Throw Up Bus

As an end to our most lovely stint in Shimla we had to catch a 10 hour bus ride to Manali, leaving at 8am. I had spoken to the owner of our mold rotting guest house twice the day before, to make sure that we could have a cab ready for us at 7am to make it down to the main bus station with no trouble. We awoke bright and early after pretty much non existent sleep due to the construction, loaded up our packs {mind you Jonathan was still a little weak} and went down stairs to get in our ride.

There was no cab waiting for us. There was not even a bit of knowledge about us even needing a cab from the guy at the desk. I was furious..we could not miss this bus. I refused to be stuck in moldville another night. Instead of the guy behind the desk jumping to attention and calling a cab for us he fussed around and just gave lame excuses as to why there was no cab as I pretty much lost my 7am cool. Finally he went upstairs and woke up some guy who was sleeping to drive us to the bus station..now it was about 7:20. If there was any strain of calm collectedness in my being, it was now leaking out of my every pore as I envisioned us missing this bus.

The guy who drove us down was actually nice, and I tried not to take any of this nonsense out on him, as it was certainly not his fault. He drove like a maniac, and we made it, with about 5 minutes to spare. We found our bus, and then, of course, got the bag grab from porters wanting to put our stuff on the bus for us, then demanding money for doing so. These guys are the worst...almost as bad as rickshaw drivers. I was in no fit state to be messed with, and of course I lost it. As this one little guy demeaned money from us I made a scene and and told him we asked for no such help, how dare he grab our bags, we could have done it ourselves, and NO, he would not get any money from us, I do not care how insistent he is. By this point there is a large crowd of Indian guys all around staring at me like I am the lunatic!! {hahaa} Meanwhile the little guy probably did not understand half the words coming out of my mouth, but he surly felt my wrath!!!

I then stormed off onto the bus. Jonathan, being the good guy that he is, and not wanting any trouble with our bags, ended up slipping the guy a 10rupee note {about 30cents} as I walked off. If he had not done this, the guy probably would have haggled Jonathan till no end. I am telling you, these guys are ruthless.

I settled in to our non existent leg room seats and tried to get comfortable for the 10 hour hell trip. We had booked a "semi deluxe" bus that was to have no AC, but fans and windows that opened. Well...semi deluxe was just a bit of an understatement according to my standards!!! First of all, the fans did not work, so lover and I were trapped in a sweat box for the next 10 hours. I am not kidding you, my shirt was wet. The driver of the bus was a speed craved maniac who hit the switchback mountain climb like he was Mario Andretti. The bag at our feet that had our packed lunch and toilet paper in it went flying into the aisle every chance it got, with me having to fumble around to grab it, and re-roll up the roll. I was bouncing in my seat all pogo stick style, and Jonathan literally had to grab my arm a few times to keep me from propelling into the aisle. Nausea was rumbling in my stomach and threatening to lurch up my throat for most of the 10 hours! Then, as if the leg room wasn't bad enough, the man in front of Jonathan leaned his seat ALL the way back. I offered to trade to make his life better, but my legs are really not that much shorter than Jonathan's, in fact they are quite long. Long enough that sitting behind this guy with his seat leaned back, I was basically cradling his turbaned head in my lap. If I had had the proper product I could have given him a facial. It was ridiculous!!!!

At our first and much needed rest stop, as I was stretching out my crunched up limbs I noticed all the smears and streaks of nastiness along the buses side. It was covered in throw up!!!! I guess not everyone has as strong a gut as I do to hold it in. This was NOT a semi deluxe anything...this was horrible. Later back on the bus I even got the extra added pleasure of seeing an old guy puke out the window, adding to the outside display!!!

We finally came to the end of this nightmare ride, with, you guessed it..more annoyance!!! Before the bus even hit the station guys were jumping on and scouting out the passengers. As we pulled into the station, those same guys brought it on, blocking our seats so that we could not get up and harassing us about hotels to stay at, and rickshaw rides. We had dealt with enough for the past 10 hours, and all we wanted was off. By now even Jonathan had no patience left and had to yell at 3 different guys to leave us alone, and get out of our way. We stomped off the bus in fury, and found a decent guy to bring us to our guesthouse.

Good news is, we made it, once again. Our guesthouse is cozy, for once, and we are happy where we are, even though getting here was a disaster!!

ok..
xoxoxoxo Alicia Claire