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Thank fook we are in Nepal!

Leaving India

After the relaxing afternoon in the Hotel, most of us decided not to venture back to the River to see the cremations. The few that did returned later and told us of how touristic it was but that it was a good experience, but we agreed that not going was the right decision for us.

The hotel reception was full of us lot sitting around and waiting for people to arrive and go out for dinner. I sat down with Becky, Laura and Frankie and waited for Awal and Matt to arrive before heading off towards Mcdonalds and Pizza hut. But just as they arrived, so did Lisa and Donna who were off to the cash-point to get money for Nepal. They had heard of the one I found earlier and asked where it was – I knew it was just past the mall where the food places were, so told the family, that I would meet them there later. So me, Donna and Lisa had a nice walk, chatting about the bus gossip and generally mellowing out as we walked. When we arrived, the cash-point was closed, but the nice security guard told us it was being filled with money and would be open in 15minutes, so we stood and waited, chatting with the guard about England, us and his girlfriend! We then got the money after he helped the girls with the queue and headed back towards Mcdonalds. I had a nice bit of scoff in there as the girls had an ice cream and then we started back to the Hotel. We did spot the Becky, Laura and Frankie with the boys in Pizza hut, but didn’t manage to catch their eye as we left.

Lisa wanted to get some tomatoes and onions to make herself a salad for lunch so we took a short walk to the shops where she showed off her amazing bartering skills. 50 rupees down to 10!

It was then back to the hotel and after a chat with Bev, I went down to the bar.

There ended up to be about 10 of us sat down there, - David, Helen, Amanda, Chris, Mark, Barry etc and we all had a really nice mellow couple of hours chatting about India, the bus, each other and anything else you could think of. We had a 7am start in the morning, so after 3 beers and at about 11pm, I went upstairs to bedsville!!

This morning I had my alarm set for 6.15, but was woken at 10 past by a knock at the door - It was Lana, who had been scared by a massive cockroach in her bathroom and she asked if she could use mine and Kenneths to brush her teeth!!

After she left we got up and got ready, went downstairs and waited for the bus. The only breakfast we saw was juice and coffee, so everyone was disappointed until the hotel staff produced a load of takeaway boxes and bags containing fruit, sandwiches, veg pokoras and real chips!! It was the best breakfast we have had in days and as we took it onto the bus, we were able to eat it at our own pace as we travelled.

The day flew by as we chatted and slept. The only down point was when I was chatting to Bev and fixing her slow computer.... Suddenly she was hit on the shoulder by something dropping from the parcel shelf. Donna looked around and saw her laptop lying on the floor and when she turned it on the screen was cracked. Donna wasn’t happy!

I spent a couple of hours later in the day chatting to Donna about all sorts – The army, recruit troop and her college days and it passed the time well and I hope made her forget about her broken PC.

Then just about 6pm, we arrived at the Indian/Nepalese border.

The Indian immigration office is a scruffy small open building next to a busy dirty road – much like the rest of India. So after 20 minutes queuing we all had our departure stamps and got back on the bus for the 50yard drive to Nepal. We were sung over the border by Becky, Laura and Frankie with a rendition of 'Reach (For the sky)', by Sclub7, which was quite funny!! Then we all breathed a smile of relief as we grabbed our bags and left India!

After Nepal customs, we got onto our new bus, which is an old version of the old one, minus working air-con (Which we are promised will be working tomorrow) and drove the 3km to our Hotel for the night - Hotel Yeti!

The hotel is really nice and is in a small border town. I wandered around with Barry and eventually found an ATM to get some Nepalese rupees, then met up with everyone back in the Hotel for dinner. My dinner consisted of 3 beers, which is becoming a habit, but a habit I like!!

Just before dinner the power cut out and we sat in the dark for a while, but it was back on pretty soon. I had a good chat with a couple of mate on Facebook and then mellowed out with Bev'o – sister from another mister!!