Very Rough Guide Indeed


Main	Very Rough Guide Indeed	Contents
Home Nepal Boating Links Work Pics Old Rope PCs Small print	13. Transport 13.1 Buses You will spend far too much time on these. Get "night" buses which are the big TATA coaches with 2+2 seating which makes a piss-poor attempt to "recline". Out of Kathmandu they leave only from the new bus station on the north edge of town (get a rickshaw, it’s quite a long walk from Thamel). Don’t get the "local" buses which go from by the GPO, the seating is 2+3 and not worth the saving of a few Rs. Booking bus tickets: for long trips you’re best to book a day or two ahead, either go up to the bus station yourself or get Ghopal or someone in your rafting company to book it for you. It’s worth booking a seat because you usually get shown a seating plan so you can choose your seat number… The ticket collector will try to stiff you for carrying boats, maybe as much again as you paid for your ticket. Just tell him that he’s having a laugh, and when pushed into haggling, don’t pay more 20-30% of the cost of the seat, per boat. Some Nepali here is very useful. Although they are packed with Lonely Planeteers who bore you to tears with the tired old stories of how they "found themselves" in India, it is worth taking tourist buses between Kathmandu and Pokhara. This is because you are dropped off in the middle of Lakeside in Pokhara itself, not at the main bus station a couple of miles (and a ripoff taxi journey) out of town, saving you the hassle of finding a taxi which will take your boats. An added bonus: tourist buses will not usually charge you extra for carrying kayaks. However, tourist buses do not usually travel overnight, so if you're pushed for time then the usual night-bus is your best bet. *What you really want to know*: the best seats are the 3rd or 4th row from the front, which is about as close to the mid-point between the wheels as you can get. Similarly, if you choose to sleep on the roofrack (wedge yourself in among the bags and tie a rope around you and your thermarest), do so at the FRONT of the rack!! Do not sit in the seats in the "cab" near the driver, you’ll be scared shitless if you can see out of the windscreen. Even more importantly, do not sit in the "rocket seats" at the back. The roads are bad, the suspension is worse, and the prospect of being woken up when the bus goes over a pothole and you are bounced a couple of feet in the air until your head hits the roof, is not a great one. There is a well-known Law of Asian Travel which states that wherever you choose to sit in the bus, you will always be directly under a loudspeaker. Remember that little pair of scissors on your Swiss army knife? Well, see those wires leading to the loudspeaker..? 13.2 Taxi Kathmandu taxis are useful, and cheap if you can persuade the driver to use the meter, although he will invariably tell you it is "broken". Amazing how it mysteriously starts working if you prod at the "hired" button yourself… Beware of flimsy roofracks. You have been warned. In Pokhara, taxis are in much shorter supply and many don’t have roofracks. Also, the drivers are often wary of kayakers; perhaps they’ve had one too many roofracks broken. For this reason you are better off getting "tourist buses" to Pokhara, to eliminate the need for taxis there. 13.3 Rickshaw?Rickshaw?Youwantrickshaw? A cycle rickshaw can carry two kayaks and passengers. Maybe more. 13.4 Bike Around Kathmandu and Pokhara there’s no point taking local "city" buses, you might as well hire a bike. The Kathmandu valley is a really good place for cycling if you’ve got some spare time. At some places there are kids who "offer" to watch your bike while you leave it. If you don’t pay them then you’ll have to hire a bike pump from them later. Motor bikes are also a good laugh, they can be cheap to hire, the fuel is reasonable in price and if you have some savvy they can be much quicker than buses. The KTM – Pokhara trip is about eight hours on a bus, can be done in three-four on a bike. next	1. Disclaimer 2. Guidebooks 3. Flying with your kayak 4. Arrival 5. Staying in Kathmandu 6. Hey, friend, youwanna changemoney? 7. Food & drink 8. Health 9. Bureaucracy 10. Post, Phone & email 11. Getting "work" boating 12. Some Rivers 13. Getting around 14. Stuff to do when you’re not on the river 15. Things you will need… 16. Photography 17. Psst! Hashhash? marijuana?