed; it looks like we can do the whole of Nepal in the change we got :D

As the trucks give way to open road (not bad, nothing great, but after NH28A, big relief. Enter forested area, it’s Parsa Wildlife Sanctuary. The road starts slowly climbing – from the Gangetic or Gandaki plains to the lower Himalayas. It’s been 3 years since I have been in the Himalayas – last time being the once great Himalayan trip. Soon the terrain and feeling is like being in Munnar, except no tea plantations. Big smiles on my face – don’t know what it is about being in the hills, but your internal feel changes.

At Hetauda, some automatic response system kicks in, and I ask for road to Kulekhani. Its to the right, and tall hills loom on the right. A lil woohoo and I am off.
Shortly, the road becomes a mixture of paved and broken single lane road with steep inclines and hairpins with no warning signs. Not much traffic except the odd local bikes (mostly pulsars and ilk – form being sporty) and jeeps. Have to ride mostly in second gear, then just first gear. After the close call at Mudhumalai – Ooty, I stop at regular intervals to let the bike cool. A bit too cautious, but without the bike, Mataozm is over, so..

Nepali women are good looking, almost all of them. Babies are nice and fluffy round. As the road progresses, it moves to broken bumpy road; slow progress, 20 kms per hour is good. The roads are bad, but it was expected; so at peace, maneuver the bike.
Get stopped 4 times; once at a police checkpoint where you got to sign in the bike. Have tea and engage in coversation with police man, which goes from roads to religion. As we exit the village, 3 dude boys ask for 5 rs, and give us one of those printed receipts. Can’t make sense of it. LP had mentioned that some places Maoists also make you pay a tax to go ahead. Its 5 NC so we quietly pay and go ahead. Atop a dam, another police/army checkpost, where we are told to stop, then asked where from and ok go. Arrey. Atleast do the usual pressing the bags with your fingers to do the now usual ‘superfingers contraband detection technique’ that all cops in India and now Nepal do. Anyway, the checkpost was facing a green lake, which is the IndraSarovar. Chill and then proceed, not before sneaking another ‘prohibited’ photo. In the age of google earth and maps, they still have these stupid signs around. One good thing that has happened is that in almost all spots in India, no charges for still cameras. Probably got tired of telling people that even cellphone cameras are cameras.

We are now in the high/low mountains around 2247 m/7371 ft. (1m=3.3ft). I recall AMS, and rue not having brought garlic. Light headaches happening from time to time. We are good until we reach 2500m, then the real ‘headache’ starts. Keep stopping often to rest my hands and fingers that are taking a toll with the rough roads and constant braking, turning, up, and down. We are glad we got that NC at the petrol pump as all the tea shops in the villages don’t accept INR.
At a turn we see Katmandu spread out in a valley, surrounded by hills. Quite a view, with monasteries and temples and a thin river, pine and all sorts of trees. See 4 different kinds of butterflies at one point – reminds me of Kashmir. Soon the road becomes pucca and I speed up. At Katmandu outskirts, get stopped by checkpost, and finally made to open our bags. Well not all of them 2 of them. At this checkpost, everyone has to say where they are coming from or going, even locals.

We enter Katmandu to see everyone snappily dressed, well, at least the young ones. As we have no idea where to go, we ask for city center (shity shenter) and then get directions to some place. I’m already tired, so decide to ask for central bus-stand, which is on the opp. Side of how we came. It turns out where are on a ring-road around the city. Considering we are on a ring road, we decide the bus stand must be some new out of town place, so again we ask for shity shenter, and get told to ask for New road. We reach new road and boom, it’s a road surrounded by old palace type buildings, stonewalks, and fashionably dressed people doing their thing – not just foreigners (hmm, gore, considering now even I’m a foreigner here) but locals and all look good; no one is garish or whatever. Saurabh says most pahadis are like this only; similar to what ananya told me about Seoul folk.

Park, find a bookshop and buy the LP-Nepal; 2200 NC meaning 1300 INR. Saurabh hesitates but I say buy buy. We find out that conversion rate is 1 INR = 1.6 NC; so much for 1:14 and seeing Nepal on our change. Read the LP and figure out we have to head for Thamel. Pop into a cybernet café to check where KP had said to stay, and find out he had said Thamail. Decide to go to LP recommended place. have to maneuver through small lanes with heavy traffic – how some people think they have take a Sumo through a lane which can’t take 2 bikes side by side; but somehow we all manage. Reach to find it’s full; so find place at another one just beside. It’s just out of Thamel, which is like the next area, so quieter and probably cheaper, though we don’t know.

Freshen up, but neither has the energy to look around. Nap for a while, before heading to find some dinner. LP again comes to the rescue. Lots of places to choose from, but it’s almost 10 and most places are shut or shutting. We walk through the lanes of Thamel, which looks and sounds like Leicester square – pubs, restaurants with live bands, lavazzas, etc. One guy approaches and asks if we want to see a dance. Both our testerones are a bit high – I guess it’s seeing ‘modern’ women after 2 months of rural folk.. We walk on looking for a place that ‘calls’ us to eat. Saurabh has no preference, as usual, so we finally go into a Tibetan place I recall from LP. They say closing, I pat my stomach and make sad face; so lady says thugkpa ok, noodle soup. I say ok and sit down. We both eat thungpa in silence. Saurabh seems to be a quiet mood. He doesn’t want to do the bunjee jump.

Return to the hotel, read my new Jeffrey Archer, which turns out to be about a guy who most probably climbed Mt. Everest first, 30 yrs before tenzging et al. What coincidence.
Crash.

Day 86 jul 18 sat
Katmandu
12 km - 9338 kms
Wake up, take a nice hot water bath to loosen the stiff muscles. First task is to get bike serviced. Oil leak, creaky clutch, and general touch up. Head out to find out where the local Royal Enfield service center is. Haven’t seen any enfields on the road, so a bit concerned – have to get it serviced before the next mountain leg. Find out about a place called Himalayan Enfielders in Laximpat. Ask and reach Laximpat. People give directions in minutes here; on pressing approximate kms; have to make 4-5 direction stops. Stop for tea and find out its near the Israeli embassy. Shopkeeper makes conversation; seems 2 more computer engineers from Bombay are in the locality.

Find service center, only to find it closed. Saturday is a holiday here. Come tomorrow at 10-10.30. I head back to the hotel and rest back and body. Book bunjee jump - Watch films and laze.
Evening go Internet and upload half of last week. Eat at momo place beside dance bar beside dance girls. Head back to hotel. Crash after watching films.

Day 87 jul 19 sun
Katmandu – Bhaktapur - Katmandu
52 km - 9390 kms
Get up and leave for bike service point. Saurabh wants to drop out after Nepal leg. Service place says won’t happen today- all booked for the day - Come tomorrow. Not a good day so far J. Head off to Bhaktapur to see sights. Dustiest highway ever – no wonder Katmandu is one of the top 16 air polluted cities in Asia; people walk around wearing air masks. Try to find the parallel road along the airport, but don’t find it.

Get to Bhaktapur. Get SAARC ticket and ride to the middle of this old city; one of three capitals (Katmandu, Patan, Bhaktapur – Gorkha is another, but that’s for another day). Not much crowd and we say no to a couple of kids who want to guide. After lunch, another older guide approaches and this time we take. Its difficult to just use LP descriptions and look around.

Nepal is basically temples (just like India), mountains (most of the highest peaks on earth here), rivers (about 20 of them), and tons of adventure. There are three styles of temples here; Nepali Newari, South Indian Shikara, and .. I forget! Quite a few of them are replicas of temples in Katmandu; built because of regional conflicts and people not being able to go to Katmandu – so you have Pashupati and other temples replicated here. Also a shiva parvati temples with animals in kajuraho pose. Every darbar square (all cities in Nepal have one) has a temple with erotic/sex pose sculptures. Basically since there weren’t playboy or fantasy, to be couples would learn about the cycle of sex from these. They usually start from ‘hey how you doin’ to ‘doggie’ to ‘childbirth’. Aside – Nepali culture from what we see and hear is ok with premarital relationships.

Check out the Taleju temple, who is the patron goddess of the kings. Durga basically. Only hindus allowed inside. I have so far entered 2 of about 10 such places, basically depends on my mood. This one I don’t. You can’t take shoes, cameras, mobiles, leather stuff inside. Saurabh checks it out. A lot of sun and moon imagery on most temples. Also wooden sculptures, only a few have stone sculptures; stange considering there is so much stone around J, but then again also lots of trees. The king’s temples will have a pillar in front with the king atop facing the temple. We end with the highest temple in Nepal, where people hang out, couples chitchat and others smoke. A lot of the temples were destroyed in the earthquake in 1934, and with the help of countries like Germany and Japan, have been rebuilt.

After the tour is over, we try to find the biggest shivling in Nepal by the river. We do find the place, but what I see is quite small, so I’m not sure. Its drizzling and we pass through this strange space with little stupas, hanuman, Vishnu, shiva etc idols, etc. Mixture of two religions seamlessly; then again Nepal is this almost fit-to-fit mix of Indian and Newari culture. Most watch Hindi movies and TV channels, and roam around singing Hindi songs on their ubiquitous mp3 players. Miss having Juju Dahi (Kind curd) – supposed to be a speciality here.

