Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Touched By A Nun - The Bus to Delhi

Feeling pretty smug with myself at having secured seat number 1 on the night bus to Delhi (aisle seat behind the driver to maximise space for my 3 metre long legs), the smile is quickly wiped off my face as I find I am sitting next to an enormously large, 50 something year old Tibetan nun. I greet her with the traditional “tashi dilek”, and try and wedge myself into my seat. This is just not possible so I turn my body 90 degrees to the seat and my legs drape into the aisle. Unfortunately this blocks the door to the driver´s cabin, and his serf keeps on having to exit the cab for cigarettes, water and pan. My legs are quickly turned to a perculiar magenta colour.

My neighbour quickly falls asleep, and her head lolls over to my shoulder. I try to grin and bear it until she starts salivating on my sleeve, at which point I lose my compassion and jolt my shoulder away. She moves her head onto the other side and returns to the land of nod. However now she is grabbing sporadically at my upper thigh which I ignore, and then gropes at my groin which I don´t. I twist my body further now looking like some weird contortionist.

At about 9.30 there is a pungent burning smell inside the bus, and the driver pulls over. There is no oil in the tank. We are in the middle of nowhere, but the serf is sent scurrying off into the night. He returns half an hour later in car, and we are soon on the way again.

The Cityline Bus leaves the McLeod Ganj´s new bus stand at 6pm and costs Rp440. It takes about 12 hours and the last stop is the Tibetan refugee centre. It makes a half hour dinner stop at about 10pm. If you are desperate to go to the toilet, the driver usually cooperates.

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