It got downright chilly overnight, and we were glad to be snuggled up under our 43 lb comforters. We are viewing our time in Pokhara as a vacation from our trip, a chance to relax and recuperate. With this in mind, we got up late and made our way up to the rooftop seating area of our guesthouse for breakfast. We are both feeling a little malnourished after our time in India, but we found the antidote on the breakfast menu. The aptly named, “Hearty Breakfast,” consists of two eggs, fried potatoes, a small loaf of brown bread with butter and honey, a bowl of fruit, muesli, and curd, and tea or coffee. While we waited for our order to arrive, we looked in awe at the surrounding mountains. Our view this morning was of the peaks of the Annapurna Range of the Himalaya Mountains. The peaks we could see range from 21,000 to 24,000 ft of elevation and were beautiful in the morning light. We also were able to see the paragliders launching from Sarangkot, which is a smaller peak, only about 3000 ft high. Re ran back to the room and grabbed our binoculars so we could get a better view of the action. While we ate breakfast, we basked in the sun, and the day got warmer and warmer. I'd guess that it made it up to about 70 degrees, and the sun felt great.

Completely stuffed with breakfast, we laced up our boots and went walking in search of one of the recommended paragliding companies. We stopped in at a couple of places and asked for rates and times and eventually settled on Frontiers Paragliding, as they looked the most professional. Not convinced that I was going to do something this stupid quite yet, we made the short walk to Lake Fewa and sat by the water watching the boats and paragliders. After discussing our options, we decided to skip the 30 minute introductory tandem flight and go directly for the 1 hour tandem flight. We walked back to Frontiers, made a reservation for 11:30 am tomorrow, and paid our deposit. On the way back to the guesthouse, we stopped at a restaurant that had a sunny garden for cafe Americanos and cinnamon rolls.

Back at the guesthouse, we worked on ride reports for a little while before Re took a nap. Her Indian Lung Death is still hanging around and she is having a hard time sleeping through the night. Around 7:00 pm, we made the trek to a restaurant that promised Mexican food. The nachos were a bit odd but tasty, and Re enjoyed her chicken enchiladas quite a bit. My chicken burrito was a little dry, but hey, it wasn't mushy, and it didn't taste like masala anything. Back at the room, we had a dessert of Snickers and whiskey before crawling back underneath our 43 lb comforters for the night.

Re slept better last night and only woke up for one 20 minute coughing fit, so she was feeling a bit more refreshed this morning. When I got out of bed, I opened the curtains to see a beautifully clear morning and a great day for flying. We enjoyed breakfast so much yesterday, we decided another round of “Hearty Breakfasts” was the way to go. Re ran out of cough syrup and cold medicine, so we went out in search of a chemist. We found a chemist that said it did “consultations” and went in for some advice. The woman at the counter seemed very professional and after listening to Re's symptoms and cough, recommended a course of different antibiotics and some more cough syrup. She sounded like she knew what she was talking about, so we paid for the goods and hit the road.

A short while later, we found ourselves at Frontiers, where we filled out some paperwork and then waited for the Jeep. The interesting discovery of the morning occurred when I was told to weigh myself for the flight and I saw that I was about 10 pounds lighter than I usually am. I guess my feeling of being malnourished may have some basis in truth. Pretty soon the Jeep and pilots returned from the early morning flight, and we were loaded up and ready to go. The Jeep ride up the mountain was perhaps the scariest thing I've done since we left the United States. They must have imported the driver from India, since we haven't seen anyone else in Nepal drive in such a hazardous manner. This might be a good time to mention that I am incredibly afraid of heights. So once we finally arrived at the top of the hill and I had a chance to survey the area from which we would be flying, I started to get a little nervous.



