Another early start and this morning, shock horror I lost my bike key, I looked everywhere but could not find it, I felt that I had let the side down. It was now 3-1 (the French getting a point against them for Photo Phill somehow screwing his bike up causing us to wait half an hour on the mountain pass the day before).
The support team managed to bodge a key for me and so we could start out to the Hindu temple our first stop of the day. On arrival I noticed there were many steps but more than I had expected.
After a lot of huffing and puffing, we walked up the many steps with the locals. Some were carrying baskets with fruit, others live chickens and even a few lambs were being led up.
I didn’t feel good about this and when everyone was taking off their shoes and socks, I found out that they were to be slaughtered as an offering. Being the sort of guy I am I offered to stay outside and look after the boots and coats. After 20 minutes the group came out with red dots on their foreheads, they never told me why !
The ride of around 140km on normal roads till we arrived in backpacker central, the town of Pokhara. Dominated by the second largest lake in the country. We could also see the snow-capped mountains of the Annapurna range which gave an interesting juxtaposition to the palm trees we were standing around. This was the last chance to liberate cash before we headed into Mustang and it was also a good place to party. The brits rebelled and went their own way for dinner, this meant trying many of the local bars. After their dinner the French joined us, where over beers the group bonded, I was the first on the dance floor and a very good time was had by all. We managed to turn in at around 11.30 ready for the ride to Mustang.
You gotta love them ……..