Nepal to India in 24 hours - strike, shitholes and touts

Travelling sounds glamorous, sometimes it is just not and you think about a nice day in the office with your freshly brewed late in your hand... The last 24 hours were hell. It started with an 'easy' 8 hours drive from Pokhara to the Nepali-Indian border for the 180km of potholes. While you drown in your own sweat - it is 35 degree here  you try to find a comfortable seating position - impossible for a none-Asian body. Each part of the old seat in front of you, hits you on every bloody bump of the road. The driver was racing against his competitor: who ever reaches a person waiting on the side first, can pick the person up and hence makes the money. As we had a couple of spare seats, he was on a mission. The bus had better times, that's what we discovered when we had a flat tyre. The tyres on the back were basically only running on half of the surface as massive flakes had already pealed off and the inner of the tyre was exposed - if it only stays with a flat tyre... Not to think of a blown tyre while we are racing around the narrow hairpin curves just blowing the horn as loud as you get...

8 hours later we come to a sudden stop 20km before the Indian-Nepali border: strike - rien ne va plus. The bus driver simply dropped us and said we have to find our own way. We, that were some 8 foreigners or so. We all wanted to go to the border, but walking 20km in 40 degree heat? No taxi, bus or cycle rickshaw wanted to take us. At the end we stopped a police car racing passed us. After a lengthy discussion, the police were willing to give us a lift. Do they want baksheesh? Actually not but what we didn't know is that we would become part of the prisoner move from the central jail to court. After we changed police cars the first time - at some district police station - and after we had to stay in the open pick-up for an hour in the direct sun, we realised that the bracelets of the Nepali group were actually hand cuffs. That also explained the gunmen sitting with us and watching the guys. OK great, just wait a little longer and then we ended up at the district court to drop the boys and finally made our way through some angry protesting crowds towards the border. It is 27 May, the last day for the government to have finished the constitution - get the hell out of here, there is some serious unrest on the horizon.  

Good bye Nepal - welcome India...welcome you touts!

4 hour later, we are in India - Welcome to tout central. 'Come here to change money' (there are no official changer at the border) so you get ripped off the first time - but we need money for the bus and they know we are desperate. The border town is one of these shit holes. Dirty, polluted and a lot of angry people around - just watch your bag. Then quick get a ticket for the night bus to Varanasi. Easily said as people storming to us and pulling us in some dubious travel agencies to sell us overpriced tickets for the express bus which is of course not existing. What is the option here, trying to buy it locally and then missing the only bus? We quickly realise that we paid four times the price and one Japanese guy almost starts a fight with one of the touts. But the tout has friends...and they are all around - not funny. We of course all ended up in the same bus - no express bus here. Once in our fine local bus the touts (our travel agent) come back to give us our tickets - well almost. Only to collect some more money from us for the bags - what a rubbish! We refuse to pay and he stops the bus and threatening us to throw out of the bus...They are twenty, we are 8... Do we really want to strand again? But this time 20km from the other side of the border and this time it is dark already. I learnt my lesson years ago when I almost got beaten up from some tuk tuk driver after I argued for a dollar - swallow it and take it easy, it is a dollar. Easily said in this wreck of the bus which gearbox is in the last days...

Great bus for a 10 hour night ride...

10 hours later after endless stops in freaking dirty shit holes, after endless bumpy roads, after endless close near collisions, after no sleep at all but still with all of my bags we arrive at 4:00 am somewhere in Varanasi. And here we go again...the tuk tuk touts coming from all corners....Ahhh...

I take the punt and jump into to one and wonder to which dark alley he will bring me and rob me - it is dark and already 30 degree and I hadn't have any proper food nor sleep for the last 24 hours.
But there is hope:  he drops me in the Old City close to the police station and gives me proper change - wow. The last km is on foot through the narrow alleys of the Old City. This time I love the Lonely Planet. He gives me a name of a guesthouse and I find somebody who is willing to find it for me - for cash of course. Knocking on heavens door, some friendly Indians tell me the guest house is booked out but some people will leave in the morning and I am welcome to have a shower, lie in the hammock and enjoy the morning ritual over the mighty Ganges. Welcome to Varanasi.

6am: Good Morning Varanasi - the mighty toxic Ganges