Mugling > Dalidale > Siddharthanagar 61km, 91 km

[Originally posted Nov 24, 2014]

Katy here.

Back in the saddle again.  Three days back on the open road.  We are finally back at the bicycle touring part of our bicycle touring trip.  It is great to be back on the bike.  Nepal has been a great host for our return to bike touring.  Despite Clayton sharing a few instances of trucks with the right of way in the last blog post, we really have had a pleasant and safe last few days.  All the chaos on the road means we fit right in among the cows, oxen carts, school children, tractors with massive bails of hay, oil rig trucks painted with Shiva, holy men, motorcycles carrying goats, men with huge sickles working in the fields, women carrying loads on their head, burning fires heating up new asphalt. A double cycle is hardly noticed—that is unless you stop.

That is one large load of hay.

Oxen cart traffic jam.

Last night we stayed in Dalidale—a little town off the main highway.  When we stop in these towns it tends to be a bit more work finding a place to stay for the night because every sign is in Nepali.  However, we were all set with Hotel Namaste for 500 rupees ($5).  We gave up the luxuries of hot water and wifi, but who needs those every night?

After a much needed shower, we were eager to look around town.  We wandered 30 seconds down a side road and we were quickly among the rice fields.  (Side note, rice—quite a bit of work to get those little white particles out not to mention all the burning that happens afterward but they sure dish out the rice when we eat dal bhat, the national, all-you-can-eat dish of rice, lentils and curry.) We wandered around for awhile and started back to town to find some dinner.  On our way, we noticed some girls playing hopscotch in the street.  Kids were playing everywhere, running between houses and across fields, and also loads of badminton.  No one seems to be worried about the boogeyman here.

We started talking to the girls and a crowd of neighborhood kids quickly formed plus a few moms too.  Immediately we were asked all sorts of questions.  They were very eager to learn our ages and names. Katy is a very strange name for Nepalis, even the shortened Kate is a struggle.  We all played hopscotch and then were quickly ushered to the nearby porch for tea.  As soon as we started sipping on our tea, four different old Nokia cellphones came out to take our picture.  Picture after picture.  Pose after pose.  They loved our hair and kept asking how I got my “golden” Rapunzel hair so soft.  Then the flowers came out. They put flowers in our hair as well as threw many handfuls of marigold pedals at us all the while snapping photo after photo. Instant celebrities! Then Clayton and I were asked to sing the United States’ song.  We gave our national anthem all our gusto but as all of you know, Clayton and I are severely musically disadvantaged despite some of our family member’s exceeding talent but we did our best.  As soon as we finished we asked the group of kids to sing their song.  Wow, talk about exuberance.  We took a video but sadly it won’t upload to the blog so picture in your mind 20-25 Nepali children belting their lungs out 10 inches from our faces and a solemn salute at the end.

Our conversations continued.  They told us the tallest mountain in the world—easy Mount Everest.  They even told us the height in meters as well as the first Nepali woman to climb it.  They told us the Redwood trees in California are the tallest in the world.  We asked them questions about their school, learning English, what they knew about America. Justin Beiber. We asked if they had heard of McDonald’s, but we only got blank stares.  Quite refreshing McDonald’s hasn’t graced these parts but you never know perhaps a McYak burger is right around the corner.  As a parting gift one mother gave me a miniature Shiva.  Talk about hospitality. 

Finally we got a picture of them.

Two hours later we thanked them and off we went in search of dinner.  Just a typical night out in Nepal.

Quite foggy when we got started this morning. The dew settled nicely on Clayton's facial hair aka beard.

Very serious business pouring water.

Breakfast. This guy loves the peanut butter banana combo more than anyone.

A fresh brand new rickshaw right out of the bike shop, I mean bike shack. $300. How much to ship was Clayton's question.  One of these would fit nicely back in Ann Arbor.

The break in the flat lands. A good climb. Our hub and new cassette did wonderfully.

Fresh chicken delivery. Throat slit at your door.

A spicy puffed rice snack for $0.15. You know Clayton is all over this.