Seven Months In Asia ( Delhi-Agra-Benares-Kathmandu-Pokhara )

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Flying from london to delhi was a breeze. after having done the past 15 trips to india on aeroflot, gulf air, air lanka, kuwait airways and egypt air it was nice to have a direct flight and no delays. my sister and I arrived late and had to sit and wait in the airport for 6 hours until sarah, our german travelling companion would land. the time went fast, drinking chai and talking to the guards who were bored.

When daylight started breaking we caught a rickshaw to paharganj and settled into a nice hotel for 200 rupees a night. the next couple of days went fast, getting re-accustomed to india, eating as much food as we possibly could, seeing the majestic red fort, visiting my friend ton at his TB clinic, eating lunch at majnu ka tilla (where we should have stayed instead of paharganj), slowly bollocking around connaught place and talking to some travellers.



From delhi we caught the bus to agra, spent two days there, saw the taj mahal for the second time (i remember when it cost 10 rupees to see it, not 17 dollars), went around the back instead of paying the entrance and saw it from across the river which was special, ate at a great restaurant and booked our train tickets to Benares.



Benares

The immediate sense of chaos hits you as you step out of the railway station and see the most crazy of India's insane traffic. it was raining, so we caught a rickshaw and headed down to one of the ghats to a cheap hotel with a rooftop. the rest of the day we walked around the muslim district, went along the ghats, saw and smelled the burning ghats and had dinner on the rooftop managing to find a cold beer too.



next morning it was up early for a boatride, so we shared a boat with two english blokes who seemed a bit at loss in india, the boat owner thought of a cunning way to part us of our money by saying it was 20 rupees an hour and taking us for two hours, but when we got back we paid him for one and left. the ride itself was beautiful, seeing all the morning bathers with the petrified look of purity on their faces and the sad foreigners sitting along the walls attempting to find peace in the most confusing place on earth. back at the hotel we booked tickets for a two day bus trip to Kathmandu, a city that had drawn my curiosity since i was a child... we ate one last meal, had a walk around, and were actually happy to leave Varanasi.. its a beautiful place but for me a day or two was enough.



Benares- Kathmandu by bus

Another early morning, a funny breakfast in what looked like a building site (included in the price of the bus ticket), then setting off on the bus that would keep us onboard for the next 11 hours. the scenery was not that spectacular, although it was soothing, green fields and palm trees spread out as far as the eye could see, then came Gorakhpur (my no 1 hate city in india) with its clouds of exhaust, narrow roads, chaos, confusion, dirt and madness, glad we slipped away from that... and onwards.. up to the nepali border at sonauli.



It was dark when we arrived at the border, and with wits about us we ran ahead of the rest of the passengers so that we could get through the indian emigration and nepali immigration as fast as possible.. it worked... half an hour later we were sitting in the guest house drinking a cold tuborg (the smile that hit my face when i found out they have danish beer here!!).



on the bus we had met an english guy called neil, aka nobend, who would end up travelling with us all the way to haridwar. so, we all sat at a table, ordered food and drank some beers to pass the time.



Another early morning (we are becoming office slugs?) and everyone piled outside the GH to wait for the jeeps that would take us to the nepali bus. the changeover went smoothly and soon enough we were chugging through our first real glimpses of nepal, green, mountainous and fertile. it was a great trip... never did i get sick of sitting on the bus cause there was so much to look at and so much expectancy of what was waiting for us, i would definately do it again. we arrived in kathmandu late, as darkness had already stolen the light and rendered us to our imaginations once again. a van was flagged down and we told him "guest house, cheap, but NOT thamel". he complied and took us to jyatha, ten minute walk from thamel, freak street, durban square, etc... and yet quiet and much more relaxing. we stayed at a hotel for 150 rupees a night, hot water, two double beds, carpet.. ha. excellent. there was also a small alleyway outside with a tibetan restaurant which we only ever saw local people in, where you could buy thukpa and momos for 30 nepali rupees !! heaven.



kathmandu hits you like a cold breeze, waking up
every
sense you have in your body. the sheer carpetry
of
this city, with its insane mesh of alleyways,
small
temples tucked in every available inch of space,
friendly smiles, cheap food and the looming stare
of
the himalayas watching you from every side. it is
indeed a most amazing and mysterious place. i
have
never been so enamoured by a place after having
been
here but a day. my heart is lost.


the next days flew past, visiting the monkey temple, the buddha stupa, durban square, patan and basically using hours just to walk around and enjoy the city. the houses are the most amazing thing, so old and dusty, with low doors and amazing engravings around the doorframes and windows. temples just seem to appear every 5 meters, and the smell of incense lays heavy in the air. small tibetan restaurants offering cheap, warm food lay at the end of small suspicious passageways, a reward for the intrepid. carlsberg and tuborg are here in great numbers, and equally defeated each night after the thirst of a long days dreaming.

nights spent in small restaurants ordering food, watching movies, drinking beers, laughing, looking in cd stores, buying way too many, thinking later that we have to carry them for the next 5 months but not caring.... just enjoying being here and soaking it all up...

Pokhara

Then it was time, time to head to pokhara, time to see something new, time to leave something precious behind, perhaps to never see it again, what a death, and yet what an adventure to move on, to see something new and different, to dream again, to smile again.



A day bus with a broken seat which kept falling down on this moaning israeli was the extent of our trip. the nature was supreme..the roads winding and good, the bridges we crossed a bit scary, the stop at a good food place with lush fields all around, and then the last 60 kms before pokhara the road died and became a continuous speed bump. the bus shook like a drill for one hour, it was awful and funny at the same time.. but we arrived in pokhara, stayed at a cheap and beautifully located guest house, woke up to see the sun spreading its red embers across the annapurna ranges glorious peaks, ate good meals in roadside restaurants with cheap menus and smiling waiters, listened to music in the afternoons, went down to the lake for sunset, enjoyed it immensely and were actually sad when we left, cause we had to prioritise time to be back in bombay for when my friend was landing, and we still had north india, rajastan and diu to do....

So away it was, on the night bus to the border which turned out to be a local bus that we really should not have taken, cramped and noisy and impossible to sleep in, and the driver stopped at 3 in the morning for 2 hours, left the bus in the middle of the road and buggered off to sleep !! haha.. anyways, we arrived at the border, went through all the bureaucracy and caught another bus from the border to gorakhpur where we were going to catch a train to dehra dun....

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