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Katmandu Part 2

Walter and I left that office feeling a little deflated, we spoke to hotel Sherpa’s receptionist as he had been helpful earlier, he knew of a garage where large cars can be repaired, which had good facilities, but it was the other side of the city, we decided that rather than drive the car to this place we would take a cab to get some idea of the equipment they had. The receptionist found us a cab and marked the location on a map for the driver to follow he seemed to know exactly were to go, as we drove deeper into the city we experience our first real sights of this odd place, they drive on the left of the road, or at least there supposed to, they have roundabouts and one way streets, pedestrian crossings, traffic lights and all the normal things you would find back home in England, but somehow the Nepalese have either forgotten or changed the rules of driving, everything is confusion, if the right-hand side of the road looks free, then they go down it, the same with roundabouts, clockwise anticlockwise, they take the shortest route,  traffic lights mean very little,  most of the bulbs have blown, and any given pair never work in order, as for the people on foot, well they take their chance, the accepted way is to simply walk straight out into the traffic, they do not make eye contact with any driver but side step cars,  bikes, with abandon. Amazingly  enough it all works, the traffic keeps moving, slowly at times,  but move it does, all you can do as passenger in a taxi is laugh, and hang on. We move into a dirtier part of the city now the housing is poor, buildings are collapsing, but they still have families living inside, the shops are less well stocked, I see a man skinning a goat, he has gutted the animal on the side of the road as their is no cleaner place, there is another man working close by, he’s cutting up meat and throwing it into a large pot of steaming liquid, their is a poor looking dog feeding on the goats entrails which lay across the road. I now spot a new breed of vehicle I’ve not seen before, It’s of agricultural purpose, the power source is a rotovator, that’s a two-wheeled tractor commonly seen on small vegetable farms anywhere in the world, it has long handles which a worker would steer as he walked behind, in Kathmandu the rotating digging blades have been removed, and a draw bar installed, attached to this is a four-wheeled trailer, which the driver sits on to steer from, the engine is a small diesel unit which pumps out the same black smoke as everything else, there are now dozens of these little tractors some loaded high with vegetable of all kinds. They are heading to and coming from the local distribution centre, or at least they transferred the goods onto bicycles or ported by Sherpa’s. We are now driving past several shops that are selling car parts etc., perhaps this is were the car repair centre of Katmandu is located, we make a turn off the main road as we get closer to the mark on our map, we take another turn now and the road gets smaller, this seems to be the case wherever you go, you can be driving down a busy broad road, and then you turn off, then turn again and you’re in a tiny dirt road full of rubbish and junk, our road ends  in a place for depositing old trucks, with no sign of a garage, of any kind, we get out and ask some men standing nearby, they start the standard arm waving procedure, Walter looks at me for some kind of guidance, but I am as helpless as he is, times running out fast and still no garage. We travel back to our hotel, in a hope that we might find something on the way back or someone there may be able to help, the passage back is just the same as going busy, smoky, dusty, and no garages, not even a sign, what do they do to fix all these cars.

Back at the hotel we tell Fritz of our bad news, they go into the hotel to ask for help, they come out several minutes later with a positive smile, the girl on reception phoned a Toyota dealer she knew, they said they have room for us to repair our car, as they already have a rally car being repaired there now, we knew we had found our workshop.

The next problem was to get the car to the garage at the other side of town, it’s supposed to be about 4 miles, but I’m beginning not to believe anybody anymore. With the crack in the chassis so bad and the poor  condition of most of the roads, it’s certain that  the car won’t make it, I must think of a way to solve the problem, like so many problems to solve the answer is usually simple, I over adjusted the offside rear damper, this effectively locked the damper solid,  which  then supported the weight of the car instead of the spring holding it up, Walter looks at me in amazement, he didn’t  say a word, but I think I know what he is thinking,  how far could he have gone if he had thought of that, could he have crossed the high passes over the Himalayas on his own wheels,  and made it to Katmandu without assistance. We will never know the answer to that question, but I think Walter has a good idea on what  might have happened, I just grin and get on with things there’s no need to say anything, Fritz and I travel in a cab and Walter follows, the suspension holds up and we reach the Toyota garage. We have now used up over half a day to get to this garage. We are greeted at the barrier of the garage yard by the manager, who welcomes us most warmly, we tell  him that we require a workshop bay, where there are lights so we can work over night, power to run grinding and welding equipment, and security if we leave the premises at any time, he said yes to every request,  except the welding equipment, they usually get theirs done at a place down the road he said, and suggested we do the same, we explained that the car will be in pieces and we couldn’t possibly drive it, so the welder must come to us, he said he would arrange this and all seemed well.

