Siliguri India

We were scheduled to leave for Siliguri India on Monday at 3pm. The purpose of the trip was to go to a Vineyard conference for the Himalayan region. There are between 22 and 24 (depends who you ask) churches in this region with about 8 from Nepal and 16 from India. The 16 churches from India are mostly Nepalese in culture and language. Near as I can figure, India, at some point in history, took over part of Nepal so the region is primarily Nepalese in culture and mostly from the Himalayan mountain region that borders India and Nepal.

The conference had around 435-500 (counting plates of food) in attendance and one larger church (35 people scheduled to go) couldn’t be there due to a funeral. Some prominent member of their church had their vehicle go off the edge of a mountain and fell 2,000 feet to his death,which of course had a huge effect on them. There were 113 people from Kathmandu, Nessing and Gatlang that left from Kathmandu in 3 buses. We were on the last bus that left at 4pm. The bus was much nicer than the buses we were on to Gatlang.

After an hour we stop at a road side cafe for a bio break and some food. I opted for some noodle dish and Aaron opted for some kind of deep fried potato filled wrap. Mine was pretty good but Aaron couldn’t finish his as he started to feel sick. For the next 12 hours he was feeling crappy. He couldn’t throw up, until after several attempts and finally filled a small plastic bag.

We stop again in the morning at about 5am and many people got out and ate breakfast. Aaron didn’t seem interested. When we were ready to go, the bus wouldn’t start; not enough battery juice to turn the motor over. I just prayed and thought, "Oh well, all part of the adventure." I am not sure how they did it but they somehow pushed the bus in neutral and then dumped the clutch which was enough to get the engine to start (and to cause the whole bus to lunge backwards.) They ended up doing this twice to get the bus started. Another interesting thing about the bus was that I was convinced that they removed the shock absorbers and welded the frame to the axle. Well not really, but that is how the bus ride felt. It was very, very rough and you felt every bump...a lot.

We eventually arrived at the border and so we stopped again for a break and there were money changers and the people on the bus told me that I could go out and exchange money. I asked Uddav how long the break was for and he said 20 minutes. I got out and saw a shoe shine guy that was looking rather unemployed so I took off my boots and put on a pair of sandals that were about 4 sizes too small. He removed my laces and started to go to work. After about 10 minutes were done and he has the laces back in one boot. I notice the bus moving slowly and I figure that he is just moving ahead a bit. The other lace was now going in the boot but the bus it still moving. I put the boot on and notice the bus slowly keep moving. I gave him the 20rs (that is what the English speaking shoe shine guy beside him said) but he said, “No, 30 rupees” so I found a 50, tossed it to him and started going after my bus.

Next I noticed it go around the corner so I opted to start running after it. I finally caught up to it at the next corner and the bus driver said, “Going to Kathmandu.” I noticed it was empty and now I was very confused. Aaron ended up running after me (still sick) and said that all of a sudden there was some confusion and they said, “Get you your stuff off of the bus. You have a pack in the back don’t you?” So he hurried and removed my coat, my pack and his. He then had seen me booting it and went after me. It ended up that this bus only went to the border and we had to catch another one. All we needed was a little communication to help keep the stress level in check.

We ended up waiting 2.5 hours at the border for our bus. They had 3 scheduled, but because we were late, they filled it up with cash customers and left. Because we had some time, I decided to call Janet on my Nepal cell phone with my last 100rs card. We spoke for 11 minutes and it only cost me 46r (~$0.55). Half of the conversation was about Aaron being sick. Before I left, Janet spoke to Al Remley, a pastor friend who has gone to India numerous times and he suggested that if we get the runs in India to pick up some Ciprofloxacin. I had done that and Janet suggested I give that to Aaron (It had been packed away in the boot so I couldn’t until now). So, under the advice from Dr. Janet, I gave Aaron one. That, and a few grapes later, he was as good as new.


But now there is another problem, besides waiting for the new set of buses. The border is closed due to demonstrators. There seems to be some civil unrest and some dissatisfaction with the government so there is a tire burning in the middle of the road and a line of people sitting underneath that 40ft bamboo pole across the road at the border.

So we wait around for a few hours and no one is in a hurry and then all of a sudden, we have to move...now. So all 113 of us need to cross the border on foot and off we go, single file, just to the left of the bamboo pole, past the army dude with guns, past all the official looking stuff and on a very long bridge over a very dry river. We cross without a hitch. Aaron wonders if we need to stop and I tell him I am going to keep walking slowly, make eye contact and keep walking. So we enter India, past some guards, keep walking and it seems like there will be no border crossing.

After about a half of a kilometer, a man spots us and directs us down a long driveway to a building that sports a sign “Immigration.” We fill out all the forms and then see the official. He keeps looking over our passport and mumbles something about a Nepal exit stamp. I just shrug my shoulders and look perplexed. (Later on we found out that when you exit the country they want to stamp your passport.) He then shrugged his and soon we were on our way.

We eventually caught up with the rest and eventually got on a bus that resembled the ones to Gatlang. This bus was an even rougher ride than the last one. At least the last one you were still in your seat, this one would throw us up about 8 inches (20cm). We eventually arrived in Siliguri about 18 hours later (~12:30pm) after our departure. I had managed to sleep in the bus but it was not a very restful sleep.