Monday, May 3, 2010

Getting to India...











Getting to India was quite the adventure! We arrived at the airport in Nepal no problem but after that, everything went downhill. We had to wait in the airport (which was very very very small) for a couple of hours, then we loaded a very crowded bus to bring us out to the airplane. Once we got off if the bus, we had to wait on the tarmac for a while so they could decide if we could board the plane or not. Once we were on the plane, we had to wait for another 2 hours before we could take off since the President of Nepal was flying in and he had control of the airspace. Once we took off, the plane stunk! It was very small and had no bathroom! We looked for Mount Everest though (sometimes you can see it from the air) but it was too cloudy. When we landed in Southern Nepal, we hopped into a cab to be brought to the border. We cleared Nepali customs then took a rickshaw over the bridge to India. We cleared Indian customs but could not go anywhere because there were strikes going on and no vehicles were allowed to operate. We waited on the concrete in front of the Raniganj, India customs office for 6 hours until the strikes stopped. Somehow, Shawn's dad managed to get us a bus that was going to take us to another town to meet a car that he arranged to pick us up. We boarded the bus and as we drove through towns crowded with people trying to get rides, we just kept on driving. People were trying to jump on our bus and were running and waving trying to get us to stop. We did not though (we were on a tourist bus and they only allow tourists to get on.) When we met up with our taxi, we smooshed 9 people in it for a 3 hour drive. It was curvy and everyone felt car sick. I took a dramamine though and slept through the whole thing. Shawn's dad also managed to get us a hotel room that night (everything was closed at this point) and that was quite the experience as well. The bed was very dirty and had cigarette burns in it. The walls had what looked like puke on them and the bathroom sink drained right onto the floor! It was a bed though and we were happy to finally be there- and we were happy to be with Shawn's family! Oh ya..and there are no toilets in India. They are all squatty potties and there is no toilet paper...YIKES!

2 comments:

  1. What an experience you are having. I'm sure the heat is just about unbearable there too through all your waiting. Do you feel like Dorothy? "There's no place like home"

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  2. What a mess...So did you bring toilet paper with you? I think I would figure something out for that situation...

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