Journey to Pokhara

22^nd October 2011

  Nepalese driving is extraordinary.   There don’t seem to be any rules and coaches and lorries overtake any slower vehicle regardless of traffic coming in the opposite direction or a blind corner.  But it seems to work.  The drivers are all really skilful and miss each other by just a few inches.   Every bus has a conductor who toots the horn, gives hand signals and indicates how many centimetres to the edge of the chasm below. 

 I had moments of complete bliss.   The river valley is spectacular and took my breath away.   Thank goodness I chose to take the bus journey rather than travel by Yeti airlines.   It was 7/8 hour long journey with ‘comfort’ stops and a break for lunch which was a very hot curry. Perhaps what I thought was a green bean in the vegetables was really a chilli!  My training walks have been such a bonus.   The thighs are now strong enough to manage using a squat loo wearing a backpack!     

Kathmandu bus station

cheaper seats on the roof

A tree had fallen on the road in front of us.   You can just see the crack
in the windscreen.   It didn't instill me with confidence

The bus condutor toots the horn gives hand signals
and leans outside to see how far away the other vehicles are.

The Lodge here is wonderful and I have had a lovely welcome. There was a power cut whilst I was having my first shower and I hadn’t really got my bearings or remembered where the wind-up torch was, but I staggered around the room feeling for it and power returned about 10 minutes later. No chance of email/Skype/blogging unfortunately, so will have to get a cheap mobile so that I can text home. School starts at 10am tomorrow and it is about an hour’s walk.