Basketball at Midnight

I have returned to the foothills of the Himalayas, this time in Nepal.  Some of the highest peaks in the world (the Annapurna Range) loom over Pokhara, the current city, and waking up on the roof of the night bus to see the sun rising against them was fairly amazing.

On the roof, yes- that is what I said.  Nicky (the same Nicky, in fact, from Rishkikesh) has decided to journey with me into Nepal.  She had been working on an academic paper for a course she is taking in Australia for the time I knew her in Rishikesh (new light on distance learning).  She finished it at the same time that I was planning where to go from Rishkiesh, and so I invited her along.  And she said yes.

So we went that day by overnight bus to Delhi, then took an AC night train to the nearest station to the Nepalese border, took a bus to the border, and then took a bus to Lumbini, the birthplace of the Buddha.  At this point we had been traveling for nearly 48 hours, and so we stayed the next day in Lumbini and then took a night bus to Pokhara, where we are now.   Although it is in Nepal, Lumbini is on the plains, is sweltering hot, and has no view of the Himalayas.

On the 20 km ride from Lumbini to the next major town (for the night bus), the bus guy said, “Bus full.  Ride on top?”  At fisrt we said “No!” He said it was ok, we could go in the bus, but I realized that meant standing in the aisle… in a sweltering bus….. that’s often not well ventilated to start with…..  I suggested that we go to the top of the bus since it was only a short ride; we did, and it was fantastic.  The breeze (at 40 km/hr) was more than enough to keep us cool, we could stretch out our legs, and see much more of the view.  It was a win on all aspects except that we didn’t get a discount .

So when we were getting ready to board the night bus (and we paid for specific seats), we asked if we could start out on top and go down when we were cold or tired.  It was nearly sunset, and so we figured it would be a beautiful way to start the ride.  We were trendsetters, and three other tourists jumped up after us.  After several hours, one of the tourists went underneath, only to come back up an hour later.  He said that the bus was packed and uncomfortable, and the top was much nicer.  As it got colder, we took out warmer clothing and curled up under a sleeping bag, and watched the silhouettes of mountains and trees, illuminated by the near-full moon.

As I mentioned, the last hour of the ride happend while sunrise illuminated the Annapurna Range in the distance.  What could be more fantastic?