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Hello from Nepal!!
Wow, what a journey. I set off from varanassi assuming a 6 hour train journey, followed by 3 hours bus to the border and then a 5 hour bus the other side to Kathmandu. Funnily enough, it didn't quite work out like that! The train from Varanassi was supposed to leave at 12.30 am, but didn't turn up til 2.30 in the morning and then took about 8/9 hours. I met a load of Koreans on the train and shared a jeep with them to the border, which was relative luxury compared to the rest of my trip! We even got to stop for a last Indian thali on the way! The border was pretty uneventful. Having gotten over the excitement of seeing the 'Indian Border Ends' and 'Welcome to Nepal' signs, we headed for the immigration office. I applied for a one month visa and was given a 2 month one for the same price by a very smiley nepali man wishing me 'welcome to nepal'! Wow, I'm going to like it here! It was pretty late by this time.....3pmish, so I had a choice of staying overnight at the border or opting for the night bus to Kathmandu. The border was pretty unappealling so I crazily opted for the night bus. That was a big mistake. The day bus takes 6 hours approximately. Somehow, overnight, they manage to turn the journey into 14 hours of torture! The arrogant indian man in front of me didn't help, insisting on having his seat wound back as far as it would go and then sleeping leaning on the chair in front of him, waking up and doing the ggggggggghhhhhhhhhhh pppptttttttttt spit out the window just as you've managed to escape the waken world for a couple of minutes, and shouting over you to the rest of his family at the back of the bus every two minutes. And how many people can you fit on a bus??!! You'd be suprised. At least I had a seat! In the middle of the night, they stop on the side of the road for 3 or 4 hours while the driver sleeps, leaving the rest of us desperate to join him in the world of dreams! Unfortunately it wasn't to be so instead we propped up the roadside shack, drinking welcome chai and listening to the drunken ramble of a couple of nepali guys on the bus. Oh how I wish I'd thought of that! A bottle of something would no doubt have numbed the pain somewhat! Finally, around 4ish we set off again, and at last I slept til we arrived in Kathmandu around 5.30.
The bus was stopped by the nepali army on arrival in Kathmandu. On the bus was a Nepali guy who was in the Indian army (apparently they pay more!) dressed in indian army kit. The Nepali army didn't take too kindly to this and frogmarched him off the bus and made him change on the side of the road! Good job he had some clothes with him.
I'd booked a hotel at the border and had a pickup arranged, but some guy mascarading as the hotel guy hijacked me and got me to take a taxi there instead, and then charged the hotel for it! When I got to the hotel, I was told there was someone waiting at the bus stop for me......doh!!! I'm so used to scams from India, I can't believe I fell for it, but the guy was pretty scary and insistent. He had me and 5 others on the bus fooled and all in the taxi! The hotel were fine about it ...... I think this guy hijacks their guests quite often by the sounds!!
The guys at the guest house are really nice. Khangsar guest house in Thamel area of Kathmandu. Really smiley and helpful. They even phoned the embassy for me to see if having a current valid visa for India would restrict me making a new application. I really need to get used to this and lower my defensive, suspicious guard I've been working on since October! Finally somewhere where people don't lie 95% of the time in order to extract money from you or anything else they think might be on the menu....... Yeay!! I met many lovely Nepali people during my time in India and was really looking forward to coming here. I'm glad to say it seems lovely Nepali people are here too.....in abundance. How nice to be able to chat to someone with no alterior motive! Sure, you get people in the street touting business, but when you say no, they get the message first time round. Sure they want to make a living, but they don't make you're life a nightmare to do it.
I'm well n truly embracing Nepal.......cool air, warm blankets, bars (where local men AND women drink!), live music.....and that's before I come to the adrenelin adventure opportunities! Trekking, rafting, bungee jumping and loads loads more. Whether I'll do all that this time or wait til when I come back in October time depends on the visa application process I guess. Aahh yes, the embassy. How to spend many a travelling hour. I went this morning to find at least 100 people ahead of me in the queue. The liklihood of getting to the front of the queue by the 12 oclock closing time was slim to nil, so I retreated, gathering my application forms on route, ready to head back bright and early tomorrow morning. I met someone on the way out who told me we can go there tonight and get a queue number for the morning.....good tip! The next mission is to gather the exact change needed for both the visa appl and the telex fee.....no change given....another good tip from this mornings mission...... nice to think the morning wasn't wasted!
Anyhow, I'm about to head off into the midday sun.......a pleasant 28 degrees or so with cool breezes; clear skies, scattered clouds....... Aaaahhhhh. Wet sarongs and air con seem a million miles away :O)
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Jackie and Geoff
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Sounds wonderful !
After your eventful travel this sounds like a lovely place to chill out hunny ! you can let your guard down and relax..have fun ! Look forward to seeing the bungee video. Cathernine at work did a bungee and had it filmed. Made my tummy flip just watching it ! xxxxx