I was excited to see my parents after being away for 7 months so got to the airport nice and early. It was cloudy in Kathmandu so their flight kept getting delayed, 6 hours in total. They were sat in Delhi and me in Kathmandu twiddling our thumbs. They finally arrived safe and sound.
It was a Monday evening, they hadn't been to bed since Friday night but the last thing they wanted to do was go to sleep. The hustle and bustle of Thamel, Kathmandu and a good catch up was awaiting. We met up with the lads and Scottish for a good curry and chin wag.
The next morning I had to hand in my Indian visa application. Then spent the afternoon going to the monkey temple and Durbar square. The monkey temple is situated on the top of a hill with views overlooking the Kathmandu valley. There were hundreds of monkeys running around all over the place. We then went to the Kathmandu Dur Bar square for more catching up over coffee and cake. Then later on back to the same curry house, this time the so called chicken defiantly wasn't chicken. After the meal dad broke the news to mum, much to her horror, it may of been dog, possibly next doors Dalmatian!
We woke bright and early to miss rush hour traffic, we were off to Pokhara for a few days. The van had been parked since we arrived in Kathmandu 4 weeks ago so needed a jump start to get her going, the hotel owner was happy to help. Then we had to repeat the rigmarole with the low hanging cables. Dad was driving and I was shouting instructions from the roof, and as before a crowd appeared to watch our antics. The next task was fuel and put some air in the tyres then we were off on the road to Pokhara. Dad came to Nepal 40 years ago, once on a motorbike and then again in a Mercedes van. He had done the same road both times so enjoyed driving our van and comparing how different it is nowadays.
The road to Pokhara winds through the mountains, at some points you can see the road 50 metres away on the other side of the valley but it's 2-3 km to get there. We stopped a few times for coffee, tea and lunch. At one of the stops a monkey came along into the cafe and up the wall then was shoe'd away. In England you get seagulls being a nuisance, in Nepal you get monkeys!
We finished the 7 hour drive and arrived in Pokhara. The next day we hired a rowing boat and went out on Phewa lake. We rowed across to a restaurant where we got lunch. The view was amazing, massive lake, green foothills then snow capped mountains of the Annapurna range behind. The fish tail is the most prominent mountain at 6993m tall. Its named because the two adjacent peaks resemble a fish tail.
Over breakfast the following day we made the decision to have a crack at fixing the handbrake. We had new shoes and springs thanks to Jordan but needed a new linkage because the original was now a mangled ball of metal. We removed the remaining good linkage for a guide and took it to a machine shop for them to replicate it. The hotel manager kindly took me there on the back of his motorbike. 4 hours and £15 later we had a new linkage, made from scratch. It is made up of two parts that pivot around a pin, not a simple job but they did it well.
The rear brakes are discs with internal drum for the handbrake. When putting it all back together we were struggling putting the drum back on over the shoes. After a while dad noticed the new shoes were 10mm to big in diameter. We had two options, re-line the old shoes or cut and weld the new ones. We opted for the re-lining. The next morning we found a taxi who was very helpful. He knew where to look for a brake re-lining workshop so we dropped the shoes off. He then took us to a car repair place (somebody's garden) to repair our broken earth strap from the leisure battery. Everywhere was closed so he brazed the broken terminal back together, and very well. We returned to the van with relined shoes and repaired earth strap. In Nepal they repair things rather than replace because labour is so cheap relative to new parts.
Again we had the same problem with the drum not fitting. The new linings were a few mil to thick. We heard a grinder going in a nearby building site so went on a hunt for it. With a bit of grinding of the braking material and filing of the metal part of the shoe they fitted like a glove. When repeating the process on the other side the brake pad separated from its back plate when removing the caliper. Another trip to the brake man and it was soon bonded back together! After a lot of farting about the handbrake was back together (not adjusted yet) and rear electrics working, now time for a well deserved steak.
They next morning we began gathering supplies for a night camping in the van. We bought the makings for a vegetable curry from a guy selling veg on his bike. Got a big bundle of wood from furniture maker and strapped it to the roof and 20 chipatis. We found a picnic spot an hour from Pokhara and set up camp. We cooked the curry on the tripod over a wood fire. A local farmer came and had a beer with us around the campfire and we told him we wanted to get up to see the sunrise. We woke at 5.30am but it was misty so we went back to bed. 20 mins later theres a bang at the door of the van, it was the farmer waking us because the sun was visible through a break in the clouds. We got up, watched the sunrise and boiled some eggs for breakfast on the fire.
We packed up and headed back towards Kathmandu. We stopped at a cable car which took us up to a temple in the mountains. We weren't expecting much but the cable car kept on going over another tier of mountains to a good sized town. Turned out it was a pretty significant place for Buddhist, Sikh and Christian pilgrims. On the way back we were stood in the que and a guard told us to follow him. He took us to the front of the que, past about 2 hours worth of people. We felt bad but we had paid 4 times the amount for a 'foreigner ticket' which made us feel better about it.
Approaching Kathmandu we got stuck in traffic on a hill. Still with no handbrake mum had to press the brake with her hand whilst dad did the clutch and accelerator. We desperately needed to get it adjusted!
We arrived back at the Panda hotel after a great few days away.
Rob
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