Nepal 97 Travelog : on Nepalese Roads, towards Pokhara (21/24)

<BODY BGCOLOR="#000000" TEXT = "#ABCBBE"> <PRE>From Chitwan, we travel by minibus through the highway which links Narayanghat to Pokhara. This highway passes along a highly picturesque region between the Terai belt of the Kingdom and the the midland valleys. Even if it is called an "highway", this road, first opened in the early 70's, is twisty, narrow, and realley poorly paved ! Sitting in the back seats for six or seven hours is quite uncomfortable. By the way, that's why two of us decided to take the plane for the trip back to Kathmandu ! From Pokhara, it will take less than 35 minutes, instead of the 6 or 7 hours usually required by bus... and you may have a wonderful view on the Himalayas, if the weather authorizes it... On the road, 90 % of all the (motorised) vehicles are the same Indian TATA buses and trucks than the one we saw two weeks earlier, except, may be, that there are in worse shape.. We did observed too that the number of non motorised vehicles increased dramatically, when you head to the west.. Among them, you may find some carts tracted by buffalos or cows, and even some nice "caravanes" with up to 20 donkeys.. The road to Pokhara may be subject too several landslide ! So be careful if you travel there, there aren't so many other alternative to go there.... Just before arriving to Pokhara, we crossed a river which was used as bus washing center !! This was a quite environementally shocking image, compared to the beauty of the surrondings landscape !</PRE> </BODY>