Head back to Katmandu through heavy traffic. I roam around Thamel streets, pick up some DVDs. We leave for dinner but don’t feel like entering any of the 100 places to eat. After standing at street corners wondering where to go, we see this Thakkali (people belonging to a region near Gorkha who have kind of specialized in running hotels and restaurants) restaurant. Get in and eat the thali. Very good – like Indian but different. Stuff myself. Walk back waving off whispers and walkbys of people asking us if we want lady, man, hashish. It’s past 10 and the nightpeople are out. See ppl, including local street kids, toking up and sucking out of a plastic bag. Scenes from a past life.

Day 88 jul 20 mon
Katmandu
12 km - 9402 kms
Get up and go to bike service place. Another 2 bikes getting worked on, with their owners sitting by. Decide to stay put to - get my work done and avoid getting it pushed back by bikes with owners who sit and get it done J. End up spending the entire day there; first time in 3 years where I sit by and watch an entire service! Learn a bit too. Get new rear wheel brake pads, oil filter, and gasket. Bikes and kids keep whizzing in and out; like an hangout. This place was started by an Enfield riding club who couldn’t get good servicing done - so they started their own. The old guard has spread across the world, but the service center remains and new kids hang out here now. It’s 6 by the time I get back.

FYI for enfield riders who want service in Katmandu, here’s the address (can’t find it online).
Himalayan Enfielders
Next to Israeli Embassy, Main road, Lazimpat.
Is closed on Saturday.
Good service, but spares are expensive. Import duty from India! There is a 100% tax on such stuff. E.g. Enfields cost like 3.5L NC, that’s 2L IC. So get from India or pay more here. Also on that note, tank up in India, before entering Nepal.

Am starving. Go do some internet timepass, and see a bakery and buy some stuff to take back – get 50% coz its after 8 pm. Come back to hotel to see Saga hasn’t eaten, so we head out for dinner. End up going to the thakali place again. Come back and watch films, while Saurabh goes out to check out alternative nightlife in Katmandu.

Day 89 jul 21 tue
Katmandu
9402 kms
Wake and watch remainder of film. Saurabh sleeps till noon. So we decide to skip Patan and see Darbar square. Take the walking tour from LP and follow the routes, trying to locate the places. Good fun, take some wrong turns, so see new things. Its like 500 yr old things are used to sit on or keep helmets on. See this spectacular window is called Deshay Madu (there is no other like it) – its true! Also a 5th century standing Buddha statue in one corner bracketed with bathroom style white and blue tiles! If we didn’t know better, we could think callous! There’s this block of wood at one corner to which coins have been nailed – its for the toothache god! At Asan tole which used to be main spot for India Tibet caravans, there is an Annapurna temple and a vegetable market J Buy a garlic pod for future AMS use.

Reach Darbar square and a guide approaches, whom we hire. Walk around seeing the sights – though most of the temples are similar, very subtle differences – But mostly the same. So if you see one darbar square you have kind of seen them all! Not really, but you get my point. Do you?

Go to Kumari Devi’s house. Now she’s the living goddess of Nepal. Something similar to Dalai lama, except.. They start looking for the devi in 3-4 yr old girls, who must fulfill some criteria. Then these girls are put in this chambered place where frightful sounds, faces etc are present – the one who doesn’t get scared, becomes the Devi and then lives in this kickass house. More like a prison; gets to go out 13 times a year – gets tutored at home etc. Not bad huh? Ppl come to worship you and all that.
Alas, like every other dream, it ends when she gets her first period. She is reverted to normal human status, chucked out of the house, gets a pension. Also finds it extremely difficult to find a husband. Stories range from the one who marries her dies within a year (manglik?) to no one wants to get married to someone who was a goddess and is accustomed to living and being treated like one. The current devi is less than a year old in her avatar.

After the tour, we have chai with the guide, watching the crowd walk by. We then walk to Theku to get Saga’s helmet fixed – the helmet fell down and the visor broke when we reached the hotel in Katmandu. Walk from shop to shop, but no one has this kind of visor. Most ppl in Katmandu use these funky helmets. Anyway, end up buying a new helmet, full face of course. Meet some engg. students at the shop. They also want to do such a roadtrip; practically everyone we have met so far wants to do a roadtrip; well good luck. Tired from all the walking, so take a taxi back to Thamel. Feels nice to be driven around for a change.

Want to eat something different, so scour LP and decide to have Chinese. End up eating non-veg fried rice, my first non veg since last December! Pick up more 50 NC dvds and head back. Saurabh heads off to check out nightlife. Comes back having done ethnographic study J. I watch films, till I pass out, tomorrow is a big day. Total solar eclipse, bungy jumping, and maybe Tibet border. Keep 3 alarms for the morning before I pass out.

Day 90 jul 22 wed
Katmandu – Bhaktapur - Dhulikhel –The Last Resort – Kodari
Arniko Hwy
121km –9523 kms
Wake up 5.30 a.m., 5.45, 6.15. Go up to the terrace to see the total solar eclipse. It’s a bit gloomy with clouds in the sky, but the sun is still out there. Around 6.40, the crows start going beserk, so I settle down with my sun glasses and camera. Don’t think camera will do any good, already the sensors are fucked, but… Around 6.50, it begins; it’s a bit difficult to judge, but I can see the curve moving over and then suddenly it’s like watching moonlight. A bit -disappointed would be the word – I was expecting the skies to go dark and be like nighttime – it was actually, like moonlight, but no blackout. Sit watching it, now and then wondering if im going to lose whatever little eyesight I have left. It’s a bit amazing that the sun and the moon are the same size! Around 7, the sun is out again, the only way I can make it out is the rays and the heat that has come. My first solar, total or not, eclipse.

Return to the room and watch remainder of the last night’s film till Saurabh wakes up. We pack and then head out. Go to Thamel main street (Paryatan road) to sell new books and Saurabh picks up Che Part 2 DVD. Ask for the airport and reach it – want to take the parallel non-dusty road to Bhaktapur. Reach the airport, but take some road which brings us back to the Arniko Hwy. It has rained so little dust. Reach Bhaktapur and go beyond, leaving the traffic behind. The air becomes cleaner and everything is uplifting. Saurabh points to the left and pow, ice capped mountains are visible.

Reach Dhulikhel and we stop at a point where we can see a range of ice capped mountains. Saurabh takes photos while I get a bit emotional and just watch. We are not sure which mountains these are, but speculate that one of them is Mt. Everest – will have to check. Enter the fabulous Panchkhal valley. The road is good, air is clean and crisp, and ..

We reach Dholghat where the Kosi and the Indrawati meet. I’m sleepy and stop to have my second chiya to clear the cobwebs. We head out and then ride along the Bhote Kosi, which is raging. Soon the first of soon to be many waterfalls appear. Wow moment. Every 50 metres a waterfall or two fall by the road. In 10 mins, waterfalls are everywhere till the eye can see. We also encounter mudslides and have to slowly maneuver our way through. Boots get covered by mud.

We are now creeping along the Bhote Kosi at 12-15 kms per hour. After crossing Barabhise and about 10 mudslides (thankfully cleared or rather cars, buses have ridden over, so we can ride between the channels), we reach the Last Resort. We see the suspension bridge and cables hanging off it. Park and take a look at whats happening. A boy takes the jump and then I set out on the bridge to do my jump. Asia’s highest bunjee jump, higher than anything even in NZ. Can’t even see the river from the sides. Just walking on the bridge is spectacular with the trees and then the river far below. I show my papers and am told to go to the office. Cross the bridge and get weighed – with boots 56.5 kilos. Go back on the bridge and the guys prep me up in 2 mins. Cables are attached to me, with quick info on what and why. Guy takes video and asks name and how im feeling – tense and excited.

I stand at the edge of the plank, mountains in front of me, the raging river below me. Everything else is blank. It helps that they do everything so quickly. Am told to push my head forward, which I do.

[events that followed are experiential – go do your own bungee jump]

I grab the bamboo pole and am guided to land, where the cables and harness are taken off. Have to walk up (no one told me that – I though you get towed up or something). After falling 160 m, now I have to climb up some 250 m. The walk up is rather nice, following the stones, walking by waterfalls, between two waterfalls, walking on waterfalls flowing along the path. Have to keep stopping to take in the view, wash my face, and catch my breath. Reach the top and make my way to the lunch area. We eat lunch, watch the video of me falling, and make convo with staff. Find out that this place is owned by 4 guys – Dutch, New Zealander, Australian, and Nepali. Its at 1200 m, 500 less than Katmandu.

Head off to Kodari. Its drizzling but who cares. It takes us over an hour to do 12 kms, more mudslides, rain, and streams. We reach Kodari and get pulled over just in front of a gate. Hello China. Both of us are quite excited and happy.We can’t go past without a visa – what happened to Hindi-Chini bhai bhai.

Find a lodge, dump our stuff and pass out. Around 6, we wake up and go out for tea. Buy soap for the first time in 3 months – so far using the soaps we used to get at hotels!). Back at the lodge, I find that my right ankle hurts when I rotate it anticlockwise – Bungee or general rough road or both? Find the Tiger Balm and apply it. Walk to a bridge which is over a big waterfall with light green (jade) water, which meets the raging brown Bhote Kosi. Saurabh takes photos, while I walk around, watching people play cards and carom by the road. By chance, Saurabh asks a man where the trail goes. He says to a village, and asks where we are from. We walk along with him, conversing about India, and China. They all say China not Tibet. He’s a customs official, and everyone along the road says hello to him. Must be important man – customs, of course, has to clear anything that ppl take to and fro the border.