But then we met our pilots, and any nervousness disappeared as they helped us into our harnesses and started going through the takeoff instructions. My pilot for today was Ivan, from Barcelona, while Re's was Serge, from somewhere in France. Ivan explained the takeoff procedure to me, and then we waited for a breeze. In the two minutes or so that we waited, I had the opportunity to reassess the wisdom of what I was about to do, but decided that I would probably never get another chance to paraglide in the Himalayas. And then the wind came up, Ivan said, “3, 2, 1, go,” we took two steps, and my feet were rather improbably, dangling in the air. As instructed, I shoved the part of my harness that would become the seat forward and sat down. I wasn't nervous or scared in the slightest, it was just amazing. It took me a minute or two to comprehend that I was sitting in a sling chair attached to the sky. Honestly, the wing just does not look big enough or substantial enough to support even myself, much less me and some Spanish guy. Ivan was a great pilot and explained what we were doing and why we were doing it.



For the next hour, we chased some thermals, flew over the city and the lake, and even got a chance to fly with Re and Serge for a while. Too soon, it was time to land, and we made a perfect standing landing at the landing strip right next to the lake.



Once my harness was unclipped from Ivan and the wing, I had just enough time to sit down and take a photo of Re landing on her butt. We both sat for a few minutes and talked about how much we loved, loved, loved paragliding.

While we waited for the return Jeep, we were directed to a small restaurant near the landing zone, where we ran into an Australian couple riding DRZ400s from London to Australia. We compared notes for a few minutes but suddenly had to leave since our Jeep was departing. On the Jeep ride back to the office, Re and I decided that someday we are going to have to take up paragliding as a hobby, because that was just too enjoyable. From the office we walked back to the guesthouse to do some more basking in the sun and to talk about our flights. After spending some quality “together time,” we walked out for dinner at a Chinese restaurant we had seen the previous day. Once again, we ordered too much food, but damn, it tasted so good! I ordered Gong Bao Pork with Peanuts and Cabbage Soya Sauce, while Re ordered Ma Po Tofu and Garlic Greenbeans. But before those arrived, we had an order of chicken stuffed wontons as a warmup. I am sad to report that we, once again, left food on our plates, because it was so delicious. The bad news for the day is that Re is still coughing and I am getting very stuffy. My ribs are doing better, but even a shallow cough is quite painful.

Re slept better last night but still is hacking this morning. I have a bit of a shallow cough but am trying very hard not to. When the alarm went off, the light in the room didn't seem as bright as usual, so before getting out from under the covers, I peeked through the curtains and saw an overcast, gray morning. We had considered riding to Kathmandu today, but turning off the alarm and going back to sleep seemed like a better plan. Sometime after 9:00 we finally dragged our lazy asses out from under the 43 lb comforters and into a steamy, hot shower. It was a bit late for breakfast, but we decided to repeat our hearty breakfast order. The sun did make an appearance eventually, and the day started to warm up.

For the first time since Malawi, I decided to give Re the day off from charwoman duties, and we paid to have our laundry done in a genuine washing machine. It is vacation, after all. Around noon we decided to go out for an extended walk and see some of the town. We also picked up two replacement carabiner clips for the ones that were stolen in Mumbai. After our walk, we came back to the room and researched our upcoming trips to Kathmandu and Royal Chitwan Park.

After some more quality “together time,” (we are obviously both feeling much better) we put on our warm woolies and headed out for dinner. What's for dinner tonight, you ask? Why, it's Italian night. One of the recommended restaurants caught our attention, not only due to the menu, but also the large fireplace in the dining room. We scored a table right next to the fire and were doubly pleased to find out that it was still Happy Hour. We ordered two, large Gorka s, spaghetti carbonara, and the pizza Nepalitaly. The Nepalitaly pizza was an interesting combination of tomato sauce, pesto sauce, walnuts, fresh tomato slices, mozzarella cheese, and yak cheese. The pasta was okay, the s were surprisingly good (after drinking Kingfishers for two months), but the pizza was excellent. After gorging ourselves on familiar food, we sat by the fire and finished our s. Life does not suck (except for the cough. Oh, and the ribs). Maybe we'll go to Kathmandu tomorrow, but it's awfully nice in Pokhara.

