Arrived in Pokhera

We made it to Pokhera today, after a good 250km ride from Butwal. Most of the ride was easy, but just as we got near Pokhera a local told us it is raining season, and to expect 2 hours or so of rain everyday, or every other day. By the time we got to Pokhera it was pouring, and we got fully soaked trying to find the Tropicana hotel where Devin is staying since yesterday. All is good now, after a shower and drying our shit, and the cameras are fine.

Pokhera has quite a scene, definitely way more westerners that where we came from. We are now done with riding for a week or so while we see Pokhera. The bikes are running ok, but I need a mechanic to check on my newly discovered oil leak.

Attached is a photo of the lake, as seen from our hotels front balcony.

Bought an enfield motorcycle, riding to Nepal

Bought a 1998 350cc classic motorcycle for 38500 rupees or ~700usd on 4/22, same day Myles bought a clean 2009 350cc classic enfield with a left side 5 speed gearbox (like every other bike without British origins)

We ( Ira and Sophia by car, devin, myles, rohit and 3 others on bikes) on the 23rd to Chota, close to gangotri, about 220km from Rishikesh, where we began. We started at 6am, and on the road by 7, it took about 12 hours of riding with frequent stops. I was by far the slowest rider, but luckily traveling with a bike tour guide many people had advice and help during my frequent stall outs. I had only driven an enfield the week before, (one of which Myles bought) but the experience of an older bike with a 4 speed gearbox took a little getting used to (new models are 5 speed) the bike Myles got is nice to ride, but I am happy with what I found last minute,

The bike is a beast, with a good sounding and running engine, but almost everything else on it needed care. I had never ridden before in the Himalayan mountains, which begins at rishikesh roughly. My previous long ride 170km each direction was from Gokarna to Mudeswhar in february where the second largest shiva statue is. We (Brooke, Fabio, and I) rode in one day on 2 scooters, I drove part of the way there, and the whole way back, solo, which was way more intense as far as traffic goes (we were on busy highways the whole time). The scooter feels and is way less stable and is not comfortable for long distances due to the high frequency vibration and shitty suspension, similar to a lightweight cycle like the honda hero 100cc we had in goa.

On our ride we went from Rishikesh ( laxmenjhula) through devprag, rudraprayag, then Chota for a total of 220km on day one. Road Conditions are mostly great, with a couple dozen rough destroyed sections, we were blocked for 10 minutes as a bulldozer cleared a landslide. The roads are beautiful to drive on, and compared to filling rattling rides in a bus or cab we can set our own pace.

The bike has great power to pass, and is actually very comfortable, which when riding 6-12 hours a day for weeks is important. Acceleration is generous, allowing safe passing on strait sections. I purchased a small basic toolkit which has already been handy for removing the warped rack that came with my bike, fixing devins horn, putting on my mirrors, and adjusting our brakes. I downloaded a repair manual so I can begin to start learning about working on it more seriously. the bike are well known for being easy to work on, and the manual is excellent and detailed.

Riding is both fun and addictive. Here in India, and much of the world, bikes are used by many people as a primary vehicle. Every day you will see 3-4 people on a motorcycle or scooter, often whole families (mom dad and 2 young children is a common sight. ) Driving in India is horn dependent, before a blind turn everyone honks to let them know your coming, if you hear a horn make space and honk back before they see you. I have seen buses and trucks just honk and drive strait through 4 way intersections without slowing down, one after the other. There don't appear to be any actual traffic regulations, and the few seen are often ignored, such as no passing zones in blind areas. Somehow though traffic smoothly flows, it almost never stops they way traffic can hold up for hours in America, unless the road is physically obstructed. The hierarchy of driving in India is cows come first (hit one and get killed by a mob or if your lucky life in prison.), then Tata trucks and buses, then jeeps and taxi, followed by enfields, then smaller bikes and scooters, lastly is pedestrians.

The road conditions are up here are mostly great, wide enough for 2 easily, and a good surface, with frequent washed out parts where landslides destroyed the road. The road was pretty good with little traffic. Once we got really high in the mountains the last 20km to Chota; the temperature dropped, traffic ended entirely, and road conditions became excellent.