He gets us to the border and also the Friendship bridge. Two local women who have come from across the border laden with goods want not to pay some tax, so guards and them having major long convo. Finally women sit down on bridge – wait them out? We are 30 ft from China! See a Chinese army/police doing some drills. The border is now closed, only people from China can come past, no Nepali can go across. (Police is more powerful in China, and employ youth only from 18-25. After 25, the cops retire with pension!). Saurabh takes secret photos (ahem) on the bridge. Customs man tells us that photos are not allowed, but we can take from Nepali side. Tells us a few things about Chinese rule etc. Shows us the Khasa (Nepali) market, which is Zhangmu in Chinese. Locals from a 30 km radius can pass across to China (again 30 km radius) without visa etc. Beyond that even they need a visa. We thank him and walk back to the hotel. It has stopped raining. Photos and looking at ‘China’ across the Bhote Kosi from our lodge balcony.

We have tea and tell them to call us when dinner is ready, which they do and which we eat. Come back, watch films and sleep. A day of extremes ends – total solar eclipse, fucked dirtroad biking, 100s of waterfalls, australasia’s highest bungee jumping, and China border.

Day 91 jul 23 thu
Kodari – Dhulikhel – Banepa – Nala – Dhulalgaon – Mohan Pokhari – Nagarkot
Arniko Hwy, rain destroyed dirt roads, hiking trails!
129km –9652 kms
Wake up to the sound of the thundering Bhote Kosi. Have tea and go to the terrace to look at Khasa market town/Zhangmu. Update logs – haven’t for 3 days, already forgetting little details. It takes an hour to update logs for one day! Today’s the 23rd! 3 months since I set out on Mataozm – who would have thought – have lasted three months without having a single paisa of my own, and am at the China border. Thank you all who have helped us out in one way or the other. God bless.

Wait till 10, hoping the now blazing sun dries up any mudslides that happened yesterday. It’s rained here the entire day yesterday. Pack and load the bike. Go to the customs office to find and say bye to C. K. Suba, the guy we met yesterday, but can’t locate him after a brief search. Come back to see trucks backed up 200 mts with no gaps through. Wait at the lodge and watch people playing pool. It’s already 11 am. After 15 mins, the trucks move ahead, and we slowly start maneuvering through the gaps. Say bye to China and follow the Bhote Kosi. The mudslides are drier and we rattle our way through. Encounter three checkposts where the guards do the superdetective finger press contraband detection technique. Only one place makes us open the tank bag - sampling? Have lunch at Barahabhise.

Cross the Last Resort; no action today. Bungee and swing happen only on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Saurabh says once more J Reach Dhulikhel and have chiya. No views of the icecaps today. Thick low clouds L. On a whim, enter the town and ride around to see Newari area. Not much different. See a road going up and follow it, only to see it break up. We follow it nevertheless coz we see a board that says Panorama view lodge. A local says there is a temple at the top. Rattle, bump, rattle. We reach the top to see a huge valley. Walk around and take photos. Saurabh remembers his school days at Nainital, where he would make paper planes and watch them fly. Use the old insurance paper to make planes and let them go, but not much flight. Head down to Dhulikhel. Plan is to see Nagarkot via Nala and then head to Katmandu.

Turn off the Arniko highway at Banepa. The policeman we ask for directions tells us kacha road hain. We reach Nala and then go beyond. At a checkpost we ask to find out we have crossed the Nagarkot turnoff. They say road is bad but bike can go. Don’t remember anything like a right. Come back to see this 45 degree stone path. Take it.

After bounding and bumping up the stone, mulch 40 degree road for a while, we stop to ask if we are on the right road. Yes, but we will have to walk, says one old man. I scoff and go ahead. 3 different people at 3 different times say Nagarkot is 1 hr away – like we made no progress at all. Road is still at 60 degree incline. Engine goes hot, clutch goes weak. Stop and wait for it to cool. See watery oil dripping. Clean the pipes and oil filter. We carry on, until we see the road go up at 45 degrees for 150 mts. Ask Saurabh to get off and go 20 mts before clutch gives up. Saurabh walks ahead and does recce- road is the same for another 200 mts. I let the bike cool and do a route mapping along the road. 300 mts later, the road becomes 70 degrees, and the terrain is like a nightmare. I retrace removing potential stones from the path.

Come back to the bike to see people talking with saurabh and giving directions and options. 30 mins later, 6 p.m., I get the bike up another 100 mts and stop at a fork. If we go straight, we go to Mohan Phokari and then right on pucca road to Nagarkot. If we take the direct road on the right, the road is the same and becomes steeper. I’m still ready to do the direct road. Temporary insanity, would be possible if no luggage, solo, and cooler. Two Hero Hondas pass by taking the road with relative ease.

We have tea and this big group of people make convo. View is spectacular with the sun making shafts lighting up swathes of the valley below. An English speaking guy who is studying M.A. talks about eastern philosophy and both our eyes light up. We ignore the rest of the group and talk to him. We then go to the rice mill he works in.
It’s almost dusk and I decide against direct road. Sensible boy I am. Faint hope in the head that atleast the Mohan Phokari road is good.

We proceed with the sun setting across the valley to our left. The skies look like they are on fire. Road is still fucked, but atleast it’s mostly flattish. Saurabh says Izzat wala road hain. My wrists and hands are fucked. Tar road appears as we approach Mohan Pok., only to disappear after 100 mts. Tease roads these are called. At one mulch strip, riding in a groove - bike sinks, ask Saga to get off, and turn to better patch, when bike slips and pachak. Thank god for the panniers, or would have been like those scenes in the movies where the hero/villain/comedian gets his face full of mulch. Heave it back on and proceed. Its beyond dusk now and the dusk bugs are full on. Just as it goes totally dark, we reach the tar road and turn right for Nagarkot. Only 10 kms away. Yay.

Yay? 10 kms of non-stop winding and uphill road; and its getting cold. No wonder everywhere goes off to Dhulikhel for Himalayan views. But no, Nagarkot is supposed to have the best views and that’s where we will go – nevermind that its bang middle of the monsoon and we may not even see a glimpse. Another 50 mins later, we enter nagarkot. My wrists are tender and hands are cold – need to take out my gloves if I continue doing this. Stop for tea when a guy approaches and asks if we want rooms. We says yes, but after tea. Have tea and look at LP. Nagarkot in general is expensive! He hangs around and we say ok, show us the place. Saurabh stays back at the tea shop, while the agent and I go into town to the hotel. Shows me 3 kinds of rooms at different prices. Choose the best one and bargain it to half the price. Try to get it lower, but the guy won’t budge – so probably good. Head back to get Saurabh.

Check in, apply TBalm on wrists, order dinner, eat, soak wrists in warm salt water, and update logs. Have to wake up tomorrow at 5 to catch sunrise over the Himalayas. Everest if the sky is clear will be like a dot, but there are other mountains. Let us all pray that tomorrow morning, we get to see the icecaps. Amen and good night.

week 12 logs

dekho madarchod muth raha hain. jai ho.


















12 weeks on the road - feels surreal.

Day 78 jul 10 fri
Varanasi
0 km - 8330 kms

Wake up and bathe before leaving for the Panchtirti yatra – unsure whether to walk it out (too long and hot), take the boat (expensive), or take cycle rickshaw. Head out to Assi ghat for the first of five points. The southern end of the ganga ghats where the Assi river meets the Ganga. Varanasi is called so coz it lies between the Varana and Assi rivers. Take quick photo, give bag to richshaw guy and go take dip. Do gayatri and mahamrityunjaya mantras. Quick in and out – never done this before. Decide to stick to cycle rickshaw yatra who is either called Ram or Rahim.

Head back to Dashashwamedh ghat for second point. Little slower – getting the hang of it. Focus on whom to pray for. Mostly ananya’s dad only.
Next stop is Adi Kesava ghat and no one knows where or what it is. We think it’s the Adi Kesava temple – it has to be where the Varana meets the Ganga. People direct us to varana ghat which happens to be 13 kms north. The sun is up and the cycle guy keeps at it. Reach a ghat after asking 15 people who know or point to some arbit ghat. Reach the ‘Varana ghat’ which is labeled Lal Bahadur Shastri Ghat. Look up GPRS internet, asks people at the hanuman temple at the LBS ghat. No use. Finally one man who thinks he knew calls someone and confirms. It’s near Raj ghat, near a college. We head back into town but different direction and finally after 2 hrs, find it.

See the temple, ask the pujari to open the door for darshan. He tells story of the place – How Shiva when he got bored here (Kasi is called land of Shiva) headed for Mt. Kailash for tapasya. The king Adi Devdas? didn’t allow anyone else to come into town. So Brahma-Vishnu gang up and send the 33 crore devas in human form. But King was too smart. Point is none of these deva-humans left Kasi. BraVish get perturbed and Vishnu comes to town, manifesting at this ghat. He decides to talk to Shiva and Shiva agrees to come to town. Vishnu throws Sudharshan chakra which falls at Manikarnika ghat. Then onwards, Manikarnika to Assi was Shivpuri and Manikarnika to Adi Kesava was Vishnupuri. Vishnu installs a statue of himself and proclaims a darshan of this murti is equal to a darshan of all beings. – Do darshan and go do dubki.
Oh did I mention that visually it felt like walking into a gutter!

