Silvia and I have a philosophy when travelling and that is to try and act as a local as much as possible in which ever location we are in. I know this sounds absurd because we are both lugging around large and very obvious cameras for one, but the general thinking is there. On this basis we have taken to catching the public buses to area outside Kathmandu. Upon arriving at the bus station we state our destination and we are hearded aboard a bus which we hope will deposit us there. There is no timetable, it is simply, if there are people on the bus it is time to go. The journey itself is always interesting with the bus having to dodge pedestrians, bikes and other cars as well as the odd cow and having to negotiate the road conditions which are best described as poor. Along the way there are usually 2 young kids standing at the open doorway yelling or whistling to people by the side of the road. At the busier stops they will even get out and seemingly try to tout for business, hay wouldn't you rather go to this destination than the one you intended. Most times the bus doesn't even stop, it is just jump aboard and do your best. Having now travelled on public transport in Nepal I will probably be a little more forgiving when back in Sydney as travel times as a result of traffic are quite slow, it took 2.5 hours to travel about 25km back to Kathmandu yesterday. Overall we quite enjoyed the experience as not only did we save significant cash but we also observed Nepalese daily life at close hand, whether this be family outings, transporting bags of grain or even taking home a rooster purchased at market in a brown paper bag.
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