Two bays away is a Morgan +Eight, with its rear suspension pushed through its floor, its front suspension shattered and all sorts of other small problems, this crew had been told in Peking that their car would never make it over the Himalayas, A wood-framed car with sports suspension may  not seem to be a good choice for the task, but with determination they made it, all be it a little battered. I was told there were more than eight  un-repairable cars  spread across China, one of which didn’t make it through the first day, so even if  our little Bugatti  and a sporty Morgan look a little battered,  they will continue on their journey after a  few repairs.

After a double check of my first diagnosis,  I inspect the whole car, while Fritz and Walter unload the equipment, apart from the damage I have already described  earlier,  the car was in good condition, the brakes would need adjusting a little, the clutch would need its release mechanism cleaned and re oiled, as it had collected plenty of dust making it a little sticky, I saw some battle scars on the protection plates I fitted, there are  four all together,  one under the engine,  two under the gearboxes, and one wrapped around the rear axle, all had a couple of scrapes here and there, so they were doing their job well, the best surprise was the lack of oil leaks from the engine, I had taken a great deal of care to make the engine as oil tight as I possibly could, Bugatti’s are notorious for oil leaks,  as are many cars of the twenties, this was  a potential  problem,  as we were warned that oil might be in short supply in some parts of China, oil consumption of a normal level would not be a problem, but a leaky engine would mean carrying oil which would take up valuable space, every time I tested the car prior to the rally, a new oil leak would appear, more work was always needed on the car,  but you have to stop somewhere as money doesn’t grow on trees. Walter said that he had only added to the engine a litre of oil  all across China, so the work and head scratching was affective. This achievement was due to the clean air system I had invented and installed, it was working perfectly.

I soon started working on the rear axle, as the crew started preparing to lift of the body from the chassis, this job sounds more drastic than it is, as the floors are easily removed, and all the under floor storage boxes are lifted out, the bolts holding the body on are fairly easy to get at, Fritz thought they were difficult,  and told me so in the best of English swear words, I only needed enough room to weld between the body and chassis, two inches would be fine, much to Fritz’s relief, as he thought we were going to take the whole thing right off.

 The welder turned up next, they had sent a Toyota van down to where he works and bought him and his equipment to us as they agreed, at last things were happening when people said they would happen, the welder was in his early twenties, but his gear was much older, It was an old oil cooled model that had seen better days, but it was the right size and he said it worked well, when I asked him for a welding mask, he passed me a pair of gas welding goggles, these are wholly inadequate for arc welding and would damage eyes very quickly, he said it was all he had, so we asked the manager to send someone out to buy one,  and Walter would pay. As Fritz is an excellent organiser,  I suggested he might arrange for an extension lead and an angle grinder, as we had found a power point not too far away, this he did willingly,  in preference to laying on a very greasy garage floor, he also organised some cold coke which was delightful, I’m  appreciating Fritz more  and more  by the hour.