Next after some thums up and finding out that rickshaw guy name is Shyam, push up the cycle rickshaw up the slope and head to Panchganga. Reach Dashashwamedh ghat and drop bag in hotel. Saurabh still there, but heads off to BHU. Meet Chucky and find out that he has been forbidden to take money from us by Uncle-Aunt! I head off to finish panchtirti to Panchganga. Its mid afternoon, hot, still, and not many people around. Dubki. Walk to final stop – manikarnika ghat, where all the dead get burnt to attain moksha- shortcut I say. Walk past 5 burning bodies, with two more being Ram naam satyaed in. Take dubki – doing the Jaggi V thing of self, family, friends, world, universe circles.

Go have lunch and sweet dahi from the kali mandir ke saamne sweet shop where we had the famous benaras rabdi yesterday. Rabdi only in the evening. Head back to hotel and take a good scrubby bath, before passing out.

Wake up in the evening, and sort photos while laptop is being charged, while Saurabh goes to see ganga puja from the boats. Head out to find cybercafe when I run into Saurabh near sweet shop. He sits and chats with the old man, while I talk to ananya on phone before charge runs out. Then uploads logs on blog, and photos, but leave in a while as we have to get back to lodge by 11. So go out to see Saurabh still at sweet shop; has made friends with the man; get free sweet to eat before heading back to lodge. Crash – have to wake up ‘early’ and leave for Bihar.

Day 79 jul 11 sat
Varanasi – Sarnath - Bodhgaya
NH2, NH56, NH83
269 km - 8599 kms
Wake up and pack. It’s raining outside, but once it slows down to a drizzle, we pack, say goodbye to new friend Rajnikanth (deputy manager types who said some deep things during tea time chats). Weave through the gullis, through people, cows, bikes and what not, till we reach main road; then more weaving through psychotic honker traffic to Sarnath – take 1 hr to do 12 kms.

Still drizzling as we reach Sarnath; finish tea when man approaches and says guide. We accept and head to see the sights. Hold umbrella for Saurabh while he takes photos. See the stupa, the different temples made by Japanese, thai and sri lankans. Seems like after Ashoka and gupta period, no Indian has bothered to do anything about the Buddhist religion. Ok maybe Ambedkar but that’s another story. Buys some books on Buddhism at a temple. Visit the museum – has stopped raining, but clothes wet, so freeze in the AC. Help out French family decipher some statues! – all this seeing India has enabled to identify some idols and periods – wah.

Leave for Bihar! Get onto NH2/Grand trunk road and belt across. The Grand Trunk Road, first started by Sher Shah (the guy who finally conquered Kalinjar but died doing it) is about 350 years old and cuts across India from Amritsar to Kolkatta. Cross a hugeass (3km? long bridge over a semi-dry river – the Son river). Stop just over the border and eat lunch, dahi pakodi with roti, at a dhaba. Explode into sweat – food loaded with chili, onion, and garlic. Head back on the road – almost fall asleep – hate highways. Lots of mud houses; poverty? But who knows – one only sees what they want to see. Lots of small hills; maybe all the mining has made them collapse in.

Am zooming along NH2, when I see a bunch of cops standing around a cop jeep
outside a desi aur vilayati sharab ka dukhan. One constable hails out, I go by, another
constable waves his dhanda at me; balls im stopping for cops outside an alco shop. No one following in rearview mirror, but increase from 80 to 85 kmph.

Bihar so far looks like a poorer version of UP – now that’s saying something. As we approach Bodhgaya, the light is amazing and the land is more fertile for some reason. A week ago, 35 people were killed by lightning in Bihar and Jharkhand! – so need to get indoors before dusk and the inevitable rain.

As we approach Bodhgaya, we see the sun hide behind some clouds and only a diagonal shaft of light beaming out towards land. We say someone is getting enlightened and zoom on. Enter Bodhgaya and do recce seeing the temples from the road, till we find the Welcome hotel and check in. There’s an internet café in the hotel itself, so go and upload the photos and organize. By 9.15 most of the shops are shut, so the momo place is shut; eat thukpa at the hotel restaurant and well, come up and update the logs.

Day 80 jul 12 sun
Bodhgaya
9 km - 8608 kms
Wake up mid morning. Leave to see the sites around 12. First is the Mahabodhi Mahavihara – Vihara/Bihar means monastery. Hire a guide who takes us around the 7 spots Buddha spent seven weeks after enlightenment. I’m not sure whether I have said this before, but the bodhi tree is not a different tree, but the peepal tree. Time and again, the usefulness of a guide makes itself clear. How much ever you read up and go, a guide always provides orientation, direction, and a little bit more; and you can always bargain, esp. off season, when you don’t look for them, they look for you.

Buddha basically spent time at seven different spots (clockwise direction) around the bodhi tree. First week – under the bodhi tree. Second week – stood under another closeby tree (now has a smaller temple) staring-nonstop unwinking single-pointed focus for one week at the bodhi tree. Third week - he walked around the tree and lotuses bloomed under his feet – whether he trampled them while walking around for a week is another tale. Fourth week - he sat at another point and meditated on the causal law. - 5th at another spot, where he tells a Brahman that man is not a Brahmana by birth, but by deeds. 5 different lights came out of his body (white, yellow, green, blue, red – the 5 colors of Buddhism – u can see it on all their flags). 6th week –sat meditating when thunderstorm broke out and the forest animals came out to protect him, esp. a snake that covered his head with its hood – there’s a lake there right now. 7th week, at another spot, where 2 burmese merchants give rice cake and honey offering and take refuge under him, leading to Buddham Saranam Gachami, Dhammam Saranam Gachami – Three pillars, represented by the circles atop the Buddhist places are first-buddham, second-dhammam (religion), third-sangam(community).
End of Buddhist history lesson. See photostory for sequence.

Head out after waving off people selling peepal leaves, wood and radium statues of Buddha.
Go to the other monasteries around the place – there’s sri lankan, Tibetan (4 of them), Japanese, Bhutanese, Bangladeshi, Vietnamese, thai etc. So many different stories painted on the walls; so many different buddhas, some fat, bony, princely. During a break Saurabh says we are in Sid’s land! (Sid for Siddharta- his preBuddha name, for the unknowing).

Around 5.30 reach a monastery where the prayers are going on. Meet a Buddhist from Calcutta (31 years in India and I don’t know a single Buddhist; strange considering 3,00,000 people converted to Buddhism along with Ambedkar). He’s a normal person who felt deeply when his father’s wish of seeing his son wear the robes was unfulfilled when he died. So he’s here now for the 3-day program!; apparently, you can do a 3-day, 7 day or 14,21 etc. day program when you wear the robes and follow the monk way. He was amazed about the artwork in the temple and how the Tibetans send their kids away as children to the monasteries – how Indian culture is different and even if the parents had crores and many kids, they find it impossible to send away a child – in most terms, forever.

Saurabh talks to a lady and gets invited to join the dinner – seems its an auspicious day and some feast is happening. When the prayers end, about 150 kids, from age 4 to 15? Walk out singing a prayer. We go for the dinner and after waiting around gingerly, join the end of the line and get the buffet meal – looks like Chinese – momos, boiled rice, chowmein, noodle soup, fried bhajiyas, boiled veggies, palak paneer, and a mango. Surprise was no water but a 500 ml choice between coke and mountain dew! There is some felicitation of some guests, and we also get a CD and a photo! Eat after a short prayer, but at 6.30 sharp, the kids start chanting something, which goes on and on and on. And ends at 7 – 30 mins of us clasping hands and listening to the chants. After the chants ended, some people finished their dinner!

Leave and head back to hotel and Internet. Saurabh goes to take pictures of the lit up temple at night. Check out Nepal, and slowly find out there’s a quite a bit to do. So yay. KP calls from umrica and chitchat happens. Says blog can be improved – well yes, but all the time at internet gets used up uploading photos and logs, and catching up a bit with the world. Least I can do is change to first person and improve formatting. Saurabh gets some sponsor friends for the trip, so some money coming in to aid our travels. All the sugar drunk keeps Jedi awake till late.
Did I mention our UP leg (Allahabad and Benaras) was sponsored completely by the Lamechs – yay for kind people. Thank you. Also to the others who gave generously during the giveaway/sale at Bangalore, and Dinesh and KP who have sent money to add more kilometers to mataozm. Thank you  Will name some hills after you, and pay back when and if I get a job.

Day 81 jul 13 mon
Bodhgaya – Rajgir
NH83, NH82
101 km - 8809 kms
Wake up late and update logs. Saurabh reads the Dhammapada. Leave hotel just by 12 pm check out time. Go see the 80 ft (64 ft + 6 ft lotus pedestal + 10 ft platform) Buddha in sitting dhyana position statue. Impressive – even with the two beehives formed under his eyes. The Japanese are behind this. Something keeps biting me in the right shoe; so take it out to find a black beetlebuggy thing fall out – its been damaged by my wriggling and is finding it difficult to walk. Normally I would have killed it to relieve it of its misery, now I’m not sure. I watch it till it wriggles out of sight. Note to self: Bang shoes not once, but twice on floor before wearing.

