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February 5, 1999

When we left Nepal on December 5th, we had to run over the border in order to catch our first Indian bus. Of course, being novices we didn't foresee getting to the bus station and having to wait one-half hour because the bus was late. Now we were wise to the ways of the Indian transportation system. We had scheduled perfectly and on the evening of February 5th, exactly 2 months later, we walked back over the border into Nepal.

Getting Back to the Border:

Rather haggard, we woke with a jolt at 8:30 am after our night of merriment in Faizabad, and headed out for the assumed 9 am bus to Sunali. At the terminal where no one spoke a lick of English, all we could make out was - "This bus … Gorakpur … Sunali." We assumed that meant "this bus goes to Gorakpur and then on to Sunali. As long as we got to Gorakpur, we knew we could get to Sunali; so, we got on the bus. As we were sitting half awake, waiting to leave, a man sitting behind Jeff pointed out the window to a bus that was pulling away and said, "Sunali!"

A few hours later in Gorakpur, after our final meal of somosas (8 each) and other street food, we got onto a minibus headed for Sunali. People had packed in so tightly, that it was like a bus full of people in India. Five hours later, we pulled into Sunali. It was like a dream. Had it really been 2 months? What happened? Where had we been? The Indian adventure was (all together now…) "FINIS!!!"

Crossing the Border:

We joked with the friendly, smiley border patrol, and casually strolled back into Nepal, stopping several times to take pictures of this momentous event and to say "no!" to the Nepali touts who were already beginning to offer us pocket chess sets and other Nepali goods. We did, however, take-up one offer of a place to stay. The hotel man also offered us a bus the following morning to Katmandu. Assuring us that it was an express non-stop and would only take 7-8 hours instead of 12, we gladly accepted. We ate some dinner and once again enjoyed the pleasantries of Nepal where everything is so easy.