9th May 1992 Day 294

The Diary
We hired two 12 speed mountain bikes from 'Honest Joe's' and Oz thought he'd signed his life away after reading the regulations. The rules were like the back of a BR ticket; you're entitled to nothing but responsible for everything.


We cycled to Pashupatinath, Nepal's major Hindu temple and then headed on to Bodhnath to see the largest stupa in Nepal, which graces the front cover of LP. In a restaurant overlooking the stupa we chatted to a middle-aged Cumbrian who seemed to be spending his life in Nepal and the Philippines. He seemed a bit dim to me as after he started a conversation  about the political unrest in Nepal, we asked what the riots he had witnessed were about. He thought for a while and then said "eee.....I don't know".

We headed further out into the valley towards Sundarijal and the problems with the bikes became very evident. in low gears the chain would slip causing your feet to jump violently off the pedals and making it very awkward to get up hills. We eventually made it despite the hills and the bumpy roads and then immediately turned around and went back to Kathmandu.

In the evening we went back to the Third Eye Restaurant and towards the end of the meal our peace was shattered by an extremely loud and inconsiderate Irishman who sat down to share our table. He ordered two beers, asked us about our meals, said Oz's smelt like shit and that he was going to be ill, issued a few more profanities and did a runner with his mate before the beer turned up.


We then set off to try and watch the FA Cup Final. The paper seemed to indicate that it wasn't being screened at the Hotel Sherpa with it's Star TV, our worst fears were confirmed. To round off a bad evening we were caught in a downpour going back to the guest house.

2012
I think this was the first Cup Final I'd missed watching since 1973 - the last time Sunderland had been in the cup final.