Leave for Rajgir and see more of Bihar. The mud houses are here too and lots of them. As you looked closer, you see houses that have brick walls, but just one brick thick; some have just bricks and no cement – just stacks of bricks and a roof. No plaster or paint – just bricks.

The land is green (it has rained quite a bit here), so the fields are lush, with the low mined out hills as background. Again, a closer look shows one cultivated field in 20 grass-growing fields. Many structures are abandoned or broken down. Feels a bit sad.
See a lot of palm trees – wonder why no coconut trees. Haven’t seen a single coconut tree for days now – last one was probably somewhere in Andhra Pradesh! Again strange, coz the favored offering at temples are coconuts – meaning all the coconuts used in all the temples in north India are imported?

Reach Rajgir by 3.30 and eat. Late lunch so overeat; decide to stay back and see Nalanda properly tomorrow and then head to Patna. Find out that the ropeway to the Worldpeace stupa closes bookings by 4, so buy tickets and go join the line. The cars are basically single seater chairs and getting on is a slightly dangerous proposition as the line of chairs keeps moving with a very short stop at a particular point – you time and get on or let it go and wait for the next one. It’s a nice long way up and the vista broadens with each pillar.

Reach the top and proceed to the stupa. Getting a bit tired of stupas, but it’s the worldpeace stupa made by the Japanese, so Om namo narayana. It’s a mordern stupa with no paintings or stuff. Walk around chanting ONNs. Keep hearing a drum go dum dum dum non stop, so check out the nearby Buddha temple (Buddha was against temples and wanted all temples razed to the ground!). Head back down and this time just watch the people – the men don’t care (almost all), the kids are either terrified and back in their chairs, or thrilled with glee on their faces, the women are scared and hold the grips hard. Bus loads of orange clothed people keep saying Bolo Bam on their way up. One little boy in orange holds the grips hard and says Bolo Bam with a serious face.
Ride around town trying to find a place – the lonely planet recco was too expensive, more than Hyderabad – so KMA. The next place was 150 bucks, woo hoo, but no three point plug, so sorry. The next place was 450 bucks, govt., and well we take it. Saurabh falls asleep. Jedi does weekly Monday evening mom call.

Buddism would have died out in India if not for the Sri Lankans and other east/south east asian countries. So what’s the oldest surviving religion on earth? What do the Greeks and Egyptians believe in?
Rajgir has another son imprisoning and killing father story – Ajaypatrasu and Bhimisara.

Emergency update: Bihar has so far been full of mosquitoes. The smartest purchase on this trip so far has been the mosquito liquid repellant. But have to remember to put it on before dusk, or rush to put it on when the mosquitoes attack in hordes. Two days in Bihar and already bites all over the body. But have to buy mosquito coils – whats the use of liquid repellant if there is no electricity.

Also television is central and northern India is mainly hindi channels, which is fine considering it’s the local language – haven’t seen English news in a month now. You have all sorts of hindi channels which is fine; but it will help to have atleast ONE English channel, so that you don’t have to spend money on sending your kids to VETA one day. Oh, there is one English channel everywhere without fail, and its Fashion TV! The only chance to listen to English on TV is one some programmes on DD, which I don’t think anyone watches anymore, except when the cable guy’s electricity goes off and you have a inverter/generator. Astha seems to be the channel with the most viewable program – ramdev giving a yoga talk to 100s somewhere. I like life – it is full of surprises; from a period when astha and the ilk would be skipped by without even a slight consideration, now can comfortably sit and watch and even contribute!
Sports news is only cricket, football, tennis, F1, and golf. How many people play golf in this country? I just don’t get it. Apparently they show FTII student films on the Doordarshan Lok Sabha channel.
The hottest program on Discovery? Is Man vs. Wild. Its like everytime that channel comes on, it’s the program running. Good program, though everything is handled and dusted within the show time period. Misleading, like everyone after watching lions and tigers on animal planet roar and leap in slow motion, expect to see a tiger in the only 2 hr safari they take during their weekend trips. But good program – khatre bhi asli, hero bhi asli.

Go have a late dinner. Kickass marwari thali. Return to see the sky light up – its so clear that you can see star clusters – I wonder if it’s a galaxy or a cloud; saurabh confirms it’s the milky way.

Check email and see one from someone from Tehelka, who wants to do something on people who travel as a way of life. Travel as a way of life; never really thought about it that way. Now that I think about it, it has always been part of life, but the why has evolved over the years or over trips. …

Day 82 jul 14 tue
Rajgir – Nalanda - Patna
NH82, NH31, NH30
115 km - 8924 kms
Wake up late again. Pack and leave. This time have brunch on time, well 12 pm is better than 3pm. See one schoolboy hit a smaller boy, who cries for a while, and Head out to Nalanda to see the one of the 3 greatest universities of its time. (Taxila, Nalanada, Bhaktapur) Buy the ticket when a guide approaches – 60 bucks - ok.
Enter to see a series of brick structures in different sizes. Find out that the bricks belong to 3 different periods and are not new bricks, but 1500 (Gupta), 1300 (Kannauj), and 900 (Pala) yr old. Wow. And to think the Delhi and Mumbai metros are crumbling while construction. Bhaktiyar Khilji in 1200 AD did the now expected razing! The books and buildings burnt for 6 months. On another note, I wonder if Buddha would have been a little happy, considering he wanted all temples to be razed, but Mahayana Buddhism

The British as usual excavated it, though only 1 sq. km., while the records according to Chinese scholar, traveler Huen Tsang mentions 10 by 14 km dimensions – had to be if it had to house and school 10000 students. Grass is growing on the structures; some of the excavations are at a stand-still – no funds the government says. Its true – why preserve old stuff when you can build new statues of yourself.
I wonder if the British hadn’t come, whether we would have any of our past left in India – like that zamindar in Sanchi who broke down the Ashoka pillar and used it to pound masalas – or all these new age Bhaktiyars who throw bottles in wells, scratch their names on walls (some use markers!) – or folks who break off part of a 900 yr old brick, SMELL it and throw it away.
I wonder why we are not taught these things in school. I try to remember my Civics lessons and all I can remember is about the parliament and democracy. Over this trip what I think should have been taught to me are:
1. Yoga asanas and pranayama
2. Ayurveda or naturapathy
3. Common trees, birds, animals of the country
4. Common road laws (when on highway use highbeam, but dip when approaching other vehicle; DO NOT OVERTAKE on curves)
5. Common rights (women - stuff like cops can’t arrest women between 6 pm and 6 am unless accompanied by woman cop; RTI)
6. History – Cultural history (complicated topic- but hey)..

An interesting bit was the admission into the university was controlled by the gatekeepers, who were so learned that they were called Dwarpundits. Aspirants would have to answer some questions by the dwarpandits to get admission.
After seeing the ruins we leave. Saurabh goes to check out the museum, while I sit outside and drink Limca. It has replaced Thums up as my preferred drink. Maybe because it has isotonic salts to quench your thirst; does it still?

Head off to Patna. See entire villages made of the brick only and nothing else structures. Stop at a 50 km ass break and a farmer/buffalo herder wanders by. Saurabh switches to his UP/Bihari accent and does chitchat. We find out that nearby is Nitish Kumar’s native village. As we approach Patna, lots of jeeps with kawariyas inside and atop them zoom past. Saawan is apparently Shiva’s month and major religious time, probably like Sabrimala time down south. Did I mention that the local transport jeeps in Bihar have been the most crowded. Stuffed inside and a mindboggling 20ish people on top. Try to mentally figure out how people sit on top- give up. Before I forget yet again, must mention the Tata Magic van – after jeeps the most popular vehicle on the road in MP, UP, and Bihar. I hadn’t even heard of it before this trip.

Stop just before entering Patna. Have chai and get directions from 3 different people on how to get to Fraser road. Find our way through Patna, which is like any other city, and check into Amar Hotel. Settle down and watch more Aashta, though there are 5 more religious channels; basically if ramdev is on, it stays on. Roomboy comes for dinner order; after what hmm for a while, we decide to order in. Find out justdial’s number 6999 999 and find out pizza place. Call and order veg supreme. Eat and eventually pass out.

Day 83 jul 15 wed
Patna
12 km - 8936 kms
Wake up and start photo sorting of past week. Should be crossing the border tomorrow and don’t know when I’ll next see Internet. The unhangable Mac hangs just when I’m saving a 11 image photostory. Lose the work. Anyone who ever tells me the Mac is this almighty machine will experience some disturbing vibes from me. In the background, we watch the Lok Sabha channel watching zero hour and other discussions. In the evening we watch HRD minister make a speech for grants for the HRD ministry and the plans for education in India. Right to education and the plans sounds good. Lets hope it goes through. Its been in the works for 16 years!

