More rough and punishing roads; getting out of Kathmandu was the same chaos as getting in, except backwards.
We had one Regulatory Stage today, but two separate times. One was rather normal; the other was created by timers hiding in the bushes taking a separate time during the Stage. A bit complicated, but we accumulated 31 penalty points between the two timings. That does not sound good, but many of the competitors did far worse.
Currently we are 13th overall (in a field of 45 cars); second in our class and still scheduled to receive a Gold Medal at the finish. However there are still two more driving days left and anything can happen.
Although we are out of the mountains tonight, during the day's drive we twice climbed to over 8000 ft. One of our Passage Control points required a long walk across over a suspended bridge, high above a river. Brant got that assignment; discretion being the better part of valor.
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| Brant walking across a suspension bridge to get the timer’s table |
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| Welcoming party at the jungle lodge in Chitwan |
We are staying tonight just outside Chitwan, Nepal at the Bardia Jungle Lodge. A very interesting place; my grandson Asher would like it as there are many wild animals among the jungle landscape. On arrival we were greeted by elephants and a musical band in the courtyard of the lodge.
Tomorrow is a long day of driving (450+ km), plus a border crossing out of Nepal and back into India. We're going to bed early as we have an early start time.