Today we were moving to Chitwan, where there is a national part; we have booked a few days there at what we hope is a relatively luxurious hotel, with various outings planned to see tigers, rhino, etc. Partly it is to give us both some r and r after the rigours of the trail, partly it is to give both if us a chance to tackle some paperwork (this blog for me, now seriously out of date, since my computer was necessarily left behind when we went trekking, and partly to take advantage of the long holiday to do some additional sight-seeing. We were travelling by bus, though it was supposed to be a modern, relatively comfortable affair, so we were hoping it would not prove too arduous.
Val and I have a seriously different approach when it comes to such things; it is something of a miracle it has never caused us ay massive disagreements (or rows, I suppose) but there is always some tension. Following my mother, I always want to be embarking on such a trip leaving plenty of time; following hers, Val tries to pack as much in as possible, which always means cutting things fine (in my estimation at least.) I recall reading a Roald Dahl short story, describing a couple with a similar difference between them; it is the woman in this case who is convinced her husband deliberately tortures her by finding ways to delay their departure. In that case, she contrives to leave him behind; more he is locked in in some way, and as she is off for two weeks, this means his inevitable demise.
Which is all a very long=winded way of saying that Val had to complete some last-minute task which made us leave twenty minutes later than I wanted. The bus station was not far away, but it was packed with coaches, with no obvious way of finding out which was the one Aparna had arranged for us to go on. And I would have preferred having those twenty minutes available; I was starting (as is my wont) to get irritable and edgy. All was well, of course. We rang Aparna, she rang the guy n charge of our bus, and he found us.
The bus was reasonably comfortable: soft enough seats, enough leg-room. We were due to set off at 2.30; unsurprisingly, that did not happen. But it was not just a case of leaving; we did appear to leave about twenty minutes late, and then we stopped. More people got on, some others got off, we would move another short distance, and the same thing would happen again; it would appear that, despite this being a supposed luxury bus, it was working much like a shared tuk tuk, trying to maximise our capacity (and then over-maximise it, with a small gaggle of people occupying the front, driver’s section, and, later, two people on small wicker stools in the aisle.) So it was gone four by the time we finally recognised we were leaving Dhangadhi.
The seats were all reclining (with a certain amount of force required with the levers), but it came as something of a shock when the seat in front suddenly shot back, very nearly into Val’s lap. I suppose it was all fine, provided pretty much everyone decided to recline their seats at the same time (I know that similar, though not as extreme circumstances, can cause arguments, fights, whatever on planes. But we managed (without any arguments, fights, whatever.)
As time went on, we made the assumption that we would not be having a meal break (there had already been one short pause when virtually all the male passengers got off for a pee at the roadside.) So it was a surprise when, at ten o’clock, we pulled in at the equivalent of a motorway services (though considerably more rough and ready.) Val was pretty much the only one to remain on the bus; I got off to stretch my legs and check it out. There were about a dozen buses there, so I was careful to make sure I knew which was ours.
There were two separate food outlets, and I immediately ruled out the one offering the standard dhal baht dish. The other was more of a fast food sort of arrangement, but it was utterly chaotic; even when the immediate press died down, (and it really was like pigs at a trough, with no even vague semblance of a queue), it was only when a lady from the bus recognised my confusion and showed me what to do that I was able to buy a portion of momos. Despite the fact that we had equipped ourselves pretty well with provisions, I found them very welcome.
And then it was back on the bus. The road was dreadful, throwing us about from side to side; I think it is in any case a pretty bad road, and the recent floods have made things much worse. Despite this, Val was able to get some sleep, but I always find it so difficult to sleep on any form of transport, and I could not even manage to read. It was a long night.
