Kathmandu (one more time)
I’m back in my favorite city again and just being here has put a smile on my face (I needed that…).
The last week has been pretty crazy! As you all know I took a bus from Kolkata to Dhaka (Bangladesh) to get a new Indian visa and the bus was actually nice and cool inside! Wow! Anyway, everything was going welly (had to put that one in) untill I got to the boarder. Trying to leave India was everything I imagined it would be.
First some scumbag offical told me I have to pay a 300rs. (Rupees) road tax fee to leave the country. I told him that I hadn’t heard of that in the whole six months I spent in India and I always travel by buses. He told me that it was a Bangladesh road tax, then all of his friends surrounded me. I asked him who’s in charge? He said he was, so I wispered in his ear “since you’re in charge, you should change your scam.” He didn’t quite understand, so I wispered some more. “Why would I pay India a road tax from Bangladesh?” I saw defeat in his eyes, but he tried one last time by saying “you need a road tax receipt from us to get into the country.” I said thanks for the tip and I’d be right back if he was telling the truth, then all his friends started laughing. OK, first hurdle cleared.
Second hurdle – Across the street from there was another Indian building where they check your bags before leaving. I put my backpack on the x-ray thing (that no one was watching) and was all set to leave when an offical asked what country I was from. I said America and he told me to put my backpack on his table. I always put my dirty clothes on the top of my backpack (in a bag of course), just in case someone gets into it and steals the first thing they touch. So, when they pulled that out I told them it was dirty laundry. They asked what it was (because they’re in controle!), so I said again, dirty laundry! He opened it and couldn’t help but smell them, then gave me a dirty look. I don’t need to tell anyone that I don’t wash my clothes every day any more, so I kind of enjoyed that one!
Anyway, everything on me was legal, so before I was cleared to leave, they asked how much American money I had. I told them $80. How many Euro’s or Pounds? 50 Euro’s and no Pounds. How many Rupee’s? 1,000! I had about 8,000, but didn’t feel like telling them that. Anyway the guy started grilling me! It is illegal to take Indian currancy out of the country do you hear me? Yah, I hear you. He repeated again, but in my face! I’m not deaf! Luckily his friend could see me bitting my tongue and he actually defused the situation! I can’t believe it!
He told me to go back out side and exchange all my rupees for Taka (Bangladesh money) and then come back.
So, of course I went outside to the furthest money changer and sat down next to it and ordered a chai. When I was done with that I stopped by the bathroom and switched my Euro’s and $ for my Rupees (incase they wanted to see the $80 and 50 Euro’s I told them I had, I didn’t want them to look for a money belt), from money belt to wallet. I had a bunch (2,000 rs. worth) of Taka already, so I wasn’t worried about that. When I got back, they checked my wallet and told me that Americans think they can do what they want all over the world! YOU have to listen to us when you’re in our country! “Of course, that’s why I changed the rupees like you asked.” That was all and I got through fine. I had my money belt way up on my thigh, in case they checked, but of course they didn’t do their job…
On the bus I met a nice guy who is studing law. He lives in Dhaka and was very friendly. He asked where I would be staying and I told him Old Dhaka. He said no, it’s to dirty there, what hotel will you stay at. I told him I’d look around when I got there (like I always do) and he got all nervous. NO, NO, you may get kidnapped! I started laughing, but didn’t want to hurt his feelings. He didn’t say another word for a couple of minutes untill he invited me to his home. I thought about it for a couple of hours and then when he asked again I accepted. Good move!
Besides the fact that his 12 flat mates were Ricky Martin look-a-likes (the only draw back), They were very friendly and had a killer house! Their “servant” cooked me some killer food (I ate for free!) and they had a mat on the floor for me (much better than the crusty bed I had in the dorm in Kolkata)! They treated me like family and begged me to stay for as long as I wanted, but I had to get my visa and get back into India soon, so they were a bit disappointed.
The next day I went to the Indian Embassy to get a new visa. As soon as the official saw my passport, his face dropped. He looked at my visa and told me it would take couple of weeks. I told him I only had a 7 day Bangladesh visa and my sister would be flying into Delhi in a few days. He told me that that’s a family problem, my problem and not his or India’s. Oh well, I tried one more time as nice as I could, but it wasn’t happening. I thought I might have one, maybe two more chances of still getting to Delhi by the time Sara (my sister) arrived, so I took the next bus back to India, that night.
When I got back to Kolkata, I tried to get an emergency extension on my visa, but tourists can’t extend their visa’s in India any more. There goes that idea, so I tried my last idea. I asked what the penalty was for over staying your visa (in Nepal it’s only a dollar a day). They told me it was a big fine and probably jail time! That settled it, I wasn’t going to make it to Delhi in time to meet my sister. I still had to get out of India before my visa expired! The Bangladesh visa would take to long (because of the weekend and costs way to much) and trying to get to Nepal and then reach KTM by road was a mission and pretty risky, since the Maoists have been strikeing more often. I decided to fly for the first time in about a year (since Lhasa), just to make sure I got out of India and into KTM, not just some boarder town (shit hole) in Nepal.
Flying turned out to be a good move, since the Maoists DO have an 11 day travel ban in effect untill the 13th of April! I would have been stuck on the boarder till the 13th, not fun! Anyway, the political situation has deteriorated here since the King declared a nation wide state of emergancey and placed almost all of the Parliament (or equivalent to Paliament) under house arrest in Feb. Tourists are still safe here, but battles, shoot outs and bombings are more common than before. It’s sad that this is happening to a country like this…
Alright, time to see what kind of trouble I can get into here, shouldn’t be hard!
Tags: Nepal
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