crazy rides

One of the themes that seemed to run throughout or trip to Nepal was crazy jeep/bus rides. We did a lot more driving this year than last. Our first bus ride was on Sunday from Kathmandu to Besisahar (our home base for hiking). We were passing though a town along the way and our bus came to a sudden stop right in the middle of the road. The driver opened the door and this random kids hopped on the bus and this ensued:

The next day our team of 5 hopped in the back of a jeep and drove to a town at about 2000m (6500 ft) called Ghalegaon. It was also an interesting ride:
Once we got to Ghalegaon we had a little break from the crazy rides. We hiked for about 3 hours to a town called Bhujung and stayed there for the night. The following day we hiked back to Ghalegaon and stayed the night there. Wednesday we were back in a similar jeep to Besisahar.

Once we got there we hopped a public bus to a tiny village in the jungle called Chita. This was the home of one of our guides. They really cram people in the busses; even on the roof. Bonnie and I rode on the roof for a bit to keep an eye on our bags.
The bus station in Besisahar:Riding on the roof:
That night we stayed in some rustic lodging (another post). We got up Thursday morning and hiked about 4 hours to a different bus stop because we slept in too late. We hopped in a jeep for a bit because no bus came. There wasn't enough room so Do-Hwoe had to stand:

That took us to a town I don't know the name of and from there we took another public bus ride to back to Besisahar. This is the ride where the picture on our previous post took place. The bus was so crowded that a lady sat on my lap and a little kid who was separated from her mother clung to my leg. The black thing was my camera case.
Our final ride came on Friday when we drove 6 hours back to Kathmandu. In total I would guess we drove around 20 hours and hiked around 11 hours. It was a great, great, great trip. We will provide more details about particular days and events in upcoming posts.