To Chanauta: let's just get down the road before it gets too hot

April 25, 2016

"How is your rib?" "How is your eye?" we ask each other while on the 11km stretch of road that is rocky and dusty. Rachel's rib still hurts when jarred around on a bumpy road. Patrick had something fall into his eye when hanging the mosquito net a few days ago. After using the eye cup in our medical kit to rinse the eye, no longer does it feel like something is still in the eye, but does still bother him.

We expect as the day progresses for the temperature to increase and the westerly wind to build. So we are motivated to get up at first light and get going. We make good time to Kapilvastu on the flat road and light traffic. At 27kms we take our first break for chai and the last of our laughing cow cheese on puri (a small bread puff). We have been seeing more mosques and women veiled.

From here we go north through forest on an unsealed road to get back to the main road. The surface varies from big rocks to a nice section of hard packed then construction where it's muddy and we walk a short distance back to rocky surface and piles of dirt ready to be spread by the construction crew. Finally reaching the main road and appreciating the asphalt.

At this point we think we still have 40kms until a couple of kilometers down the road we see that Chanauta is only 20kms. Given the staging for the next two days, there would be no benefit to going further today than planned. We stop one more time for a cold drink of sprite and mountain dew that isn't cold. Seeing the electric powered tuk tuks that look like golf carts, we know we are close to Chanauta. We are looking for a guesthouse mentioned in another cyclists journal. We see one hotel that advertises as a convention and party place with a cafe. This is common for hotels to hold large parties or weddings where whole hotel is booked.

We continue on to Hotel Galaxy that is in shambles, ride through town seeing nothing then turn back to the the first hotel we saw, Hotel Chandrauta. Patrick checks out the room that is clean, nice with a fan, a self contained bathroom with cold shower and squat toilet, no sink. The sink is out at the end of the hallway. The owner is very friendly and was a store manager in Saudi Arabia until a few years ago and speaks very good English, always a plus. Patrick negotiated a reduced price of 1000 rupees. Lunch in the cafe of momos and chow mein was delicious. And we returned for dinner.

This is all more and better than we expected today!

Flat farmland on our way west out of Lumbini

Burning the fields sure doesn't help the air quality.

Checking the GPS to navigate a shortcut through town.

Puri for breakfast. We add some french cheese wedges... These were the last of our goodies from Pokhara.

Flametree in bloom. The cyclist is a bit puzzled why Patrick is taking this photo.

Today's ride: 61 km (38 miles)
Total: 16,163 km (10,037 miles)

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