Photos will be everything here. We play soccer with kids but breathing is hard, in a monastery school. It is vacation for a month here right now for all kids.

We stop for lunch in a very small village, the ground is dirt inside, and we order Dahl Bat again. But before we drop our heavy bags to go down a very technical path for 15 min, it is steep, full of rocks, and no mistakes are allowed. We are at 3700m, in the middle of nowhere, it adds to the challenge.  At the bottom of this deep valley, we park our bikes and start a 20 min hike to a religious buddhist cave. There are celebrations. We are in mystical place, we drink tea, a salty, milky with butter black tea, perfect for hiking in high altitude and get some energy. We sit down in the middle of the prayer room and observe the ceremony in silence. We can definitly feel the fact that we are at high altitude, we get winded quickly, and movements must be slow. The ride back up is extremely challenging, no stalling allowed, we are forced to push each other bikes a few time. Once back up in the village, we eat lunch, get some energy, take a quick nap, and we are back on the road. 

The roads are so bad, that we each lose our bags at some point, but we are in a hollywood movie, it looks fake, unreal. We arrive at the lodge tottaly broken, Jean almost wants to give up, cold shower, no electricity and wifi. We get a quick snack, and split up for personal time, I decide to go visit the village. I end up meeting an old man, I follow him for 45 min, and he shows me the panorama and the village. He also makes me visit common houses, workshops, and farms, and we only communicate with our hands since he does not speak English. What an adventure! I then do a call with Bianca, right before dinner, shared in a small room, and then sleep at 21h30. 

The map is very intersting, useful while not being to scale. Will will go to Loamthang, and slightly higher.

We keep getting small mechanical problems, broken parts, loose nuts and bolts, because of the road and the vibrations. But the road is incredible, we are at the bottom of a deep, green valley, climbing up towards the mountains. Once again, we sometimes have to wait for incoming traffic to pass, cross water, avoid holes and large rocks, and we are eating dust, we are sliding on mud. 

The road got newly renovated right before jomston, where we will eat lunch. So we enjoy a few km of perfectly asphalted road, so time to speed. We are going at 80 kph, the wind cools us down, and the panoramas make it look like a dream. We are now entering the Mustang area, and we have finally crossed the first part of the himalayan range, meaning the landscape instantly transforms, from tropical humid weather to a dry, windy desert surrounded by mountains. Dahl bat for lunch, nepalese cuisine, we also have to get some fuel, and find a welding station, because we have a broken part on one of the bikes. I take a small nap on the laying in the dust waiting. Mission successful ! and back on the road, we get another 10 km of asphalt before entering the desert again, rocks, sand and gravel. Our average speed plummets, John and Chris have 2 small falls, the road is getting very technical, but the views are breathtaking, and we are finally alone, we only meet 2 buses, 1 pick up and a few motorbikes until the end of the day. 

Not only have we crossed the himalayan range today, but the culture changes as well, from Hinduism to buddhism, and an increasing influence from Tibetan populations. The village in which we sleep is lost in the mountains, people live from the food they grow, a bit from trade, and houses are century old. We are humbled by the place, Chris goes on a run (he will run the New York marathon in 3 weeks), I call my sister, others nap, take showers. And once again we eat dinner while planning the road for tomorrow. 

We start riding at 9h10, and then we start our 89 km journey for a planned lunch. The road is mostly asphalt, a bit a concrete and some sections are full off-road. There are obviously a lot of potholes, traffic is crazy, so we all have to stay vigilant. We stop in the middle for a small tea, and debrief of our first 35km. Everything is going well so we keep going to Bani, we order lunch, and go refuel our bikes while the food is cooking. 30 min later we are all eating Dahl bat, a great Nepalese dish. Then time for a small nap, before hitting the road again. Normally we will not see asphalt roads for the next 8 days starting now. 

The 30km took us the same time as the first 95km. The road is full of rocks, mud, in many places we have to wait for incoming traffic, as we are stuck between the mountains and a cliff with a river. This is more offroad than expected, Chris falls inside a water hole, but no injuries, and we have waterproof bags. We have to be gentle with these old bikes, the clutch is old, the brakes useless, the gears often get stuck, this adds to the challenge. 

