The Road to Delhi – Part 2 Chitwan to Bardia

After our extra day of relaxation and a few games of 5000 and Yam – since the first part Kia told me that in the UK Yam is known as Yahtzee – with Geo and Agathe we were back on the road. As usual the Gorkha Hamlet Resort organised our departure – it was part of the package – and off course we rushed off to catch our bus. Geo and Agathe left on the same day as us and on the same bus but with a different destination. They were heading to Varanasi via Sunauli – the reverse of what we did to arrive in Nepal – Unfortunately the bus was not the best place for games of dices. Our destination for today was Butwal, a junction between the North, South, East & West, a stop over on our way to the Bardia National Park. Bardia National Park is described as ‘Chitwan before the influx of tourist’. We thought a great stop on our way to the western border. It was a great stop but what a nightmare to get there!

The bus to Butwal left at 9.30am - we did have time to watch the early results of the US Presidential election on CNN and it was looking good for Obama – for a 4hrs journey. A few stops on the way for breakfast/lunch. As is common in Nepal there was no advance warning of our arrival in Butwal. The bus stops and we are told we arrived. We grabbed our bags and a hurried good bye to Geo & Agathe – thanks for the rules of 5000 & Yam. Hopefully we will be able to meet up in South America – and we got dumped with another couple at a junction in Butwal. The other couple quickly caught a rickshaw before we had the time to inquire where the hell were we. Butwal was not a large town and the limitation of the Lonely Planet become evident. A short description of the town with no map. We knew we needed to make it to the centre but were was it? Luckily a man in a near cybercafe spoke fluent English and pointed us in the right direction. No need to catch a rickshaw, we could walk. We always underestimated distances. We walked 10 minutes and the hotels & guest houses started to appear. We viewed 2, these were not immediately rejected – the matresses were something - but we decided to walk on. We then arrived at the bus park with hotel right next to it. Convenient as we probably needed to catch a bus in the (early) morning from here. We booked into a hotel – adequate – and headed to book our bus journey. In our research – undertaken during the bus ride to Butwal. Advanced eh – the entrance to Bardia is at the town of Ambassa on the main East to West Highway. Our bus was leaving at 7am and the journey was 6 hrs. Time to explore the town. Surprisingly the town was not that bad. Kia managed to find 5 dices to buy so we could play 5000 & Yam. How did Kia know how to ask for dices in Nepalese? Well luckily some guy was sitting on a giant die outside a shop and she asked what was it in Nepalese. The man also told her which shop in the centre sold them.

Dragging ourselves yet again out of bed at sunrise – this is meant to be a holiday dear god – we headed to our bus for our journey to Ambassa. You may ask what can go wrong in a 6hrs journey. Well the answer is what did not go wrong.

2-3 hrs into our journey we stop for breakfast/lunch in a village on the road – Dahl Bhat off course. I will not talk about Dahl Bhat here. It deserves a post of its own – I decided that I could not eat lunch at 10am. Big mistake! We stopped for 30 min, then got back in the bus, and the bus then did a U-turn drove 50 m and stopped outside a garage. Well a garage Nepalese style. It seems we had a mechanical problem. Over the next 2 hrs, they removed the transmission shaft and with persuasion – ie by the use of a hammer. Martyn coined the term the persuader to refer to the use of his hammer in assembling his kit car. The did a lot of persuading – changed a damaged part and reinstalled it. Then off we go again.

And then 2hrs later we stopped just after Kohalpur Junction. This time it was serious. The road was blocked and subsequently closed due to an serious accident further up the road which block. It was around 2-3pm at this time. There is not much traffic on the East-West highway, The build up of traffic was insignificant compared to our journey to Chitwan. We did notice a lot of jeep coming and going. Crowds of people walking in both directions. These people were walking across the accident and then carrying on with their journey. In chatting with the other people on the bus, we found out that road being closed was a common occurrence. We hoped that we would not be delayed too long. Around 5pm, as the sun was setting, we were told that the road may not be re open until midnight or even maybe in the morning. Unbelievably, they told us that that the bus driver and crew left a few hours a go. It was no point attempting to get to Ambassa in the dark. Not much accommodation. We were advise to catch one of the jeeps heading back to Kohalpur and a guest house. Which we did. The jeep was packed, including 2 goats on the roof. We arrived at the bus park and were lucky that the driver took us to the guest houses at the bus park. The second guest house was adequate and the Dahl Bhat and tea was great.

In the morning – early again – we rushed off to catch a bus heading to Ambassa. We were told that the bus left immediately. We grabbed our bags – with no cup of tea to start our day. Sorry again Kia – and got on the bus. Off course the bus did not leave immediately. It left when it had enough passengers. When it did, we headed south - not west as we should have been - towards Nepalganje, another border town with India. It seems that the East-West highway was still closed and we were taking a back route to bypass the accident. What a ride. After Nepalganje the road was terrible. It probably was the bumpiest and shakiest bus ride I ever been on. After 4hrs we stopped for lunch and this time I did eat a Dahl Bhat – by then I learnt my lesson, Eat when you can. You never know when the next meal will be – Back on the bus and 20 min later the bus stops an we are told we have arrived at Ambassa. The journey from Butwal only took us 30hrs, with breaks of course. Howevere it was well worth it.

Next : Bardia National Park