Leave around 3 to see the world’s oldest, no longest it seems, fossilized tree. The Patna museum is quite nice, though it looks like the stuff in it was compiled in 1928 when it opened, and never after that. Most have no labels; the stuffed animals and birds look fossilized. But the museum has some very nice stuff. The Didarganj yakshi was found in the early 1900s when a snake went into a hole and people dug into the hole.
The Patna history section has some nice info on Patna – the city or atleast the area has been around from 6 B.C. Buddha had prophesized that a great city would be built here, but would be plagued by fire, floods, and feud. Pataliputra the famous capital of the Mauryas, which Greek ambassador Megasthenes (4 B.C.) said was better than Susa, and Chinese traveler Fahian (3BC) said was built by superbeings, disappeared until the early 20th century, when during excavations they found and then correlated that Patna was indeed Pataliputra. The Mauryans had first developed the road to develop Indo Greek links between Taxila and Pataliputra, which later became the Grand Trunk road, now NH2.
It looks like its closing time, all the babus making the moves. So I enquire and find out where it is. Everyone here speaks like Lalu .
Watch a youth getting slapped by museum guard, and then made to do the hold-your-ears-and-squat 5 times. Seems he was found scribbling on a showcase with a pen. Serves him right. Should ask all the people in the museum to write on this face with inedible ink. As he leaves, his friend tells him dekhne ke liye hain ye sab, likhne ke liye nahin.

I had actually walked by it. It’s a 53 ft long wooden beam attached to the side of the wall. 200 million years old- washed along a river, getting buried in clay and mud for centuries, millennia, the carbon turning to silica. Now it lies along a wall of the Patna museum. 200 million years. Even pre-history falls short. Sneak a photo from phone – hoping I don’t get caught and slapped around.

Ok history lesson. There are three periods of time;
1. Pre historic – where there is evidence of life but no written records
2. Proto historic – where there are written records, but no one can decipher them
3. Scientific historic – where there are written records, and humans can decipher them

1. Paleolithic
a. Early – before 40000 yrs ago
b. Middle – 40,000 to 20,000 yrs ago
c. Late – 20,000 to 9000 years ago
2. Mesolithic - 9000 to 4000 yrs ago
3. Neolithic – earliest human settlements (harrapan comes 3 millenia ago)
4. Chalcolithic (copper-stone)
Paleo, Meso, neo come under pre historic, with Neolithic being a time of ‘revolution.’
Class dismissed.

Check out the other parts of the museum. There’s Buddha statues recovered from as far as Afghanistan, including the now famous SWAT valley. A world war 1 memorabilia section, and a thangka section with thangkas of most dalai lamas including the first one, Gen Dum Dop, are also present. The thangka’s were presented by Tibetan monks to an Indian monk who traveled from India to Tibet.

Leave the museum and visit the Gol ghar. Climb up the spiral staircase around the semispherical granary built by the British to avoid famine in perpetuity. Kickass views of the city and the Ganga to the north. Pass by what I think is Amar Singh’s house.

Enquire and find helmet shop. First shop we try, we get the helmet fixed – the visor part kept falling down – extremely annoying and big change from my got-used-to city traffic riding. Been looking for a place to fix it since Bhopal! What to do, no one wears helmets anywhere. Also get my visor glass changed. Now helmet sits well and the glass is so clear, everything looks sparkling 

Go to a sweet shop and have hot samosa, kachodi, halwa. Yum tum. Return to the hotel and sit, watch tv, and sort photos all the way to and past dinner. Tomorrow will make a run for the border 

Crocodiles despite being a ton heavy can move quickly and eat almost anything. But they can live for a year without eating, that’s why they have been around for 200 million years. And yea so has a tree. FYI the oldest living tree is the Gingko, found in China, 270 mill years old.

Day 84 jul 16 thu
Patna – Hajipur – Muzaffarabad – Motihari - Raxaul
NH77, NH28, NH28A
236 km - 9172 kms
Wake up at 8 for once. Tea and look for bank. But all banks here open at 10.15+. So come and pack. Today will hit the border – will see whether I cross or not once I get there. Funny thing is that Chughun has already seen Nepal, and not I. Will be taking Asia’s longest roadway bridge, the Gandhi Setu, 7.5 kms.

Do the bank and post office work. Visit book shop while waiting for DD. Meet Som, second generation bookshop owner. Seems very poor reading in Patna; publishers even bother because they have fulfill some quota for every state. Get DD, find secret post office in next building, and rush to vacate hotel. Leave by 12, and hit the Gandhi Setu bridge. It goes over the Ganga and is one of those will-rumble-when-truck-passes bridge. Heavy gusts of wind almost knocking bike over. See banana trees after a long, long time - yellow bananas. Palm trees too, nongu trees.

After a railway crossing, 2 army/cop/uniformed men ask two different bikes to stop; one goes off; the other too, but a cop runs behind and grabs the backrest. We slowly head off.

Cross Muzzafarpur and have lunch at a dhaba after a quick, fruitless search 2 kms in the city. As we leave, hear a sound from the bike. Check to find the right back shock absorber broken. Bad stuff. Call Bangalore mechanic and find out details. Head back to Muzzafarpur to find mechanic. As soon as we enter the city, the roads, no not roads, potholes surrounded by tar, begin, and it doesn’t end till we leave the city. So this is the real Bihar road and not the NH kind we have seen so far.
Roadside motor shop says go to ImliChutti, which we do. A bullet mechanic checks and says can either fix rod or replace. We decide to replace. Sit and talk to mechanic who refers to Biharis being beaten up in Bombay, and goes out of his way to be nice to us, saying two wrongs don’t make a right, and to tell when we get back how we were treated by Biharis. Tells that road ahead will be nice 4 lane highway right upto Raxaul. We ditch plan B of staying back at Muzzafarpur and head out to Raxaul. Get shocks fixed and leave. It’s already 4.30 p.m.

Within 5 kms, the road starts breaking; construction is going on – a 4 lane WILL come up but not soon. The ditches become potholes, the potholes become craters; riding becomes a jerk, break, swerve, ease, rumble, jerk out, swerve – mind fuck; and it doesn’t end.

Pass by a road accident where a bunch of people surround a body lying on the road. They try to stop a Sumo, which refuses and speeds away. They don’t bother us. After a few seconds we head off. Nothing we can do. Plus the lonely planet warning of extreme poverty leading to people creating fake road accidents to trap tourists preys on the mind.

Potholehipura. Not Patalipura. Wrists start aching, middle back, and coccyx ache. But a spectacular sunset with a big sun on the left, and a huge dark cloud on the right, with lightning striking at regular intervals, keep the mind off of the road – not really, but you get the point. Have never seen lightning from such a view. The lightning is generated and dispersed from within the cloud. Never really wondered where lightning started from.

It’s dark now and progress is slower. This is not even a white road or a state highway. It’s an NH for god’s sake. Am just glad it isn’t raining. Every village we cross, it has just rained. We stop to watch the lightning cloud amidst dark fields, sounds of crickets, frogs, and fireflies.
35 kms from Raxaul where the road turns right, we stop for tea. Saurabh asks the shopkeeper how the road is ahead. He says thoda tutafuta hain. A little heartened, we proceed. It takes us 2 hours to do 35 kms. Nightmare road. Craters in which a sumo can go in, stand, and roll up and out of. If the road becomes better, it’s only for a few metres, before ditch boom. What timing to have new shocks. Providence. All the Om trayambakams at work I guess.

Zen destroyed. Third time in 84 days and 9000 kms. I abuse all the people who are responsible for the roads. All the past and present leaders who have let Bihar become the worst state of the country – from what glory to what shame. I’m not just talking about the roads, all infrastructure – Patna loses electricity like it’s a joke – at midnight, in the morning, whenever. There are no schools; the ones we see are broken down buildings – a mahavidhalaya, which I assume is a college, is like the workshop block of VIT. Houses look like the ruins in Nalanda. Saurabh points out zero presence of government policies at places, unlike MP and UP. Whoever funny laloo might be, he and others have done nothing. At least Nitish, from what we hear, has stopped the goonda raj, and is trying to do something. Please pray for Bihar, it needs all the help it can get.

We reach Raxaul and find a hotel, and order food. My hands and back are fucked. Sleep in shavasana. Tomorrow a different country!

zen maintenance - google search no 4!

mataozm is now no 4 and 6 on google zen maintenance search :D.
sitting at bodhgaya uploading pics - checking out whether anyone is reading mataozm, considering lack of comments etc. so many lurkers :D

week 11 logs

Day 71 jul 3 fri

Kajuraho

0 kms, 7737 kms

Wake up late. This nightly watching of films is taking toll, plus it seems we need 8 hours of sleep. Decide no leaving today by 12 so chill more and do more photo sorting. Dreading having to sort kajuraho set – already racked up 600 photos between the two of us, and one more visit to go.

Walk up and down the market trying to find a place that scans. No use. Meet/accosted by dude youth. Jedi walks off after 15 secs – after a while, you can sense who’s making convo and who’s trying to do bukchodi. Some kids try to sell marijuana – jedi walks on – yay.

Leave around 2 and go see the western group of temples – the big ones. Spectacular is not the word. Tiring too. If you ever come to visit, take your time and come early!

Girl asks Jedi if tamil, makes chitchat. Everywhere people feel some strange comfort in their ‘group’.

Head back, find out that right beside our hotel is the scanner! Give maps to scan, and come back to finish the pranic psychotherapy doc. After finishing, drink some bhang and go to Internet and upload week 10. 10 weeks on the road – baap re.

Day 72 jul 4 sat

Kajuraho – Pandav Falls – Panna

62 kms – 7802 kms

NH76

Wake up around 9 and pack. Head to check air in the bike and load. Jedi sees that the carrier has broken – needs welding. Goes to welder to see that he doesn’t have electricity – happens to be just outside the perimeter of ‘World Heritage Area’. Find another welder and get work done. Come back and pack and leave. Roam around trying to find the Hanuman temple – see other smaller ones, but not the one we think it should be. Eventually leave towards Allahabad. Bike battery seems fucked – Jedi thinks while welding the battery got raped, though he had removed the spark plug.

