Siddhartha Highway Nepal

The train to Lucknow was heavily delayed. Instead of 4pm in the afternoon I reached Lucknow only by 11pm. During the train ride I booked a hotel there and got the usual frustrations when online booking hotels in India. The first one told me that they are already full when I called to tell them about my late arrival. The second said they only accept Indian nationals but the third one was ok then. The recptionist was already sleeping but with some heavy knocking on the door he woke up and let me in. 

I had the intention to look at Uttar Pradeshs capital in the morning after picking up my bike from the station but changed this plan for an immediate leave as I could not really cope with the massive crowd and dense traffic in this city so left towards the Nepali border soon after. Beeing frustrated from hotel bookings and not finding even places at my budget I opted again for camping which was all fine. Especially one night was really touching. Two guys I talked to told me to go to the nearby temple as it would be a safe place. So I went there already in the dark and the couple which guarded the place immediately offered me a place at their shack. 

After three days riding I reached the Sonauli checkpoint to Nepal and with an exit stamp from India I went to Nepal immigration office. Rules have changed a bit the last years so now you have to preregister online. As I was not aware about this but the deputy manager let me in his office to complete the online form on his computer. He said to fill in only name, birth date and Passport number and just put 000 in all the other fields as nobody would ever read that anyway. I really liked this type of Nepali pragmatism which you wont find in India where they beat even German affections for meticulous form filling. 

After another night this time at a Nepali temple I went to see Buddha’s birth place in Lumbini. The site reminds me very much on an exposition site where each member state of the Buddhist society built their own temple like a pavilion at world expo. 

In the afternoon I then hit the scenic Siddhartha highway at Buthwal towards the first hills of the Himalaya. On 6th of March they celebrated Holi festival in Nepal and I had been stopped several times to get my face and body colored while riding along scenic river valleys and over several hill passes. The road really drained my energy levels though and after three days I was really happy to roll down from the last pass into Pokhara. 

Break in Goa

The place at the beach in the northern part of Goa really catched me. I went away from there heading to the south for some days but returned soon after. The south is typically where western tourists go so did I three years ago on my first visit to Goa. Its extremely nice there by nature but you loose the feeling of beeing in India when you meet an international crowd like in Ibiza or Santorin. 

There is a bit of a touristic beating effect as the number of domestic Indian tourists is rising massively. For them Goa is a party place where alcohol is readily available which is a bit in conflict to the western tourists desire for peaceful beach side vacation.

My place was too far off for the crowds and the largest group of foreign tourists came actually from Russia exiling here for longer. I had several really nice encounters with them which gave a bit of confidence that we are not fighting against a nation but against a regime which brutally works against the ones which they are supposed to represent.

The six weeks on the beach went like on the fly and would I not have my travel plans in mind I likely might have stayed longer until the monsoon kicks in by end of March which marks the end of the season in Goa.

So I boarded my bicycle again in a train which I booked already two month ago and went up north to Mumbai. Upon arrival I was told my bike was not boarded on the train which gave me some worries but I was assured that it should arrive the next day. So next day I spotted it in the parcel office just to fill in a bunch of new forms to get it expedited to my next destination close to the Nepali border at Lucknow. I have preordered some food already so I can endure the 24h train ride that is now awaiting me. 

Mumbai to Goa

Getting a bicycle on an Indian train requires definitely more effort than in Pakistan. You need to check it in at the parcel office several hours ahead of departure and only within the 9am to 5pm opening hours. The forms require detailled filling like when a applying for a visa and you should have your own pen with you as you wont get one borrowed. 

After an hour those formalities had been completed and for an equivalent of 4 Euro I got my bike checked in for the train departing at 9pm to Mumbai.

I got a bit under stress just before departure as I had ordered some food which was supposed to be delivered to my seat short before departure and I also wanted to see that my bike was loaded on the train. The food arrived in time but I only got confirmation from the officer at the rear end luggage coach that the loading papers for my bike are with him but the bike has been loaded on the front end. With India long distance trains beeing quite long I would not have made it back and forth to check personally before the train would leave. But the confirmation gave me peace of mind that all should be fine.

Having finished my dinner I quickly fell asleep in the pleasing sound of railway rhythm. Prepooking food on internet is really a great achievement so at a longer stop in the morning my preordered breakfast was delivered to my position on the train.

After around thirty minutes waiting in Mumbai parcel office I saw my bike beeing wheeled in and again with good amount of paperwork it was handed out to me so I could wheel off. 

