Nepal is a much poorer country than India and this is reflected in the state of the roads. My first experience of Nepali roads was returning to Kathmandu by bus after 3 weeks in the Everest region. The first leg, between Shivalaya and Jiri, is rough, to say the least. A similar road in New Zealand would certainly be considered suitable for 4WD vehicles only. We felt like a human milk shake as the bus lurched along the rough track. I couldn't help thinking of all the stories that I had heard of buses going off the road, dropping off steep cliffs killing everyone on board.

At one point we came to a fridge-sized boulder that had obviously fallen onto the road during the night. Fortunately the bus driver was prepared for such an eventuality and had a crow bar and a sledge hammer stowed onboard. These were quickly put to use by the men on the bus who took turns at whacking the rock until it finally splintered into a size that could be removed from the road. Within half an hour we were back on the road again.

Shortly after we sit down on the bus a bag next to Kieran begins to walk away by itself. Further inspection of the bag reveals a chicken inside - luckily I hadn't put my bag on top of it as I had been about to!

I was relieved by the time we reached Jiri and the quality of the road dramatically improved. Apparently the road between here and Kathmandu was built with Swiss Aid; being experts at building roads over steep rugged terrain, this road has apparently survived better than other roads in the region, and with less maintenance.

Just past Jiri we came the first of several police checkpoints. Having passed the checkpoint we pulled over to allow all the passengers who had been standing in the aisle to get onto the roof of the bus. Although technically illegal in Nepal, roof travel is common practice and presumably is more comfortable than the alternative which is standing for the duration of a ten hour bus ride (the concept of having only the number of passengers as seats does not seem to apply here.)

Along with the driver, the bus has several conductors, whose job, along with collecting money, seems to be to check for obstacles on the road and ensure the wheels do not get too close the edge of large drop offs - this was essential on the Jiri to Shivalaya leg. They also keep an eye on the bags; while the bus is moving they dextrously climb onto the roof to secure the luggage. For a large part of the journey however they just hang out of the door of the bus, enjoying the breeze - far enough... it is pretty bloody hot!

Eventually, after ten or so hours we make it to Kathmandu. We are here for less than 36 hours (just enough time to get a nasty case of food poisoning) before we are on our second bus, this time bound for the Indian border. This ride is much the same as the first; complete with conductors, chickens, and roof riding. Ten hours later we arrive in Bhairahawa, the town on the Nepali side of the border. We cross over the border and all of a sudden the number of people seems to multiply by several magnitudes, all trying to sell us rickshaws, jeeps and bus tickets. Ahh back in India!