We had now gathered our customary crowd, but this time they were all mechanics, and trying to help, they were very difficult to avoid, every time you stepped back you trod on somebody,    when reaching for a spanner they would hand you one, never the right one of course,   they just wanted to help, the next thing was tools missing, they hadn’t taken them, only moved them. Fortunately they soon got fed up watching, and they started doing their own work, I’m glad we never let them help us, as all they seemed to do were hit things with a big hammer. I soon got the axle fixed, and then started removing the rear spring, none of these repairs were particularly difficult, but the conditions, being hot, and dirty, didn’t make things easy, the toilet facilities were also disgusting to say the least, I avoided them like the plaque. Some of you might have worked out by now that today is Sunday, and what are all these people doing at work, well in Nepal the only national day off is Saturday, that is until next Tuesday when the local council attempt to vote in  a two-day weekend break, I’m witnessing progress in the far east on a national scale, could you imagine what a dramatic change to our lives it would make if the western world reduced the working week to four, well its happening hear right now, at least for some people.

I now have the rear spring off and need an electric drill to drill out the long rivet that holds the leaves together, so that I can replace the damaged main leaf, one of my many assistance dashed off to find a hand drill, he soon comes back clutching a Japanese electric drill and a box of drill bits, I opened the box of bits and realised that they don’t drill many holes in Katmandu as the only drill they have, has been sharpened to drill the wrong direction. I had taken several tools from my own tool kit when I left home, and also some from my son’s, fortunately I took a nine-millimetre drill from Stephens toolbox, which cut through the rivet as if it was butter, if it had been from my kit it would have taken all day to drill out. The extension lead that our audience provided caused quite a sensation,  it was two strands of wire, with their ends bared and  stuffed into the socket one end, and the other ends twisted around each other, no tape,  no nothing, 240 volt’s ready to step on, I held up these ends to show Fritz, and he quickly took some shots with his camera, the lead for the welder was going to be the same, we soon found some tape and made the ends fairly safe.  With the spring almost fitted, half the repairs were almost complete. I had asked our welder to find me some strips of metal to reinforce the damaged chassis, he provided a tape measure and proceeded to measure the length and width of material needed, he had a poor command of English, but he seemed to know what I wanted, he has obviously made plenty of repairs of this nature, he disappeared to get the metal, by the time he returned the car was back on its wheels, the welder had exceeded my request ten times over, he not only had the perfect dimensions for the strip of metal, but he had formed it into almost the exact shape of the damaged rear chassis, and he had done this back at his own workshop without sight of the car, the work of this man had saved me hours of work, and the repairs were going to be strong and look good thanks to him. With the new welding mask, taped up extension leads,  jacked up body, and the nicely made reinforcing plates, things were looking good to get the major jobs finished today, and with the body fitting back on tomorrow morning, we had only the service to carry out, and a good clean, it doesn’t sound much if you say it quickly. The angle grinder, which the garage supplied, had only an abrasive cutting disc, and that was their only one, they don’t last long when you grind with them,  so I made use of its short life,  on grinding away the lumpy bits of Chinese welding on the outside of the chassis, the nasty bracket stuck on the inside I cut out with a sharp chisel I had brought with me, I made  two long clean cuts along the route of the crack, with a hacksaw, which would allow me to bend the chassis back in position, before welding.

I asked the garage welder for something to heat the chassis with,  as it was impossible to straighten cold, he dashed off and came back with the biggest blowlamp I had ever seen, it must have held a half gallon of paraffin, the garage manager and his welder sat down and started the lighting up procedure. Fifteen minutes later they brought to me this monster roaring flames a foot long, I doubted  it would be hot enough, but after all their efforts I had to try, as soon as I pointed it at the chassis it spat out a long flame of half-burnt paraffin, as we still had the fuel tank installed, which is only inches away from the repair sight I took the safe option and put the blow lamp down, pointing away from the car as it continued to belch fire like a flame thrower. I attempted to set the bent chassis straight again, but failed, the long pole I was using just bent under my efforts, as I walked away to find another cold coke, the garage welder came over with an oxy- propane welding set, this little gem had been stashed away in some hiding place for some reason I could not think of, perhaps oxygen or propane is difficult to get in Nepal, I soon had the chassis hot enough to bend back into shape, even with the bent pole.