Views of the Himalayan peaks and valleys are awe inspiring and beautiful, and the forest we entered has a certain diversity and beauty not seen before, owing to the strong legal protections in this region. It is cold here, I am glad I brought every bit of warm clothes I did, including the waterproof hard shell, which is indispensable riding in these high mountain roads. Tungnath is the highest of the panch (5) Kedars at 3700m, after climbing to tungnath we continued another 1km and 300m climb to the peak of Chandrashila at 4000m, or 13000~ft., which was unclimbable on the path due to ice and snow, requiring hugging the knife edge cliff to summit. Views were overcast but still amazing, and the feeling of being up in the clouds was

Stayed the first night in a camp in Chota, then a small house down the road, than further down the road in a nicer hotel in ukhimath, where the badrinath diety is kept during the winter months. As badrinath has not opened yet, the diety is here in ukhimath. We went to the temple to receive darshan and see the diety, which is quite small, around 8 inches tall. Like all temple diety's, photography is forbidden. We went to deoria tal lake, which was the most picturesque lake any of us had ever seen. 2 pics are included in this post of the lake, HDR panos were shot with the 5D mk2 but need patching.

Gas is 70- rupees a liter, and milage is approximately 35 kilometers / liter. Our total trip to Pokhara, Nepal is 1800 km round trip, making our fuel cost 4600 rupees or under $85USD. road taxes are

We have until may 11th to leave India and renew our visas (we have 10 year visa's, but you can only stay 6 months at a time) Devin is planning to return to Rishikesh and return his bike, and we are going to meet him in Nepal over the next few weeks. Devin will take trains and buses, while Myles and I will be on our Enfield's. Rohit rode with us until we reached the Nepal border on the 7th.

On myles birthday (5/6) we went from Munsiari to Pithoragarh in 6 hours, where we found an authorized enfield dealer and mechanic, and spent all day from 1 to 6 working on our bikes, but mostly mine as it was never checked or serviced after I bought it.

I got a complete rebuild of front and rear shocks including seals and oil, new bearings for the rear shock pivot arm, timing adjustments, new rear brake shoes, new front and rear wheel bearings, new clutch plates, cleaning and oil for the gearbox, adjustments and tightening all over on spots I had no tool for or couldn't reach, did a weld on my center stand to keep it from leaning too far (making the bike difficult to get off the stand), tightened my rotating ignition keyswitch, and probably some other things, all for 2030 rupees, or less than $40usd. Myles got a bearing in his front wheel for 250 rupees (5$) and his rear brake pad inspected than roughened. Rohit got his front left shock seal changed, the kickstand replaced, and a wheel bearing changed. We also picked up a spare spark plug, a spare brake, throttle and clutch cable for each bike, a spare headlight, and a liter of engine oil. Neither my bike nor Myles' has a working speedometer or odometer, and my bike has no functioning blinkers. We bought Rohit's air pump, now all we need is a spare inner tube, a patch kit, and 2 tire irons. Rohit gave me an upgrade air filter which is cleanable and reusable, and should give me better mileage and pickup, but I need to find a few parts to attach it (a rubber hose and pipe clamps.)

Pithoragarh is a military town, with many Enfield's, many set up by the military with custom racks and cases that look very retro. Not much to do here other then fix our bikes, but we did score some nice stuff as a gift from a chaiwalla.

The enfield mechanic (Sai automotives) was thorough and professional, and seemed much better equipped with a great stock of parts on site unlike mechanics we met in Almora or Rishikesh. Our fears that there would be no mechanic at all in Pithoragarh were unwarranted. We are now free to explore Nepal without fear of breaking down. Western Nepal is a remote region, much of which only opened in 1992 to foreigners.

We crossed the border into Nepal on the 7th, and stayed the night in a town called Mahendranagar 7km from the border. Entry fees and taxes for a 15 day visa were pretty expensive, costing about 2000 rupees each. We need to get a new visa in Kathmandu if we want to stay longer, for a maximum of 90 days.

