Sleeping in for the first time in a while, we didn’t get up until 9am! We wanted to go to Lumbini tomorrow, but we soon found out that there were actually no tourist buses (Note: In Nepal, there are different ‘types’ of buses, and tourist buses are the most comfortable and reliable. Local buses are more frequent, but are jammed pack with people in the aisles and the seats are very worn, and the windows rattle themselves open after a few bumps on the road) heading to Lumbini. So, we changed our plans and decided to pack up and go to Lumbini today.
Lumbini: This city is generally accepted as the birth place of Sautama Buddha, and hence a religiously significant location for Buddhists. It’s an interesting centre for tourists and a good cultural site to visit.
At the bus station, we got a hand-written ticket at the booth for a bus to Lumbini. The land transport system in Nepal is strange and chaotic, as across the street tucked behind a row of shops, another bus station exists!! Our friend, wanting to go halfway to Lumbini to the town of Tancen, went to the other bus station and took another bus which was headed to Bhairawa, a transfer city for buses to Lumbini. We asked several times to confirm that, their bus goes to Bhairawa and not Lumbini. A bit confused at the whole bus situation, we went back to our bus station attendant to triple confirm that our bus was, indeed going to Lumbini and not Bhairawa…… he lied.
After a few hours on the bus, a local struck up a conversation with us, and we found out that our bus wasn’t headed for Lumbini, but actually Bhairawa!!! Those fuckers lied. WHO THE FUCK AT A BUS STATION LIES. When we showed the local our ticket, he even said, “Yup, your ticket says from Pokhara → Bhairawa. And you paid 1000Rs”. He said it with some sort of surprise, giving us the feeling that we probably overpaid for the incorrect ticket, too. If we had a choice, we’d definitely take another form of transport, but there isn’t any.
With no other choice, we ended up in Bhairawa. We aren’t too annoyed at being in the city, but we just feel so gypped. Another problem was, for some extremely strange reason, this place is SO expensive. We checked a few hotels, and all rooms were horribly ventilated as they can’t open windows due to the massive amount of insects, and they were ALL pricier than most places we’ve been in Nepal. THIS PLACE HAS NOTHING! WHY!?!?
Finally checking into one of the more expensive hotels, this place installed screens on their windows so we can actually get some air. Wow, smart move to make them so much more money. Being late, there was nothing open but the hotel manager was nice and ordered the kitchen to make us some chicken chow mein. We finished our meal 15mins after they closed up shop, and can’t wait to GTFO tomorrow.
What kind of bus attendant lies, man…..
hunting for a cab in Pokhara
Join us as we set sail around South America 