As I started to weld the chassis, the two welders sat as close as they could, I’m sure they were waiting for me to mess up, I am sure that most of the mechanics thought we were totally mad and couldn’t possibly be able to weld as well as repair cars. As I thought about what troubles we had, it dawned upon me why we had so much trouble finding a garage, the skills of these people are individual, one man can weld, another one repairs brakes, another cooling system problems, electrics, bodies, oil changes, etc. All these separate jobs not only carried out by different people,  but at different locations, that’s why we had so many strange looks when we asked for a garage, apart from the odd one or two like where we are,  there are none, and even here you have different people doing their own job on a car, and when that’s done another mechanic moves in and does his speciality, this carries on until a car is serviced or repaired. It also affects the help we get from our onlookers, if you ask the wrong guy to help in a subject he doesn’t practise, then we get bad help, if we ask the resident expert a question he understands,  it seems to work well, now you can see why these two welders, are waiting for me to start welding, as far as they’re concerned, I can’t be a mechanic and a welder. They are all set to jump in and take over,  as soon as they see  the welding rod stuck to the car they would be in like a shot, as I made the first stroke of the welding rod across the chassis, a stream of sparks fell to the floor, I turned to see them both,  even closer now squatting down right by my side, determined to make a show I chose a long easy weld along the repair plate, three minutes later I stopped welding, I knew I had produced an attractive weld, they were waiting for me to chip of the slag to expose the fresh weld, one of them already had the chipping hammer, and passed it over, I gave the slag a light touch, and it crumbled off the weld, as only happens with a neat flat weld, there was a gleaming almost perfect weld, and as I turned again towards my inspectors, their mouths were wide open, their eyes wide, muttering  something in their local tongue, and they moved back giving me more space to work, now I’m only a fair welder back home, but to these guys I was  good. From then onwards the garage welder didn’t leave my side, he was going to make sure that whatever I did he was going to watch and perhaps learn something, everything went well with the welding, I had not used an ark welder for some years now as they are virtually obsolete back home, but its like riding a bike you never forget. The chassis repairs went well, as expected; Walter was pleased now he knew he was going to get back into the rally without any further delays. The welding all done, and things tidied up at that end of the car, I start to help sort out the kit with Fritz, the lighting which the garage provided, was our usual two strands of cable, but this time suspended from the ceiling, with a very dim bulb installed, it was six feet higher than the car, and ten feet to one side, so it was practically useless. I said to Walter that we are way ahead of schedule, and would have plenty of time tomorrow to finish off, but he insisted he will carry on to fit one more body bolt, I wandered off to check on who was going to look after things tonight, most of the staff had gone home now, as the local electric supply is a little erratic nobody works after dark, their homes are very poorly light, and there are few street lamps, I stumble through the garage yard, until I come to a group of mechanics now with overalls off and ready to go home, they show me the boy who will be keeping watch on the cars tonight, he said that he would stay awake all night and make sure nobody touches anything. I’m not too happy with this young lad looking after things, and tell Walter my fears, he had stopped work by now and was cleaning up. As we made our way to the gate,  Walter stopped at the gatehouse,  there he found someone who knew the night watchman,  and they went off to find him,  he came back happy, and said he paid the watchman a little to make sure he does’ a good job. We ask the gatehouse man if he could get us a cab, he said he would, and told us to follow him down the road as taxis will not come by here very often, we all walked along the side of the road, there was no pathway, just uneven dirt, the traffic consisted of mostly those rotovator type trailer things, trucks, and buses heading out of town, the dust and smoke made looking where you are going difficult, with the only lights coming from vehicles. We must have walked after this man for half a mile, and still no taxi, after a hard day I didn’t need a long walk home. We came upon a cab, which had pulled over to let his passengers out, there seemed to be a problem over payment, as one of the two girls ran off in the direction of some houses, her friend soon followed as she found herself surrounded by foreigners, the first girl came back and paid the driver and we climbed in, our guide needed a lift into town so he squeezed on the back seat with Walter and me. We soon arrived at the hotel after dropping our guide off on the way, we arranged to meet in the bar, and then we would go to eat, that I was looking forward to as I had not eaten all day. As soon as I got in my room, I phoned Pat to tell her the day’s news, I talked briefly about Katmandu, and lots about the car and crew, I’m sure that she would have liked more news on where I was, and what things are like, but she got car talk as usual, I’m certain that she was happy If I was happy, and after a successful day repairing the car, I was happy, fortunately Stephen was home and I gave him all the news to relay back to Ivan and all the guys back at work, after exchanging goodbye’s I called of, and then realised I had hardly talked to Pat, I’ll have to make it up next time I call. Following a wonderful shower I dressed and hurried down to the bar, after a while Fritz and Walter joined me,  we chatted with other crew about their problems and ours, about Katmandu, and its traffic, its filth, and its smell, somebody chirps up and says the Delhi is far worse then here, I’m glad I’m not going to Delhi. After a few beers we went off to eat, and eat we did, with the appetite we had worked up the buffet restaurant was perfect. After eating we chatted and planned the next day, it was now a time to relax, have a drink or two and then off to bed.       