The next day in the morning I went to the south end harbour of Mumbai called Gateway of India to get a ship from the peninsula into mainland Maharashtra. The 600km route from Mumbai to Goa is already familiar to me as I did it in 2019. I very much liked this route already at that time but now having pedaled several thousand km in India I like it even more and it is definitively one of the best long distance cycling tours you can do in India. Tempetature is moderate and with low humidity. The road is in reasonable condition and with only few traffic outside urban areas. Considering India to be a densly populated country its just amazing to see the many long and completely lonesome beaches in Maharashtra.

This route is also one of the few occasions in India that I went camping again. In many other areas you dont feel comfortable to do that as you may end up attracting people which want to watch how you setup your campside and prepare your dinner. On the wide beaches here in Maharashtra however you can pretty much enjoy your privacy. 

So after six days riding I crossed police checkpoint into Goa and foubd my hut in the prebooked beach resort. They gave me the first spot to the beach so I can watch the sea even from bed. I will change my location from north to south Goa eventually but for the time beeing I am very happy at the place I am and may end up staying longer than actually planned. The owner is from Kashmir and runs a hotel at Manali for the summer season and knows Manali – Leh Highway by heart. So I will have a contact point alread when I start my circle in Kashmir in May.

Rajasthan

Still a bit sleepy from my night ride on the sleeper bus which dropped me at 5:30am I visited Junagarh Fort in Bikaner. It is very well preserved and gives a good impression of the opulent Raja’s life some hundred years ago. I had a hotel booking voucher for one night stay left which was at the point to expire. So I booked the most expensive suite you could find in Bikaner which still did not meet the vouchers actual nominal value. It was a bit bizarre to have my dirty bike bags carried up to my room and my bicycle valet parked in the garage. I enjoyed very much the afternoon on the pool and in particular the breakfast buffet with lots of continental food the next day.

Climate now is at its best for cycling. Outside temperature rises up to around 25 deg C but allways with a mild breeze from the north with low humidity. After two days ride mainly on highway I reached the blue city of Jodhpur. It got this name as many houses are painted in light blue colour. Again the main sight of the city is a huge fort which I left aside to visit inside this time as it was already late afternoon when I arrived. 

Riding on Indian motorways is better than you might think of. They typically have a broad sideway for slow vehicles, traffic is moderate and you conveniently find restaurants – something which is cumbersome when you take the small roads through the villages. 

Nevertheless I was happy to leave the highway to ride a really scenic mountain road over the Aravali mountain range at Sadri. The road was perfect termac but funny enough on many sections just as wide as a cycle path which was ok as only few cars take this route. 

By the evening I reached Udaipur which is also called “City of lakes” and famous for its Rajput-era palaces. Already in Amristar I booked a train from here to Mumbai and it turned out to be an extremly comfortable place to spend the time until getting my first experience of travelling in a long distance train in India. I will tell you more about that in my next post. 

Amritsar

Every reader of this blog likely has an idea of the golden temple in Amritsar. Me too but we come to that later.

Upon arrival in a new country two things are important for me. Getting local currency and a SIM card. Money was easy from the ATM but the SIM turned out to be more difficult. In Pak this was the other way round. India requires for new SIMs to send a code to an existing mobile from which my SIM can get activated at the shop. First I called my hotel which refused. Then I contacted some numbers of contacts from my last India trip. Two refused but one said ok. Meanwhile I luckily got good contact to another guest in the hotel which helped me out so I finally got my card after the third visit of the shop. A true kafkaesque regulation for tourists! 

The area of the Golden Temple has to be entered with bare feet and then you have to walk through a shallow water basin to clean them. It was a cold day at my visit so I was glad it was at least heated up a bit. Then you enter the lake area with the temple in the midle. Its a stunning architecture and with the thousands of pilgrims it turns you automatically in a bit of a devotional mood though I have very few ideas about Sikhism. As a visitor you start to like the religion even more as they not only let you enjoy their unique architecture but they invite you also for a free lunch. Its simple food but the logistics behind serving a meal for thousands of visitors each day in a hygenice and clean environment is another thing that is well worth to exerience. 

Due to the many pilgrims and visitors there is also high number of food stalls in the city offering exclusively vegetarian dishes. I tried many of these. Some are really good and others are – well it was worth to try them once. Also an interesting thing is that in the complete city center its not allowed to offer any meat nor you can buy cigaretts or alcohol. 

It was a bit too cold for my taste in Amritsar so I was looking at my options to get quicker down south than cycling. With trains I wasted quite some time as its nearly inpossible to book tickets only several days in advance. You need to book them several weeks in advance to get a ticket if you dont want to end up in lowest class which several people warned me to even think about. 

So I booked a sleeper bus ticket for me and my bicycle departing on 31st of December and arriving in Bikaner in Rajasthan the morning of the next day. Immediately after I got my space assigned I felt it makes much more sense to cover longer distances in a horizontal position than to be squeezed into a seat where every position you try allows for just short sleeping periods. 

