Wings for my motorcycle

By ivo

Nervously I start the engine to drive the 6 km to the airport in Kathmandu. Contrary to my habit, I'm wearing my regular clothes. My motorcycle clothing and everything else I have is in my luggage bags, which will be packed together with the motorcycle for the flight to Kuala Lumpur. The next week I have to make do with the clothes I'm wearing, some underwear, toothbrush, laptop and travel papers. That's all that fits in the small backpack that I can take with me on my own flight as hand luggage. 

The Teamwork Cargo employee is already waiting for me at the loading building at the airport. We are going to prepare the motorcycle together, but the carpenter who brings the custom-made box is 2 hours late. In the meantime, all my Carnet de Passage and passport are taken to export the motorcycle from the country.

When the carpenter arrives, things move quickly. I dismantle the front wheel, the mirrors and the handlebars so that the motorcycle has as small a volume as possible and I secure everything as tight as possible with straps. I divide the luggage on and next to the motorcycle. A customs officer did take a look in the bags and the box, but no further checks were carried out. The gas tank should be empty, but I left more than a liter in it to be able to fill up immediately in Kuala Lumpur. No one watching it. 

But then we still have a problem: the box has been made a few centimeters too narrow, so that the protruding cylinders actually just do not fit in. With some pushing and pulling we get the box closed, but the walls are a bit convex and under tension. The engine may be well secured, but the box must of course remain intact during the flight. Fortunately, there are 5 strong, iron bands around it, which makes the whole feel very sturdy and strong. 

When the forklift picks up the box to put it on the scales, I can't suppress a cry of shock. For a moment I thought he didn't have the lifting spoons all the way under, causing the box to tip over, but everything is going well. No less than 387 kg clean on the hook, the scale indicates. The box weighs about 80 kg, so my estimate of 310 kg for all my gear was very good. 

After weighing, the box was supposed to go through the Xray, but that step is skipped and I watch my prized possession disappear into the giant warehouse. Relieved I take a taxi back to my guesthouse and I relax again during a visit to the stupa. 

This entry was posted in Azie, Nepal

2 thoughts on “Vleugels voor mijn motor

  • westernly 16 February 2023 at 5:24 pm Reply

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    • ivo 17 February 2023 at 5:22 am Reply

      Thank you Western! Enjoy reading the story’s and watching the video’s.

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