Saturday, May 9, 2009
getting into nepal
nepal is a gorgeous country, with a troubled political climate that i am struggling to make sense of. i really know nothing, though. when we were crossing into nepal from india, we were warned that an overland crossing could take a super long time because there are all kinds of protests against the government, which close down the roads. if buses try to go through the demonstrators, they throw rocks at them. regardless, when we got to kikarbhitta, the border town in nepal, we still opted for a bus to pokhara (where we would be starting our trek). it is supposed to be a 12 hour bus ride, but we were told that it would take closer to 18 hours. in fact, it ended up taking closer to 24 hours. we did get to a road that had protesters on it, so the bus pulled over on the side of the road behind all the other buses. everyone filed off the bus and just hung out for a couple of hours and chit chatted. i wasn't in the mood so i listened to a couple of episodes of this american life. yes, i am a westerner. after 2 and a half hours, people filed on, and the bus started up again. there was a sense of anticipation in the air, but it was all for naught. there were a couple of false starts, but we didn't really hit the road for at least another hour. by this time all the electricity in the area was out (the government does daily, sweeping blackouts in the country) so the roads were pitch black. we drove for about an hour until the us was stopped by army personnel and told the bus driver that we were going the wrong way. after much arguing, the bus driver had to turn around and retrace all the ground we had just covered, which was a real pain. but it all seemed fine and good, until we were stopped by another gaggle of army officials. these guys were angrier than the previous army men and started shouting very loudly in nepalese and waving their guns around. the bus driver had to get off the bus, have a yelling session with the small men with guns, and then go a different way yet again. the men with guns always win. eventually after hours of sitting on a seat that was broken on a bus made for people less than 5 feet tall, we got to a destination only to discover that it was not our destination. we had to get on another bus to get to pokhara. so we got on another bus, squeezed into seats and were on our way. this bus driver also is close friends with death and careened through the mountains like satan on a harley. it was madness. he would also go over these huge ruts in the road so fast that we in the back would jump up from our seats almost 3 feet high. my back is still feeling the aftershocks. but 5 hours later we arrived in pokhara, which is a cool little town. it is very touristy, but has some of the comforts of home. like real filtered coffee and espresso. you can also buy knock-off trekking clothes and other such goodies. this was a good place to rest up before getting on the trekking road.
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