Eight Hour Chat

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We were all up bright and breezy got our bus. Cas, Bob, Ed and Hat caught a taxi and Tom and I walked to the bus station. Well, station is not an accurate description; imagine a street with 15 coaches parked up on the left hand side. Cas had bought some delicious Masala Tea from a girl about Hat's age. It was sweet and spiced with ginger, cardamom, cloves and pepper.
The bus left on time at 7.00 and by 8.00 I was Mr Bakery and handing out jam donuts, croissants and apple strudel turnovers that Bob and I had picked up during our stroll together.
Some of the roads leaving Kathmandu are in very bad condition and this, coupled with the stream of heavy lorries bringing goods in from India, made the first three miles very slow going and also very entertaining.
The bus stopped several times on the way and the food offer by the cafes was freshly cooked and very tasty. It became rather farcical when Cas and I bought ticket after ticket to satisfy the brood's demand for veg pakoras and boiled eggs.
The scenery was very pretty, big green rolling hills and a large river that had carved out massive boulders and little beaches of grey sand.
Bob and I sat beside each other and, eight hours later, our conversation was still going. Our average speed was a whopping 10 mph as Pokhara is only 80 miles east of Kathmsndu. Tom, who has a clear reputation for falling asleep in car journeys found that sleep evaded him due to the lumps and bumps in the road.
Finally, we came into Pokhara and it wasn't long before we were checking into hotel Adam in the Lakeside area, which as the name suggests overlooks the lake. We were all hot and thirsty, so we headed straight out to find a place with cold drinks and a good view.
Tom, Ed and I sat on the terraced and played cards. Somehow Tom never loses at Scabby Queen? Mars and Jupiter were both out and shining brightly in the sky as we played our last hand.

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