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Patan
- The trip from Thamel to Patan by bike takes only 30 minutes.
-
At Durbar square, there’s a place where you can stall the bike. Some
youngsters will come and offer to keep an eye on the bike, but police
is around so this is not really necessary.
- A young guy approached
me to guide me around, and we fixed a price of 100 Rp. Durbar square is
very nice (there’s a fee of 200 Rp to be paid), certainly better then
the one in KTM. Don’t forget to go up a few steps to a roof behind the
ticket counter. From here you have the typical postcard view. Then we
went to the Golden temple, the Kumbashwar temple and the Mahabouddha
temple. All very interesting. I had a short lunch in the ‘Temple view
restaurant’.
Bakhtapur
- The ride to
Bakhtapur is longer then I expected and took 90 minutes. The first part
is terrible as you’re biking on a very busy road between cars, buses
and trucks. You can best take the parallel way over Thimi. This road
goes up and down, so there’s some climbing to be done.
- In
Bakhtapur, you’ll pay an entrance fee of 10 $. This looks expensive,
but compare it with Macchu Pichu or Tikal, and it’s a real bargain.
Park your bike behind the ticket counter. The city itself is really
fantastic, you find something new behind each corner. This takes at
least a few hours.
- I didn’t fancy the long climb up to Nagarkot,
so I decided to charter a taxi. I was very lucky, because normally you
should count on 800 to 1000 Rp, but this taxi driver had to be there
anyway, so I paid 450 Rp.
Nagarkot
-
This is a popular place during weekends for Nepalese, but also for
tourists coming for the fantastic sunrise with views over the Himalaya.
Of course you need to be a bit lucky with the weather.
- I got up
at 6 am and I biked to the Watch out tower about 3 km South of town. It
is a pretty stiff climb up which took me about 40 minutes. At a certain
point you'll see a watch out tower, and you'll think you're almost
there. Alas, this is the tower from the military camp you're passing.
It is still 1 km further up. Since it was cloudy, I didn't see more
then what you could see from the hotel, and that was 1 mountain coming
out of the clouds. By the time I was back in the hotel at 7.30 am, this
mountain was also in clouds. So in short, I don't think it's worth
going all the way to the tower.
- There are several places to stay,
but the best place is undoubtedly the Club Himalaya. This four star
hotel has a great view over the valley, and all rooms have a terrace
with view. Sitting in the restaurant, you can again have a panoramic
view. They also have an indoor swimming pool and jacuzzi. Normal price
is 60 $ for a single, but they give discounts of 15%. You should add
tax and breakfast. There’s a buffet dinner at 8 $. They don't have a
website yet, but you can make reservations at
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. Fax is 680068, telephone is 680080.
To Sangku
From
Nagarkot you bike North a bit, and then take the jeep track for Sangku.
On this track it is impossible to get lost. The road is not so
technical and can be done by people without former mountain biking
experience. You won't meet any other traffic. The road goes almost
always downhill till Sangku were I arrived at 11 am. Just before
Sangku, there's a small school, and if the teacher is outside the
building, he'll surely stop you and ask to talk a bit with the
children, so they practice their English. He'll show you around and ask a for donation.
To Changu Narayan
-
From Sangku, you can make a short side trip North to the Vajra Jogini
Temple. The trip invloves a steep climb, both by bike and on footh. The
return trip took me 90 minutes from Sangku, but it was hard work. The
temple itself is OK, not touristy at all, but the highlight for me was
a Sandhu sitting in front of his cave there. I had never seen that
before.
- From Sangku onwards, the traffic becomes much more busy
again and you come on a tarmac road. After a few kilometers, you come
in the village of Bramhakel. Once you see a high telecomunication
tower, you can take left through the fileds for 500 meter till you come
at the river. In dry season, you can pass the river, and from there
it's a steep climb up to the marvelouus Changy Narayan Temple. You can
also approach it by bus from Bakhtapur, but make sure you don't miss
it, it is on the UNESCO Wordl Heritage list. There are some smaller
places to have lunch.
To KTM
The road
from Sangku to KTM follows the river and goes up and down (every
village is built on a hill...), so you'll have to climb now and then.
This part was less amusing. When entering KTM you pass the Hyatt
Regency, and then on your right is Boudnath, a bit further on your left
is Pashaputinath.
Second mountain biking trip: the Scar Road
- This trip is described in the LP, and all companies know of it, but some are a bit reluctant and prefer the Nagarkot trip.
-
This trip first gives you a stiff climb up to Kakane (2100 m high). In
Kakane, you need take a road to the right where you'll pass a small
ticket office, and you'll climb further for 4 km. On the way, you'll go
through a military camp. Then you'll pass a school, and then the road
goes down a little and we stopped. Most companies offer to spend the
night in Kakane, but I did this part in a minibus and arrived at 10
am. I also met an English guy who did this climb in just 3 hours!!
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Once you get out of the bus, the trip is truly marvelous. You drive
downhill for 5 minutes, then you'll have to push your bike up for 15
minutes till you come to the ticket office of the Reserve. You'll have
to pay 250 Rp here. From there the fun starts. The first hour you do a
fantastic single track all the way down. This is a very technical
trail, so you should definitely have some mountain biking skills there.
-
Then the road widens and there’s a stiff climb up again for an hour. I
had to walk here most of the time. You'll have great views over the
valley again. Once you've passed through the second military camp, the
climb is over and from there on it’s flat or down, all the way off road
till KTM.
- The LP says that you come on a tarmac road once you
reach Budhanilkantha, but you can avoid this by taking a parallel off
road track through villages all the way to KTM. Fantastic trip!! I advise it to anyone who likes technical mountain biking, great views (and an hour of climbing). I arrived at 3 pm, but we stopped 30 minutes for the rain.
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I was going to write not to attempt this trip without a guide, but this
English guy did it just with the short description of the LP. Still, he
admitted that he thought he was almost lost on the single track, but he
saw our trails and thus knew he was still OK. Also the guide will guide
you on an off road track all the way till KTM through villages, while
the LP description will put you on tarmac for the last 10 km.
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