So there isn't a great deal of information about this bus out there... We struggled to find anything on google (other than newspaper articles like this one) and every time we asked people about it no one seemed to be able to give us any concrete answers....so we figured we would write a quick post!!
So when we arrived in Varanasi we were assured by the hotel staff that they could get us onto the bus and that was the end of the discussion!
As the days progressed we continued to pester the staff and they continued to reassure us that we could go on the bus but that we shouldn't book the tickets until the day we want to go in-case the bus gets cancelled at the last minute. Apparently this is common if there are not enough seats booked. So we continued to have good faith in the staff and waited...This was very hard not knowing whether we might actually need to change everything and get a flight or a train or something else at the very last minute!!
On the day we wanted to go, our hotel (Elvis Guesthouse) sent a staff member to the bus stop to reserve us tickets - they only needed our names and ages to do this.
We then had to leave the guesthouse early (8pm) for the 10.30pm bus to get our tickets. The bus leaves from the main bus station in Varanasi and was in bay 9 (Not sure if this is always the case). We had to go into the main office and confirm our tickets and pay for them. They cost 1,350 rs per person.
They ran a ticket system with the large bags whereby you paid 20rs and they attached half the ticket to your bag and gave you the other half. The bus was new and had aircon & leather reclining seats - as per most a/c buses they insisted on having it on full blast for the whole journey - making it rather chilly! The leather seats were also super 'slidey' any time the bus driver used his brakes or accelerated so we were moving around a lot!
Anyhow we arrived at the boarder at around 5.30am and had to wait the 30mins for the boarder crossing to open. We all got off the bus and had our passports taken and exit-stamped by the indian officials. We then had to walk across the boarder to the Nepal office where we had to fill out paperwork to sort our VISA on arrival. The visa for 30days cost $40 and it was very easy to get at the boarder. Once obtaining this we walked to the bus on the other side and continued our journey to Kathmandu.
We arrived in Kathmandu at around 3pm the following day, so it was 16.5 hrs in total. A long journey but a fairly uneventful and easy one!!
So when we arrived in Varanasi we were assured by the hotel staff that they could get us onto the bus and that was the end of the discussion!
As the days progressed we continued to pester the staff and they continued to reassure us that we could go on the bus but that we shouldn't book the tickets until the day we want to go in-case the bus gets cancelled at the last minute. Apparently this is common if there are not enough seats booked. So we continued to have good faith in the staff and waited...This was very hard not knowing whether we might actually need to change everything and get a flight or a train or something else at the very last minute!!
On the day we wanted to go, our hotel (Elvis Guesthouse) sent a staff member to the bus stop to reserve us tickets - they only needed our names and ages to do this.
We then had to leave the guesthouse early (8pm) for the 10.30pm bus to get our tickets. The bus leaves from the main bus station in Varanasi and was in bay 9 (Not sure if this is always the case). We had to go into the main office and confirm our tickets and pay for them. They cost 1,350 rs per person.
They ran a ticket system with the large bags whereby you paid 20rs and they attached half the ticket to your bag and gave you the other half. The bus was new and had aircon & leather reclining seats - as per most a/c buses they insisted on having it on full blast for the whole journey - making it rather chilly! The leather seats were also super 'slidey' any time the bus driver used his brakes or accelerated so we were moving around a lot!
Anyhow we arrived at the boarder at around 5.30am and had to wait the 30mins for the boarder crossing to open. We all got off the bus and had our passports taken and exit-stamped by the indian officials. We then had to walk across the boarder to the Nepal office where we had to fill out paperwork to sort our VISA on arrival. The visa for 30days cost $40 and it was very easy to get at the boarder. Once obtaining this we walked to the bus on the other side and continued our journey to Kathmandu.
We arrived in Kathmandu at around 3pm the following day, so it was 16.5 hrs in total. A long journey but a fairly uneventful and easy one!!
No comments:
Post a Comment