Last night we stayed in a town called Banke on the highway after driving around 200km from Mahindranagar.

I broke my chain today about 60km from Butwal, and it took myles about 2 hours to find someone to fix it and get the parts, while I waited with the bike. No damage to the bike except the chain guard got wrecked, and a few spokes broke. Hopefully the wheel can be trued in Pokhera, as I now have 6 broken spokes in the rear wheel. Cost for the repair was 500 Nepal rupees, the part cost 250 for a link, and we decided to give him 250 for riding with Myles for an hour to find the part and doing the work.

We are now in a town called Butwal, Where we split off to the Siddhartha highway towards Pokhera in the morning. Estimated arrival in Pokhera is tommorow evening, if all goes Well. We have 240km of winding mountain roads, with a serious climb, unlike the strait flat highways we have been riding in Nepal. In the mountains the average speed is more like 35km/hour max.

In Rishikesh - Planning a Enfield trip to the Himylayen mountains and Nepal.

We have been here in Rishikesh for the past 2 weeks, and right now am plannning the next leg of our trip. Our Visa's need to be extended by may 11. Current plan is to go to Tungnath, one of the panch (five) kedar's on rented Enfield motorcycles on tuesday (the 23rd or april) We have hooked up with Rohit, a friend of sophia's that organaizes bike tours and shoots photpgraphs, who has agreed to bike with us to the nepal border across the india himalayen range, after he joins us for a 300km trip from here to Tungnath.


Ideally we plan to each purchase a bike with the idea to sell after the summer, which is cheaper than renting for 600 rupes (11 dollars) a day. Prices for an enfield is around 50000 rupees (1000$usd) for an slightly older (1998-2006) bike without disc brakes in trip ready condition, a almost new bike (2009-2011) is around 85000 rupees (1600$usd) with front disc brakes. The bikes can be sold back to the same person we bought the from in rishikesh at 70% of what we bought them for, or sold to someone else for anywhere from 35,000-45000, making the cost for having a bike around 10,000-15000. Most enfields are 350cc bikes, but there are 500cc models, and there are rare old models called the interceptor, which is 2x 350cc engines bolted together in a v-configuration. I have never seen one, but enfields are a common sight. They are similer in style to a Norton or Triumph, from similer british origins.


List of Enfield Motorcycles


Looked at a few bikes today, and got my first 50-60km trip in on an enfield today. these bikes are powerful, sturdy, and heavy, and a dream to drive. The advantages of the enfield are increased stability compared to the lightweight japanese and indian bikes, ease of repair and finding parts, reliability, and a huge userbase in india. The bikes are also incredibly well balanced. 

In the Kumaon Himalayen Mountains

We arrived in Almora more than 2 weeks ago, and have been staying on Kaser Devi ridge, or Crank's ridge, since then, enjoying an incredible view of the snow capped Himalayan glaciers, which appears amazingly close to us.
The people are incredibly nice and have shown us many traditional dances and traditions. There is a strong musical culture here, and during Holi, the festival of colors, everyone was in high spirits and sings and dancing for around 6 days in a row. 

Geohack for Almora, Utterkhand, India

We went to Jageshwar and acquired some on the sacred Deodo (Ceder) wood and bark. We also visited an a\incredible cave temple deep underground, which was consecrated by shankaracharya in the 10th century. 

Internet access in only through an internet cafe a half kilometer down the road, so I am not online often.

Arrived at the Maha Khumbh in Allahabad

We have arrived in Allahabad after a short flight this morning. We woke at 6 am and caught a flight at 10.

We went to the meeting point of the Ganges and Yamana Rivers and splashed the sacred water on our heads, and gave offerings of flowers, incense, and fine camphor. Sadly the Naga babas and the Juna Akara have left already for Varanasi, where we will be going in a few days if not tomorrow for Shivaratri, which is on the 10th.

The energy is still amazing, though admirably much less intense than during the main bathing dates. It struck us that virtually no westerners are here at all, the majority of people being Indian pilgrims. Many rudrushka mala beads are for sale, along with conches, toys, and anything else you can imagine.

