Bus Life

Saturday 19 June 2010
Pokhara - MahendraNagar/Banbassa (Nepal border with India) 1050 Nepali rupees
1pm Local bus (arrival time unknown - approx. 6-8am)
Banbassa - Haldwani (5 hr 167 Indian rupees)
Haldwani - Nanital (1 hr 37 Indian rupees)
Haldwani - Haridwar (7 hr
Haridwar - Manali (16 hrs 500 Indian rupees)

Food : 8 mangos p/kilo - about 50p
small sweet apricots falling from the trees
lychees grow on big trees

Sitings : monkeys again
herd of wild elephant in the forrest by the road



My bag is too heavy - i have too much crap - something has to go - much as I may want to trek again - i cannot carry boots. And the guitar also - but I thought about this and I decided I'd make a sign and put it in a cafe and the procees would go to a woman with 3 kids who's husband left her - her youngest daughter (10 ish) - comes to the cafe and takes peoples order and I gave her a 10 rupee tip one day - she slept with it dreaming about pens and school books - so I know her mum will spend the money wisely. Anyway - how beautiful the universe works - I was walking out of my guest house when the owner stopped me - I told her I was going to sell the guitar and she said she wanted to buy it for her nephew - deal done.

I book the front seat and hope to keep it to myself - you have to be tough to do this - but the Nepali men - although they look after old women and smile so sweetly to young women - they seem to give priority to the men. - As i know i've paid 3x the amount they all have - I tell the men to hoof it to the back of the bus - they Hate this... I love it. Only when the bus is full do I let someone sit next to me - I get a man and a kid - and they keep their elbows to themselves and also they dont stay for too long. Its got to be nearly 40 degrees - you sweat standing still - and i've got 16 hrs on a plastic seat. Lucky me.

The drive starts normally - but then I'm in city traffic - once on the open road (as open as it gets with a one and a half lane road) - the driver put his foot down and we zoom along - way to fast for my liking. I think he had a shot of something very strong - I Just have to hold on tight. I check the dash board - there's no speedometer! Nepal is also full of road blocks and every hr we have to stop and army get on board with huge rifles - poke around a bit then leave.

Behind me I have a young nosey busy body boy - leaning over my seat and breathing down my neck and constantly poking me with his feet through the hole in the back of the seat. Then hestarts blowing huge bubles and cracking them - I'm really holding back my deep desire to scream at him or hit him on the head with my metal water bottle.

I'm the only westerner on the bus and also only 2 other women - one with a baby but I feel comfortable and also happy to be leaving Nepal. The ticket /door man on the bus tries to get me to pay for my ticket again - albeit 100 rupees cheaper than I paid - when I tell them how much I paid they back off. Huh What a flipping suprise.

Thank goodness I bought 3x brown bread rolls with salad in them, lunch, supper and breakfast - the food on the way was super diabolical or packets of super spicy crisps.

Its dark quickly so I miss the seeing the landscape, which is a shame - and before long it starts to rain - really hard - The bus has one tiny windscreen wiper - but they dont use it. Suddenly we stop - and theres lots of noise on the top of the bus - followed by the entire contents of someone's home being shoved into the bus - the biggest TV, mattresses, metal boxes, hessian bags filled with pots and pans - a gas cooker stove thing. I guess we had no waterproof cover. Felt like one hr later - we stop again and everything gets put outside - in the rain anyway.

As we get going one of the door boys sits next to me . Bugger . He puts his feet up, lets his knees drop open and then lolls his head around - eventually on my shoulder - well there's no way he's getting away with this - i shove him up - and tell him to sit straight - he does it again - I know he cant help it - but if i'm not comfy - he's not going to be either ! - he soon moves away .

I lie over both my seats to stop anyone else getting ideas of sitting next to me.

Another SOOOO typical Nepali rip - off coming up: Get off the bus at the border and take a cycle rickshaw to the immigration office - Nepal first - then to India - then to the bus station... 200 rupees - very cheap but its more hot here. Even for me in the breeze of movement. Get to Nepal office - very quick - then get to No Man's Land and he kicks me out and says I have to have an Indian driver now - another 200 rupees. They know every scam. I bought an Indian newspaper on the bus and the first article I read is about the most corrupt countries in the World - Nepal is the only country mentioned in name.

There's a certain smell to India and it felt really lovely to be back here - I sat in the hottest hot I've ever been in for about 2 hrs waiting for a bus - or deciding which bus to take - 1. Shimla 16 hrs 2. Delhi 8 hrs 3. Nanital 5 hrs.

I wanted to take the first bus out but that was Shimla and another 16 hrs was tooo much - I waited for the Nanital Bus. Tal means Lake and its in the foothills of Himalaya so it would be cooler. OMG - a John Malkovich from one flew over the cookoos nest completely mad driver - sooooo fast - tooting too loud too much - one near miss - we are v. lucky.

