On the buses!

Namaste!

Local buses are a vital link for isolated communities in this part of rural Nepal.  Every bus journey is an adventure for me – there is so much to see and experience.  To visit some of the most remote schools my bus journey is long, up to 7 hours, and very bumpy.  They are also very cheap – my seven-hour journey cost the equivalent of £2! 
I’m not sure if these country buses are specially reinforced but they certainly take a hammering on the bumpy tracks and steep hills of their routes. The condition of these tracks would make many people thing twice about taking a four-wheel drive vehicle along them, yet the buses make the journey daily.

In places the bus has to climb steeply for several miles, on a switchback of hairpin bends, some so sharp the bus needs to do a three-point turn to negotiate the corner.  Looking out of the window is scary at times, as the ground drops steeply, inches from where the wheels are, and there are no barriers along the side of the road to prevent the bus rolling down, if it left the road. The bus has to negotiate the deep ruts in the road or large stones that have rolled down from the field above. A few times I have seen the conductor get out to remove a stray boulder from the road. So far I have only experienced the conditions during the dry season; I dread to think what the roads and these bus routes will be like after heavy rain!

The bus hoots frequently to warn people of its approach, so that passengers are ready to catch it or remove their packages that have been transported.  The hooting also serves as a warning to other vehicles travelling in the opposite direction, as there are very few passing places; although so far I have only once been on a bus that had a problem of that kind. In that case the bus reversed slowly back up the track, several hundred metres, to get to a  place where the jeep coming in the opposite direction could squeeze by.

The inside of the bus is often a work of art, with painting, coloured hangings and small offerings decorating the cab.  There are also cushions in the front and many people choose to sit there - maybe because of the views.

Many isolated rural communities only have one bus a day, which leaves the village early in the morning and travels to Besisahar, Dhomre or Pokhora, the nearby towns.  Later in the day the bus returns to the village, having allowed its passengers a couple of hours in the town to shop, attend appointments or visit family.  

One small village I visit .........

One difficult for me is that I need to go to these villages in the morning for the start of school, but cannot catch a bus there until later in the day.  In these cases I need to stay overnight in the village before attending the school the following day.

And its bus stop!

As most people do not have cars or vans, these rural buses fulfil a really important transportation role for the villagers.  I have caught buses that are full of packages, boxes, bags, sacks and various other articles, which are later delivered to small local shops as the bus passes. These things are stacked along the aisle between the seats, and passengers have to clamber over them to get in or out of the bus. Larger articles may be transported on the roof; one country bus had three large wardrobes up there for much of the journey. A bus I recently caught stopped by the roadside for 30 minutes so that a dozen steel reinforcing beams could be untied and unloaded from the roof. 

Provisions to be loaded on the bus.

I have been surprised at the carriage of live animals too.  I’ve seen (and heard) boxes of day old chicks being transported. You may have read in an earlier blog about the hen that I saw, riding without its owner, squatted down in the central aisle of the bus, before being removed by a different person several miles down the road. Most amusing of all was watching one old man load his five goats into the back boot compartment of a bus, before he got on as a passenger!