Allahabad is amazing, filled with peddle tricycle rickshaws and packed with traffic.

Current toolkit for instrument building

Got a cheap Chinese Swiss army knife, a box cutter, a cheap serrated stainless steak knife for precision cuts, and m-seal, which is a epoxy putty found fairly cheap (30 rupees for 100 grams) and quite handy for quick builds. Almost bought a wood carving toolkit for 170 rupees ($3.40) in Gokarna, but passed because of the weight, I also ended up ditching the large crude hand forged blade that cost 60 rupees (around a buck) and my boxcutter on the way to the airport today. Got a good blade in the Mysore market for 20 rupees, but it ended up dying the pomegranate we ate jet black in some strange reaction with the surface, though it is lightweight and good steel, so I ended up checking it with my tools today's while flying.

Also included in this post is my first string instrument made in India. I built it two weeks ago, but only last week finished it with tuning pegs and strings. Tuning pegs are an excellent simple tech for string instruments, and are quite easy to fashion with a knife and hard stick. Tuning pegs and tuning machines seem almost impossible to find for sale, so everything was made by hand. The hole can be awed with a half scissor blade to made a round a tapered hole. The pegs were first goan driftwood bamboo, then palm tree wood, and now some random hardwood from Hampi. Working on one more string instrument which will be longer with the bowl more centrally located, and with heavier strings. I want to make a bow to experiment with playing it like a violin or fiddle.

Current trend with my guitars is a metallic resonator for analog amplification. I used the bottom of a coke can in my first guitar which is quite effective especially with higher frequencies.

Hampi is incredible beautiful, both geologically and historically rich with temples everywhere. We visited the hanuman temple where hanuman was born, on top of a mountain covered in monkeys, with a long steep staircase climbing up to an incredible peak and temple. There is a drum circle every sunset like arambol, albeit smaller but on top of a mountain with an incredible view. We found the Italian baba living amongst the ruins in the center of Hampi, he has been here 40 years and ha become a well respected baba with an incredible home. He has Internet and was on Facebook, and I helped him fix his keyboard.

Hampi to Gokarna to Mysore to Delhi to Varanasi

We just left Gokarna on the 27th, and arrived in Mysore at 5:10am the 28th.

Gokarna is incredibly beautiful and quiet. I feel knowing what I know now, that Gokarna is the place to chill for a few months, versus goa. We spent 2 weeks in Gokarna on half-moon beach, which has no power and is Ina very natural state with agrarian farming happening in a prehistoric fashion, utilizing a cantilever for irrigation the fields from the well, to using large beasts of burden for plowing and running tools. Cow shit, like in much of indianis a very valuable resource, used for homebuilding, floor building and

Mysore is an incredible city rich with crafts and artisans, in addition to producing huge amounts of sandalwood and other essential oils. We saw the traditional method of making incense and beadies ( coming soon to a youtube video) and visited a essential oil distributed and manufacturer. We also visited Swamy G, Ira's guru in Advaita Vedanta and Sanskrit, which was an enlightening visit, I am homered to hear him speak and have the opportunity to ask questions to such a humble scholar.


Took the plane this morning at 8:45am to Delhi from Mysore after leaving at 3 am with a cab to the airport in Bangalore. Had our flight get delayed in Delhi after two problems with the plane, first a plane had a technical problem and a backup plane was brought, then after everyone getting onto a Bombardier DHC-8 and taxi'ng for takeoff, we we're told there was another problem shortly after being told to prep for takeoff and the preliminary spinup of the props we were told there was another problem which took an hour to fix, then we had to wait for paperwork to clear, by the time that was settled we were told it was too late to land in Allahabad and that the flight was canceled. We ended up going into New Delhi to Par Gung. Delhi is an incredible city, and Par Gung (or Par Grunge as it is affectionately called) is beautifully rich with street life.

In the morning at 6 am we try again to fly towards Allahabad, this time we fly to Varanasi and then will take a taxi to Allahabad. Hopefully all goes well today, at least tonight we sleep In a nice hotel with hot water and a lcd tv for a change.