Gallery: kings of the road in Nepal
I’m a man of means by no means
King of the road
Roger Miller
If public art can be defined as creative, decorative works that can be viewed by anyone at no cost, then the lorries of Nepal should rank as one of that country’s significant contributions to the genre!
The front of every cab is colourfully painted and adorned with slogans. The most popular by far is ‘Road King’, while other popular choices include ‘Speed King’, ‘Speed Control’ and ‘Mom Dad’. Images of Hindu gods are common, of course. Some have beautiful landscapes painted on them, others flags. The latter were naturally usually Nepali, but not always: the Stars and Stripes and Union Jack flags seemed popular as did those of Jamaica and Brazil. I also spotted several that celebrated the music of Bob Marley, who must be popular in Nepal (at least among lorry drivers) and a few supporting European football teams.
Often the sides are painted and the back too, although not always quite so brightly. And when I occasionally got a glimpse inside a cab I saw that it too had been decorated with tinsel, small statues of Hindu gods, garlands and coloured door panels. Of course the interiors were almost impossible for me to photograph and I only rarely caught the sides or rears. So most of the images below, which I offer for Natalie’s Photographing Public Art challenge, are of the cheerful cabs that came to dominate my impressions of Nepali roads. And I’ve thrown in a bus and a van just to mix things up a bit!
NB All these photos were taken from a moving car, often through less than clean windows. I’ve edited them to correct this as far as possible, but I apologise for any blur and/or murkiness.
King’s Horse
Road King
Ghost Rider
Highway Handsome
Road King (with macaques)
Apple Road King
F C Barcelona
Thanks for support Mom & Dad
Mom Dad Loves
Mother’s Love with Road King, and Speed Control
True Love Never Dies
Mom Dad
Tikok Lovers
Hard Work
From behind; no slogan, just a pretty bird
Lord Shiva
Speed control (bus)
See You
I visited Nepal in October/November 2022
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41 Comments
Shalkot
Beautiful trucks
Alison
Such happy looking trucks and great slogans
Sarah Wilkie
I guess they are happy looking, yes 😀
equinoxio21
Nice. Long-distance buses and some lorries in Colombia are much decorated…
(I noticed most lorries are Tata, right?(
Sarah Wilkie
Ah, we’re going to Colombia in February, so I feel a follow-up post will be needed 😆 Yes, mostly Tata – Nepal and India have close links and a pretty open border so I’m sure many companies buy their lorries there. I did wonder if these might be Indian at first but the designs are different. In India almost all the lorries have ‘Horn OK’ on the back, which these don’t. The one or two I saw that did were almost certainly Indian ones trading across the border.
equinoxio21
Tata is an industrial empire. Some of the trains in the underground in London are Tata I believe.
As for Colombia, let me know in advance what your plans are. My wife is Colombian and I’ve beeb going there every year or so for the past 40 years…
Sarah Wilkie
Bogota, Villa de Leyva, coffee region, Medellin, Cartagena and Tayrona National Park 🙂
equinoxio21
That sounds like a very good selection. 👍🏻
wetanddustyroads
The lorries are definitely colourful (and I had a good laugh at the names of these)! ‘See You’ looks a bit dodgy from behind … so I think, to be on the safe side, I’d rather take the bus that says ‘Mom Dad’ 😄.
Sarah Wilkie
They made me smile too, and really brightened our road journeys there 🙂
rkrontheroad
So much like the painted “chicken” buses in Guatemala. These are great.
Sarah Wilkie
Yes, they certainly have a similar appeal 😀
grandmisadventures
Who knew that trucks could be so colorful, bright, and fun! 🙂
Sarah Wilkie
They are in India too 🙂 Our roads would be more cheerful if we had similar here!
grandmisadventures
absolutely! traffic jams would be far more fun with trucks like that 🙂
Marie
They’re wonderful aren’t they – such colour……you’ve quite the collection there Sarah!!
Sarah Wilkie
Yes, and these are just the shots that worked! We saw many more that I was too slow to capture or which came out too blurred to be of any use 😉
Marie
You did incredibly well catching so many in transit..
Amy
Wow, these trucks!! How creative and fun! Thanks for sharing, Sarah!
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you Amy – they were too fun not to share!
kindfeelings
These lorries are beautifully decorated and they all tell a story. Thanks for sharing these lovely images Sarah.
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you, I’m glad you liked them!
margaret21
Those are fabulous. Even more elaborate than the ones I saw in southern India. Did they all say ‘Sound horn!’ on the rear, which everyone was only too happy to obey!
Sarah Wilkie
No, that doesn’t seem to be a common thing in Nepal even though they do use their horns a lot – much more than we do in the UK but I would say noticeably less than in India. I did see a couple with ‘Horn OK’ or ‘Sound horn’ but they looked like Indian ones. The border between the two countries is very open with plenty of cross border trading so in the south in particular I would expect to see Indian lorries. The Nepali ones were on the lines of the ‘See you’ one I included above, with an image or two and maybe a slogan.
Cee Neuner
Fun and colorful photos. 😀 😀
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you Cee 🙂
Anne Sandler
What fun Sarah! Thanks for sharing!!
Sarah Wilkie
Glad you liked them Anne!
Natalie
Sarah, Fantastic collection of trucks/ cabs! You did a great job editing the photos taken from a moving car, through less than clean windows. I imagine all kinds of life stories unfold on those trucks or buses and their journeys. They remind me of the buses I’ve seen in Guatemala.Thank you for your PPAC contribution.
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you Natalie 🙂 I see what you mean about the Guatemalan chicken buses – equally colourful!
Nemorino
I hope F.C. Barcelona realizes they have at least one fan in Nepal.
Sarah Wilkie
Haha yes, that one made me smile 🙂 Hopefully a Spanish tourist may see it one day, although most of those we met were from northern Europe (Belgium, France, Germany, plus of course the UK and US)
thehungrytravellers.blog
Brilliant stuff, Sarah. No wonder you felt compelled to create a collection of photos. In Tanzania, all the similar messages were connected with praying to be looked after whilst on the road – mainly because driving standards are so low that every driver fears that every trip may be his last!
Sarah Wilkie
The standards weren’t brilliant here either, although better than India as I mentioned to Kellye below. And the roads in many parts little more than rubble, as I think you can tell in some of the photos. I suspect the proliferation of religious imagery could be for a similar reason?
thehungrytravellers.blog
Yes probably. Funnily enough our next post from here will include a bit about the state of Jamaica’s roads…..they are terrible!!
Mike and Kellye Hefner
I think if I had to travel the roads with these guys I would have a wreck! I would be distracted trying to look at the interesting “truck art”, but they are interesting and pretty.
Sarah Wilkie
Fortunately we weren’t driving! And for several reasons, as the roads are pretty appalling in most parts, and the driving standards not great (although better than India in our experience)
Teresa
Wow 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 love these!
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you – fun, aren’t they?!
Annie Berger
You captured some great photos even through dirty windows, Sarah. I especially loved the bird scene at the back of one of the trucks even though it was atypical.
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you Annie – it’s amazing what Photoshop can do to clean up a bit of dirt!