In the Panna Tiger Reserve, there is a place called the Pandav falls and Pandav caves. Yes, you guessed right – the Pandav brothers stayed here. India has basically three kinds of places – i. where Ram did something, ii. Where the Pandavs did something, iii. Others did something. Falls not in full flow, but very nice place. Almost empty. Very scenic – will probably be spectacular post rains. Photos, and swimming. Jedi almost drowns himself, but limits it to panic and focused getting to safe rock. This place is infested with bees, or beehives and swimming is not allowed – only that we read the board only after coming back up J. Is not infested with bees but lots of beehives. See the green beeeater birds swooping on the pond and picking off insects. See small orange dragonflies - ananya in spirit? J

Start the bike, with high rev, and proceed through nice forest. Reach Panna and bike stops. Saurabh has to push and it starts. Ask for battery shop and reach center of town. Bike stops again. Stop for breath and tea. Most shops shut – looks like a Sunday, which is what we think. See a mechanic shop 10 feet away and roll the bike into it. Mechanic checks and thinks armature is gone. Puts the battery to charge after adding distilled water. Don’t the service guys check this? – apparently not. It rains and everything turns gloomy. Go to buy new battery, which has acid but no charge – no electricity. Its already 4 – Jedi decides we stay here and get this fixed; coz bike now running only on battery and no idea when and where it will fizzle off; even with the spare battery. Also locals say no point going to Kalinjar now – not safe. Mechanic by now thinks Rectifier is gone. Saurabh finds out about the diamond mines nearby and in conversation with a local, makes plans to pick up land and start looking for diamonds.

We go check in a nice hotel – in MP every double room is around 300 bucks.

Go back and find the only ATM in town. Eat chat at Mama’s shop.

Give the other battery to charge – leave the bike there. Come back and do photo sorting. Mechanic calls and says he’s fixed the problem – seems a wire had burst.

Go and get bike – Rashid mechanic – good man. Eat a nice thali and come back and crash. Jedi glad that all the bike stuff is happening now and not in the mountains.

Day 73 jul 5 sun

Panna – kalinjar fort – Chitrakoot - Allahabad

334 kms – 8136 kms

SH71 (UP), NH76, SH11 (MP), NH27

Jedi finds out that today is Sunday – so why were most of the shops shut yesterday?

Leave and head across the ghats to see the impregnable Kalinjar fort. Along the way, we see some mines which we want to think are diamond mines and saurabh gets quite happy. The fort is just across the UP border – a river is the demarcator. Big fort, mostly in ruins – most standing buildings seem like Mughal bldgs – Sher Shah was the first person to conquer the fort in the 16^th century after centuries of people, including Mahmud of Ghazni, trying and failing to conquer the fort. In addition to the cattle, we see horses too.

When u see the fort from outside and from within, you know why. Vast plains stretch out below while the fort runs along the steep hill. Only a few places show the Kajuraho and Chandela mark. You see historic rubble lying around, like no one cares. Not a single board – only one with the places in the fort which has rusted and is of no use. No water. Nothing. Only villagers and one temple pandit who says they have been doing the puja here for 3 generations. The sun is beating on our heads and we eventually retreat. Saurabh is Ghazni ke baap.

Next stop is Chitrakoot, but after 8000 kms of kickass road almost everywhere, this road – a SH, is a massive shock, to us and the bike. Potholes, lumpy road, more patches than road – we get onto NH76 but no difference. Start abusing Mayawati and make statements like if we broke all the Mayawati statues and filled the roads, it would be fine. Now we know why people here breed horses, easier and nicer to ride horses on such roads.

Reach Chitrakoot, the place where Ram stayed with Lax and Sita for 12-14 years (everyone says 12-14 years!) during vanvas. Surrounded by hills, its another temple town, with Ram this, Ram that, and hordes of tourists – ok not hordes, its off season- even for Ram, but still shitloads. Ask cig shop for places to see, and after chitchat say Gupt Godavari and Anusuya. We head to see these places – apparently Chitrakoot is in MP-UP border, spots in MP, town in UP.

Gupt Godavari – as the story goes, was a friend of Sita, and when she heard Ram was here, she wanted to do charan sparsh, so she came secretly (why I dunno) from nasik and manifested herself as a river here. That’s the story. Everyday I get to hear a new story – India is truly a land of stories. Jai Amar Chitra Katha - the main source of our India history lessons. We remove our shoes and pay the 10 rupee entrance and walk up to the 2 caves. Nice cave with RSL (ram sita laxman) idols and shiv ling and pool of water which all priests sitting around all these things say is the godavari. Each priest calls u and does tikka stuff and then asks where u are from, and then the sales pitch. After two of them, you feel sick. You move to the next cave which is basically water flowing through a narrow cave, this is more fun, until you reach the end where two more godpimps sit and do tikka and ask for money – if u say u already gave, they say this is a different god. All you do is walk away. Still overall nice place – just ignore the priests and arbit ppl who rush to do tikka and then ask for money. Outside we have to brush off an old man who says he was guarding the bike and wants 5 bucks. Jedi is already pissed with the godpimps and tells the old man to hadd, who then calls him bosadine. God bless you too.

We head to Anusuya, who is the ascetic wife of sage Atri. This lady’s claim to fame is that she’s the one who turned brahma, Vishnu, shiva into babies coz they did something – don’t remember what. She also gave the sermon on Patidharma – loyalty to husband by a married woman. Also created the Mandakini Ganga. We reach the place, but Jedi stops and has tea – after the roads and Gupt Godavari, has no interest in seeing another temple. Sits and talks to the assorted people and babas. Saurabh returns from the river, also not having seen the temple. Locals say come so far but not seeing – here no tax or priests – no money, go. Go go. We say thanks but tata.

Head back to main village and main highway. Smriti’s parents call and asks where are you – we tell about 116 kms away, but 3-4 hrs away. Uncle says road is good in patches. We head, but more of patches held together by road. Jedi takes option B of traversing such roads . Option A is ride slowly taking the bumps and holes gently; Option B is go fast enough to fly over the potholes. Finally after 30 kms of crap road, there is a good stretch of road for 60 kms where the road is good. The sun sets. Night riding and again bad road and trucks. See some men with guns, but mostly peaceful.

Have nice samosas.

Reach Allahabad around 8.30 and meet them at the high court where they escort us home. Lotsa of chitchat and exchange of travel stories. Also information on Mayawati’s rule and the things she has done, like getting rid of the goondas and making UP safe – building roads to the villages (we just happened to be on outer border road) – local UPites love her and really don’t mind her building all those elephants and statues of herself, as long as UP is safe for the common man. Dinner, and sleep follows.

Day 74 jul 6 mon

Allahabad

10 kms – 8146 kms

Laze. Jedi goes to find welder with person from uncle’s office. No electricity, so have to wait till 1. Goes to meet Joy at his house. Chitchat. Find out about Jhunsi, vilayati imli, and ulta kila. Goes to welder and gets partial work done; enough but not what Jedi wanted.

Sit and talk with uncle, aunt, banu and his family – get to hear some fun stories, including the behenji story. Go out for kulfi after dinner. Banu goes with Jedi on the bike and reminisces about his biking days. Makes plans to get his friend’s bullet and ride with us to Jhunsi tomorrow. Jedi and banu go to friend’s house to see 7 men totally sloshed. Bike will be needed, so tomorrow. Head back, watch Matrix Reloaded and pass out.

Day 75 jul 7 tues

Allahabad (All Saints Cathedral, Sangam, Fort, Anand Bhavan, Ag)

20 km - 8166 kms

wake up late and have breakfast. Uncle is getting the cathedral open for us and banu is taking us around allahabad. So leave in A/C car and see the sights. The cathedral (1845 AD) is nice, but not kept very well. Walk up the turret? On bat shit and ducking to avoid the fluttering bats. Reach the top and see Allahabad view. Meet the priest and make chitchat.

Go to Sangam and wade through some traffic. Processions and DJ Mix vans and people with all sorts of containers. Saavan is starting shortly and Kawariyas are here – ppl who take water from the sangam and walk barefoot to benaras and pour the water there. Some babas call jedi baba and then rajnikanth. Jedi walks away. The sangam shifts with the rise and fall of the ganga. Right now the Ganga is just a stream. So the line of boats in the water keep moving. Lots of people taking boat rides to go to the sangam point.

Head back and go to foot of the fort, but return when we see no cameras and weapons allowed. Fort is taken over by Army. Go to Anand Bhavan, where the newest emperors of the Indian empire started. Motilal Nehru, Jawaharlal Nehru lived here. Indira got married here. But couldn’t go inside the house as it was lunch time! And no one at the ticket counter. See some stuff through the windows and leave.

Head back and plan to leave tomorrow. Already 2 and if we want to see Jhunsi etc. will reach after dark. Aunty has fixed up place for us at Yogi lodge, a friend’s son’s place. Decide to do Jhunsi today itself, but fall asleep.

