Getting to Chitwan

It was a bit of an ordeal getting to Chitwan in Nepal, but it all worked out in the end. Our train to Gorakhpur arrived an hour late, but that still gave us plenty of time to catch an onward bus to the border. When we asked about buses Sarah was told it would leave in 40 minutes, so I used the internet (trying to sort out yet more apartment headache stuff at home), and we grabbed a thali lunch. When we got back to the bus they said, no, it was leaving in another hour! So Sarah waited on the bus while I used the internet for another hour (my apartment troubles are fairly major!).

Back on the bus, we were waiting a further 45 minutes, with no explanation or any visible reason for the delay. Anyway, eventually we left and got left at the border at a typical dusty, ugly border town.

At the border, where the Nepali visa had gone up by $10 each (to $40, but luckily I had withdrawn enough extra Indian rupees (as I plan on going back to India for a flight back to South East Asia), to cover the difference). We stayed the night in a nice comfy hotel right on the border as it was quite late in the day, and early the next morning we were woken by the hotel owner telling us we'd better get up (at 5:45am), and get a bus quick, as there were due to be strikes later that day that could seriously affect public transport (strikes being quite common in Nepal).


As it happened we had no trouble getting a bus to the town of Narayanghat, a major junction town, although I had to pay for the bus with a fair bit of my Indian rupee reserve, as there was no ATM in sight when we arrived. After strolling about for a bit to find an ATM to get Nepali money, we grabbed a very tasty lunch (at the Open House restaurant overlooking the main street), and then got a local bus for ther 15km ride to the town of Tadi Bazaar. As it happened this bus broke down after about 5km, with everyone just getting off and standing by the side of the road trying to flag down another passing bus. We only had to wait a couple of minutes until another bus came along, although of course it was full, and so we had to clamber up onto the roof.


Luckily it was only a short journey, and so it was actually quite good fun (the only other time I've ridden on the roof of a bus was in Nepal too, 10 years ago with Hanno). So getting dropped off at Tadi bazaar we had then to get the last 6km to the town of Sauhara. Given the strieks that day, there was only one guy with a horse carriage, and he was looking for a hefty fee. Not having any of that nonsense of course we resigned ourselves to a good hour-long hike, but after walking for about 1 minute down the road a big bus stops right n front of us, with a gang of Western backpackers sitting on the roof. We clamber on top and off we go to Sauhara.

We weren't long along the way when boh myslef and Sarah get well clattered on the head by overhanging cables (power, TV or whatever). I was OK, but Sarah seemed to get hit a gogod bit harder, and her hat was knocked off her head (and lost to the road). We got chatting to an English girl beside who told us their bus had broken down enroute frmo Katmandu, and they'd had to pick up this bus, which had been full, which was why they were on the roof. We were lucky to only have to ride this bus for 6km, and within about 15 minutes we arrived at the bus stand, which was just a patch of ground in the middle of nowhere really (although nobody asked us for any fare).

But there were a hoard of touts awaiting us, and as soon as we stepped off the bus they started hounding us. The problem with the touts is that you simply can't trust them - they say they bring you for free to their place to just have a look, and then you can look elsewhere. But they can apply a lot of pressure, charge a huge taxi fare if you choose not to stay in their place, and importantly you have no idea where their place is - it could be in the middle of nowhere.

So ignoring the tuots, and because we were going to walk the whole 6km anyway, we just strolled to the village ourselves. It turned out to be just a 10 minute walk, and I very quickly found a great comfortable place near the village centre, Park View Lodge.