Up at 6 to pack and then to meet our driver at 7. Hiring a car is the fastest and easiest way to get to the Nepalese boarder from Varanasi. I would not have traveled this way on my own but Johnnie does "not do public transport". I was happy to grab a lift with him as he would be traveling this way on his own anyway :-)
After a very uncomfortable and bumpy few hours getting out of Varanasi (where I tried and failed to have a nap), we stopped for breakfast at an Indian road side cafe. Dal fry and veg curry with chapati. My last meal in India. I am happy to leave India now and explore a new country....I then checked the GPS on my phone to see how far we had traveled. I wished that I had been more awake first thing in the morning as I realised that we had traveled a different direction out of Varanasi than I than I thought we would and it became clear that the driver was going to the boarder straight North of Varanasi rather than North-East of the city as I had originally agreed with the company. The route to the boarder North-East of Varanasi takes a major 2 lane national highway for a significant proportion of the journey where as the road straight North is on state highways and much slower (although no significant difference in the distance and as we were paying per km it should not have mattered to the company). No wonder the quality of the roads had been so bad for the first few hours. To add to this our drivers seemed to be on something. He was muttering to himself all the time, his pupils were all dilated, he constantly beeped his horn and used the break/accelerator as on/off switches. We had actually been looking forward to the idea of a road trip through the Indian countryside to the boarder. However, with these roads and the quality of the driving it was not fun. The countryside was also really flat and boring.
I said we wanted to go to a National Highway and the driver said we would get to one in about 1 hour. From this point on I checked the route that he was taking on the GPS. Unfortunately, just as we were about to get on the highway we had to turn back as there was a huge traffic jam after an accident. It took the driver another couple of hours to then get us on to the National Highway. It turned out that this particular National Highway (to the Norther boarder crossing) was not actually very much better than the State Highways, however, it was mainly the horrendous driving that made the journey quite so uncomfortable rather than the roads themselves. I was actually very glad to finish the journey without a traffic accident....
We did not get to the boarder until 4 (we should have been there by about 1) - by which time we were both knackered and car sick. It then took about an hour or so to cross the boarder. I already had a visa (that I had obtained in New Zealand) but it would have been very easy for me just to get one at the boarder). Neither of us really felt like pushing on to Kathmandu at this point and so we phoned our hotel in Kathmandu to ask if we could check in tomorrow instead of today. It was fine and so the pressure was off. This picture is of the boarder (rather busy).
The day then improved significantly after crossing the boarder. I was all excited about being in a new country. I find the idea of putting bike and panniers on a cycle rickshaw very ironic and funny and I had wanted to do it for ages. However, I had not had the guts to do this on my own in India (especially as I don't think that the Indians would get the irony of it). With a friend there to support me I felt comfortable to be my normal silly self..... We hired 2 cycle rickshaws to go from the border 2km to the next town to check into a hotel. I put my bike on the back of one of the rickshaws with all of my panniers and then had a ride as a passenger for a bit, giggling all the way. I then swapped with the driver and he sat as the passenger while I rode the cycle rickshaw with the driver, my bike and all of my bags in the back. The rickshaw was really difficult to handle in comparison to my bike.The Nepalese people we passed did seem to get the joke and were laughing on the side of the road. I think that the bicycle rickshaw drivers just thought we were a bit odd though. I had sooooo much fun!
It took us a while to drive round town with all of our stuff before we found a suitable lodge. The main nice hotel in town (that was also extremely reasonable) was fully booked and many of the other places wanted silly money for really shitty accommodation. We ended up checking into the Everest Hotel which was the best of a bad bunch. We had a wander round town to explore and also to arrange transport to Kathmandu tomorrow. We got a good deal to go in a big jeep for the same price as a little taxi would have been.
It was very strange to notice how the people and the feel of the place changed as soon as we crossed the boarder. The women where wearing shorts and t-shirts. Some women were wearing Indian clothing but there was a definite mixture. The street food was also totally different to the Indian street food. We did not really feel like a big meal and so sat and had noodles and beer at a little street stall. It was really tasty.A rubbish day but a fun evening. India TICK.... I'm in Nepal now :-)
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