Sunday, July 26, 2020

Bihar I was in in 1985 in December. It borders Nepal and Bihar is a state in India

In 1985 I rented a car and driver and he drove my family and I from Kathmandu to Raxaul at the border of India. Then we boarded a bus headed towards Bodhgaya in Bihar. It is right next to Nepal and Nepal contains Mt. Everest and many other peaks. So, the elevation changes make flooding a yearly event when the monsoons hit. If you are in the mountains of Nepal you often don't build near any of the rivers because of the Monsoons that come to Asia every summer. In the U.S. rain is more frequent in the Winter, Fall and Spring but in Asia it is the opposite and the heaviest rains all come during the summer partly because of the Himalayan effect and other factors upon the topography.

People don't usually travel much in the summers because roads and trails get washed away. So, people who are trekkers in the Himalayas often don't try to hike far distances during the monsoons because it just isn't safe to do that. However, you could likely still travel by helicopter or  plane and still be relatively safe as long as the airports don't get washed out where you are headed. So, most people who trek into the Himalayas do this in the Fall Winter or spring because of this.It is also why you see suspension bridges in Nepal hundreds or thousands of feet above the rivers below so you can cross them on foot even during the monsoons when the rivers are flooding. It's also why you don't see many roads in the Himalayas because they can wash away during the monsoons especially if they are in a monsoon flood plain. The rain drops are tropical and can be 1 inch across so 5 seconds in that rain and your clothes are completely drenched and soaked if you don't have an umbrella or all weather gear on.

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