Maldah to Kolkata

The drive from Siliguri to Maldah was the longest day on the bus and
traveling in the dark on Indian roads is not to be recommended. Lots
of tea plantations along the way and a crossing of the Ganges via a
long bridge that looked way past its best gave us a bumpy ride.
David picked up yet another cold on the journey to Kolkata where we took a
couple of taxi rides to get dinner (McDonalds of all places!), but on
the way back our driver was vexed as he didn't know where he was
going and ended up with in an argument with a traffic cop and had his
number taken down to add to his stress. Mixed hotels for our last
two nights in India, but it's on to Bangkok tomorrow and upon arrival
- after several months of traveling together Helen & David go
their separate ways...

Siliguri

Helen wakes up to the present of no water AT ALL in the bedroom to shower in this morning, but whilst on the hunt to find out why, Isabelle offers the shower in her room for the two of us to use whilst she takes breakfast. Mid morning along the route Helen also gets the gift of being able to pee in the jungle before we leave Nepal for our return into India. Which for some was a more eventful experience as a snake was spotted! However, the Birthday fun didn't stop there as the last pee stop in Nepal involved the smelliest and worst toilet of the trip to date! It was a longer day than expected on the bus and although the scenery is less dramatic than yesterday, we do see the huge and currently empty river beds that must carry an immense amount of water down from the snowy mountains every thaw in the Spring. We travel across many bridges over near-empty river beds being dredged for precious resources and see many buildings on stilts built next to the flood plain. We do continue to see paddy fields and notice tea bushes before we reach the border at dusk. The Nepal exit is straightforward, but the India entry involves an hour long wait on the bus on the bridge before filling out more forms to re-enter India, with the odd firework being set off (in celebration of the Birthday girl we think!) It's now dark as we are on Oz Bus #6 and travel towards the hotel, but we are entertained by fireflies at the side of the road and into the fields. At the hotel, the restaurant looks full so a few of us go next door for dinner, but when we return to the hotel there's still a table full of Oz bussers in the restaurant. As we sit and have a drink, Isabelle has found some 'HAPPY BIRTHDAY' candles and stuck them in a bowl of rice and leads the group over to sing a chorus to Helen...a very sweet gesture at the end of a very long and not so good day.

Hetauda

As we climb out of Kathmandu we drive past a number of chimneys for brickworks that we were unable to see on our arrival into the City at dusk a few days ago. It's not long before we start a day of truly spectacular views of the Himalayan range. Probably our best views of the whole trip! We stop for lunch at around 2pm and are unusually, but gratefully, issued with packed lunches and again the most impressive lunchtime view of the whole trip looking back across the terraced valley to snow-capped mountains in the very distance. In the evening we arrive at the Orchid Motel and Helen remarks upon it's mental institution like architectural qualities whilst Rick reminisces about Stephen Kings 'The Shining' starring Jack Nicholson.

Kathmandu

A long day on the bus to Kathmandu and we arrive in the valley as dusk is falling to glimpse how vast the City is. Whilst here, we spend a whole morning going through the process that is getting our re-entry visas into India and eventually leave without our passports – but it is arranged for Lana to pick them up later that day. When they come back our passports have an endorsement in them.
We also visit Durbar Squares in both the centre of Kathmandu and at Patan and just arrive (thankfully) too late at Patan for the sacrifice of a buffalo to celebrate the Dashain festival. We see part of the traditional dance ceremony afterwards and notice the disemboweling of the animal within the builing. At the monkey temple, the quantity of peace flags in strewn across the sky is staggering and the monkeys gladly behave themselves during our visit. We also see what appears to be constant throwing of whitewash over the Boudhanath Stupa during our stay. On our final night in Kathmandu it's an (expanded) group meal as we say hello to four more Oz Buzzers, but 'bye to Barry who leaves the trip here to start another adventure in India as he re-lives his hippy trail.

Pokhara

On our way to Pokhara we take a slight detour to the home of the parents of our guide in Nepal. This was to welcome us to Nepal, their home and the Dashain festival and the whole group were treated to food, drink and given the opportunity for a traditional blessing that involved the placing of red-dyed rice on our foreheads and flowers placed in our hair. On our way through the spectacular scenery we see swing bridges and pulley-operated suspended cages to cross the river. The roads in the mountains are somewhat poorer in terms of quality and quite narrow in a lot of places.
At Pokhara, amongst some of the activities we take a pulley operated pontoon ride to a luxury hotel for the afternoon, and one evening go to a local 'open mike' bar where Matt and Allen have the opportunity to play guitar and sing a couple of songs and Becky and Laura keenly assist on backing vocals. Unfortunately they're initially joined by a manic drummer and a very enthusiastic flautist. A Israel guy also suggests that a girl in his group should get up to sing as when we hear her, it will be cause us all to give birth – predictably the experience is more painful than that. It's a late night and the following morning there aren't too many of the group who make it up to Sedi Bagar to see the morning sunrise, which is a shame, because it's beautiful. Later in the day we take a four to five hour trek up to the World Peace Pagoda on top of an opposing peak, overlooking Lake Pokhara – and to think that David used to drive past the one in Milton Keynes most days for a few years. As part of the journey we end up on another dug-out boat across the lake on the way back on what appears to be a very unsteady vessel. On a sobering note, later in the day we learn that tragically the day before an English traveler lost his life by falling in and disappearing into the water.

Chitwan

When we arrive in Chitwan our accommodation is changed by the resort manager and the group is split over two sites. This results in some of the meals being served at the other resort and we are bussed to a dinner and breakfast (despite each site offering almost exactly the same food). We also meet a new Oz Busser, Karen who is one of several folks who will be joining us in Nepal. One morning in Chitwan, we take a 'dug out' canoe ride down the river before beginning a 'jungle' walk experience. On the way down it's very peaceful and several kingfishers and other birds are pointed out to us along the way. Allegedly, a couple of the other boats see a crocodile, not just in the water, but it rears up out of the water (no one manages to get a photo though – sorry Tim). Just before we get out of the boats it starts to rain and as we trudge to the edge of the jungle we are given instructions on what to do if we come across rhino, bears, etc and there is a slight mention that as it's raining leeches might be a problem (LEECHES!?!, thinks David). The guide stops a short way in and says there's a deer nearby (all David can think is leeches), then he says he's spotted a rhino – some people in our group apparently see the ears (leeches). Then we are told to run the way we came (leeches) and then to hide behind a tree (leeches), then we are walking back towards where the threat of the rhino was (leeches) – it seems to be quite a rouse for the guides. Then we see leeches (LEECHES!). Eventually of course we find we've been walking around in circles and have met up with one of the other groups we've been split into - still looking on the ground and thinking about leeches – Karen the newest Oz Busser has taken one in the stomach! We finally get to exit the jungle after over an hour, but there are no boats to meet us to take us to the other side of the river. This means everyone walks knee deep or higher through the current, past a couple of rhinos that were supposed to have been so dangerous in the jungle about an hour ago (oo, and what about that croc?). Back at the accommodation, David unzips the lower leggings of his trousers in trepidation of what he might find. Straight away there's a leech attached to his shin through his sock, which is eventually flicked to the other side of the resort. Then the other leg, and there's a trail of blood where a leech must have attached some time ago as he remembers knocking his leg when there was an itch there, but he'd so hoped it was just psychological at the time. After a long cold shower and lunch we are back in the jungle but thankfully a couple of metres off the ground on the back of an elephant but still on 'L' patrol (David is eventually banned from using the L word for a couple of days). We see a couple more rhino (mother and baby), together with deer and monkeys, but no crocs as we cross the river, this time without getting thoroughly soaked.