Woa, travel days. My initial thought about traveling to Nepal was, “Oh, yeah, we’ll probably just take a bus.” Ohhhh, no. That wouldn’t be true World Race fashion. The natural way of traveling around here, combined with our limited travel budget, amounted to five days of traveling from India to Nepal. It has been a week quite unlike anything I’ve ever experienced. I’ve done my best to recount our travel adventures in the following blog.
Monday PM
We pack our things, clean, and say good-bye to the kids. Our contacts give each of us a seashell keychain with our names on it. Some of the kids cry. Some of us cry.
9 PM: We load the truck and head to the bus station. We’re worried we will miss the 9:30 bus, but being India, it doesn’t come until 10:30, so we’re good.
Eight-or-something-hour bus ride from Hanuman Junction to Hyderabad. No sleep. We are dropped off on the side of the road. No bus station. A bird poops on Kristen’s pack. Lovely.
Tuesday
We rent a bus for the day, so it comes and picks us up and takes us back to School of Worship. Located in the “Beverly Hills” of Hyderabad. We notice they are filming a soap opera right across the street. Do they need any extras? No.
School of Worship has hot showers and wi-fi. I take full advantage. I Skype hope, send e-mails, and generally catch up on life back home. Great morning.
We go to Hard Rock for lunch. Holy cow. That was good.
Go to the mall next door. I buy another long-sleeve shirt for Nepal. Success. I look again for workout pants. They want $50. Not happening. Still regret that oversight in packing.
Drive around Hyderabad in the bus. Scott stops and buys a guitar. We’ll have tunes in Nepal. Sweet.
Go back to School of Worship. More internet time, chill time. No dinner. Too stuffed from Hard Rock.
Load bus at 9 PM. Bus is not designed for all of us. We squeeze. Welcome to the World Race.
Hour drive to airport. I find food. Handi puff. Not sure what I’m eating, but it’s good.
Midnight: time for sleep. I bust out my sleeping bag and sleep on the floor in the airport. Restless sleep, but sleep nonetheless.
Wednesday
4:30 AM: time to check in. I have to pay extra for my harp. Boo. But at least they let me take it, even though the harp makes my baggage weight exceed the maximum. They take the harp from me at check-in, and I don’t see it again until Delhi. A little nervous.
Get coffee. First coffee since leaving the States. Board plane. Attempt to sleep. Watch a little CNN. Apparently, Egypt is not the place to be right now.
Arrive in Delhi. No plans for the day. Team leaders find a hotel. Love our team leaders. We take a taxi to hotel. Kristen’s pack almost falls off the top of the taxi. We arrive at hotel.
We locate Pizza Hut on a city map. Not too far. We find the metro and board. There are separate cars for men and women. Weird. Then we board. I see why. There is definite snuggling with strangers on subway.
Depart for Pizza Hut. Walk forever. Find Pizza Hut. Hallelujah. Pizza is amazing.
Decide to shop. Find underground market. Legit? We don’t know.
Head back to hotel. On a mission to find food. Find grocery store. No peanut butter. Stock up on food for train.
Melanee needs internet cafe to print info for squad visas. Find cafe, print documents, power goes out. Good timing.
7 PM: Time to walk to the train. Long walk. Harp is heavy. Make it to station. Time to chill until train arrives.
7:30: No chill time. Realize we are at the wrong station. Right station is 20 minutes away. We find cabs. Squeeze 7 people, 7 packs, 7 day packs, 1 guitar, 1 harp, and 1 driver in taxi. Welcome to the World Race. 30 minutes becomes 45 minutes. Traffic. We’re stressed. We pray.
Arrive at correct train station. We have 15 minutes to board. One team is missing. We have to go through security. 43 people. 43 packs. 43 day packs. 5 guitars. 1 harp. Conveyor belt gets stuck. Nice security guy waves us through. We dart for train. Jump on the train. It moves. Is everyone on? We hope.
No room to move. We find our beds and settle in. A bed. Haven’t seen one in three days. Try to sleep. Squeezed between pack and daypack. Sleep nonetheless.
Thursday
7:30: Wake up. Four more hours on train. Enjoy some breakfast of bread and jelly. I miss Indian chai already.
Arrive at stop. Walk toward bus pick-up. Walking takes on new meaning with 60+ pounds of stuff on your body. It hurts.
Find bus. Load bus. Drive toward Nepal. Stop for lunch. See monkeys. Eat half of my lunch before I realize it is someone else’s order. I can’t read the menu anyway. What I ordered is not as good as the person whose meal I half ate. I pick at my new food.
Board bus again. More driving. Reach Nepal border. Get visas. More driving. Stop for potty break. Brush my teeth (for the first time in. . . . never mind).
Drive all night. Take sleeping pill. It helps. Lose my headband. I’m sad. Kelly gets down on the nasty floor. Finds headband. Kelly’s a good man.
Stop for another potty break. It’s the middle of the night. I’m hungry and still under the influence of a sleeping pill. I get off. Buy something deep-fried from a street vendor. Is this smart? No. I realize this as I’m eating it. I eat the whole thing. Ugh.
Friday
1:30 AM: Arrive in Kathmandu. Bus stops. Can’t go closer to hotel because of narrow streets and low signs and wires. We get our packs and walk. Ugh. More walking. Kathmandu is slightly creepy at night.
We find the hotel. Not far. More stairs. The have a western-style toilet. Haven’t seen one in a month. Sleep. Like a baby. Glorious.
10:30 AM Wake up. Cold! Find breakfast at the Acme Guest House. Eggs! Yum. Then time for exploring. It warms considerably.
Spend the day exploring Kathmandu. Pretty much fall in love with the place. It doesn’t smell like India. You are constantly greeted with “Namaste.” They have peanut butter.
4:30 PM: Team debrief. We talk about our issues. We have lots, but we’re working through them. I love my team.
More exploring. Then squad worship on the roof of the hotel. Great time. Cold.
PB&J for dinner. Then back to my cocoon for sleep.
Saturday
Wake up. Scott calls contact but can’t get ahold of him. We have no plans for getting to our ministry site. We find breakfast.
All teams depart but us. Scott and Melanee decide on a more direct approach: show up on his doorstep. They leave.
Kristen, Suzi, Kelly, and I are left at the hotel with Hollis and Noe. We play half a game of cards and decide we’re hungry. We find an Irish pub. Scott calls. They have found our contact. They all join us for lunch.
We go back to the hotel, get our stuff, and leave in a bus with our contact. Melanee stays behind for logistics stuff. We head out of the city center. Into real Nepal. Very different. More like India.
We arrive at our location. We are working with Prison Fellowship this month. Mostly with the children of current prisoners. We’re only at this location for a week.
We’ve arrive at dusk. There are 11 boys and 3 girls here, plus a couple that takes care of the place. The children are running around. Some play soccer. It gets dark, and the electricity is not working. The children are still running around playing. We get out headlamps out and make shadow puppets with the kids on the side of the van. They laugh.
Time for dinner. We go into a large barn-like building with just our headlamps. We are served rice, lentils, and chicken. They light candles for the table. I feel like I am in another time and place. The food is delicious. I look forward to more this month.
We finish and head upstairs. The electricity comes back on. We have the following day to rest, so we postpone team time until the morning. It’s getting colder. I brush my teeth and curl up in my sleeping bag. As we prepare for bed, Suzi comments, “It’s the second month of the Race. I don’t know who I am anymore.” I concur.
I’m tired, even though it’s only 8:30. We’ve safely made it to our ministry site after a crazy travel week. I am excited. And cold. Sleep comes easily. I hope to write more when I learn more about our contact’s story and this ministry.
Namaste.
