Namaste!
The plan was simple, I would meet Steven at six in the morning, in front of a nearby hotel. He ordered a cab which would bring us to the bus station, the bus would take us to Pokhara and we would celebrate new years over there.
Whenever I know that there is a upcoming departure and I have to pack my stuff, I will go to any extreme and procrastinate the packing for as long as possible. I set my alarm to five so I could pack my stuff in the morning. "It is only a four days trip, no need for big preparations".
My strategy for long bus rides is to stay up as late as possible, be really tired in the morning and sleep a lot on the ride. It worked perfectly many times and I had no doubt that it would work on this ride as well.
My alarm is the most annoying sound you could think of. I am sleeping as deep as the mariane dig and since I know myself, I placed my phone on the opposite side of the room so I would have to stand up in the morning.
After a healthy three hours of sleep, I woke up at five, hated myself and the whole world, managed to make a coffee, threw all my stuff loose in my backpack, smoked a cigarette, almost forget my ticket and left the house to meet with Steven.
The taxi arrived five past six, we got in and went on our way to the bus station. We were almost half way, when Steven shouted out a loud "F*ck" .
"Man, I forgot my ticket on the kitchen counter".
Early morning chaos is the worst. My brain is not functioning the way it should, any decisions take twice the amount of time and usually I am not in the best mood. The cab did a marvelous U-Turn and we hasted back through the tiny streets of Patan. Steven got out, did an impressive sprint back to his flat and jumped back in the car. He wildly gesticulated, catching his breath, unable to speak yet.
"Got it" he gasped at the driver.
You would expect any taxi-driver to take off immediatly and give it all. This might apply for the rest of the world but not to Nepal. Our driver calmly lighted up an incent, mumbled something in nepali and started the engine like it was a sunday morning and he would go to the next bakery to get some croissants.
I already gave up on the thought of getting to Pokhara and accepted my faith.
It turned out, that our bus would not leave before seven o´clock and we actually managed to drink a tea before we went on it. So much stress.. I am beginning to understand the nepali attitude. It is not worth it at all.
A thought about Bus-rides
There are four main factors, determining your comfort on a bus.
- Legspace
- Body dimensions of the people sitting next to you
- Your own size
- Possibility to lean your head against a window
Below, you see a professional visualization on the best and the worst places in a Bus. (No professional advice, only a personal opinion).
I think we all now what happened next, obviously I got the "Hell no-place". Between a very friendly but really fat Nepali and another guy who managed to sleep almost the whole ride, snorring in my ear.
My plan did not work out, I was super tired but could not sleep, constantly fighting for my space between Mr. Big Belly and Mr. Snorry Mustache (The guy had an impressive mustache).
After eight hours we finally arrived in Pokhara, which is a very western city next to a beautiful lake at the bottom of the Himalayans. There is a massive street fest going on and the whole thing was a little bit overwhelming. I had my first few beers in weeks which felt great. Later on I got passed a funny cigarette which totally knocked me out and I escaped to my hotel room pretty early, managed to get some chips on the way, finally getting some rest.
So, this is why I got up quite early today, took my Fuji XT20, put my Helios lens on there and went for a photo stroll. Enjoy some impressions of Pokhara, I did not have any specific topic in mind, I just shot whatever came in front of my lens.
Thanks for stepping by and reading my stuff.
Love & Light,
