Ricked our shaw to the finish!!

well we made it!  the phone turned off as we crossed the border into nepal about three days ago.  After swimming in the ganges in veranasi we were super charged to tackle the rest of india in a single day, rolling over the border with the police giving us thumbs up to cut in front of the 2km long line of trucks and cars.   arriving in nepal just over the border, we were greeted by a cow running across the street and running right into the side of us, we kept driving, cow kept running. hopefully with nothing more than a headache!

 

day 2 in nepal was rather eventful to say the least. the himalayan mountains rose ahead of us and we started out with kate and jack in their rickshaw ahead of us.  it is the most beautiful road i think any of us have ever seen.   ambitious really to cut such a road into such a landscape!  we had lunch on top of a cafe overlooking a massive canyon and raging river beneath with the mountains and sky soaring above.  kate and jack headed out ahead of us in their rickity rickshaw, and flipped it right over on the first curve!  luckily an entire batallion of police were right there to lift the shaw off kate's leg and move the rickshaw off teh road.  they escaped with a bumped head and a black eye.  pretty lucky!   so we drove another 20 km, and stayed in a little village at the edge of the river.  hospitality ushered in a wonderful dance party with matt as a dancing dj and all the nepalese coming out to take a look at "traditional american dance"   it was good fun!

 

Day 3 in nepal we kept a slow pace behind jack and kate, watching for any more possibly flips... the funniest was just watching them drive their rickshaw without a windsheild in the only rainstorm we have had in two weeks.  it made the windy roads and cloudy skies excessivly entertaining!   we pulled into pokhara around 11am, only to get lost for about a half hour...  but true to form we got on track and pulled into the lakefront with a huge welcome from about 30 other teams!  they were just about to set off on the parade caravan through town!  we made it in just the nick of time, with holi powder to shower everyone with colors.  it was riotous as we drove through town to give up our rickshaws.  more like a demoltion derby of 30 rickshaws playing bumper cars.  after we cheers with a beer, signed the finish line board and prepared for our first meal of steak!  holy cow.  haha.  

 

And the prize of it all....   our rickshaw was unanimously voted the "best pimped ride" and we were cheered on as matt and nick sang our favorite gallwaybay tune.   the british said it was a well, painful, i thought it was a great effort!  the night was full of heroic storytelling, plenty of celebration, and some wonderful pranks, songs, dancing to nepali version of nirvana and the chilipeppers. 

 

Nepal is fantastic.  absolutely beautiful, the people are so lovely, friendly, and dead curious about our rickshaws, and heartily amused by our obnoxious antics i think.  teams have been trickling out of pokhara.  we're doing some paragliding tomorrow i think before we move into the mountains!  no firm plans yet, just enjoying our vacation from our vacation in the paradise city of pokhara!   love to all!  photos soon!!