Bouncing into Heaven

Once again, the alarm was set for an ungodly hour to make it to the bus station for the trip to Chitwan.

My ticket said 6:45am and you needed to be there 30mins earlier, so I turned up at 6:15am, only to discover that apparently the time on the ticket was my arrival time, not the bus departure time. I could have had a whole extra hour of sleep!

A man directed me to my bus and helped me put my bags in the storage compartment, then showed me where I could get a drink and bite to eat ahead of the long trip.

At the new boarding time, I walked back over to the bus and felt concern that there was no one around the bus. I found the man who had helped me previously to ask what was happening. He went and spoke to someone else to come back with the news that my bus was not running today!

I know things are pretty loose in Nepal, but I couldn’t stop staring at him in shock. What the hell was I supposed to do now?

The man kept talking to these other guys and then they came over and said I could go on their bus, but I needed to pay and kept pointing me to a van.

I was trying to argue that I had already paid for a ticket, but eventually they were able to communicate that I wasn’t paying for a new bus ticket, but a transfer over to where the other bus was departing from. When I asked what time it was leaving, he said 7:20am (it was currently 7:33am). When I pointed this out to him, he told me it was no problem, the bus was waiting for me as it was his bus.

10mins later, my bags were on another bus and I was sitting in the very last seat in the back row, the worst position for feeling every single bump of roadworks. At least I was on my way though.

I will never however, take issue with roadworks at home ever again.

Unlike Kathmandu to Pokhara where I had no idea of the distance between the two locations, this time, I did. I would be travelling a grand total of 140kms.

The stressful start to my trip and being tired did not help, but the persistent bouncing in my seat where I would regularly be thrown upwards and come back down hard was putting me completely on edge and I was feeling miserable.

An hour in, I was cursing myself for not thinking about flying and was looking up flights from Chitwan back to Kathmandu because I couldn’t do any more of these trips.

Two hours in, we had only travelled 40kms and I was so irritable, I couldn’t contain the curse words coming out of my mouth at each hard jolt every few minutes.

I marvelled at the utter patience of the Nepali people. They have been left with these appalling roads in some places for up to two years and primarily due to Govt corruption, yet they appear oblivious to it, or are completely accepting of it and smile anyway.

I tried to channel a bit of the Nepali spirit, but in five hours, we had only gone 90kms and my kidneys felt liquefied from the constant bouncing.

It was around this time that we came to a complete halt and sat on the road for 20mins. I discovered later it was due to a protest on our route. I actually didn’t care about the delay. It was a relief to have a break from being thrown around.

Not long after this, the roads miraculously became smooth and we picked up speed as the bus driver threw the bus around curves like we were on a straight highway. I genuinely didn’t care either if it meant I could be off the bus sooner. It had now been six hours and we had only gone 115kms.

My accommodation had advised me to get off at Bharatpur Airport rather than at the end of the line in Sauraha, otherwise I would be doubling back.

After seven hours, I was watching this destination coming up closer on google maps. The problem was, when I was expecting the bus to turn right, it turned left and as soon as it turned, one of the drivers came up and told me this was my stop.

I stepped off onto a dusty corner with chickens, goats and dogs running everywhere, rickshaws, motorbikes and cars hurtling towards me and people yelling, and I felt completely overwhelmed. I had no idea where I was and the InDrive App (the Nepali equivalent of Uber) was struggling to find a driver and I couldn’t find anyone who spoke enough English to explain to the multitude of rickshaw drivers harassing me that I did not want to go to the airport.

I finally found a driver, found someone to speak to the driver to explain where I was to pick me up and got on my way to my next destination – Barahi Jungle Lodge.

I first though, needed an ATM and after ATM’s being a dime a dozen in Pokhara, it was a bit of a shock to the system to not experience the same on the way to my accommodation. When we had travelled 30mins without going past one, I knew I needed google maps and found the one and only ATM en route to the accommodation.

We were travelling in a completely rural landscape, with minimal shops and ramshackle homes and I wondered numerous times where on earth I was going.

It turned out, after being in hell with the bus trip, I had stepped into heaven. I had read the service of the staff was exceptional, but this does not come remotely close to describing how phenomenal Barahi Jungle Lodge is.

On arrival, I was greeted in a welcome hut and given lemongrass water (A-Mazing!) and a cold towel to cool down and refresh myself. I was introduced to various staff and told if I needed anything, I just had to ask.

After this, we walked down jungle trails to reception. Recognising how long my trip had been and the likelihood I hadn’t eaten, despite being 3pm, they opened the kitchen for me and cooked an amazing grilled fish dish.

I was offered a ride to my room as it apparently was far from reception, but I was happy to walk after eights hours of sitting on a bus. Besides, according to my watch, I had walked 11,000 steps, despite being on a bus all day, which gives a small indication of how bumpy the trip was.

My room was a cute little mushroom shaped building which opened up into a safari style room with unique decorating. It also smelt wonderful as I walked in and I knew it was going to be a wonderful stay.

I took the time to relax and unwind from the day and felt it all melting away.

I freshened up and made my way down to the central complex for tonight’s cultural show by the Kumal people. I happened to be an hour early, so thought this would be a nice time to enjoy a cocktail by the magical looking pool, all lit up by lanterns.

The cultural show was fascinating to watch, and again, showed the level of attention the staff provide. There was a large conference at the lodge and they were talking through the show. I moved to the side so I could see and be away from the noise. The staff immediately picked up a table and chair and brought them over to me so I could watch the show in comfort.

They also served me dinner in a private room to avoid the noise that was building from the conference attendees.

I had chosen this accommodation after reading how eco friendly they were. As I walked back to my room feeling content, I was incredibly grateful I was here.