Today we took a bus from Kathmandu to Pokhara, another city in Nepal. The distance between the two cities is not far - only about a 25 minute trip by plane - OR a 7 hour bus ride.
We chose the bus.
We made another choice that was not very smart relating to this bus ride. We had reserved tickets on the bus with air conditioning, but since they were 17 USD and the non-AC bus was only about 5 USD, we went with the non-AC bus. The people at our hostel told us it would be fine...the whole trip was through the mountains so it would be cool...we didn't need the AC...
They were very wrong.
An hour after starting our journey, we weren't even out of Kathmandu yet. Two hours after that we emerged from the bus for our first break. It was kind of a mess and there wasn't much talking before we agreed that next time we're getting the AC bus. After we finally pried the windows on the bus open a little for a breeze, the ride wasn't too bad anymore. The windows introduced a whole new problem, though. Since the roads in Nepal aren't really paved, whoever was sitting by the window (me) ended up covered in a film of dust and with some nice rocks in their teeth.
There were some nice moments on the bus, too. The views were amazing - it was kind of surreal to think that we were on a bus driving through the Himalayas. Given the typical traffic in Southeast Asia and the road conditions, I was also pleasantly surprised that I didn't feel like I was going to fall off every cliff while on the bus. The first picture below shows what one of the equivalents to a guard rail looked like - it was only about 6 inches tall and I don't think it would have stopped a bus full of people from falling down a mountain.
After our very warm and dusty bus ride, we finally arrived in Pokhara. We were trying to determine if our hostel was close enough to walk to or if we should take a taxi, when a man came around asking if we were staying in the North Face Inn. We were, but given all the crazy men around here who will say anything to get your to take their taxi or their business card, we were not really sure what was going on. It turns out, our hostel was waiting there to pick us up. That was a nice surprise. Then, we found out our hostel was actually under construction and we would be staying in one next door but paying the people from our original hostel...
We went for a walk and to find food, since it was almost 4pm and we had not had much to eat or drink all day. Since none of us brought our rain coats with us even though we knew it was going to rain (sorry parents...I know you prepared us better than this), we had a long long lunch while we waited out a storm. Somehow we ended up at this place that served mostly Mexican food. I'm still not sure how I feel about my meal. We also signed up for paragliding tomorrow, so I guess I'll be jumping off a cliff and trying to fly. Hopefully these won't be my last words...
After our meal we did some food shopping and took another short break at our hostel. After we got cleaned up a bit, we went back out for some tea. There was also this beer (here's a picture for you, Will):
Once we had finished our team and also finished reminiscing about fluid dynamics and thermodynamics (as engineers are apt to do), we headed back to the hostel. This was our first time out in a few weeks after dark, so it was a new adventure for us. There was also another new adventure waiting for us at the hostel - cockroaches.
Since I've already seen mice, rats, geckos, mosquitoes, and other insects in my various rooms, I was hoping I could avoid this particular meeting with a member of the animal kingdom. I guess we'll see which of us is still alive in the morning. If it's me I promise there will be better pictures tomorrow :)
We chose the bus.
We made another choice that was not very smart relating to this bus ride. We had reserved tickets on the bus with air conditioning, but since they were 17 USD and the non-AC bus was only about 5 USD, we went with the non-AC bus. The people at our hostel told us it would be fine...the whole trip was through the mountains so it would be cool...we didn't need the AC...
They were very wrong.
An hour after starting our journey, we weren't even out of Kathmandu yet. Two hours after that we emerged from the bus for our first break. It was kind of a mess and there wasn't much talking before we agreed that next time we're getting the AC bus. After we finally pried the windows on the bus open a little for a breeze, the ride wasn't too bad anymore. The windows introduced a whole new problem, though. Since the roads in Nepal aren't really paved, whoever was sitting by the window (me) ended up covered in a film of dust and with some nice rocks in their teeth.
There were some nice moments on the bus, too. The views were amazing - it was kind of surreal to think that we were on a bus driving through the Himalayas. Given the typical traffic in Southeast Asia and the road conditions, I was also pleasantly surprised that I didn't feel like I was going to fall off every cliff while on the bus. The first picture below shows what one of the equivalents to a guard rail looked like - it was only about 6 inches tall and I don't think it would have stopped a bus full of people from falling down a mountain.
After our very warm and dusty bus ride, we finally arrived in Pokhara. We were trying to determine if our hostel was close enough to walk to or if we should take a taxi, when a man came around asking if we were staying in the North Face Inn. We were, but given all the crazy men around here who will say anything to get your to take their taxi or their business card, we were not really sure what was going on. It turns out, our hostel was waiting there to pick us up. That was a nice surprise. Then, we found out our hostel was actually under construction and we would be staying in one next door but paying the people from our original hostel...
We went for a walk and to find food, since it was almost 4pm and we had not had much to eat or drink all day. Since none of us brought our rain coats with us even though we knew it was going to rain (sorry parents...I know you prepared us better than this), we had a long long lunch while we waited out a storm. Somehow we ended up at this place that served mostly Mexican food. I'm still not sure how I feel about my meal. We also signed up for paragliding tomorrow, so I guess I'll be jumping off a cliff and trying to fly. Hopefully these won't be my last words...
After our meal we did some food shopping and took another short break at our hostel. After we got cleaned up a bit, we went back out for some tea. There was also this beer (here's a picture for you, Will):
Since I've already seen mice, rats, geckos, mosquitoes, and other insects in my various rooms, I was hoping I could avoid this particular meeting with a member of the animal kingdom. I guess we'll see which of us is still alive in the morning. If it's me I promise there will be better pictures tomorrow :)
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