Where Is Timmy G Map

06 December 2012

Ummmmm, Seatbelts Please!

With enough time to have a relaxed breakfast and finish off packing our stuff we were happy with our decision to get the micro/mini-bus to Pokhara. Pretty much everyone else we had spoken to had advised us against the mini-bus and said that we should get the tourist buses instead. But they left at 7:00am so we would have to up very early and also miss out on a paid-for breakfast! So we had gone for the mini-bus option. We needed to get a taxi out to the pick-up point out west and to our unsurprised eyes a small white Suzuki turned up - these are everywhere in Kathmandu and are very much beat-up old bangers that are small enough to navigate through the small streets and around tourists. With our luggage in the back and passenger seat next to me we set off, both a little disappointed but not surprised that there were no seatbelts to speak of, so we just hung on for dear life to anything that we could.

One of the many Suzuki taxis, in good condition
As soon as we arrived at the pick-up point there were heads forced in through the windows barking at us, asking where we were going. Once we had managed to get out of the taxi we negotiated a price with one of the better-looking mini-buses (but even this had a massive crack through the entire windscreen) and climbed inside. The bags went on top and we were assured that they would be tied down so they didn’t fall off. We sighed as we realised that there were no seatbelts in this vehicle either, so we just tried to settle our nerves as best we could. With several seats still empty we set off, in the opposite direction, then turned around and came crawling back down the same street we had just been on. It looked like the traffic police were moving everyone on after a while but these guys wanted a full van to get to Pokhara. After 20 minutes we had a full quota and began our trip to Pokhara that should take about 4 hours (website/forum advice) or 6 hours (everyone else).



Inside the mini-bus
We had heard that the mini-buses are fast and the journey is scary, but we were assured that they had good brakes and then again it couldn’t be much worse than Bangkok to Cambodia. Yes it was a little heart-in-mouth at some points – overtaking buses/lorries, screaming round blind corners and seeing crashed busses and lorries by the side of the road – but we were confident in the drivers ability. His accomplice was constantly shouting out of the window at passers-by in the small villages in an attempt to cram more people into the van, but all the seats were taken, so we didn’t know where they would sit. It turned out that they put a wooden board across the aisle in order to create another seat and we were upping the numbers constantly as we continued our journey. Long the way I noticed a few white vehicles drive by with huge blue letters on them spelling out “UN” but we never saw what they were doing or where they were going.

The view at "lunch"
We had stopped for lunch for a half-hour and then carried on along the crazy, weaving mountain road. We eventually made it into Pokhara at about half 4, 6 hours after getting into the mini-bus. We jumped into a taxi with a friendly local guy who managed to tell the driver where our hotel was and we pulled up outside the Hotel Orchid. It looked nice from the outside, but we have been caught out before on first appearances.

But thankfully it was a right nice gaff. Apart from the fact there was still no power. This was getting ridiculous, but at the same time we don’t want to spend all day in a hotel room. After the crazy journey into Pokhara James took a snooze to get refreshed and I unpacked and began to settle in. With the clock approaching dinner time I was looking to get out of the hotel and into town to find a good restaurant as a pipe of Pringles for lunch is just not a proper meal. But James wasn’t feeling too hot. A trip to the bathroom confirmed this. Oh dear.

I would be searching the streets of Pokhara to find a place to eat by myself that night for James would absolutely not be joining me. I picked up some more water and things on the way back and he was still in a bad way so I had a night in and caught up on some more admin (getting to Delhi, Christmas shopping, house-hunting, etc) as James spent most of the night wrapped in the duvet in the bathroom. By the end of the night I believe that most of his illness was out but I still braced myself for a nice of disturbances as James dashed from bed to bathroom. I crossed my fingers, placed the swing-bin by his bed and hoped for the best…

Table for one, please

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