now that i have posted the pics, i thought i'll post something about the trip too. this was posted last month in another blog site. enjoy the trip.


originally posted on Wednesday, 19 October 2005.

namaste from nepal.

well... i'm finally home. i mean its been more than 15 days since i've been here. just thought i'll add one 'yak' from nepal.

the journey to nepal was brilliant. i mean it couldn't have been better or worse.

it all began when Prem (my friend with no gay relationship whatsoever) said that he'll have to withdraw money from Gorakhpur. i knew things will not be running smoothly. actually, i knew we were in soup the minute i booked the tickets. we never got confirmed tickets. and i had even booked the tickets for delhi but even the delhi to gorakhpur tickets didnt work out either.

anyway, we finally got the tickets confirmed.. (thanks to mandi, (no gay thing again, ok, i am homophobic) but i had to shell out 150 bucks extra). the journey to gorakhpur was smooth. the minute we landed at gorakhpur, the 'plan' began to spiral out of control.

(well... i thought i'll point it out rather than write it all out. please use your own imagination to fill in the gaps.)

Pt. 1. we reached gorakhpur 6 hrs ahead of my 'i think we will reach...'.

Pt. 2. prem still insisted that he needs to withdraw money there.

Pt. 3. zack (my another friend with no gay relationship, and please i am not gay and nor are my friends) arranged an auto to take us to ATM and back.

Pt. 4. the deal with prem was - he MUST NOT withdraw cash in 500 denomination because it's illegal in nepal. he withdrew. 5000. all in 500 notes.

Pt. 5. zack and i tried to get the change for few 500 notes by buying chocolates. and while doing so, the bus disappeared along with prem in it.

Pt. 6. me and zack ran around the place like hobbits jumping to see if prem is in one of the buses. we must have examined more than 30 buses.

Pt. 7. we lost the money we had paid for the first bus but we were 'reunited'. ok, one reason we lost the money was because we couldn't figure out who the guy was. there were too many bald headed guys.

Pt. 8. we boarded the second bus and it never left. we lost 30 bucks there again. 'fine' for boarding and not travelling.

Pt. 9. finally we boarded the government bus and reached Sunauli at 12 in the night only to be told that the border is closed.

Pt. 10. we slept (tried to) at the bus station like pilgrims. first, we couldnot even figure out whether it was a bus station or not. it was too dark. so, i searched for my torch light in my bag. some bum had switched the torch light with two Cadbury chocolates. it was not funny because it was dark and i don't like chocolates.

Pt. 11. we finally found the bench. prem had brought few bottles of smirnoff with rasberry twist and something else. we drank it all. neat. i had never in my life thought i was going to do such thing.

Pt. 12. 2:30 am - cop inspected the station and 'accused' that i could be a maoist. threatened to take me to the jail. we bribed him. 100 rupees.

Pt. 13. 5:30 in the morning, i woke up zack and prem by kicking them. and we crossed the border without any hassle.

after that, things moved smooothly again. but it was one hell of an agonising trip. atleast for one night.

Nevertheless, Famous quotes heard during the trip:

zack - "i need to buy a spoon".
me - "i need to buy a toilet paper."
prem - "i am carrying the photo copy of my licence."

At gorakhpur:

prem - "macha i need to withdraw money."
prem - "macha, i withdrew 5000."
"------------------------"
"can i have chocolates for 100 rupees?"
zack (to the bald guy) - "where did the bus go?"
bald guy (pointing towards the wrong direction) - "bus udhar khadi hai"
prem (over the phone) - "dude where are you guys? i'm standing where we boarded the bus."
"do you think that is the bald guy?"

At sunauli bus stop:

"where the fuck is the torch light? and who kept these chocolates here?"
"i can't believe i am drinking this here."
"you must enjoy the moment dude."
"i am. thats why i am psyched out."
fat cop (ironically, with a torch): "chaya pani ke liye kuch karo.."

well, i guess thats all i can remember after 15 days... my friends have already left and i still need to get my tickets done.

have fun | take care | bye.