Blogs from Tanzen, Nepal, Asia
October 26th 2009
Our crossing from India to Nepal came at the end of a gruelling twelve hour bus journey and the start of the most important days in Nepal's Dasain festival. Whist we filled in our imergration forms the cheery Nepalese officials (a marked contrast from the surly Indian ones) explain the festival and advised that the country was almost at a stand still was everyone visited family. There would be no buses for a few days and all shops and banks would be shut. Rather than spend days in a grubby border town waiting for a bus, we throw some money at the problem and took a taxi to the nearby town of Lumbini, the birth place of Buddha. Although everything was closed and the streets deserted and pitch black, we managed to find a candle lit ... read more
September 6th 2008
I left Lumbini with a great hope in my mind to visit the most famous palace in Nepal which is located in the centre of Tansen. I was not lucky to get a bus until midday. I spent some time sipping tea in a roadside restaurant. At the time of my arrival, the restaurant was very busy and most of Nepalese began to look at me very suspiciously. One or two of them actually came to my table and ask questions in Nepali, which I couldn't understand. I began to answer them in Hindi. They moved away as soon as a police man sat right next to my table. He was helpful to guide me to the bus station. I got the next available bus which is heading to Kathmandu via Tansen. The bus journey was ... read more
September 22nd 2002
I took the night bus from Varenasi to the Nepalese border at Sunauli the next day after a relaxing day at the guest house overlooking the ganges - enough entertainment for anyone. I got on the bus at 6:30pm and it took a while to get the engine ready for the bus to move. I was very worried for the first two hours that the 10 hour bus ride was going to be a nightmare because it was so crowded that I couldn't move and my bag was in everyone's way, but they didn't let me put it on the roof... but then after a couple of hours everyone got off - so I locked my bag to the bench to the left of the driver and the engine (they do drive on the left in ... read more
