One day one of my old friend Madhukar was off. My cousin brother Sachin was also with me. Then we decided to go somewhere but where to go! Noone could decide. Then finally we decided to go to Manakamana. I wanted to go there. We left at about 9am and went to the bus park. With lots of effort we found 3 tickets. The bus was so old that it sounded so heavy and when I saw back, it was throwing a dark clouds of smoke from the silencer pipe.We reached to the stop after about 4hrs. Then we took the tickets for the cable car to
We had lunch there after praying and came back down. Then we tried to stop a bus but, after about 45mins we got a bus as our next destination was Pokhara which we decided which taking lunch. We took the bus but after driving for about 15 mins, we heard a big explosion which shooked our ears. Everybody screamed and the bus stopped. I guess everybody in the bus thought that it was a bomb. But it was just a tire which burst or punctured. We tried to take another bus but hardly they stoped but found one. The bus was going to Gorkha which wasn` t our destination. So we came down at Khaireni. We asked to one of the restaurant who said us that the earliest bus to Pokhara is at 9.30pm. It was just 4.30pm. We sat there and started chatting with a bottle of BagPiper. One and the next and we didn` t know how the time went as I was getting explained about the things happened with our friends group by Madhukar. It was nice to hear cause when I was back home, our group was all aparted and some friends even didn` talked with each other. Well thats life. Everybody should make their own way!!!
The bus came and we found the place to sit only near by the driver. The driver was very interesting person but he was drunk which made me think that if something happens. His way of driving was strange as he turned the stering of the bus step by step. I `ve never seen such a driver. Drunk and so perfect. We reached to Pokhara at 11pm. It was the fastest drive I took to Pokhara as the distance from Khaireni was about 200kms. When we reached there, the city was like a graveyard. It was very dark and we could hear only some dogs barking and cops van. They use to stare at us as if we are criminals. Neither Madhukar nor me knew Pokhara so well but Sachin said that near by the Mahendra bridge there must be some guest house to stay. So without thinking nothing we took our steps forward hunting for a ladge where we can stay. After walking about half an hour we were there where we found some houses with sign boards with the word ""Lodge". We started pushing the bells and knocking the door but 1st, second , 3rd no one answered. From some of the lodges we heard, "No place". But at last one door opened and a man in a brown police typed dress opened athe door and asked what is the matter. We said we want to stay for a night. He said of course as there are no guests tonight. He took us to a room with 3 beds. We also said that we are hungry and he said us to wait and he came with a man. The man was Chef and said that he can cook a spagetti for us. We were so glad and they said us to come down after half an hour. The spagetti was tasty in our hunger. May be the most tasty one we had in our life. We went to bed around 1 am. We woke up at 6am with the sound of vehicles. The city was wake up. Then we left the hotel and decided to to go to the Bindhyabasini temple, one of the holy place in Pokhara. After Bindhabashini temple we took lunch in a small hotel and bound for Mahendra cave, then Bat cave. Bat cave was a new cave found and it was interesting than Mahendra cave. We went in with a candle in our hand but due to lack of oxygen (I guess) they went off and we were lost in total darkness for sometime. The way was dark wetty and dangerous. We were afraid of falling in some holes but thank God we saw some light coming in. We followed the light and came out of the cave. The whole journey was all by foot. Then we went to Phewa lake, took a boat and rowed for two hours. Then now we must go back as we didnt saw to our home that we were going somewhere. We reached to bus stop about 5pm. When we reached to Muglin, it was about 8.45pm. We took dinner there and then started searching for a bus to Kathmandu. All three of us were so tired now that we were sleep too. We saw a taxi standing and asked the driver for. The rate he said was too high as our pockets were getting empty now. At last after lots of bargaining he was ready. He was drunk too. The taxi was about to crash for three times. Once, he was about to crash face to face with a truck. The second time, he forget to turn left and pushed the break unless the taxi stopped on the edge of the road. If the taxi had felt from the road it was river down there about 400m down. The third time also was about to fall from the road while overtaking a bus.
At 1am we reached Kupondole and we walked to our home from there.
We took it as a kinda adventure as we didnt make any plans for our tour. We enjoyed lot. Sometimes its interesting to travel destination anywhere facing the ups and downs and deciding at the spot which road to take.
Pradeepta
