Dominik and Simon travelling: Update December 2016

Countries visited: Nepal, India, Thailand

Cycled mileage in December: 726.1km
Cycled mileage per country: 355.2km Nepal, 275.5km India, 95.4km Thailand
Total cycled mileage incl. December: 9,936.4km
December mileage not cycled 33.2km (walking) - Flights not included!

Days per country: 5d - Nepal, 17d - India, 9d - Thailand
Days cycling: 9d

Technical failures: 1 split rear tyre

Link to this month's route

We finished last month in historic Bhaktapur where we extended our stay after Dominik came down with a stomach flu. Eventually he had recovered and we set off. We continued riding through the Kathmandu Valley for two more days. On the second day we stayed in a small village for the night.

Sunset somewhere in the Kathmandu Valley

When we loaded up our bikes the next morning Indian touring cyclist Rishabh Bajaj stopped for breakfast at the same place and we chatted for a while. For the rest of the day we cycled together. And what a day it was. We left the Kathmandu Valley and crossed the mountains to reach the Nepalese flatland at the Indian border. It was a serious struggle. The sun was unrelenting and the mountains just wouldn't end. It was definitely Type II fun. Late in the afternoon we finally passed the highest point. There was a village nearby and we were expecting to find a hotel there but there was no hotel. Bummer! Fortunately the next kilometres were mostly downhill and we bashed out another 30 kilometres or so until we reached the next town well after nightfall. We shared a hotel room with Rishabh. There wasn't much talking just because we all were so shattered.

Cycling with Rishabh

Soooo tired of all the slopes...

The next morning we kept snoozing the alarm when we discovered that the valley was completely covered in fog. We sat on our bikes when the fog eventually cleared and had done about 60 kilometres by lunchtime. We were now on the major highway running parallel to the Indian border. We bid farewell to Rishabh who took the nearest border crossing to India while we continued further on the Nepalese side.

Riding through the Nepalese flatland

The highway was in rather poor condition and so Dominik blamed the road condition for the wobbly ride. When we called it a day in a bigger town we then discovered that the road wasn't to blame - Dominik's rear tyre had started splitting once more. Luckily we carried 2 foldable spare tyres. We changed the tyre in the mosquito-infested backyard of our hotel before we went to get something to eat.

Once more trouble with a split tyre

After two more uneventful days we reached the Indian border near Siliguri. We were quickly stamped out and went to the Indian border post. We expected the process to be straight-forward but we were wrong. A guard made us wait. Seemingly the officer on duty was having lunch. Finally another man in uniform appeared. After checking our visas he told us to go and have some copies made of the relevant pages in our passport. We put up an argument because that was ridiculous. It was pointless and in the end we went to the nearby copy shop. When we returned with the copies the man in uniform had disappeared and the guard sent us to another building. It was rather a shed and it was obviously abandoned. We went back and the guard who didn't speak a word English made us wait again. After a while another man in a white suit came towards us. He asked for our passports and then made us follow him. He went through a door that we had thought belonged to the toilets. In fact there was a small office behind that door! The man stamped us in, returned our passports and then disappeared. Bizarre!

Back in India :-D

We rode the last few kilometres to Siliguri. For the very last bit we got stuck in a traffic jam. Around sunset we eventually reached town. We went to a random hotel and checked in.
We hoped to set off to Darjeeling the next morning but we first needed to get hold of some cash. While we were in Nepal the Indian government had unexpectedly declared 500 and 1000 rupees notes invalid. Until the end of this year they promised to deliver new 500 and 2000 rupees notes but in the meanwhile the biggest denotation would be 100 rupees. Everyone who still carried old banknotes was supposed to exchange them for new banknotes until the end of the year or to put them on a bank account. Officially the whole thing was part of the fight against corruption. To us it seemed more like a fight against sanity and reason.
Long story short there was a serious shortage of cash for tourists and locals alike. All ATMs in Siliguri were out of cash as were most of the banks and exchange offices. We finally managed to exchange some cash at least but by the time we succeeded it was too late to leave.
The next morning we cycled to Darjeeling. We had been dreading the ride there. Distance is only about 70 kilometres but there's an ascent of more than 2,000 metres. In the end it was pretty okay. The road followed the historic "Toy Train" so the gradient hardly ever exceeded 5-6%.

Cycling up to Darjeeling

The so called "Toy Train" between Siliguri and Darjeeling

When the sun set we had reached the highest point. There were another couple of downhill kilometres and the temperature dropped quickly. When we reached Darjeeling it was freezing cold and we just took the first hotel on our way. The room didn't have a radiator we had to use our sleeping bags for the first time in more than a month.
The next morning we moved to another hotel that had been recommended to us and that was significantly cheaper than the place last night. Still it was a good decision we didn’t attempt to go there the day before - in the dark we would have never found the way!
We stayed for a week in Darjeeling. It was just such a beautiful place! During that time we visited Tiger Hill to see the sunrise over the Himalayas, we strolled around tea plantations, tasted the famous Darjeeling tea and visited numerous monasteries. Also we did some research for the next leg of our journey in SEA.

