Train continues...
Arrived into Gorakhpur at 1200 (2hrs late somehow???). Spent the next hour trying to work out which bus to take so we wouldn't get ripped off. Eventually ended up back in the station at the tourist info office. The guy in there didn't really speak english so wasn't overly helpful, in fact the German tourist who had signed the visitors book before us had simply written 'confusing...'
Eventually found a bus headed for Sunauli that was due to take two and a half hours and cost 60 Rs each. We hopped on and then spent the next hour and a half driving round the village picking up more and more people. When the driver had successfully filled ALL the available space in his non AC bus, we left. Then we stopped again, to pick up and drop off. This continued for the best part of an hour through all the local villages. Eventually we reached the Sunauli boarder crossing.
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| Stamped out of India... |
Crossing the boarder was easy, just a rubber stamping exercise. Some very strict policing on the Indian side. We saw a boy crying and clutching his shoulder after having been hit by a policeman with a stick. Tough love! The most bizarre part of crossing the boarder is the time change. We were reminded that we had gained 15 minutes by crossing the boarder, now putting us at GMT + 5h45. Odd!
Instantly approached by someone offering us bus tickets. Decided to follow him since we were getting pretty tired by this point. Offered bus tickets for 700 Rs for two; took that. Seemed very good for a 9 hour bus journey.
The bus was fairly big (about 40 pax) but the leg room was seriously bad. My knees caps literally touching the back of the seat in front. Still, assigned seating looked like a good sign of an organised company? Everyone on board, we left at about five past six, just five mins late. Still looking good!
We initially enjoyed the views, until it got dark. The driver seemed to drive as fast as the on coming traffic would allow! During the day the horn was played (it had a melody) every five seconds. At night the full beam took it's place.
5 SEPT 2010
So there we were, in the dark crashing along in a noisy bus, local music on full blast and crammed into the seats. As the hours passed, stopping every few hours, we looked forward more and more to 3am when we were due to arrive. One particularly vicious bump sent a piece of our trim clattering to the ground. Cue the speedy reversing to collect it then toss it in the gangway of the bus. Following the dinner stop at the bottom of the mountain we started climbing up to Kathmandu.
The road surface changed from a rough tarmac road to an unmade mountain track. Still black as the ace of spades, we continued on up the mountain. The road was just wide enough for two buses to pass one another, the steep hill on one side and a sheer drop on the other. Then we got a puncture... 1 hour spent changing the tyre. Added that to the time spent on the bus. GRR. Then we hit the traffic! Slowed down to crawling pace, then stopped altogether. Damn! We spent the next four or five going nowhere in the sweaty, smelly bus.
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| Look closely.... that white line in the middle across the photo is truck, cars and mostly buses in the queue, but further down the mountain! |
Town (Thamel - Kathmandu) is seriously touristy - there are bars, shops selling trekking gear, sandwich shops, tourist tac, etc. Still, a good atmosphere and really great to have some easy conversation in a native language and see friendly faces.
Went out for a dinner at a great pizza restaurant (told you it was touristy!)... then came back some serious sleeping. Olivia still not feeling great, so Ibuprofen and bed. The power was out just as we came back so lit, although struggled with the wax matches???, the candle provided for the event. Nice to finally be in a bed!
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