We finally arrive in a small village, with natural hot springs ! So this is obviously where we stop first, enoying the warm water, and a shower outside. The water is too warm, but we discuss with fellow travelers, mostly trekkers, and also locals that live here. Then rest, wash clothes, pack/unpack, dinner, and bit of celebration for John’s birthday. We watch moto youtube videos together before going to bed. 

Terry will be our guide, a mountain guide from France. He has prepared and completed many adventures around the world. Not only he loves the mountains, he also loves the sea. He has been in Nepal multiple times per year (every year) for over 40 years! 

The Kathmandu airport is small, security is loose, it is messy, loud, and feels local, while being pretty high traffic. Our plane is 40 min late, we talk about past and future potential adventures, like sailing in artic ocean, or traveling on the beach from north to south Brazil with buggies. 

We take a bus on the tarmac, our plane is an old [plane model] with 2 propellers. Soon enough, we are climbing up, and looking out the window to ‘green tropical’ nepal. A few minutes later, once we are over the clouds, we see the himalayan pics teasing us. It looks so majestic 

Landing is smooth, and we end up in an even smaller airport, we are able to walk freely on the tarmac, even come in and out of the building to observe the planes. Soon enough, we are reunited with all of our stuff, meet our guide who will accompany us all the way to the north of Nepal, to the Tibetan border. We arrive at the hotel, a beautiful, old style nepalese building, but we are hungry, so we quickly leave to find some food. Lunch was incredible, next to lake, good food, and more adventure stories to be shared. 

Time to ride! Right after lunch, we hop on the motorcycle for a first test ride, they are old, and weird to get used to. We also have to drive on the left side, and with questionable traffic laws. Here the biggest win, like on the sea, so it is our job to avoid incoming traffic, merging buses, trucks on the wrong side of the road. Our goal is to visit the Stupa, on top of a hill, it also requires us to do a bit of off-road, a good way to get to know the bikes. We get some mechanical problems (I lost my exhaust pipe), and are forced to shorten the ride. This was calculated, better to discover problems now, than tomorrow on the road. Once back at the hotel, we go to the swimming pool, wash our clothes, and finally go eat dinner. I do a small digestive walk with Pierre before going to sleep ready for the next day. 

Tomorrow, we will take the plane for 30 min north in Nepal, and we will finally pick up the bikes.

We arrive I’m katmundu, quickly pass customs, get our luggages, and then buy some sim cards. We also have to change some money before being ready to get out. Someone is waiting for us outside the airport with a van, we get some flower necklace, fresh from the morning. 

35 min later we are at the hotel, very beautiful. A garden and swimming pool, inside patio. 

Some more Masala tea before dropping our stuff in the rooms and taking a well deserved nap. 

We then visit the thing, buy some stuff, drink some beers, and then dinner before going to sleep early. 

Last dinner at home and time to go. I won’t really leave tonight, but the adventure is starting. I meet with the rest of team at Charles de Gaulle airport, we are 4, still one missing, we will meet in Katmandu. I am already more relaxed, can’t go back now, and it helps being together. 

Team composition, Pierre, Chris, John, and I. Then Terry. 

After a short sleep, time to take the plane. We check our luggage, get our tickets, pass security, eat a small breakfast and then, all of sudden we are in the plane. Pierre, Chris and John are all friend with one of the stewardess, we will get a VIP treatment during the whole flight, wine and food from first class, small upgrade. But the real luxury was getting invited inside the cockpit. It felt like stepping on a balcony on top of the world, looking over at Baku, Iran, Georgia, these were absolutely incredible 30 minutes. The rest of the flight was uneventful, I had a bit of small talk with my neighbor, an American lady from Kentucky, 70 years old, 30+ time in India, a nurse for women’s health around the world. 

John was able to sit in the cockpit for the landing, it is now 11pm in Delhi, India. we have to pass custom, get our bags and get to the hotel. We end up eating dinner with the whole flight crew at the hotel. We talk adventure, don’t look at the time. The nigth will be short…