Attempt no 1: booked seat on tourist bus departing Pokara for the border
\n at 6.30 am last Sat 24 Mar. Woke at 3 am with violent diarrhoea and vomiting
\n so no way could I even leave the hotel, so attempt no 1 aborted. <\/p>\n
Attempt no 2: felt better on Sunday so booked seat on tourist bus leaving
\n 6.30 am Monday as last time. No bus at 6.30 as only 60% full, but we were
\n not told this until the 7.30 bus arrived which was only 60% full. Result
\n 120% people for 100% seats, but I had a seat and I wasn’t moving for anybody.\n <\/p>\n
Ensuing argument caused an hours delay, so effectively I was 2 hours
\n late. The bus left at 8.30 with everybody frazzled. One hour out of Pokara,
\n the driver attempted to overtake another vehicle on a narrow road, the
\n offside wheels dug into the soft verge and the driver lost control. <\/p>\n
The bus rolled sideways down a 30 metre embankment, turning over three
\n times, and ended up sideways in a river. My side was in the water, and
\n I was up to my neck in water. My first instinct was to get out as I didn’t
\n know how deep the river was, and as I was opposite the door this was fairly
\n easy. Then others and myself not injured helped the rest get out and up
\n the embankment. Incredibly only four were injured, and only one could
\n have been other than broken limbs (since found out it was internal injury
\n to the liver with internal bleeding). The local villagers were great in
\n helping us get people to the top of the bank and rescuing our waterlogged
\n luggage. I was not injured except for bruises and scratches all over.
\n But all my belongings were under water for some time, so all books (including
\n LP guides), papers, photos, etc. were a mess, and everything was totally
\n wet. I lost my distance glasses and a pair of reading glasses, and of
\n course my camera, plus a few other comparatively minor items. Looking
\n back, we were incredibly lucky, as there were banana trees growing on
\n the bank that broke the fall of the bus, and the bank was only 30 metres
\n high. The road winds through the mountains, with some vertical drops of
\n 100’s of metres. After the police had arrived and the ambulances had departed,
\n I got a local bus back to the hotel in Pokara, to get all my clothes laundered
\n and clean up myself. <\/p>\n
Attempt no 3. After enquiring about flying and finding out the cost
\n and little saving in time, I booked on a local express (i.e. limited stops)
\n bus departing 9.30 am on Tuesday. The travel agent put me in a taxi and
\n told the driver where to go, but somehow I was put down in the wrong place
\n to catch the bus, which left without me! <\/p>\n
Attempt no 4. Back to the travel agent, who personally conducted me
\n to and put me on the next bus at 11 am, and so I left Pokara eventually.
\n The journey to the border was good and getting through Nepali and Indian
\n Immigration was easy and quick. The trip on the Indian bus from the border
\n to Ghoraphur railway station was like all trips on Indian buses – a rattling
\n boneshaker, radio full blast with Indian music, the man next to me raving
\n on about how India had beaten Australia in the cricket etc. So to Ghorakphur,
\n where I managed to get a second class sleeper to Delhi on the train leaving
\n at midnight. But the train was 2 hours late, so I sat on my backpack on
\n the platform with two other travellers until the train arrived at 2 am.
\n Train eventually arrived in Delhi 5 hours late at 7 pm Wednesday night.
\n All a bit of a test of stamina, but then that’s Asia. <\/p>\n
Next month: Tibet and how Harry Potter<\/strong> caused a stir If you would like to get in touch with David, who is currently Attempt no 1: booked seat on tourist bus departing Pokara for the border at 6.30 am last Sat 24 Mar. Woke at 3 am with violent diarrhoea and vomiting so…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"css_class_manager_body_classes":"","css_class_manager_use_in_post_loop":false},"categories":[2,3],"tags":[62],"class_list":["post-166","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-archive","category-main-article","tag-october-2001"],"yoast_head":"\n
\n at the Indian\/Nepal border by Kevin Brackley! Also, part 2 of David’s
\n adventure to be continued. <\/p>\n
\n studying Italian in Perugia and has several other stories we will be including
\n in future editions of the E-Newsletter, please contact Beetle<\/a><\/i><\/b>@globetrotters.co.uk<\/i><\/b><\/a>\n <\/p>\n
\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"