So the next section of my trip – touring through the various famous places in Rajasthan – started good and I am happy to tell you more about in the next posts. 

Wagah border

From other travellers I knew that crossing Wagah border is someting special and I was told to come late in the afternoon close to the closing ceremony.

As its just three hours of riding from my place in Lahore to the border I had time to look for a place to change my leftover Pak Rupee into Indian Rupee. Though this turned out to be quite difficult. I asked in 5 changing offices but they all sent me to other places as nobody had Indian Rupee on sale. Later it became clear to me – why should they as no Pakistani citizen can actually travel to India. I then decided to change them to USD which also turned out to be difficult. An agent told me that the central bank is not releasing USD amidst the current economical situation. Though they made an exception to me as a foreign tourist and also because the amount was low. 

Traffic became lower the closer I came to the border. When I reached the first border official he said the border is closed already although it was only 3pm by that time. I explained my situtation and then he waved me off to hurry up. 

Getting the exit stamp from Pak was quick and I could walk towards the Iron gate. 

On both sides of the gate you have half of a stadium where people had allready gathered. There was mindblasting music on either side. When I got close to the gate they checked again my passport and visa and then the Pak gate got opened so I could sneak through. The gate closed after me and then the India gate got opened and again closed after me. 

From then on I had a personal officer also on bicycle who escorted me through the various stations for immigration into India. At one desk I was asked for Polio vaccination. I showed my vaccination report and with all the stickers and stamps it seemed to be ok to let me pass.

After an hour or so I finished the last passport check and was let out into India. 

From Wagah border it was then another two hour of ride to come to my prebooked Hotel in Downtown Amritsar and of course I made a stop to purchase two bottles of beer on the way to celebrate completion of leg one of my trip. Something which I did not have the last six weeks in the Islamic republic.

Lahore

After another couple of days in relaxing Islamabad, which I also used to climb the various trails in the nearby hills I set of for the second largest city in Pakistan – Lahore.

It was an awful long drive to leave Islamabad southbound and only after around fifty kilometers I felt that the city might be ending. I saw several giantic new building projects for future towns on the way which give rise to the rapid increase in population this country undergoes. 

The next morning I had a nice encounter with two local journalists which asked me if they can make an interview about my impression of Pakistan and my trip. Of course I agreed and the next days they sent me what they published.

On that day I was again without a plan where to stay and as allways somebody asked me to join for tea. When I mentioned that I was searching for a place  to stay he immediately invited me to come to his house in the next larger city around three cycling hours away from our current position. 

The traffic became really dense when approaching Lahore. When you ride in such traffic the distance between me and other travellers like cars, busses, lorries but mainly motorbikes reduces to centimeters and I am allways wondering that all went so well with just rarely getting a slight bump somewhere. Pakistani are rough drivers but – unlike in Europe – without any agression for traffic misbehavior which is maybe the secret that there is still flow in the streets. 

Lahore has a historic city center with an ancient fort, one of the largest historic mosques and a walled inner city. I allowed myself three lazy days to explore its beauty and made myself a bit of a christmas present in booking a guided food on foot tour to get to know the local specialties. Of course I was the only participant in this tour which did not make me wonder as like with all other places in Pakistan I barely spotted any western tourists. 

Peschawar

After my return from the northern territories back to Islamabad I stayed there much longer as I would generally do before I set off for another trip. 

I wanted to go west and see the capital of KPK (Kyber Pakhtunkhwa) province close to Afghanistan border which is a two days trip on bicycle and should again surprise me.

In the afternoon of the first days ride  I was looking for a hotel in a middle size city. The booking portals I am usually using to pre-book a place did not show any hotel nearby. Google showed three hotels in the area but they all had not been existing when I went there. At a busy road I asked some people about a hotel but they said there is none. One guy then said I should wait five minutes for him to make a call. Another five minutes later a guy showed up and introduced himself as Fawad. He was the owner of one of the central housing blocks and he said he could provide me with a room. We went there and put the bike at his cousins shop. It was useless to insist that I would carry up my bags by myself. Four other people each carrying one of my bags escorted me and Fawad up first floor to my room. I was asked if I like Pizza which of course I do and ten minutes later somebody arrived to bring me a box with Pizza. Of course I asked Fawad to tell me the price of the room but he nearly felt insulted at the thought of compensating his hospitality. Later that evening his brother showed up and invited me for tea at a nearby hotel and we talked longer about his business plan and the difficulties for an entrepreneur to establish a business competing against the establishment which sounded like Mafia but seems to be a sad reality in this country which is ruled by an oligarchy.

