Breakfast is not included today. We haven't been able to do any shopping along the way and the supplies of cookies and bananas are gone. Fortunately, our Russian travel companion has boiled water on his gas burner and we can still wake up with nescoffee and tea. Just brush your teeth at the water barrel and then we leave again.
What we couldn't enjoy last night in the dark, but now in full glory, are the beautiful mountains and rocks we drive through and past. At some points the road has been carved out of the rock walls and in many places the road has been damaged by falling boulders.
When we come out of the mountains we drive along a huge river bed and the road that goes off it has been washed away at many points due to the enormous rainfall and flooding that they have had here. It is good to see that natural disasters have taken place here and it will take a long time before everything is repaired in this remote area.
As soon as we enter a residential area, we stop to buy fruit from the vendors along the road. The mountains are behind us and it is getting more and more stuffy, which makes motorcycling very tiring. We hardly had any stops or breaks and early in the afternoon we decide to stop at a restaurant along the road. We enjoy rice, chicken and dahl (lentils) under a shelter while it starts to rain heavily. Great, because now we are relieved of all the dust on the roads.
There is a very long stretch of road works and the average speed today is disastrous. We drive into the dark when the weather starts to thunder and we arrive at roadworks again. One of the Vespa riders thinks it's getting too crazy and dangerous and decides to leave the group and look for a place to sleep. Without the knowledge of the police escort, because they would never approve.
Everything and everyone tries to make their way on half of the road that is unpaved, the other side is asphalted. Next to the paver we come to a halt in a traffic jam, when a large bus wants to cross the newly paved stretch in our direction and starts honking loudly. Like we can go anywhere! The bus slowly approaches us and taps into my German travel companion, who falls. Enraged, we all jump off our bikes and start smashing into the bus. The German breaks off the decorated mirror of the bus and throws it into the bus, seething, at the driver.
At that moment, our police, who noticed that something was going on, came after them and calmed down the matter. Fortunately no one was hurt, no damage to the engine and we can continue our way slowly.
When we have passed the roadworks, our police find out that a Vespa is missing and they panic. We are not allowed to travel further until he returns, but we also do not know where he is. We can still convince them to shelter from the rain at a gas station and then look for a solution. Fortunately we have his phone number and when they call him a policeman answers. They've already found him. Can't believe this anthill of people!
An hour later we are united again and the escort thinks he will let us drive another 100 km. We firmly refuse, because in these conditions that would be about 4 hours, or until midnight. We can convince them and they look for a hotel nearby and they are even kind enough to negotiate the price for us. And this after we gave them such a hard time tonight! Really great guests. They have 12-hour shifts and while we are sleeping together in 2 rooms, they keep watch. Unprecedented hospitality.
