I battled my way through the city and started to climb out of the valley.  Immediately I ran into lines of trucks stopped for miles in both directions on the switchbacks.  There had been mudslides on the roads causing the traffic to back up.  Then inevitably some of the trucks broke down causing near gridlock in the mountains.  I was able to split between the stopped lanes of traffic a bit, but then I would come to a spot where the trucks were too close for me to fit between, and I'd have to wait for the traffic in one direction or the other to move a bit.  It took me 2 hours to go 10 miles over the pass!

 Finally I split my way past most of the traffic and out onto open roads again.  How nice it felt to get out of first gear!  My bliss didn't last long though.  Within a few minutes I felt that sickening wobble from my bike - I had a flat rear tire.  I coasted downhill and pulled into a level dirt lot.  With some help I got the bike up on the centerstand and used my saddlebag lid to prop the rear tire off the ground.  To my surprise, I hadn't picked up a nail as I suspected, but instead the valve stem on the tire had been ripped away!  I was carrying plugs to fix a punctured tire, but I didn't have a spare valve stem (note to self - add valve stem to list of spare parts!)  I asked the gathering crowd if there was anyone who could help with a flat, and soon a fellow showed up with his tool box.  We used his long screwdriver and tire irons to break the bead on the tire and remove the broken valve stem.  He didn't have a valve stem so I proceeded with plan B.  I dug out the tube I was carrying and we installed it and remounted the wheel.  This little diversion in the rain cost me a couple of hours and about $15 before I was back on my way, now with a tube in my rear tire.

 The next section of road was quite spectacular - even though much of the mountains were in the clouds.  I followed a decent paved road that wound along the river between towering mountains.  In places there were mudslides onto the road and I had to pick my way through.  But the traffic was light and the rain had lessened making for an enjoyable ride.

 Again, that enjoyable ride didn't last long :-)  At Mugling I turned off the main east-west road and headed south towards Chitwan Park.  I had planned on taking a different and more spectacular road south, but when I asked some locals if the road was opened I was told that it was closed (they didn't speak English well enough to tell me why it was closed, but I found out later that a bridge had washed away).  So instead I took the only other road that heads south - the good road used by the tourist buses.  Well if this is the good road, I'm glad I didn't take the bad road!  The road followed another raging river and climbed over a pass.  Every half mile or so the road was washed away from the rain and flooding.  At these spots I had to pick my way through mud, puddles, rocks, and sometimes deep streams pouring downhill.  And as I approached the top of the pass it started to rain again, with thunder and lightning thrown in for added effect.  As you might guess, this "road" was a challenge with my heavy bike.  It took me 3 hours to ride this 50 mile section.

 Finally I descended the other side of the pass onto the flatter lands around Chitwan and to the small tourist town Suraha just outside the park.  There I found a hotel and took a shower to wash away all the mud I had collected in the mountains.

 Suraha is packed with tourists during the high season.  But this was monsoon season and I didn't see a single tourist. And it's understandable why not.  After getting cleaned up the hotel manager took me around the town on his small Honda to show me the damage from that morning's flood.  I saw countless hotels and homes full of mud from the flooding. The streets were covered with standing water and mud in places.  The manager told me it was like that every monsoon season.  On the way back to the hotel we watched a baby rhino grazing in a field, and saw some of the elephants that are used for safaris and work in the town.

 Later that evening I booked an elephant safari for the next morning.  Then I had dinner on the hotel verranda and watched the elephants passing by, level with my second floor terrace.  Sure to form though, the rains had returned, sometimes coming down so hard that I couldn't talk or even think.  Between the heavy rain I gave an interview to the local radio station who came by and wanted to hear about my journey and visit in Suraha.

 Later as I tried to sleep there was a continuous light show in the sky above.  Then the heavy rains washed away the power lines and the electricity in the whole town went out.

 Sometime during the night the rain had lessened, but I heard voices and commotion outside my second floor room.  I looked out the window to see the entire courtyard of the hotel flooded.  The river had flooded again because of heavy rain upstream.  The manager and his help were outside trying to salvage stuff, by candlelight as the electricity was still out.  I tried to spot my motorcycle in the dark to make sure it was above the water, but I couldn't see it.  At this point there was nothing I could do to save the bike so I lay back down and hoped the water didn't rise high enough to drown the bike.

 As I was lying there wondering how high the water would reach, I started to have doubts about whether the roads to Pokhara would be open.  The only road north was a mess when I had ridden it yesterday, and we had received very heavy rain since then.  I doubt that that road was still passable.  And even if it was passable, I might get into northern Nepal and be stuck there if the road was washed out later.  And if I got to Pokhara, it's likely that none of the treks that I had hoped to do would be open because of the flooding.  I was tormented by doubts about what I should do.

 Somehow I managed to fall back asleep.  The next morning the flood waters had receeded.  The previous night almost seemed like a dream, until I went outside and saw several inches of mud in the hotel courtyard, and the haggard faces of the hotel manager and staff as they shoveled away mud.  My bike had remained safe above the flood waters.  But my elephant safari was canceled because the river was too high.  At times the sun was peaking through the heavy clouds but it was clear that there would be more rain. 

 Those of you who know me understand how difficult it is for me to deviate from my plans and itinerary.  However, as several people have told me, I have to remain flexible to be successful on this trip.  I understand that unexpected events (such as extreme flooding) will force me to change my plans.  I decided to cut my losses and leave Nepal while I had the chance.  I took the only open road out of Chitwan towards the India border town of Sunauli.  I will return to Nepal, but next time it will be during the dry season.

 Next, on to India and a different set of challenges :-)

 Story