I wake up at three o’clock a.m. with violent stomach pains, I’ve already heard of several crews complaining of severe diarrhoea, as they travelled across China, it seems to be something everybody gets sooner or later,  when travelling the far east, and its now my turn. I spend the rest of the night sitting on the toilet seat taking Imodium, by 7.30 a.m. things are improving, the drugs are working, my stomach feels like its going to explode, but at least the urgency has gone out of the condition. I meet Walter at eight for breakfast, I sit at the table watching people eat, which makes me feel quite sick, I explain my condition to Walter and excuse myself, he is concerned about my condition when we meet a little later, and him being in the medical profession advised me to take care, drink plenty and keep taking the Imodium, if I get low on supplies he has plenty. Fritz is going to visit Katmandu today to take his photographs, as we have carried out the serious jobs, and he has a commitment to take photographs, we can do without him today, he said he would find a few interesting places to visit if we get finished early, we take our journey through the city as though we’ve done it a hundred times, as we pass by the unusual sights, I try and take pictures, which are soon obstructed by passing traffic or people dodging cars. We arrive at the garage to be greeted by an even bigger crowd, all the staff  had brought their families for a look at the cars, mums and dads,  sons and daughter, uncles and aunts, all were there and of course welcome. I must admit even though my health was unsettled things are pleasantly relaxed today, with Walter putting the body back together, and me carrying out a very straightforward service, we soon had our work done, at three thirty pm, all we had to do was clean the car and drive back to the hotel, the garage proprietor had asked Walter if he would sign a letter which said that he had used their facilities and found them satisfactory, this of cause he was pleased to do so, and Walter asked if I could sign for Fritz as he wasn’t present, when Walter went to pay his bill he was pleasantly surprised that he only was asked to pay the charge for the welder and the use of his equipment, and their was no charge for any other service, the garage owner asked if we could pose for a photograph at the front of the garage,  with a few delightful young ladies, of course we were only too pleased to do so as by now with the car repaired, and clean nothing would be too difficult. We waved the mechanics and other garage staff a fond fair well as I drove the car to the hotel, I was a little reluctant to drive in the city with all its traffic but Walter insisted, he said that there could be a problem which I might discover if I was driving. Driving through Katmandu’s traffic is as bad as it sounds, fortunately the car is so different, and by now the odd rally car on the streets, has been a source of local amusement, the locals gave us a wide berth, eventually we had a motorcycle escort, with about fifteen bikes with grinning riders milling around, I wished I had an elephants tail attached to the car. After filling up with what looks and smells like good petrol, we make our way to the hotel to meet up with Fritz, for our tourist trip.  With my work now over,  and after taking some of Walters special high energy  drinks he made for me, I feel good enough to take in a few of Katmandu’s sights. Fritz has with him a German driver of another car, and a very attractive German girl whose father has gone on a diplomatic visit in the city, we hire two cabs to take us to a temple, about two miles away, as we are running out of daylight the drivers are asked to be as quick as they can, that was a mistake, asking two young cab drivers to drive fast, was not a good idea, they actually raced through the streets swerving within inches of other cars and pedestrians, we are lucky to arrive safely, we ask them to wait as we made a quick trip around this unusual place, the next visit was a bazaar with hundreds of small shops, and small temple’s every so often, we are within walking distance of our hotel so Fritz tells us, so we make our way back through all these narrow alleyways, which are as crowded as the busy roads.

