Mugling is a roadside town in the middle of Nepal, where the Prithvi Highway runs along the Trishuli river and the road to the plains meets the road to Pokhara. It is a place of passage rather than a destination, a gathering of tea shops, truck stops and small restaurants at a junction where drivers stop to eat, check their loads and talk. The Trishuli river is green and fast here, and the hills rise steeply on both sides. Mugling sits at the point where the river meets the Marsyangdi, and the junction has always been a crossing place for travellers between Kathmandu, the lowlands and the mountains.
The highway was built with Chinese help in the early 1970s, and it is the main road linking Kathmandu and Pokhara, two of Nepal's most important places. Trucks, buses and cars grind along it day and night, and a rider needs to be alert. The road is paved but often narrow and patched, and in the monsoon landslides can cut it for hours or days. Lorries overtake in places where you would not, and buses sound their horns constantly. Ride defensively, watch for loose gravel on bends, and avoid the road at night.
The restaurants at Mugling are known for their food. Truck drivers and bus passengers stop for dal bhat, a plate of rice, lentils and vegetables that is refilled until you say stop, and for fried fish from the rivers, grilled and spiced. It is cheap, filling and good, and an ideal break on a long day. Tea is sweet and milky, made with spices, and you can drink it standing at a stall with the engines idling around you.
Fuel is easy here, as this is a busy highway town, with several stations. Bharatpur, about twenty-three kilometres south, is the nearest big city, with more than a hundred thousand people, and has everything from hospitals to workshops. Be careful of water quality, and stick to bottled water and cooked food. The best time to travel is the dry season, from October to April, when the air is clear and the road in better shape. The monsoon brings heavy rain, mud and delays, and a motorbike on this road in July is a test of nerve.