Tansen Transportation

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Now this route was a perfect example as to how much deceiving a map can be to an ignorant westerner mind. A comparative analysis of the meaning of the word “highway” in Nepal seemed to indicate us that the distance to Tansen should be covered in between 2-3 hours, and that there are many buses leaving to Tansen all along the day, until late afternoon.

WRONG! It was winter time, and there were no buses leaving to Tansen after 5 pm. Nevertheless, “I have solution for you”…we were told by an old man selling tickets….”you take night bus to Tansen…leaves in one hour, at 7 p.m.”. What on earth can we do in Tansen in the middle of the night? “no, bus arrive early morning in Butwal…from there you catch bus to Tansen, veeery frequent”. This is how we arrived to a nightmarish ride….bus route Pokhara – Mulging – Narayangarh – Butwal, with the last 2 seats at the end of the bus (6 seats in a row in total), crowded like sardines in a cane with no space to move a single finger unless the whole row moved another finger, we began a 10 hours adventure on Nepali roads by night…with a decrepit bus barley holding pieces together…..bearing in mind the LP recommendation of “significant risk of accident” and “it’s uncommon to drive for more than one hour on any stretch of road without passing the burnt-out shell of a public bus crushed like tin foil into the canyon below”. Thanks god we had a 2 hours “sleep break” after midnight. The friend I was travelling with saw the bright side – “the only foreigner in the whole bus is a Japanese. He’s quite thin, his shoulder is pressing my ribs like hell, but I guess we can get some extra centimetres if I push him a little further against the window”. And so he did…

Once in Butwal, it was easy enough to jump in the first bus for Tansen, where we arrived on hour later for the price of 50 Nepali rupees.