Wake up in the evening to hear there is a get together of Ag – Agriculture Institute of India Alumni (Uncle and Aunt studied there). Eventually mothers and 3 kids who want to get into Ag for Intermediate turn up and old Ag stories start flowing. Jedi is unsure what to talk about with people almost double and half his age. Good fun. For the first time in his life, he has to eat from a separate vegetarian food counter J Grateful that hardcore non-veggies are making and eating veg food just coz of us.

Get to hear about why and how the power situation is so bad in UP. People run up bills to 10k, then pay the elec guys 5k, who then eat 3k, make bill for 2k and declare all dues till now paid- and the cycle continues. Morever, people steal electricity by slinging wires over the overhead poles – mostly at night. As a result, the transformers that are supposed to give 2kv electricity according to the on-paper usage, have to give more and then burn out, resulting in transformer ud jaana. Privatization is protested against though eventually it will be cheaper than the current usage of inverters and generators.

Go to drop one of the kids to the Ag guest house. Nice ride over the yamuna on an old bridge. Jedi cant sleep and stays up till 5.30 am.

At some point in the day during some conversation, Jedi feels that the Afghans are simply bearing the brunt of karma – after decades of invasions and destruction of other countries, okay in this case India, from 10^th AD to 15^th AD, now its coming back to them. Bad thought but it happened. They still haven’t changed – the Bamiyan statues!

Day 76 jul 8 wed

Allahabad – Jhunsi – Sita Madhi – Varanasi

164 km - 8330 kms

Uncle wakes us up at 9.30. Its been raining and if we leave quickly, we can skip the rains. Pack and head out after good byes. Uncle accompanies us till the high court and then pays for a full tank! Thank you Uncle. Two days of total pampering and then this.

Head out to Jhunsi and locate the Ulta Kila. The fort isn’t inverted, but buried in mud etc. Caves etc. are there, but hardly anyone there. This is the fort of the king (Andheri Nagari- Chaupat Raja) who made everything 1 taka, whether its gold or grain – chaos reigned. Walk around trying to find the Vilayati Imli, one of the first tamarind trees to be brought to India from South America. Can’t find it, but find a bunch of peahens chilling on the trees. See other ancient trees. Enter one ashram type of place where one baba gives some gyan about the place. Take top view photos of sangam and leave. Enroute it pours and we get wet.

Reach Sita Madhi, which is the place where Sita took Samadhi by entering the earth. Many stories exist about why – what Jedi heard long ago was that she was pissed that she had to take a paternity test post her Ravana of Lanka kidnapping- so after passing the test, she broke open the earth and returned to where she came from. Other stories are her work was done so after handing over Luv-Kush, she said tata. Anyway the place has a temple made by some folks, which was closed when we got there. The river Tamsa meanders there before it meets the Ganga nearby. Down the road is Hanuman temple with a hugeass Hanuman statue, and even further near the ghat, there is a temple for Luv-Kush with the Aswamedha (horse they caught and wouldn’t let go even when Bharat Laxman came to get it for some Ram’s yagna – Bharat Laxman didn’t know these were Ram-Sita’s sons. Look up more details someplace. Walk down to the ghats and take photos. Nice clean water and people chilling, taking bath and having fun. People enquire where from and why we are here etc. – the usual. One guy even tells us which position and angle we will get good photos. The skies have cleared and look quite spectacular. Saurabh goes and takes Sita’s pictures now that the temple has opened.

Its 3 pm and we head for Benaras after some chai-samosa. Uncle-aunt have hooked us up with Chucky, the son of a close friend, who runs the Yogi lodge in Benaras. Reach Benaras, without getting wet again, though see lots of lightning and thunder. Its always just rained everyplace we pass.

Miss the turnoff at Benaras and go ahead, ask directions from locals and after riding through numerous water fucked roads, reach the Kashi Viswanath temple. Call Chucky and he sends someone to pick us up. A boy turns up – without the mentioned Yogi lodge tshirt, and says ganga lodge etc. we say we already have booking at Yogi lodge – he says I’m from there only. We say no. no tshirt, no going with you. Eventally a yogi lodge tshirt boy comes and leads us through thin lanes with shops and people and other vehicles and 5 police checks. The first 4 press the bags with their fingers as if they can tell that the haversacks have something dangerous with their fingertips. Ask us few questions and let us go ahead. The final check point, on hearing our story ask us to show some letter etc. where it says we are on a trip. After showing Collabis visiting card, and also latest trip photos from camera, they let us go ahead after some 10 minutes. Reach the lodge and check in. Nice clean place, small, but it’s a budget traveler’s place. For that its excellent. Only pain was that no electricity point so can’t charge our gadgets. Book a dawn boat ride along the ghats for the morrow. Chitchat in the room, before going out for dinner and Benaras ka famous rabdi. Go to the ghats and sit watching the full moon shimmering in the river. Hear people singing along with the cellphones, but only adding bad words to the lyrics. Dialect reminds Jedi of Ankur and has phone conv. With him. He’s apparently from Chattarpur near Kajuraho! Misses Ananya a lot.

Come back and read stuff about Varanasi/Benaras/Kasi from the Lonely planet. This is a 3600 yr old city, thereby probably the world’s oldest living city. From the Kasi tribe who came here 1400 BC to now, it has seen so much. Aurangzeb came and did his chutiyapa here too. Jedi is keen on doing the Panchthirthi yatra. Get to hear that the boatman was uncontactable, so tom morning boat may not happen. Then get the money we paid for the boat trip refunded – seems Chucky wont take our money! Suspect Uncle-aunt have an hand in this – will find out tomorrow! Pass out.

6 hours in Varanasi, and it has a special feel to it. Can’t explain it.

Day 77 jul 9 thu

Varanasi

0 km - 8330 kms

Get woken up at 5.15 by the hotel guy – the boatman is here. Quickly bathe and follow the boatboy to Lalita Ghat from where we start the boat ride along the ghats. The skies are cloudy but enough light, though not the ‘magical’ light- no rain, so yay.

Watch the ghats float by as the boatboy, Manish, tells us the gist of most of the ghats- basically who built them and why they are called so. How the rishis who were staying at the Scindia ghat, cursed the place after being chucked out by the British, resulting in the temple and the entire ghat being lopsided. – The ghat where Mandakini puts flowers into the Ganga in Ram Teri Ganga Maili. How one mahal was built by the sale of one gold bangle, a building that even if you gave crores you couldn’t build now– The mosque built by Aurangzeb (who happens to be in the most disliked person in jedi’s mind now) which had two minars from which you could see Delhi ka mosque using telescopes – the minars now destroyed, one by some govt. guy and the other by lightning? – can’t remember.

Manikarnika ghat, the famous funeral ghat, where you are not allowed to take photos (we did sneak some), does do complete burnings and the bodies floating in the Ganga (we saw 2) are of 5 types and not half-burnt; pregnant women, sadhus, kids, stung by snake, people with white spots, these people are wrapped in cloth, taken by boat to the middle and put into the ganga; when the binding comes off, they float.

After a while, the ghats get monotonous, though then we tend to focus on how filthy it is. Everyone is taking a bath, lots of people washing their clothes, the sewage flows into the river, the sides of the ghats are covered with rubbish. The houses/mahals etc. facing the river have people living in them who pay a rent of Rs.1 or Rs.2, and who refuse to leave. We turn at the point and head back, this time much slower, against the current. Jedi asks about the panchtirta yatra and the boatboy explains and also gives the spin on kushi gift to the kevats (boatmen), citing Ram and Janaki’s trip, and also how Sita gave her earring. We do the rotate the money over your head 5 times before giving.

After a while, he says your time is up (it was supposed to be a 2 hr ride, and it was 2 hrs, but we weren’t back where we started.) We get off at a ghat, not very far off from where we started, but Saurabh is not happy. We walk back along the ghats, only to see human shit along with the quintessential cow dung; see a dog shitting for added measure; sewage pipes gushing sewage into the ganga. Major mind fuck. Jedi and Saurabh have discussion on how filthy it was; Jedi says it just adds degree of complexity and faith to it. We walk through the wood stacks at Manikarnika, between cows and cow dung. By the time we reach Dasawamedha, the mind is raped. Have breakfast and come fall asleep in the room. Jedi calls it the Ganga gutter. No power point in the room, so can’t charge stuff.

Wake up in the afternoon and laze around. Saurabh suggests skipping Bihar and heading straight for Nepal. Jedi says lets finish the ‘circuit’ – Jedi wants to see Nalanda, though he knows he’s headed for more sorrow! – it being sacked by the Afghans (tsk tsk) in the 12^th century.

Evening, find out where daal mandi is and walk to it. one street where you get everything on earth, including mutton! Jedi does his thing and buys two dvds! Return and the ghats towards the south side. See a film being shot - tamil soundtrack - digital video. Jedi get approached by a dealer; jedi refuses - what days are here! from a person who would hunt and score to refusing a free sample and buy if u like deal.

Go wait for the ganga pooja - it starts for a while, when it starts drizzling - everyone evacuates. we head out for some chai and return when the drizzle stops and the puja starts. like Karthickaye said, quite a polysensorial experience - makes more sense when you know what the different rituals stand for - fire for fire element, water for water element, flowers for earth element, agarbatti for wind element, conch for ether element. Jedi joins along whereever he can.

Return to find our phones charged, partially atleast - had managed to learn that we can use the reception place to charge our stuff, only when awake though. Eat dinner while we charge laptops. retire to watch new films before battery runs out and pass out.