India Overland with Swagman Tours, London to Kathmandu.

Kathmandu - Journeys End
Once on the valley floor we were surrounded by terraced paddy fields and small groups of traditional farm houses with their collection of animals and small children running everywhere. This may have been the main road from India but there was little traffic and the children used the road as their playground. As in most asian countries the road is always under repair, in Nepal this is more so as there are lots of rivers, flooding is common and the roads are not built to a high standard anyway. We stop for tea and unlike India no one really takes any notice of us, this is an everyday scene to them. They are so used to overland vehicles stopping that they consider us a means of transport and often ask for a lift into town. After a 30 minute stop we all pile back on board for the final time for the last hour into Kathmandu. Some one has found a Nepalise couple with 2 children that we just must give lift too. Giving lifts to local has been a common thing, I just ask that someone keeps an eye on them as we have had things go missing. In the 1970's Kathmandu was still a city built of mainly brick and timber building most of which where no more than 3 stories, so it did not appear on the horizen as a great city. It just sort of came out of the haze as a large rambling town with wood smoke hung in the air like fairy floss.	Paddy Fields
Roads in Nepal	Rural House
The number of vehicles is increasing as we near the city, houses take on a more affluent look, you notice the appearence of advertising signs offering everything from Coke Cola to Kukri Rum. The plan is to go into the main square and drop off the passengers then head to our hotel and get all the gear unloaded. Durbar Square is the centre of town, surrounded by Temples a market and with streets filled with cheap hotels leading away into the surrounding town. Most of our passengers will head to "Freak" street, for its selection of hotels offering rooms for as little as $2 per day. It is chaos unloading all the luggage, with passengers trying to repack all their belongings on the road and beginning to regrete buying all the souveniers. In the middle of all this others want to know about onward travel or what I suggest for a hotel, its like they suddenly realise that no one will be there to hold their hand anymore. I calm most by giving them my Hotel address and say I will be having lunch at K.C.'s resturant tomorrow so pop in if you have problem.	Kathmandu
New Raod Kathmandu	Market Durbar Sqaure
Temple an Idol Durbar Square	Not all the passengers left us here, some wanted to go to the same hotel as us. I explained it was not flash, I stay there because its cheap, there is off road parking for 2 or 3 buses plus it has a large flat roof to work on the camping gear plus take in the view. Those are the pluses, on the negatives it is a brothel at night, but the Nepalise seem to get it over with early and all is usually quite by 10 o'clock. We head of for the Gorka Hotel which we passed on the way in. Its a 10 minute walk into town but has a couple of good eating places near by, one of which has my favorite sweet Gulab Jamin. It will be good having a few extra hands to help unload and get some work done on the bus. We usually had about a month in Kathmandu before the return trip. Time for a little trekking or a quick run to Bangkok. Many times it was spent under the bus trying to fix her up enough to get home in one piece.
Unloading the Bus at Gorka Hotel Kathmandu	On a couple of occassions I had to give my well looked after bus over to another driver who was departing before me. While I was left with his wreck that had days of work required to make it able to cover the 12,000 mile return journey. Often passengers have at this point decided to return as trainee crew so you get a free helping hand on the way home. The overland never paid well, you could make a few bob carrying contraband or hiring out the bus for day trips but you would never make a fortune. As for life changing it was certainly that, you learn just what a good hand life has dealt you compared to some poor souls. The overland teaches you that you can live with next to nothing, I arrived in Perth April 1977 having boarded the boat Centur in Penang, my luggage consisted of 2 shirts 2 pairs of shorts, 45 music cassettes and the shoes on my feet.
Last updated 20th January 2009