OverlandSphere
Overland Travel, Expedition & Adventure Information for 4x4, motorcycle and truck overlanders
In some ways, Nepal is like India – but it is also different. If you travel from India to Nepal, you can immediately feel a sense of relieve. It is less chaotic, the people are not so obtrusive, and the traffic is not as bad. We could really feel the change right at the border. And Nepal is a country…
Most areas in Nepal have no roads, and there are not many places in the mountains that can be reached by motorcycle. One exception is the road to Jomson, and from there further on to Muktinath, next to the Annapurna range. However, even this road exists only since a few years, and the word “road” actually doesn’t describe it very…
Nepal consists of high mountains and white peaks – that’s what we thought. So we were really surprised to find out that it has also areas with tropical jungle forests, with tigers, elephants and crocodiles. There are several national parks in Nepal, where you can experience the jungle and its wildlife. We stayed at the Bardia National Park for a…
16.12.2011 Kathmandu Our bikes are full of mud, so is our gear. We spend the morning getting everything cleaned and also need to fix “Flocke’s” right pannier, which got dented at the crash. While Harry is replacing his rear brake pads, I look after my heated grips. The left one doesn’t work for months and need to be fixed prior…
12.12.2011 Trip to the Everest Base Camp, Day 1 Nagarkot We get up early, but need to pack all the stuff we had on our rooms back on the bikes. Everything takes ages. We ask for the bill and it takes the staff half an hour to get it ready. We also need to change money and I need to…
12.12.2011 Trip to the Everest Base Camp, Day 1 Nagarkot We get up early, but need to pack all the stuff we had on our rooms back on the bikes. Everything takes ages. We ask for the bill and it takes the staff half an hour to get it ready. We also need to change money and I need to…
13.12.2011 Nagarkot to Charikot We get up at 05:30 a.m to be in time for the sunrise. The night was cold, just 7,5°C in our room in Nagarkot at 2200m altitude. Nope, there is no heating over here! Our room has a balcony towards East and we get rewarded by a beautiful sunrise over the mountain range, which we enjoy…
11.12.2011 Service (Odometer: 48.000km) Today is a big day. We will do a service for our BMW R1200GS bike, including changing the engine-, drive shaft- and gearbox oil and adjust the valves. Back at “Autoland” http://www.autoland.com.np we find Total 5W40, a fully synthetic oil which is specified for temperatures as low as -25°C. We buy 12 liter of that expensive…
06.12.2011 Harry’s arrival in Kathmandu About a year ago, Harry contacted me via e-mail. At this time he had some questions about my equipment. We stayed in contact and exchanged some e-mails, as he planned an overland trip from Innsbruck, Austria to South Africa. He couldn’t pass the border from Turkey to Syria and decided to chance his route to…
06.12.2011 Harry’s arrival in Kathmandu About a year ago, Harry contacted me via e-mail. At this time he had some questions about my equipment. We stayed in contact and exchanged some e-mails, as he planned an overland trip from Innsbruck, Austria to South Africa. He couldn’t pass the border from Turkey to Syria and decided to change his route to…
10.12.2011 A day in Kathmandu: Admin, Shopping, Momos! All participants of the overland journey from Nepal to Laos come to the hotel of the Dutch couple to meet Mr. Tirthu Acharya, a representative of the travel agency. On the way to their hotel we bump into a procession. Women who are dressed up in their national clothing throw petals at…
08.12.2011 Preparing the bikes We meet Fabian and Janine for breakfast and fill out the application forms for the China visa. Harry carried a set of spare tires (Heidenau K60 Scout) on his BMW R1200GS Adventure. As his current set of tires is still in good condition, he offers to borrow me his spare tires. I’m very happy about this,…
07.12.2011 Hanging out in Kathmandu It’s another lazy day for me, still working on photos and learning “Apple’s Aperture”, the application I decided to use to manage my photos from now on. Harry is busy doing his laundry and cleaning his gear. For dinner we are invited to Schmi & Simone, the Austrian couple on KTM 990 Adventure. It’s their…
After our offroad adventure we were pretty tired and decided to just chill out and relax for a few days. We found out Big Tom was heading to Pokhara to meet us and hang out for a couple of days and he turned up the next afternoon with his mum on the back of his BMW. We all chatted and…
By Johno After a short break in Pokhara to recharge our batteries and fuses the team regrouped in Kathmandu ready to brave the Tibetan Plateau ~ I’ve always been skinny. Even six months of intense military training when I was eighteen left me with the arms of a stick insect and the legs of a chicken. Now, after two months…
Nepal really is rather lovely. Once we reached Pokara, and after gorging ourselves on Buffalo Steaks to celebrate leaving India, we went our separate ways for a week. We had been stuck in that cab together for 5 months and this break was well over due! Johno climbed a hill Leigh rode a motorbike around for a bit and got…
We arrived after a fantastic view out of our plane window of the Himalayan mountains poking through the clouds. It was a hell of a site and got us both pretty excited The airport was one of the smallest I have ever seen but it was pretty well organised except that the ATM upstairs didnt work so Cat had to…