Once again, we woke up to a cool morning, and since neither of us really felt like getting out of bed, we decided to stay one more day in Pokhara. We finally slid out from under the covers and into the chilly morning air around 9:00 am. This morning, we decided to forgo breakfast at the guesthouse and instead, went out in search of... bacon. A couple of days ago, we noticed bacon listed on several restaurants' menus, usually as part of a full English breakfast. We hiked up and down the main street, looking at a dozen menus until we decided on our favorite.



For three bucks each, we got juice, coffee, eggs, toast, beans, fried tomatoes, potatoes, and most importantly, two big slices of bacon! As we nearly finished our meals, Re let me know that I was truly loved by giving me the last bite of her bacon.

Since we really didn't have anything else to do today, we wandered back to the guesthouse, where Re handwashed our SmartWool base layers, which we have worn virtually every day in Nepal.



Then, while she worked on blogposts, I plopped myself in the sun with an iPod and a book and spent a relaxing morning reading and listening to music. Still stuffed from breakfast, we decided to skip lunch, and instead, fired up the Symbas for the three-mile ride or so to one of the paragliding landing zones next to Lake Fewa. We spent about an hour drinking sodas and watching the succession of paragliders land. Re and I again agreed that if we ever resume a normal life, we'll have to learn how to paraglide. We rode back to the guesthouse and after deciding that we would go to Kathmandu tomorrow, booked a room online. Re posted the results of her morning's writing and we then worked on ride reports until dinnertime. Dinner tonight was a conundrum since everything sounded good. We finally decided to return to the Chinese place from a couple nights ago. I ordered a delicious duck dish, and since Re enjoyed my gong bao pork on our previous visit, she decided to get that. We rounded out our meal with two vegetable dishes and some rice, and stuffed ourselves silly once again. Back at the guesthouse, I posted ride reports while Re started packing for tomorrow.

6 miles.

When the alarm went off at 6:30, it again seemed awfully chilly, but we'd booked a room in Kathmandu for the night, so it was time to go. The bad news of the morning was that the hot water in the shower was none too hot for some reason. On our previous four mornings here, the shower had been steamy hot, but not today. Consequently, we skipped showering this morning and instead began loading the bikes. We ordered eggs and toast and ate breakfast between trips from the room to the bikes. Re had mentioned that her bike's driveline seemed a little snatchy on the way to Pokhara, and sure enough, her chain needed adjusting. While we were at it, we adjusted mine and lubed the chains.

We turned out onto the road at 9:00 am and made our way east. The sun made a strong appearance this morning, and we actually needed the sunvisors in our helmets for the first time in a long time. For the first twenty-five miles or so of the trip, there was a fair bit of traffic, and the road surface was bouncy. It appeared that the surface of the pavement had slumped in many places but had not broken up. After the first twenty-five miles, the road suddenly smoothed out and descended to lower elevations. With the lower elevation came a considerable amount of fog. We rode through misty low mountains along a river gorge, where everything was lush and green. While it was pretty, the lack of sun made for a chilly ride and cold fingers. About halfway through the ride, we picked up altitude again and the fog cleared. Back in the sun, we enjoyed all but the final ten miles to Kathmandu.

The last ten miles were miserable. Kathmandu sits on a hill and we had to ride up it. Unfortunately also driving up it was a huge line of trucks, buses, cars, and motorbikes. The pavement also became very rutted and broken in sections. We jounced and bounced our way slowly up the hill, occasionally coming to a full stop before desperately gunning our way around slow vehicles. We made it to our guesthouse in Kathmandu by 3:00 pm, but they had double-booked our room. They put us up in a guesthouse across the street, which had warm, but not hot water. Considering that the lows this time of year are in the mid-30s, warm wasn't good enough.

While the sun was still up, we walked to Pizza Hut for a pepperoni and double cheese pan pizza. Unlike the pizzas in India, which are all just a little weird, this pizza tasted exactly like it would in the good old US of A. When we left the restaurant, the sun had nearly set, and unlike in Pokhara, where the temperature dropped slowly, here it just plummeted. Even wearing every warm thing we have with us, it was still too cold to do much more that grab some s and head back to the room. The other bad news about Kathmandu is that the power only appears to be on for two or three hours in the afternoon and about six hours in the middle of the night. We snuggled up under the covers, drank our s, and played Text Twist on the iPhone.

