Bob's Blog

Indian Express

Sunset in Pushkar, Rajasthan

Many roads can take you there, many different ways,
One direction takes you years, another takes you days.
—Dehradun, George Harrison

So India got under my skin after around an hour. There were tons of hotels on the Nepalese side. On Google it showed that too, just one on the Indian side. If I had more time on my visa, I would have waited the night till I crossed.

Even then. I think I could have been stamped out by Nepal and spent the night on their side of the border. I went across however. Got stamped in, walked up and down the street to see if there were any more hotels. Obvs the only one was expensive and a plain rip off. I'd rather spend the night on the street.

So I carried on walking, into the night. The hotels were few and far between, and the ones there were wouldn't take foreigners or said they were full. Which is often the case in India, and is pretty frustrating. Walked till 11pm and eventually found a place.

Still ill, slight earache. Slight headache. Slight sore throat. Snotty nose. Needed more days in Pokhara, resting and good food. Yet, the visa a was up. Visa seemed cheaper at the border, looked like $15 for 30 days. If the road had any tarmac, that'd be a better way to get there. (edit. nope, it's the same expensive fees as at the airport)

Met a Russian guy on the bus the next day after ours broke down. Quiet. Guesed he was Russian, by the lack of English. He was heading to Delhi too. We both ended up at the same ticket counter, him before me. No tickets, which wasn't surprising. There were supposed to be tickets under the 'tourist 'quota', but you really need to be in a tourist location to get them for some reason.

He had internet, and I wondered if he was more savvy than I. Didn't see him for a while, thought maybe he'd found a better train. Yet I saw him getting on with the masses, being pushed and pulled all over the place.

I'd done this line a few times before and did not fancy 12+ hours this cramped, without even a paid seat that I could try to defend. Even if you have paid, if you're in the cheapest sleeper class you may have to share with one or two others. So I exited to take the bus, slower, bumpier, a lot more expensive, but at least a seat.

I did 75km, as the crow flies, in well over 12 hours yesterday. The roads in Nepal are shocking. What have they been doing for the past century. I said this to some guy in Pokhara, he laughed. The bus I'm on now is supposed to do 650km in 18 hrs. The express in comparison.