Observatory Hill in Darjeeling

Dorje Ling temple gave Darjeeling its name

Tea tasting session

"Toy Train" on its way through downtown Darjeeling

Hundreds of - mostly Indian - tourists on Tiger Hill

Stunning views to the east....

...and to the west of Tiger Hill

Tea plantations everywhere

Strolling around the botanical garden

The ride back down to Siliguri was fun. Free-wheeling for 70 kilometres basically. Some buddhist temples and monuments along the way were a nice bonus.

Druk Sangak Choling Gompa, a giant Buddhist monastery between Darjeeling and Ghum

War memorial at Batasia Loop near Ghum

Looking back onto Darjeeling on our way down to Siliguri

We had tried to find a host in Siliguri via Couchsurfing. Unfortunately no one was able to host us but we got a recommendation for a cheap hotel and we were supposed to meet with a guy called Hemdutt two days later. We checked in to the recommended hotel. The location was pretty central plus our room had a small balcony where we could lock our bikes.

Our hotel room in Siliguri

There were quite some chores to do before the flight to Bangkok. We needed to find packing materials for our bikes and we needed to buy new cameras. Our first camera quit back in Central Asia and the second camera started to fail in Darjeeling.
The first day back in Siliguri was a Sunday and most shops were closed. While looking for something to eat we stumbled across a bike box in a pile of cardboard in front of a closed bike shop. We took that for a positive sign.
The next morning we went out to the old centre of Siliguri where Hemdutt owned a patisserie. He was a super nice guy and immediately offered us help should we not be able to find a second bike box. We tried some of the delicious sweets in his shop and decided to meet for a beer in the evening.
We spent the rest of the day looking for a second bike box but we didn't have luck. Either the shops didn't have suitable boxes or they didn't want to unpack a bike for us. Most bicycles in India would be delivered in bubble wrap rather than a box anyway. After the unsuccessful day we spent a fun night out with Hemdutt talking about travelling and our home countries.
The next day we decided that Dominik would start packing the first bike while Simon would try to find a second bike box. Eventually we had success and by the end of the day Simon had found a second box and we even managed to pack both bikes for the flight.
With one chore done we turned to finding new cameras the next morning. There were 3 shops scattered across town. We walked around 20 kilometres that day to compare prices and available models between the shops. The choice was limited and in the end we settled on a Nikon compact camera. The same evening we met once more with Hemdutt and had another fun night out.

Everything prepared for the flight to Bangkok

Eventually it was time to leave Siliguri. We had booked a car to the airport and were picked up as planned. From there things stopped going according to plan.
At the airport there was serious confusion about what to do with the bicycles and how to pay the excess luggage fees. We were expecting to pay the fees with card but it was supposed to be paid in cash in Indian rupees. With the cash shortage we didn't have enough cash with us particularly since rupees must not be taken out of the country anyway. They wouldn’t accept card payment either and it required all our powers of persuasion to make them accept US Dollars. It wasn't until 30 minutes before departure that we finally received our boarding passes.
The arrival to Thailand went smooth and soon we sat in a taxi to the famous Granny Bike.Bed Hostel. We were pretty shattered from the stressful day and went straight to bed.
The next day was Christmas. We spent most of the day re assembling the bikes. In the evening we were supposed to meet with Swiss touring cyclists Yvonne and Ivan, friends of friends, who happened to be in Bangkok for Christmas. We had a lovely evening and got a lot of advice for SEA.

Assembling the bicycles at Grannys Bike.Bed in Bangkok

The next couple of days were spent exploring Bangkok, visiting Wat Pho, the palace and Khao San Road.

Small garden at Wat Ratchabopit

Exploring Wat Pho

Smaller temple in the Wat Pho compound

Fascinating architecture

The famous reclining Buddha

Despite all the tourists locals perform their rituals

Wat Pho has Thailand's largest collection of Buddha images

Sunset over Wat Pho

Evening view of the Grand Palace

Buddhist monk at the Golden Mountain

Finlayson Squirrel

Giant waran in Lumphini Park

Almost like Venice - Ferryboat through Bangkok

Nightlife on (in-)famous Khao San Road

On 29th we set off to Ayutthaya. Our next destination would be Laos so Ayutthaya was on our way anyway plus we wanted to be away from busy Bangkok for New Year's Eve. It was a good decision. There are lots of historic temples and ruins in Ayutthaya which made for good sightseeing. Plus it was a quite and peaceful NYE. There weren't even fireworks.

Happy New Year!