March 25th – Too long of a bus ride

After breakfast, we headed to the bus station to catch our bus to Bethisar. I was very nervous about the seven hour ride due to the twisting and turning roads. This was the smallest bus I’ve ever been on. It’s clear that these things are not made for a guy my size. The inside of the bus is shorter than my shoulder height and I had to twist myself awkwardly to the left to even fit in my seat with my legs out in the aisle.

Getting out of Katmandu was an experience. The traffic was terrible due to people just driving wherever the hell they want and it took us almost 90 minutes to get out on the open road. There were two young boys who hung out the bus and worked the crowd for more passengers. They did a good job at getting extra business and also keeping people selling stuff off the bus. One managed to sneak on and they grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and tossed him out the door. In true Nepali fashion, the boys dumped their trash from the bus and snacks out the door as we rode along. Unfortunately, Nepal has no trash services, so people dump it everywhere just like in India.

As the bus ride continued, I had to do my best not to watch as the bus driver whipped the bus around the curves next to the steep cliffs. It was a nerve wracking experience that was added to by the hot temperature and uncomfortable pretzel I was twisted in, in my seat. We were granted a brief respite for lunch as I got my first taste of Nepal cuisine – Dal Bhat. This dish is eaten twice a day by 22 out of the 24 million people who live in Nepal. It consists of potato curry, rice, lentils and some sort of spiced pickle.

After lunch, we had several more hours on the bus until the ride ended at some local protest on the outskirts of Bethisar. We walked through the town until we could find someone who had a jeep to hire. We decided to get a ride to Sange, the next town to skip a day of hiking on a road and give us some extra time. We managed to find a ride for all of us for 3000 rupees. While we waited for the Jeeps to get fueled, we had some chow mein noodles in a little local place with the town drunk.

After eating, it was time for a trip to Sange. After two hours crammed in a Jeep, we were at our goal. The sun was rapidly setting, so we all found local place and shared a room. After some dinner, I crashed out of exhaustion.