Day 2
I slept like a baby and woke up at 6:15 am when the alarm
rang. Had breakfast and was ready by 7:30 am. My trip coordinator introduced me
to my guide (Raj) and porter (Shiva). We then went to the airport. Throughout
the day yesterday, as well as in the morning I had tried to call the numbers
that were given to me to find out the status of my bag. I either got engaged
tone or no one would pick the phone. When we reached the airport, I was aghast
to find that there was no one at the lost baggage counter and that they would
arrive after 9 am. After waiting for an hour, finally found someone at the
counter. He looked at a sheet of paper and said that he didn't have any update
for me. When I asked him if he could get an online update, he gave me the
"look" and said that he cannot do that and I would have to go to
another building but most likely there wouldn't be anyone at the counter over
there. When I suggested that we could call to find out, he told me that I had a
cell phone and so I should feel free to call the numbers that were provided to
me. So I called the 3 numbers again in front of him and lamented the fact that
no one was picking up the phone. He then exclaimed that he remembered that the
phones were not working and so it was futile to call the numbers. Time for me
to return the "look". Feeling somewhat guilty he called someone from
his cell and found that the person who could give us an update was on his way.
When I asked him how long it would take that person to reach the airport (it
was past 9:30 at this point of time), he got slightly annoyed and said he
didn't know and there was nothing else for me to do than wait. So back to the
waiting chair. Surprisingly within 10 mins I was beckoned by the guy to share
the news that his highness had arrived and had mentioned that mostly my bag
would be in the 9:30 am flight from jet airlines. Since it was past 9:30 am I
felt it was a logical question to ask -when would the flight arrive? Again I
got the "look", he knows only when he sees the passengers at the
baggage claim area - by way of explanation and a factual statement that there
is nothing else I could do but wait. So wait I did for another 45 mins till the
fight arrived at 10:30 am. I was annoyed that I lost the "looks"
match 2-1 but my claim is that he did not play fair. In the meanwhile some
random airport guy sat beside me and was chatting with me. He didn't seem to
have any work and after 10 mins of polite conversation, he just sat there doing
nothing for another hour. Sensing my impatience with the whole situation, his advice
was "aaramse wait karo" as if that is a pleasure to be savored. He
very well knew that I was already more than 3 hrs. late due to the stupid
waiting......aarrgh. Finally the bags from the flight arrived and after another
10 mins of excruciating wait, I saw my dear backpack. I did a cursory check to
see if things were in place and other than some black smudge marks things
looked to be in order. When I came out of arrivals my waiting companion was
still chilling out doing absolutely nothing. We got back in car and started our
journey to Basishaher. It takes about 5 hrs. but since we had started late and
allowed the traffic to build up it took us more than an hour to leave
Kathmandu. The car was without AC and so had to roll down the windows to get
some relief from the heat. That meant breathing the noxious diesel fumes from
trucks and buses. Things improved after about 1.5 hrs. in traffic. We stopped
for lunch at about 1:30 pm at a restaurant called hill top. It had a great
location with some tables set outdoors that offered great breeze and good views
of the surrounding valley. We finally arrived in Basishaher at 5 pm after a
long day in the car. It was very hot during the day but I could see locals
wearing jackets and sweaters and waking on road under the sun. Towards the
latter part of the journey, the views were good but nothing spectacular. Didn't
see a single snowcapped mountain the entire journey - just some big hills with
a river flowing through the valley. There were lots of agricultural fields in
the valley. Camphor trees had newly sprouted leaves. The cows and goats over
here seem a lot healthier than the emancipated cows and goats of India. The
road was mostly a ghat road climbing up and down hills. It reminded me of the
Bombay Pune road before the expressway - poor banking, 1.5 lane roads in ok
condition with trucks stuck and broken down at various places. The last 1hr
ride was on a rocky strip (it wouldn't be fair to call it a road) and that
rattled our bones. It had also started to rain. We were glad when we pulled up
in front of an old looking guesthouse. My room was decent with 2 single beds, a
small table and a ceiling fan that didn't work. It was almost dark by the time
we reached and so we decided to not do the 1.5hrs walk to take us to another
town. After a refreshing cold water shower, I repacked my backpacks for the
next day. The guesthouse had squat (Indian style) toilets. Been a long
time......Basishaher is nothing to write home about. Nothing to do and broken
down and filthy. But it offers places to stay and eat, has a general and
medical store and hence a good enough resting place. After a Nepali Thali
dinner sat to write about the trip so far. Need to wake up at 6:15 am tomorrow
and so need to call in early.....
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