135 miles in 6 hours. A beautiful ride, and the bikes are running well.

We thought the mornings were chilly in Pokhara, but apparently, we were wrong. In Kathmandu, the mornings are chilly. When the alarm went off, I couldn't help but notice my breath condensing as I reached for the snooze button. We did get up and quickly threw on our clothes to keep warm while we got ready to shower. This guesthouse has both a solar heated shower and a gas heated shower but neither of them were very warm, certainly not warm enough on a 40 degree morning. We decided to wait on the shower and instead went next door to the Elbrus GH for breakfast. We told our host about the hot water issue and he gave us two options – we could either change to a third property or wait one more day for our reserved room at the Elbrus. We decided to go see the other property but it was a good 5 minute walk away from the central part of Thamel. The room was nice but another guest told us that the showers weren't all that warm there, either, so we decided to tough it out one more night and move tomorrow. The solar shower finally warmed up enough around 11:00 am to allow us to make a flying run through the not so cold water. While we waited for our shower, we decided to head for warmer pastures (Thailand) rather than staying in Nepal. We would have loved to have gone to Royal Chitwan Park, but we simply don't have warm enough gear for this time of year. There is plenty of cold weather gear available for sale here in Kathmandu, but it didn't make financial sense to invest in warmer clothes for a three to four day trip.

So the plan now is to get to Thailand ASAP. From my preliminary research on HUBB, I knew that the cargo company that everyone uses is Eagle-something. I pulled up the shipping reports on HUBB and saw that Eagle Eyes Cargo was in the same building as Helena's Restaurant, which was conveniently on my map. Before arriving in Nepal, I had also received an email from Suraj at Eagle-something Cargo, so that was who I was looking for. We found the office of Eagle Eyes Cargo and met Jeewan. I told him we were there to find out about shipping motorbikes to Bangkok, and he showed us photos of some bikes he'd recently shipped. He also gave us a quote of 770 USD for everything. He confirmed that we could pack the bikes on Thursday and ship them on Friday. The only thing that was a little concerning was that when I mentioned the email he sent me, he seemed very noncommittal. Re and I discussed it briefly and decided that we would ship with him and left a 125 USD deposit. We arranged to meet Thursday morning at 10:00 am so he could prepare the necessary paperwork before we went to the airport to crate the bikes. As we got ready to leave, he gave us a receipt and his business card. I noticed that his name was not Suraj. Hmmm. I reread the email on my phone as we left and realized that I received the email from Eagle Cargo, not Eagle Eyes Cargo.

Confused, we started walking back to the room when I spied a sign on the same street that said Eagle Cargo and motorcycle shipping. Curious. We stopped in at Eagle Cargo and found that Suraj and Jeewan are somehow related and apparently, Suraj used to work for Eagle Eyes. Suraj proceeded to tell us how much better his service is and generally tried to convince us to change shipping companies. When we asked his rate, the price he quoted us was 50 cents less than our other quote. When we told him this, he then cut his rate to 750 USD. We said we would think about it but did tell him where we were staying. We then went back to the guesthouse and fired up HUBB to figure out what was going on. Eagle Eyes Cargo has been shipping bikes since 1999, whereas, Eagle Cargo has only been doing it for about two years. People seem equally happy with both, so we decided to stick with the shipping we'd already booked. Recognizing Suraj (and his wife, Sara) from the description that the DRZ-mounted couple from Pokhara had given us also gave me pause. They had told us how Suraj had booked their plane tickets to Bangkok as well but had overcharged them by 50 bucks each.