Our journey took us past a street market, where hundreds of traders sell just about any thing,  as long as you can carry it in on a bicycle. We came upon a disturbing sight, their was a pile of rotting waste on the side of the road, swept up by the recent rains, feeding off  the refuse was two cows, several skinny dogs, and much to my disgust a  woman, she was not just sifting through the rubbish but eating it, when she found something.  I made enquiries later and was told this woman was one of the untouchables, a cast of people that are treated with less regard than a dog. Of all the nasty things I experienced, this was one of the worst. We make it back to the hotel I was exhausted, my legs were buckling, and I needed a long sit down, Fritz decided what we needed was a relaxing sauna, so we took advantage of the hotels excellent basement gym and sauna. Although the steam room was certainly good for my aching limbs, my digestive system was still upset, and the extra heat didn’t help, I arranged to meet my friends for dinner a little later and left to rest in my cool air-conditioned room.       

I met Walter and Fritz as arranged, but decided to go back to my room,  as I was still very tired,  and I would have to be up in the morning to see them off, they were the first crew to leave Katmandu being the oldest car left in the rally, I wished them a good evening and retired.

At six o’clock am on Tuesday morning the hotel lobby was full of rally crews, some were boarding buses, to take them to the conference centre, where the rally would restart, I would wish my crew a safe journey from the hotel, by seven o’clock I had turned down two offers to act as crew or co driver on the rest of the rally, they were desperate drivers who had lost a crew member due to sickness of some kind,  or other problems. As I have no visas to travel through all the different countries, it was impossible, but I must admit I was very tempted.  With last goodbyes done I stagger yet again to my hotel room, I have now drunk at least ten gallons of bottled water, or at least that’s what it feels like, I settle in my cool room and doze off.

I wake sharply to the phone ringing; it’s the hotel reception telling me to stay in my room as there is a call coming through from my friends. My mind now is racing, the call must be from Walter, who has now left some three hours ago, the phone rings again 15 minutes later, it’s the hotel switchboard again, telling me to hold on for a connection, I wait for a while and then they say they will call back, the phone rings yet again, and yes its Walter calling from a village some fifty miles away, he has some kind of electrical fault, the amp meter is reading too high a reading for too long, the engine is misfiring, and losing power. They have made several inspections and have found nothing, except that the ignition coil is getting too hot. He has decided not to continue any further, as he may do some damage to his electrical system.

