Grotty Gorakhpur
Trip Start
Sep 25, 2008
1
16
29
Trip End
Apr 01, 2009
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Gorakhpur,
Uttar Pradesh,
India
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
After standing there being ingnored for what felt like ages we coughed and asked if we needed to show our pasports.
"where's your exit card?" barked the woman behind the desk.
"We don't have one, where do we get them from?"
"Kathmandu"
"erm.....ok, well can we have one from you please?"
It turned out that we had kind of skipped a stage at Kathmandu airport, we'd got our visas and then just sort of walked through into the arrivals hall. In fairness it wasn't our fault, it was late and I think the immigration officials had just decided to go home.
Eventually the woman at Sunauli agreed with us that it wasn't really pratical that we make a 24hr round trip to Kathmandu airport, so she got some forms out of her drawer. Quite why she coudn't have done this in the first place I'll never know.
Anyway, we'd officially exited Nepal by walking into and out of this building, and so we just sort of walked in the direction of India until we got stopped. We didn't get stopped, so I asked a man where Imiigration was, it was a little desk at the side of the high-street that made up the Indian side of the border.
Our next challenge was to get to Gorakhpur, about 2hrs away and the place where we would be catching a train that night. A guy got chatting to us as we filled in our entry forms and said a Jeep was 200 Rupees, much quicker and more comfortable than the bus. So we got in his Jeep, which was indeed comfortable until they tried to fit 4 people across the back seat. So we got out.
Then we found a guy in a little Suzuki swift, "150 rupees per person" ok good, we've saved some money, but ahhhh, I know your game "how many people on the back seat?" I asked "4" he replied. This car was considerably smaller than the Jeep so we respectfully declined before he promised only 3 on the back seat. This was ok, until he tried to fit 3 people in the front! At which point we were starting to get concerned not for our comfort but for our safety-how well could he drive with someone straddling the gear stick?
But with 3 in the front and 3 in the back we still didn't leave, he was trying to find more passengers. And then he found one, and true to his word he kept only 3 in the back, but now 4 in the front!!! So we got out.
After a small struggle to get our bags returned we did what we really should have done in the first place, got the bus that was pretty cramped but only 50 Rupees and set off almost immediately.
Gorakhpur is a hole, there really is no other word for it. It's smelly, and dirty and we were stuck there for about 10 hours. We went for a meal in what could quite conceivably have been the last restaurant we ever ate in, but the only place around the station we could find. The room reminded me of a working mans club, pre smoking ban, with nasty carpets and stale cigarette smell. They even took our money before we ate, they must have problems with people running off. But, as it turned out the meal was rather tasty and we have lived to tell the tale, so sometimes loks can be deceiving!
Our train wasn't until after 10pm, and we started to get concerned when all the trains were showing as delayed, one by 9 hours!!! I was somehow under the impression that Indian railways were pretty punctual, as I would find out in a few days time this was very far from the truth. But fortunately this night our train did leave on time, we had 6 hours to sleep before Varanasi, and that's exactly what we did.