Its dusk when I get to Nanital (Uttrachand)and i'm relieved and shocked. There must be a million Indian people here - its peak season - in fact the peak weekend holiday for Indian people - I didnt even realise it was the weekend. I found a taxi and asked him to show me around and find me a room - he was SHITE - talks in Hindi and the prices go up and up - no rooms for under 1000 rupees - over 10 quid and most places just say no when they see white me - i am filthy. I decide to dump the taxi. 15 mins later get a room with a TV. Room service - stuffed Chapati and steamed veg. then i crash. Nanital is a little like Darjeeling but with a lake - not for me.

Up early and take a bus down the mountain and decide when i get to Haldwani to take a bus to Haridwar - at least this way I can choose to go to Delhi and fly home tomorrow - or head up to Manali. Another hot drive. I sit next to two kids - small people - hurray - but I am asked to share my seat - no way jose. I feel a bit selfish - here everyone squishes up so as many as possible can fit on the bus and sit down - but this is just not my culture! my feet are double the size - water retention ? Odema ? what is this ? heat feet?

We're on the main main road to Manali now - its a good properly tarmac'd road - and very fast - this it what goes on either side of the road - its like a motorway.
We pass : kids playing on bicycles, x4 people on motorbikes - no helmets, kids rolling tyres with a stick, monkeys running across the road, huge lorries full of tiny stones balanced in a peak - no one stone drops, fruit stands on wheels, waterbuffalos, goats with shephers, weddings, rickshaws, other buses, cars, jeepps.

I booked the front seat again but this time - the fattest man is sitting beside me - I go back to the ticket office and ask why they did this - how am i to sit on a bus with no leg room and big fat man beside me - they just laugh. There are 3 israelis - one quite handsome the other 2 a couple. x6 Krishnas devotees from Myapur - the rest Indian. The fat sikh - overhears my conversation and says he's only on the bus for the first 4 hrs. I tell him very straight - no elbows, dont lean on me - he says he high class Sikh - meaning spiritual - probably worse than if normal. Not long before he falls asleep and leans towards me - he gets a shove and wakes up - he does it again and again - eventually - he complains to the bus door man - he laughs at him - so do I. He gets off and i finally get to relax - my hand has to hold onto the seat so i dont fall off as we're going round mountains very fast.

Soon I feel something soft touching my little finger. The Handsome Israeli is also leaning on my seat. I guess his hand just touched mine by mistake. I close my eyes and realise he is stroking my hand - Bloddy hell - he's flirting with me on an Indian bus - i have to move my hand but it does make me laugh. I have to tell him its not good to touch women in India - when he gets off the bus - the Indian men may think they can do the same!. It works he stops - and he gets off the bus in Parvati Valley.

Finally, 10/ 11am Tuesday 22 June I arrive in Manali - walk into the high street - ick - its like a normal town high street - I spot a tourist with a pack and ask where to go and he says - Old Manali. But i'm soo hungry - food must come first. I leave my bag with a travel shop and go to a cafe - I share a table with two Americans and they give me the history and what's where - they've lived here for 15 years? in a meditation ashram. I go to pay and realise my bill was added to theirs and they paid for my lunch. Lucky or bad kama? I'll repay them if i bump into them again.

Old Manali up the hill - its pretty - one narrow road with cafes, shops, guest houses, travel shops either side and so many Enfield bikes - I may go off their sound soon - accommodation is very sweet but the nice places are bit much - in the end I decide as I've had 4 days travelling I 'll have a treat and stay in a new place all wood and huge bed and TV - snuggle down to Wimbledon and do I spy sunshine in UK ? Federer v Nadal again in the final ?? unless they meet in the semis.
This guest house is run by Nepali's - lucky as I still have 5000 nepali rupees to change - India wont take them - no banks - no shops - not even the crooked money changers. But I make a deal with the guest house man - and he takes them. Obviously the deal suits him more than me. But i'm glad to have a few thousand Indian rupees I can us.

Today No bus. Find a better price guest house, after a few mangos and fallen apricots. I find a place opposite an apple orchard with a terrace, a swing chair and views of the snow capped mountains. 250 rupees with inside bathroom. I was saying thank you to the universe when I heard a woman arrive and be shown the room next door - but she left her hotel for the room I'm in and the terrace - and the view- ooppse - man tries to tell her she got there late.. I fall asleep.


Road side food now -
veggie pakora - ok till hit the chilli.
Its also wedding seas - everywhere - there are huge marquees - horse carts with beautiful decorations - BUT they just take over the street - so it takes ages and have to sit in hot traffic jam everytime.