Of course I was served breakfast the next day and after best wishes for a farewell I continued my ride to Peschawar. 

To make it short – Peschawar was not pleasing me much. Though it was a sunny day the sun had no chance to break through the smog that lay above the city. The historic market area was huge and colorful though quite exhausting to walk through with the many people and motorbikes trying to find their way through the small streets.

After two days I decided not to stay longer but to see if I can get a train back to Ravalpindi which is the neighboring city to Islamabad which itself does not have a train station. The afternoon prior to departure I went to the train station to buy the ticket and see if they can also take my bike.

So the next day I went to the cargo office to check in my bike around an hour prior to departure and could experience the burocracy which is involved in that. Three different forms with three copies by means of carbon paper had to be filled and the bike was inspected by police and labeled accordingly. I was hundred percent sure it will reach my destination especially after having tea with the manager of the cargo department.

The train left on the exact minute of the planned departure time and was not at all crowded so it was the exact opposite of what travellers experience when taking trains in India. Of course my bike was standing already at the platform in Ravalpindi when I walked to the front where the cargo coach was located.

So should I eventually have again the choice of taking the train or other means of transport – I will definitively use trains in Pakistan. 

Hunza Valley

Hunza Valley gave me a different impression then the Koistan region I came from. Like in Islamabad you could see again some women in public and even as employees in shops. Also I spotted some few people riding bicycles – a thing which seems unthinkable in rest of Pakistan to my experience so far. 

The beginning of the valley is dominated by the nearly 8000m high Rakaposhi mountain. When you see it first you would not think it is much higher than the high peaks in the Alps. You get a feeling though when you ride along for an hour and the perspective does not change much. From the peak down to the valley Rakaposhi measures around 6000m which gives another sense about the magnitude of this mountain which is said to be one of the nicest of the Karakorums. I have to agree to this statement as the huge icy slopes really impressed me the longer I was looking at them. 

Leaving Hunza down to Paschtunkhwa Kyber province I was expecting again the supervaillance and escort by police but something must have changed. Police check points had been barely staffed and just occasionally I had a car following me for some kilometers leaving me back alone again after a while. Though again I had been invited by the officers for one night stay and dinner at their camp as the few hotels in the area had been closed already because of season end.

On the last third of my way to Islamabad the KKH is bypassed by a new built motorway. I was curious if I might be able to use it as it would provide a much easier going forward with just a gradual incline and a 3km long tunnel to soften the last bit of the mountain range. At the toll station I asked and they said I can use it so I found myself on likely one of the finest termac sections in Pakistan. And – I did not even have to pay for it.

Attabad Lake

The morning felt quite good as I sensed that my stomach finally came out of the strike mode and doing team playing again in supplying calories. So the 20km up from my Basecamp hotel in Karimabad felt really good which I did not have for nearly a week now.

In Google maps there is still the old road given to reach lake Attabad. This lake was created by an landslide in January 2010 which since then dammed the Hunza river and burried around 20km of KKH. Two years later the Chinese built 4 tunnels so around 4km before the lake you start to enter the first one which spits you out at the south end of the lake around 5km later at 2600 msl. Even if it’s not a bright sunny day today the water is deep turquoise as I had seen it from pictures before and it just looks awesome.

I continued through the other three tunnels and arrived at the Attabad resort with some hotels and bungalow villages. It must be a sizzeling spot in summer. In this time of the year all places are closed and I was happy that one restaurant had open to prepare me some chips and chicken nuggets so I could celebrate my once again working stomach today.

When getting ready for return I got a bit surprised about the not working illumination in the tunnel which was on when I came here but then I did remember a sign about the operational hours. So that was obviously the meaning.

At a police station I tried to ask when the light may turn on again but did not get a real answer. In the further talking the officer gave me an idea though to climb up a 300m peak to have a much better view on the lake which I gladly did to see the lake in Panorama view.

On the way down I suddenly heard my name and I looked over and saw some people cutting the dried out grass up here. I went over and it turned out that it was the guy I had asked maybe 30km away from here about a hotel yesterday. I did feel flattened not so much by the fact that he did remember me but in partulicular that he did remember my name which is so far away from Pakistani name conventions.

Down on the road the tunnel was still dark so I checked the power level of my mobile and with it as a torch I followed the white stripe in the middle in the hope there might not be a stone or something else on the road.

This is now my turning point. With temperatures during the night at this height already well below zero I do not feel comfortable to climb up further on KKH with the pass anyhow not accessible at the moment. For me it was a short winter season up here as now every pedal stroke south should bring me closer to warmer climate with the hope to ride in T-shirt again soon.