After spending a couple of days in Kathmandu we had settled on a trekking guide and were on our way. Our trek "began" with a 6 hour bus ride from Kathmandu to Besisahar and the Annapurna Circuit trail head. We were booked in a microbus and we were told that although it might be less of an authentic experience, the bus will be more comfortable and take less time to reach our destination. So let's see... our experience included 20 people being fit into 12 seats, more weight on the top of the van than inside the van - as you can guess, raising the vehicle's center of gravity and creating an interest rolling effect, hindi music (the norm) blasting through every speaker, an interesting discussion about muslims, christians and hindus living together in Nepal, a cock finding its way into Annie's lap (a rooster folks!) , a road side lunch consisting of samosas and pakoras, school children climbing up and riding home from school on top at no charge and not surprisingly no less than 4 turns where I felt at least two of the van's wheels lose contact with the asphalt. I'd say we got an authentic experience! An added benefit of our speedy driver was that an uncomfortable 6 1/2 hour trip was completed in 5 1/2 hours.

Great, so were in Besisahar... but our vehicle adventures were not over. We checked in with the trekking officials in town, then walked a km before jumping on to a 4x4 bus, which would bring us the next 5 km or so to Bhulbhule. Here the walking actually began. This bus, was more tank than bus, getting us through what many would consider an impassable road; potholes varied in size from stones to station wagon, and this began, what became a common theme in our trip - our guide Pradip road the entire way... on the roof. That's Pradip's profile on top there to the right.


Our tank topped driver guided the rugged machine, often without looking, or without both hands on the wheel (often fiddling with the tape player, at one point having to flip the tape once the side ran out..haven't seen that done in a while), coming ever so close to the road's edge. We're talking 60-100 ft drop into the river below. Annie couldn't bear it, so wasn't looking, I was checking on Pradip and the other roof riders periodically. Everything turned out fine, just another commute in Nepal.. these guys are professionals. We jumped off the bus, our walk began, and we were all excited to reach our first night's destination - Ngadi Bazaar.