Escape from the acursed country

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Well folks, we did it, we escaped India.....for now.
Having spent a toilet-tastic time in Agra we finally got a lovely sleeper class train for 14 hours to Varanasi. Any train that takes 14 hours to do 550 Km has no right to have the term express attached to it!
Anywho, we dumped our bags at the train station and had an hour's boat ride down the sacred Ganges river (cleanliness is clearly NOT next to Godliness) where we saw people washing their sins away (1.5 billion faecal form bacteria per 100 ml!) and a few cremations on the Ghats. After that we got a very cramped and unconfortable bus to Sunauli on the Nepal border (another 10 hour trip) where we spent a couple of hours kipping at a very grotty hotel before crossing the border.
This was a little confusing as our cycle rickshaw dude didn't speak English and when we said we wanted to go to the border he proceeded to bomb it straight through and into Nepal. I think he was heading for Kathmandu. We did manage to stop him eventually, however, and get the border formalities out of the way. The difference between the Indian side (handling your passport like it has just dropped out of a camel's bottom) and the Nepali side (politely asking if you'd like a seat / getting your forms for you / wishing you a pleasant stay) was so refreshing.
Suffice to say, we like it in Nepal, but that blog will wait for another day.

Take care all and we'll write again very soon,

Bri and Linz

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