Tomorrow I’m taking the bus to Lumbini, the birth place of Siddharta Gautama de Buddha. The Buddha. It’s a city all the way south of Nepal and after checking it all the way out, I’ll make my way across the border, to India.
Yes, my visa got approved. Instead of what I was hoping for, to have taken the bus towards Lumbini yesterday morning after receiving my visa, I had to turn my passport in, to come get it with visa and stamps the next day, today, at 5pm… So 2 extra Kathmandu days. I’ve been walking around in town, eating peanutbutter and banana bread slices, an unbelievably amazing combination, and also supermarket stuff instead of restaurant stuff, my wallet’s gracefulness was unseen.
I had also asked for a multiple entry 6 month visa, what I read online to be the most commonly asked for. Instead, me and apparently everyone getting the visa from Nepal, got a single entry 3 month visa.
Life has a tendency to throw all expectations right back in the face!
Aah, the Lumbini bus leaves at the unfortunately early 7 ‘o clock mark. Which means I’m getting up at 5.30 for a nice and fresh morning walk!
Of course that’s when sleeplessness strikes.
But as I try to just listen to the body, I will not fight the sleeplessness and will just enjoy being awake. Yes, even if the light from my mobile phone attracts all the insects and living crawlers in the vicinity…
I’ve been wondering a bit, how to live the life and what things to strive for. I think the travel like this has always been a deep longing from within, and so I’m really glad I’m following that. On a side note, I think I’d recommend this to anyone. At least, diving into the unknown in some way, it’s great! Yes, very scary, but great. And so educating, straight from yourself, conclusions, deductions, insights and more.
Hmm… I think in whatever situation one is thrown, he’ll find an answer, work with the things one can. And therefor worries need not to be made, as long as one stays truthful to one’s deepest longings and strives towards them.
It’s weird to see how, in a crisis situation, your whole mind, body and system works perfectly together to find a solution. All the right info pops up in the berserking mind, at the right moment, body’s reflexes are sharper than ever seen, suddenly there are just more reflexes, emotions force the wanted state to resolve a goal fixated upon.
It’s weird to see, but nonetheless very nice. And I think we can trust in that system. The more of an emergency the situation is, the sharper and more coherent the human system becomes.
Now all there is to do is to make every waking moment an emergency situation!
Well, these contemplations came after considering some futures. I’m not sure if I belong to the ‘traveler’ category already, but I’ve seen some interesting ones, with interesting life ideas and -styles.
Some just go for years, as in, 5 or more years. Some just do it permanently. Some go for many months or a few years and they will go back home for a while -but where is home anyway?-. Some go back and forth between home and not home, job and traveling.
I wonder what type I’ll turn out to be..
Aah, a slightly longer time than 6 hours before waking time.
The monsoon might have washed away a road or 2, we’ll have to see about that.
And the tourist season should be at the lowest in India. Here, I barely see Western people now. Well, I still see quite a few, but not 80% of the people I see are non-Nepalese. So I wonder how this will correlate with the craziness in India… Probably not much!
I wonder what I’m looking for over there, and what I’ll find.
The next day. I’m currently on the bus as the only passenger, kind of exhausted by lying awake for several more hours, and waking up around 4 ‘o clock at night for no reason at all.
I bought some kind of candy, and definitely got what I asked for when I asked ‘do you have a bit spicy?’. It’s some substance drained in spices. You could just as well lick the spices from a piece of paper, same effect. Only the ‘paper’/candy is edible. It tastes quite allright though, I like it, even though I’m doubting if the ashes of my once burning mouth can still taste anything.
The bus should get going in about 5 minutes, as I hope I’ll be able to stay awake to catch some scenery of the part of Nepal I haven’t seen yet. A nice and hopefully easy 7 to 8 hour bus ride.
It feels kind of nice to have a bus as taxi. It’s pretty big. The bus boy told me though that more will join on the way. Fortunately, as I think it would be a waste to drive 7 hours with a bus with one passenger. And a cancelled bus would be awful, I’ve stayed in this area for more than enough.
I’m really glad that I have the bread and peanutbutter banana fest with me, the food on the way to Pokhara, in the few places where the bus stops, was ridiculously expensive. I’m talking 4000m high up in the mountains rate. Sigh, tourist prices…
A local has been talking to me about how it’s becoming a real problem, where the tourists don’t care how much they pay for stuff lile fruits and vegetables, calculating with home currency, and therefor the fruit and vegetable prices, as well as groceries and clothing, start going up, mercilessly indifferent to the locals!
Vendors sell at twice the rates of the maximum retail price, as locals have a hard time paying this amount, therefor they have to sell higher prices themselves et voila, a spiral.
Now, after just 25 minutes of Kathmandu cruising, the bus is taking a 30 min break, to find more people. Yeah, they probably won’t go if I’m the only passenger.
What’s funny about these buses, is if you get on them from the start, there’s no doubt about where you’re going. The ticket checker or general bus driver boy, hangs out the sometimes existant front door, and shouts the bus destination into every single passenger’s face. ‘Bhairawa Lumbini! Bhairawa Bhairawa, Lumbini Lumbini! Bhairawa! Lumbini!
Any doubts of being on the wrong bus immediately evaporate. It’s a nice way of getting more passengers, and they are on the bus anyway. Works like a charm.
Looks like some people at least are getting on this bus, nice.
I wonder how I’ll do Lumbini, since people told me the many temples there can be multiple kilometers apart. Maybe I’ll try to rent a bicycle.
Content is shortening, fatigue is hitting… I think I’ll conclude this writing that was once a sleeplessness midnight activity.
Yes, I still need to write about my second month, and I will, at some point…
For now, dear Reader, bear with what is soon to be an inchronologicality, but still currently follows the timeline correctly. Prepare yourselves.
New chapters are about to unfold, as is always and for everyone the case.
Ps: the bus got filled all the way, me being the sole non-Nepalese person, awesome.
Posted from my phone, apologies for typing mistakes – Happy reading!