Now we needed to get our plane tickets and found that Nepal Airlines had the best rate. Unfortunately, they do not sell tickets online, so we walked approximately a mile to their office. We got our tickets for Friday and they cost about 205 USD each. The good news was they took credit cards so we didn't need to dip into our cash reserves. On the way back to the guesthouse, we hit the ATM for a whole bunch of Nepali rupees, since unlike Tanzania, the shipper actually wanted to be paid in his own currency. Once we got back to the guesthouse, Re spent some time researching transportation and accommodation options in Bangkok while I finished reading the book I had been working on for the past few days.

After the sun went down, it got cold fast. A knock on our door brought a handwritten note from Suraj and an offer to cut our shipping rate to 720 USD. The note also said he'd sent us an email with a different offer and to let him know. Re than checked my email and found that his other offer was to ship our bikes for 595 USD if we would pack on Wednesday, when he had four other bikes going, or 720 USD if we packed on Thursday. Somehow, the 595 offer seemed too low, since as near as I could figure from the rates we were given earlier by both companies, that the charge for Thai Airways would be something around 575 USD? Puzzled, we decided to put the decision off until tomorrow, so instead we had a light dinner and later went out for a couple of s.

Our plan for today was to see some of the sights in Kathmandu. We woke to another cold morning and made our way across the street to the Elbrus House for breakfast on their sunny terrace. While waiting for breakfast, I checked my email and realized that I had received a rather cryptic message from Eagle Eyes Exports. The message said that I had left my “Griffin” at his office and to either call or come by and pick it up. My Griffin? Re and I puzzled over this for a few minutes and I then realized that I had shown Jeewan pictures of our previous crates on my iPhone. That was the only thing I could have left in his office, and once we got back to the room, I could not find my phone. After 9:00 am we walked to his office, and sure enough, the only writing on my iPhone is the tiny, embossed Griffin logo on the protective case. Mystery solved. We reconfirmed with Jeewan that we would see him at 10:30 on Thursday and went back to the guesthouse to pack, because today there was a room open at the Elbrus House for us.

After carrying our bags down three flights of stairs from our current room, then up five flights of steps to our new room, we found that our new room was actually less deluxe, but it promised a hot shower. While I was reading in my favorite chair, there was a knock at our door. Since I was “indisposed,” Re answered it and found Suraj and Sara from Eagle Export. I couldn't hear what was said through the closed bathroom door, but a few minutes later, Re told me that they really want our business and offered us a rate of 550 USD. Now thoroughly confused, we walked back to Eagle Eyes and spoke to Jeewan about the rate. Jeewan pulled out his binder of old air waybills and showed us the actual rates charged by Thai Air Cargo. For a shipment under 500 kgs, the rate was 105 NR per kg, plus 12 NR per kg fuel surcharge, 200 NR for air waybill preparation, 8000 NR for dangerous goods fees. Our crate is 320 kgs, which meant that the charges from Thai Air Cargo alone would be nearly 570 USD at the current exchange rate. That means Suraj would not only lose 20 bucks, but he would also be eating the cost of building the crate and paying the warehousing and other bribes needed at the airport? Jeewan still refused to say anything bad about Suraj (his cousin and former employee) and offered to return our deposit if we decided to ship with Suraj instead. Maybe I am extra cautious since our experience in Dar Es Salaam, but I just did not trust Suraj. He seems way too slick. We decided to stick with Jeewan and the higher rate because he had been extremely straightforward with us and did not badmouth his competition, while the same could not be said about his competition.

After all this to-ing and fro-ing, it was nearly 2:00 pm, so our touring plans were canceled. Instead we had some lunch and returned to the guesthouse to research the Customs process in Bangkok and transportation to and from the airports. Wanting as hot a shower as possible, we waited until after 4:00 pm to give the solar water heater maximum amount of sunshine. Our shower was steamy, steamy hot and was well worth the wait. Since we were now both so clean, we decided to get a little dirty before dinner. Later that evening, we went out for a splurge dinner, where Re had a steak with Bernaise sauce, and I had a big, genuine, beef hamburger for the first time since I can't remember. While the food was pricey, it did include an after dinner Irish coffee, which was a nice way to finish the evening.