They will wait for me to find them and attempt to make repairs. I dash to the reception, to get  a cab to take me to the address that I have, everything is now urgent,  as it will take me the same journey time as it took them to get where they are, I will not arrive there until two o’clock pm, if I leave right now, I’m told by the reception staff that the local cabs cannot travel outside the city limits, and I would have to hire a private car, I asked them to arrange one as quickly as they could, and I explained to them how urgently it was needed, half an hour later the reception assistant returned in a car, he introduced me to its driver and then he asked him if he new the place I had to travel to, he said he did, and then asked if we will be back tonight, I said I could not tell him, as I had no idea on how long it would take, the three of us stood there haggling over stupid things, until it come to a head, of course it was all about money, I said we would pay any reasonable price and would not want to see him out of pocket, we settled on one hundred dollars for the day, and extra if we stayed out overnight. At last we were on the road, it was now twelve o’clock, and the usual traffic jams just held things up all the more. Today’s drive for the rally was a long one, travelling down the river valley dropping approximately two and a half thousand feet down into really hot and humid conditions, I had heard that part of the days drive would pass through a section of dense jungle, where there have been reports of attacks by bandits, I just hope Walter is not broken down anywhere near there. Once we get out of the city and into the country, I have a whole new outlook to Nepal, it’s really a wonderful place, with tall and very steep hills covered with trees, there are waterfalls, rapids and wonderful views from the top of the Katmandu plateau. We drive at an alarming pace dodging trucks as we wind down the twisting mountain roads, trucks are climbing up carrying all sorts of supplies from India, as this is the only road in from India, and most of  Nepal’s  imports are by road, you can imagine the variety of goods on board all these trucks, but ever truck is exactly the same, they are all old “TATA’”s made in India, most are barely able to climb the hills,  and there are many which don’t, as we swing around yet another sharp bend, a truck spewing out clouds of jet black smoke gradually climbs the hill in first gear as we come along side, a loud explosion is followed by a clang on the side of the car, my first thoughts were that we were being attacked by bandits, but when I glance back I could see a large pool of oil under the now stationary truck, the differential had exploded under the stress of climbing the slope,  with what looked like a typically overloaded axle. We pass by several small settlements were the country people seemed to fit, when these same people move into the city, they and their habits won’t mix, there are no toilets in the country, and here they are not very crowded, there are also no toilets in the city, but it is seriously overcrowded, I will leave the ensuing problem to your imagination, but I will tell you that the smell of Katmandu is unmistakable, and you can’t hide from it at all. The settlements are usually gathered around a source of work, as we are following a river,  the work is mostly of gravel extraction, you would normally see some heavy equipment gouging great lumps from the earth, but not here, all you have is manpower, as the water level is now low after the monsoons,  hundreds of men, women,  and children are shovelling gravel,  which has been naturally graded by the different speeds of the river as it meanders down the valley, on a sharp turn of the river there are only large boulders, polished smooth and round, these are carried by two men and placed in a barrow, the same two men would then charge at a ramp fitted to the rear of a truck, the rocks are then piled as high as the sides of the truck will allow. The next turn in the river is wide and slow, and there they dig out the finer stones and small pebbles, and so on down to fine white sand. The best bends are crowded with workers, the other not to good areas where the stone must be of the wrong size, you find a stone crushing machine, in the same area you find people sitting on the side of the road with hammers, smashing stones to the required size, with a neat pile of perfectly sized chips ready for collection by a passing truck, their shelter from the sun is a branch cut from a tree and stuck in the ground alongside their stone piles.

I found Walter and Fritz parked outside a roadside restaurant, at least that’s what the address said it was, in fact it was a tin shed selling fried goat and coke, the usual crowd had gathered, but this time more intense, the children seemed to be amazed rather than interested, Walter had made several attempts to correct the fault, he had changed the voltage regulator, ignition coil, and various other jobs but still had the problem. Now I’m not a very good auto electrician, but given the time and some testing equipment I can sort out most problems, but this one had got me beat, no matter what I tried it continued to over charge, I swopped components, (their was a comprehensive spare parts stock) checked wiring etc., but no luck, in the end I suggested to Walter that Fritz would have to disconcert the voltage regulator by reaching under the dash, and connecting up every two hours for ten minutes, unless he used his lights or electric fan. He could travel for days like this or until he could find an auto electrician, probably in Delhi, this they agreed to do, and after a short road test to check if the plan worked, I again said my goodbyes. I felt a little unsatisfied now as I could not cure the fault, and they had waited all day, I had sent them on their way, pulling off wires for god knows how long, and when you’re not sure about electrics, you never know what’s going to happen, but I could do no more I had checked everything that I could possibly think of, and that’s the best I could do. I had a suspicion that the fault was in the dynamo, but as we carried no spare I could not swop it over, but only inspect it.

I travelled back to Katmandu and chatted to my guide, and that three-hour journey with him is where I got most of the facts and details from, he spoke good English, and was willing to chatter all afternoon. We got back to the hotel just before dark, and I paid him exactly what we agreed on before we left, I was so tired that if he had wanted more he would get it.